Topspeed.

I arrived at my correlational conclusion after looking back at what I liked and what I didn't like and it seemed to me that those were generally separated into the types of tweeter material selected - I never paid any attention to tweeter material at the time. The New Paradigm sounds laid back. The 604S3 didn't send up a red flag either and it isn't overly pricey.

There is no further use discussing the issue - I have stated exceptions and my views and I agree with Auio Note's and Quad's philosphy that the sonic signature of the driver should form a close match - just using a silk dome does not gaurantee that either and I can;t speak for how it worked out for Quad or how it worked out for the VR-1. There is no sonic advantage for metal tweeters - when they ring they ring badly.

As for what B&W does or does not do and why a maker builds their own drivers - has more to do with money than quality. Companies like Dynaudio, SEAS, VIfa, Scanspeak, Fostex(Foster) etc make the best drivers in the world. How they are used of course is most important.

Comparing the N805 directly against the J/Spe - it doesn't take a golden ear - Layman at AA discussed the treble response numerously of B&W - you can find lots of results doing a search there I'm sure.

"Considering the huge pool of resources, R&D and engineering available to B&W and that they design and manufacture their own drivers, unlike AN, I'm interested in reading why a company would knowingly design a defective tweeter "

Well there is Bose. They claim to use massive R&D and have the most money in the industry and build their own stuff. The point?

The B&W tweeter is not defective - but there is a good reason that when you go from 600 to Nautilus to Sig you get a better tweeter - which implies the one below it isn't as good - which means it's improveable and where is it improved - less grain. And I'm not here to slag thir tweeters - I'm the one who usually fdefends B&W. But these companies are trying to suggest sonic improvements with metal tweeters - there never was any and there isn't. Why pretend they are re-inventing and revolutionizing the industry? They ain't.

AN does not need to build their own drivers when there is a company who SPECIALIZES in making some of the best drivers on the planet to Audio Note's specs. No question that this raises Audio Note's costs relative to the company who can mass produce their own drivers. But Audio Note is not about reducing costs at all costs. Plus they are not big enough to be mass producing their own drivers - that requires a plant with workers and that's not what they're interested in when what they would make won't be any better than what SEAS or Foster can make for them. I mean Audio Note could start making their own capacitors too I suppose.

Audio Note as it is builds a considerable part of the audio chain - their own transformers, their own wiring, their own soldering material. But there is a limit.