Ribbon tweeters?

[Drew664]

Can anyone give me some information on these and how they perform vs "normal" tweeters?

Currently on the market for a solid set of towers, and the type of tweeter has come up on occasion and I'd like to get some feedback on what people thought of them. Pros and cons very welcome.

[richteer]

Originally Posted by Drew664

Can anyone give me some information on these and how they perform vs "normal" tweeters?

Currently on the market for a solid set of towers, and the type of tweeter has come up on occasion and I'd like to get some feedback on what people thought of them. Pros and cons very welcome.

Done right (Magneplanars come to mind) ribbon tweeters can sound great. But I wouldn't let the type of driver influence your decision too much; a speaker will sound good or bad. The technology it uses is only part of the picture. For example, speakers usering regular drivers can sound very different, for example.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by Drew664

Can anyone give me some information on these and how they perform vs "normal" tweeters?

Currently on the market for a solid set of towers, and the type of tweeter has come up on occasion and I'd like to get some feedback on what people thought of them. Pros and cons very welcome.

Read these articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tweeter
http://speakers.lifetips.com/cat/61233/tweeters/

As Richteer said in his post, you should not base your decision on the type of tweeter that a speakers uses. Go other there and listen to as many speakers as you can in your budget and read as many reviews as you can.

[sokrman14]

I agree with these guys. I am a huge fan of ribbon tweeters, but I dont own a set because I still found a set of traditional drivers that I love. what is your price range for a new set of speakers? Sunfire made a new set of speakers with ribbons if you want to hear them. link. So did monitor audio link

[kingofgrills]

You'll need to let your ears decide, but for me, I enjoy the naturalness that ribbons bring to voices and instruments. Stringed instruments can be presented in an absolutely mesmerizing way.

There are no absolutes, and it all depends on the quality of the speakers. You should listen to not only ribbons but also conventional dome tweeters, horns, and maybe electrostatic speakers before deciding what works best for you. Let your ears decide what to buy, and not the technology used in the speaker drivers.

[Drew664]

I've read through those articles, and they are all very technical. I just thought there might be an advantage to having ribbon tweeters, since the higher end speaker lines tend to carry them more frequently than entry level speakers.

sokrman14,

My budget is around 1k, but I'm pretty much sold on the Swan 6.1s. There is potentially going to be a ribbon tweeter mod, cabinet redesign, or new cross overs done to the original. I just was curious if I should wait it out (most likely will) or take what the speaker currently offers.

[mdabb]

I must admit I am a fan of ribbon's. Easy to fall in love with, but is definitely an individual thing.

[krazeyeyez]

Originally Posted by Drew664

Can anyone give me some information on these and how they perform vs "normal" tweeters?

Currently on the market for a solid set of towers, and the type of tweeter has come up on occasion and I'd like to get some feedback on what people thought of them. Pros and cons very welcome.

lmao love the avatar, its my oldest and most worn T-shirt, and the one i get the most comments wearing

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by mdabb

I must admit I am a fan of ribbon's. Easy to fall in love with, but is definitely an individual thing.

Mdabb,

That is not a Ribbon Speaker. That is a wuss. These are real Ribbon Speakers:

[ozzman]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Mdabb,

That is not a Ribbon Speaker. That is a wuss. These are real Ribbon Speakers:

Who makes those speakers DADDY and if you can give me a year ?(just curious)

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by ozzman

Who makes those speakers DADDY and if you can give me a year ?(just curious)

Those are the R58, R530, and R645 speakers made by RibbonSpeakers of South Africa .

[ozzman]

are there newer companies that still use this ribbon tweeter today or is it a dieing bread ?

[mdabb]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Mdabb,

That is not a Ribbon Speaker. That is a wuss. These are real Ribbon Speakers:

I tried .................. does it count if I have five of them

Don't make me go get a pair of six foot ribbons from PE or Solen .

Scared now aren't ya

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by ozzman

are there newer companies that still use this ribbon tweeter today or is it a dieing bread ?

No, there are a few companies that make ribbon speakers. A few other places like Parts Express or Solen sell ribbon tweeters for DIY speakers. Perhaps, Magnepan is the most well-known company for ribbon speakers.

http://www.magnepan.com/

[lojack1976]

HERE are some speakers from Home Theater Direct that use ribbon tweeters. They come in at $800/pair and they offer a 30 day in home trial. I've never heard them, but there are some fans throughout several forums. They sure are gorgeous!

[sokrman14]

For $1k you will be hard pressed to find a good speaker with ribbons. The sunfire are the only one that I know of that will come close toyour price range at $1600

[krazeyeyez]

so i was watching HOUSE on DVD last night, and i noticed the speakers in his office look like they have ribbon tweeters, just curious if they do and if any of you know what speaker those are on the show

[kingofgrills]

Monitor Audio's Platinum Reference Series uses ribbon tweeters across the line. Here's an interview with the lead designer you might find interesting. They went with the ribbon tweeter in order to achieve a flat frequency response up to 50kHz, which would fully take advantage of SACDs and Blu-ray audio.

http://www.monitoraudiousa.com/products/platinum-qanda

I have ribbon tweeters throughout my home theater setup and my 2 channel stereo setup, but mine don't extend to 50kHz. That is why I've supplemented all of mine with super tweeters.

Here's another variation on ribbon tweeters. Here's a dipole configuration:

http://www.echohifi.com/images/product/1638-large.jpg

[Big Daddy]

Ribbon beauties from Ambience.