I have never heard a beryllium tweeter, how close is the sound to a soft dome? It looks like to me on paper they are pretty close I guess without so much roll off.
Since were here a talking about tweeters, is there a major sound difference between a 40$ tweeter and one that costs around 200$ of the brand.
thank you diy guys.
Since were here a talking about tweeters, is there a major sound difference between a 40$ tweeter and one that costs around 200$ of the brand.
thank you diy guys.
Beryllium domes may have similar on-axis response like soft domes, but the off-axis is usually different. This is important to consider.
Soft domes are not true pistonic drivers like hard metal domes.
Yes there is usually a sound difference between cheaper and high priced tweeters. They do not accidentally costs more, but some may think differently.
Soft domes are not true pistonic drivers like hard metal domes.
Yes there is usually a sound difference between cheaper and high priced tweeters. They do not accidentally costs more, but some may think differently.
My only comparison is between aluminium and fabric dome with the same motor - seas 27TBFC/G (metal) vs. 27TDFC/G (fabric). Same grilles, everything. Only the dome material is different.
The B (metal version) is slightly more sensitive and matches the same acoustic response / shape - but is definitely "harsher" in the ~ 3KHz region. I put this down to 7th order HD from the 26KHz breakup node. The B version subjectively does a better job on percussion and other metal instruments (brass section etc...). However the fabric version is the one I settled on as it is more forgiving and easier to listen to on harsher recorded material. NB: I compensated for the extra sensitivity of the metal dome version in my listening comparison and tests.
I can't comment on beryllium.
The B (metal version) is slightly more sensitive and matches the same acoustic response / shape - but is definitely "harsher" in the ~ 3KHz region. I put this down to 7th order HD from the 26KHz breakup node. The B version subjectively does a better job on percussion and other metal instruments (brass section etc...). However the fabric version is the one I settled on as it is more forgiving and easier to listen to on harsher recorded material. NB: I compensated for the extra sensitivity of the metal dome version in my listening comparison and tests.
I can't comment on beryllium.
Beryllium is a hard dome material so it should sound similar to aluminium or other hard materials. A modern hard dome is pistonic throughout its operating operating frequency domain, so the dome itself (not the motor driving it) should have no sound signature of its own when driven at moderate levels.
The operating range, the close physical surroundings (baffle), material in cabinet, physical stiffness of coupling to the cabinet, x-over and the midrange driver quality and cooperation has order of magnitude more impact on the sound than the membrane material in the tweeter. Get all this perfect before this becomes an issue... Still, it's a lot of the motor and former that one is listening to 
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The operating range, the close physical surroundings (baffle), material in cabinet, physical stiffness of coupling to the cabinet, x-over and the midrange driver quality and cooperation has order of magnitude more impact on the sound than the membrane material in the tweeter. Get all this perfect before this becomes an issue... Still, it's a lot of the motor and former that one is listening to
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In this respect, good rejection can be found in post #5, where everything else is the same except for the membrane material. Of course, all that is important is what you wrote, but you underestimate the differences in membrane material IMO.
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Agree 100%
Prefer Focal, Scan and TLab Be tweets to the B&W diamond tweets I've heard.
I can follow Dave as i compare Seas 22tff (soft) and 22TAF/G (aluminium).
Both tweeters share the same motor, voicecoil etc. except the mesh grill
of the taf/g.
The tafg (3,5 khz xover) sounds very good (like a WOW effect) on ridecymbals, brass, the 22tff (3 khz xover) is easy for the ear and more "natural" and boring sounding and has the ability to play lower in frequency.
To answer the thread question, no material sound the same.
If you take ceramic domes (especially midrange domes) they allways sound like a "sharp knife" in every implementation i have heard and it is easy to make them sounding agressive. Berylium is more like a "nosound" material (heard it in different TADs) but i would not equal "nosund" with naturalness...
Both tweeters share the same motor, voicecoil etc. except the mesh grill
of the taf/g.
The tafg (3,5 khz xover) sounds very good (like a WOW effect) on ridecymbals, brass, the 22tff (3 khz xover) is easy for the ear and more "natural" and boring sounding and has the ability to play lower in frequency.
To answer the thread question, no material sound the same.
If you take ceramic domes (especially midrange domes) they allways sound like a "sharp knife" in every implementation i have heard and it is easy to make them sounding agressive. Berylium is more like a "nosound" material (heard it in different TADs) but i would not equal "nosund" with naturalness...
I disagree about Ceramics sounding like a sharp knife. They are very articulate and don't smooth over much of anything. The ceramic membranes are very well damped. Minute detail is reconstituted as it should be, and therefore this is not what some people prefer. If bad recordings are played, all the flaws will be present.
I've not heard a ceramic driver that I did not like to at least some degree. Of course, implementation is key, and lesser designs definitely could sound more forward than necessary.
Later,
Wolf
I've not heard a ceramic driver that I did not like to at least some degree. Of course, implementation is key, and lesser designs definitely could sound more forward than necessary.
Later,
Wolf
yes wolf, implementation is the key since i didnt use ceramics yet because i am biased if the bad implementation. Its the nitpicker sound that leads my attention always to the details NOT to the music.
If i throw a metal song on any ceramic, and in some way metaldomes too, i get the idea that the full frequency spectrum of the music (E-Guitar) makes them sound aggressive despite of the recording quality (yes good metal recordings exist). This disapear if you you use the domes up in frequency (4 khz or higher). I think this is not the fault of the dome material but on the mixing side since they didnt use ceramics.
If i throw a metal song on any ceramic, and in some way metaldomes too, i get the idea that the full frequency spectrum of the music (E-Guitar) makes them sound aggressive despite of the recording quality (yes good metal recordings exist
). This disapear if you you use the domes up in frequency (4 khz or higher). I think this is not the fault of the dome material but on the mixing side since they didnt use ceramics.This was an interesting discussion as Beryllium is not nearly as hard as diamond but harder than aluminum and titanium. It is extremely stiff though.....but yet sonically compared to soft dome tweeters?.....whose excitation causes the dome to cavitate in a very non linear fashion high in the frequency range.
I’m gonna put this down to subjective hearing experience and what some people perceive as pleasurable to the ear.........not unlike our personalities.....some being very clinical and others more ‘bohemian’ for a lack of a better word.......can music be both?
I’m gonna put this down to subjective hearing experience and what some people perceive as pleasurable to the ear.........not unlike our personalities.....some being very clinical and others more ‘bohemian’ for a lack of a better word.......can music be both?
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