Speaker Specs? - Help!

[shokhead]

The M22 stacks up very well. Nice and balanced, maybe a bit forward for some, but when the volume gets loud, the metal tweeter loses its composure. Good mids, no boxiness.

Whats the difference between the different material used for tweeters and is one better then another?

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Whats the difference between the different material used for tweeters and is one better then another?

Good question. There are several different types.

Cone tweeters are efficient and the most economical. They have a limited dispersion pattern. They are used in the most basic systems. ie KLH.

Dome tweeters - the type found in most home speakers - have a more linear response and are more accurate. They also have a much wider dispersion pattern than any other type. Some domes are made of metals like neodymium or titanium that yield extended high frequency response. Others are made of Mylar, or a fine cloth like silk for a less extended but somewhat more linear, smoother sound. Some are made from a combination of materials. The dome can be made from virtually any material. Cloth, silk, boron, titanium, paper, Kevlar, and flat aluminium honeycomb.

Horn Tweeters are powered either by a dynamic (magnet & coil) diaphragm, or by a Piezo driver. They are the most powerful high frequency emitter but more directional, and may lack the extended range of the domes. Horns are basically domes or cones that have been loaded with a better control of the air via the horn structure aligned before them. They produce higher efficiencies but at the price of colorations as the higher frequencies echo down the throat of the horn. ie Klipsch.

Panel or film drivers (ribbons and electrostatics) are a high end style tweeter, and are usually sought after by the most demanding listeners. These drivers consist of very thin films (between 1/3 and 1 one thousandth of an inch thick) suspended in either a magnetic field (ribbon) or an electrostatic field (electrostatic). An audio signal is applied to the film and the entire film surface moves which pushes the air. This is very different from the dome which is driven only at the perimeter.

 

[jaxvon]

You mustn't forget about the new B&W diamond tweeter Buckeye! That thing is ultra-linear and rigid. It doesn't break up until it nears 100kHz. Quite amazing if you ask me.

 

[WmAx]

Dome tweeters They also have a much wider dispersion pattern than any other type.

The widest dispersion front-only radiating tweeters are ribbon tweeters such as the Raven drivers. This is due to the tiny horiztonal surface area, which permits a point source behaviour over most of the operational bandwidth. However, due to the longer than usual vertical surface area, the vertical disperion is more limited. Most dome tweeters start to demonstrate directional behaviour before 10kHz at vertical and horiztonal planes. Directionality is related to the width of the radiating area in a given plane vs. frequency wavelength.

-Chris

 

[WmAx]

You mustn't forget about the new B&W diamond tweeter Buckeye! That thing is ultra-linear and rigid. It doesn't break up until it nears 100kHz. Quite amazing if you ask me.

Amazing, technically, perhaps. But, it's still 99% hype.

-Chris

 

[silversurfer]

Great stuff WmAx.....

Which all goes to say, no matter how good the parts of a speaker are, the art of making them all work well together is at least or more important.

 

[JoeE SP9]

Hi. What is the best way to tell a good speaker in terms of reading the specs. I realize that listening to speakers in the store is the best barometer, and taste varies between the user, etc. What can you do when choosing between different speakers that all seem pretty good. Is frequency response a good spec to check? If so, can you explain how the ranges are understood (i.e. is 40Hz - 27KHz better than 69Hz - 18KHz)? I'm looking for some decent quality (but inexpensive) bookshelf speakers (Polk, JBL, Yamaha) to add to my current system. Nothing crazy. Thanks for the help. Be nice, I'm not a genius when it comes to this stuff.

The only way to buy speakers is to listen to them first. Nothing else matters.

 

[shokhead]

I didnt listen to my sub before i got it and do you think the speakers are going to sound the same at Good Guys as your living room?

 

[silversurfer]

I didnt listen to my sub before i got it and do you think the speakers are going to sound the same at Good Guys as your living room?

Nope. But if you understand the differences in your room and gear compared to what is used at Good Guys, it will at least give you an idea.

I have heard some outstanding speakers in my own setup and at a friend's house....and in the two different places, they sounded extremely different. He has higher end electronics than I do, but the room had much more hard reflective surfaces.

 

[shokhead]

Nope. But if you understand the differences in your room and gear compared to what is used at Good Guys, it will at least give you an idea.

I have heard some outstanding speakers in my own setup and at a friend's house....and in the two different places, they sounded extremely different. He has higher end electronics than I do, but the room had much more hard reflective surfaces.

I can get the same idea at Axiom by looking at the spec's and reading reviews. Dont you think?

 

[silversurfer]

I can get the same idea at Axiom by looking at the spec's and reading reviews. Dont you think?

From reviews, you can get an idea, but nothing replaces actually listening to the speakers.

From specs, no, I think you actually need to see a set of measurements.

 

[Tex-amp]

Specs don't tell you how a speaker is voiced only how much variation from a flat response they have, power consumption, and the range they can reproduce. But not how they sound!

 

[DSLO]

Well, I ended up with the Polk Monitor 40 speakers. I haven't really used them much since yesterday, but the sound seems to be very sharp. On a side note, while I get deep discounts on other audio/video equipment I've purchased lately, for some reason Polk doesn not leave much room ($) for the retailer. I heard Bose, and some other manufacturers do the same. So, I ended up paying about $250 for the pair. Good or bad? I have the Yamaha RX-V1500 receiver that I got a few weeks ago, old Yamaha tower speakers and sub, and some old Advent speakers. It's a makeshift home theater (but I'm trying). Don't know if it's me or what, but while listening to dvd's the volume has to be in the -40 range (dialogue still sort of low). Is this normal? I expected the audio to be cranking , but maybe not. Also, I noticed if the night audio is set to cinema (on the receiver), the dialogue is somewhat better. Should I keep this on? Thanks for everyone's input. It's been helpful.

 

[WmAx]

From specs, no, I think you actually need to see a set of measurements.

Right. The published specifications and the very limited measurements that are provided by manufacturers are nearly useless. Sufficient measurements will strongly coorelate with how a speaker will sound and react in an environment, but this is alot (!) of data to digest, and most people would not be able to interpret the data even if it was published.

-Chris