Why do Klispch and JBL use titanium compression drivers?

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Not all Ti phrams are the same. I haven't traditionally like them myself given the unit's I've tried, but the newer design 18Sound drivers I have don't seem to be as annoying, sounding more like the Al and poly units I generally prefer. Not measurements to back it up ATM though.
 
Aside from obvious resonance at about 13khz the titanium cd are more accurate than soft mylars. I've done burst testing of d220ti and de250. I've lived with both and clearly the metal driver produce more transparent sound e.g. Cymbals. The soft driver may sound smoother due to damped resonances, but they also sound mellow.
 
I have compared phenolic (stock) Klipsch k79k tweeters with tiatanium diaprhragms and the ti`s are smoother more extended sounding and seem to have more headroom. They are mor relaxed and easier to listen to. Same goes for the mids. I have compared phenoluc mids in the K700 the K701 and the min in the Forte ll and the KLF 20. In all cases I heard essentially the same differences as with the tweeters except I thought the difference was more pronounced in the mids. In a word they are smooth in two words smooth and detailed. I would not consider switching back but I am open to listening to other materials. Just my experience. Best regards Moray James.
 
Why do Klipsch and JBL use Titanium? Because TAD did.

In the early days JBL used an Aluminum alloy that had a microscopic amount of Titanium and called it "titanium". They didn't want TAD to have a technology lead on them.

It was pure marketing.

David S.
 
Let's not overlook the fact that in certain usage requirements, harsh can potentially be good. I never use my Klipsches to play music for the reasons mentioned in this thread, but when it comes to watching a violent movie, I'll take the harsh punchiness of the Klipsch towers over the smoother notes of my music setup without a second thought.

Something about that bite really draws me into movies.. Maybe that's at least one reason we see these harsher-sounding drivers used so often in IMAX and other theaters? Just my humble .02
 
In live music having an "Edge" or "Bite" to the sound is great to cut through with music like rock. Does it sound smooth? No? Is it what you'd want for home? Probably not. But does it cut thru crowd noise, bad acoustics and stage wash? Yes!

Isn't rock supposed to be aggressive, anyway?
 
Dave,
Do you mean beryllium?
TAD only ever used titanium in a horn-loaded tweeter for the TSM 300, a small nearfiled monitor that was really targeted to the pro-sumer market. Otherwise, all the true pro drivers use vapor deposited Be.

Andrew
 
Dave,
Do you mean beryllium?
TAD only ever used titanium in a horn-loaded tweeter for the TSM 300, a small nearfiled monitor that was really targeted to the pro-sumer market. Otherwise, all the true pro drivers use vapor deposited Be.

Andrew

I'm thinking of the 80s era pro compression drivers. My recollection was that they were heavily into pure titanium diaphragms. (Or at least advertized as such.) No?

David
 
Did a web search and you appear to be right. So JBL came up with faux Titanium in response to the TAD Berylium diaphragms.

I was there when JBL changed from aluminum to titanium diaphragms in the 2421 to 2425 drivers: the two materials did NOT look the same. The performance was different as well, in both sound and durability. Where did this notion of faux titanium come from?
 
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