Domes the best choice?

[JohnMichael]

Are dome tweeters really the way to go? Some of my favorite speakers from the past did not have dome tweeters. Speakers such as the Small Advent, AR 18, JBL L19, and Metronome 7. I am continually drawn to my JBL Studio 530's for their compression driver and horn loading.

The patents have expired on the Heil AMT tweeters and I am curious about some of the speakers that are using them. I am old enough to have heard the ESS when they were first available. A lady friend had a pair along with a Sony receiver and a Phillips GA 312 turntable.

Of course there are ribbon tweeters, horn, ring radiator, and others. I am just wondering if we need to work beyond dome tweeters?

[Jack in Wilmington]

I'm partial to soft-dome tweeters as both my sets of speakers have them. I've had titanium tweeters in my Paradigm speakers and always found then fatiguing during extended listening sessions. Now my friend, who has worked in the industry for 30 some years prefers metal tweeters. He never got into Sonus Faber, even though he sold them, and I would listen to them and I thought they sounded great.

[Mr Peabody]

I think you are correct. The "dome tweeter rules" is one of those things some one spouted and got parroted so much some how it became accepted. Like the cabinet, woofer material or anything else, it's the application, there could be good or bad in any of it. Also, the listener preference should be the deciding factor. JBL has some outstanding sound from compression drivers. I believe if they ever got the marketing right they'd run some of the other horn speaker companies into the ground. JBL just released the 4367 which is a passive consumer version of the M2 master monitor. A dealer is getting a pair so I hope to bringing more info on those later, I'm excited to hear them. Golden Ear uses a version of the AMT or Heil, I thought that may be what the Motion series uses by Martin Logan as well, the GE is getting rave reviews. Legacy also uses that type tweeter. So I don't think there's a "dome rules".

[Feanor]

...
The patents have expired on the Heil AMT tweeters and I am curious about some of the speakers that are using them. I am old enough to have heard the ESS when they were first available. A lady friend had a pair along with a Sony receiver and a Phillips GA 312 turntable.

I too recall the Heil AMT 1's when they were first available. I recall being very impressed by the detail and transparency. Soon after I assisted a friend to select a hi-fi system and another ESS model with an AMT was our our choice.

The original patents on the AMT have expired and I believe that is the main reason many more AMTs. I hear they still have excellent detail without harshness -- this might put them ahead of metal dome tweeters generally speaking. All else equal, I'd favor an AMT tweeter in a "box" speaker, though I'd still tend to planars, electrostatic or ribbon.

ESS AMT 1 ...

http://medias.audiofanzine.com/images/normal/ess-amt-1-112309.jpg

[TheHills44060]

In general my ears have always preferred soft domes and many of my favorite sounding speakers have soft dome tweeters. I've also listened and liked ring radiators, electrostatic and planars with smooth highs, a few ribbon tweeters and even a hard dome or two so it really just depends. It really comes down to the speaker itself and the room its going to be played in which makes speaker selection tricky but also fun and sometimes surprising.

[Jack in Wilmington]

I've noticed that Wilson Audio has redesigned their tweeters and have gone from a titanium tweeter to a new soft dome tweeter which first debuted in the Alexandria and has now been incorporated in the Sasha.

[TheHills44060]

I've had mixed results with titanium, beryllium, diamond, etc... and other hard domes. More times than not i find them fatiguing over the long haul but not always. I am in the same boat as you though Jack regarding Paradigm tweeters. They have always had way too much sizzle for me especially the signature versions.

[Jack in Wilmington]

I've had mixed results with titanium, beryllium, diamond, etc... and other hard domes. More times than not i find them fatiguing over the long haul but not always. I am in the same boat as you though Jack regarding Paradigm tweeters. They have always had way too much sizzle for me especially the signature versions.

I didn't notice it as much with the Sig 8's, but that might be because they were running them on a Ayre setup. They usually had the Studio and Monitor lines running on Anthem AVR's and Anthem M1 mono blocks and some on Peachtree.

[harley .guy07]

I agree with most of you that it is how it is used in the speakers and how it is blended with the other drivers that matters more than the material. I do agree with the Paradigm titanium tweeters statement and I have heard a few Focal speakers that were a little too "hot" for my tastes in the treble region. But I have heard good examples of almost every tweeter type available in certain speakers. I really think when the right designer is in the design process of a speaker good results can be had with a lot of different matterials.