Do cone tweeters sound better?

[Hari Iyer]

This is a question and also my own personal experience using cone tweeters and other types like Dome, compression drivers with waveguide, ribbon and piezo tweeters. What I have noticed with cone tweeters is a very natural decay of harmonics making them sound much smooth compared to other types. All other tweeters that I have used are not very good in harmonics decay causing them to sound a bit bright, artificial and spitty.

Will like to know others opinion on this topic.

 

[IndianEars]

Interesting. Worth looking into.

Which Hi Fidelity cone tweeters are out there, and which have u tried?

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

This is a question and also my own personal experience using cone tweeters and other types like Dome, compression drivers with waveguide, ribbon and piezo tweeters. What I have noticed with cone tweeters is a very natural decay of harmonics making them sound much smooth compared to other types. All other tweeters that I have used are not very good in harmonics decay causing them to sound a bit bright, artificial and spitty.

Will like to know others opinion on this topic.

I think there are too many variables in the mix sir. From caps used in the crossover, to cabling material/ geometry to cone material. Diamonds are all the rage these days it seems
I've had some silk dome tweeters that screamed and metal domes that are butter smooth. So difficult to judge I think

 

[Hari Iyer]

Interesting. Worth looking into.

Which Hi Fidelity cone tweeters are out there, and which have u tried?

I am comparing with the following cone tweeters,
- Telefunken Isophon 4" tweeter - this is from the 1960's i think - vintage
- Bolton 3" cone tweeters - this is from 1988 - again Indian vintage

Both the above tweeters have potential to beat the below other tweeters that i have used,
- JBL selenium compression driver using a wooden waveguide - i was never able to tame its harmonics, hence sounded very spitty
- Tymphany 1" dual ring radiator with waveguide - silk dome tweeter - this was a bit better than the JBLs, but again in some tracks the harmonics decay was not as good as the cone tweeters.

After testing daily for 2 weeks, i have now ordered one more pair of Isophon 4" tweeters to make it permanent in my setup. These tweeters are very relaxed and without any listening fatigue - IME.

 

[Hari Iyer]

I think there are too many variables in the mix sir. From caps used in the crossover, to cabling material/ geometry to cone material. Diamonds are all the rage these days it seems
I've had some silk dome tweeters that screamed and metal domes that are butter smooth. So difficult to judge I think

Keeping all the other things same like caps, cables and changing only the tweeters this is what i have noticed. YMMV.
Diamonds could be good but never had the opportunity to listen. What i think is in paper cones due to the inherent property of the cone material it does not go into cone breakups that easily like dome tweeters causing the harmonics to decay naturally. Dome tweeters can't control the harmonics even for the double ring radiator type and leaks some harmonics. I have used the track - Hoshwalon ko khabar kya.flac for my analysis of the tweeters. In this track when Jagit singh sings Hoshwalon then there is a strong sibilant in this word in both the dome and CD tweeters. But with everything else same, there is no sibilance in both the cone tweeters. BTW, all the tweeters ironically measure the same objectively. Roll-off at around 10KHz which makes me ponder - does measurement even make any sense in this case.

 

[square_wave]

I am not an expert in this. With enough exploration, you may be able to eliminate the problem. With both approaches, there may be pros and cons. The case must be that the pros far outweigh the cons of cone tweeters for the high end audio designers to almost completely discard it for their designs. I know the dispersion characteristics is fantastic for dome tweeters. Also since the size of cones are typically more than 1 inch, are they really suited for the highest frequencies making the crossover point much lower than desired ?

I have owned a few vintage speakers in the past with cone tweeters. They were rather blah $^% ... sounding.

 

[Hari Iyer]

The dome tweeter that i have used is the Tymphany XT25TG30-04 Dual Ring Radiator Tweeter and the link is https://electrocarts.in/product/peerless-by-tymphany-xt25tg30-04-dual-ring-radiator-tweeter/
This tweeter has rave reviews and is regarded as quite good for its low distortion and linear response. I am not saying that this tweeter is bad, but on some tracks they do not handle the harmonics quite well and gets spitty. In comparison i have yet to listen a track on the cone tweeter that sound spitty. Hope i am on the proper track on this. Wondering.

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

BlieSMa T34D-4 34mm Diamond Dome tweeter review | HiFiCompass

1. What and why am I testing? 2. What did the manufacturer state? 3. Visual inspection 4. Impedance frequency response 5. On-axis frequency response (at 315 mm) 6. Off-axis frequency responses (at 315 mm) 7. Harmonic distortion (at 315 mm) 8. Voice coil current harmonic distortion 9. Step...

hificompass.com

This is the first commercially available diamond dome tweeter that I've come across. Only 3100 Euros earch

 

[bornfi]

If you meant the ones came with Sonodyne Uranus then ‘yes’, I am in agreement.