Transmission-line loaded tweeter?!

[KEW]

The Vandersteen 2ce signature II has been out for awhile and is generally known as a decent speaker.
I was just looking around today and noticed the following:

Tweeter:
1” Exclusive Dual-Chamber, Transmission-Line Loaded, Ceramic-Coated Alloy Dome with Ferrofluid Voice-Coil Cooling

I always think of transmission-line as a strategy for enhancing the quality of bass response, and I kind of reeled at the prospect of a T-L tweeter!
Do T-L advantages translate to use with tweeters?
What does T-L loading of a tweeter get you?
Is this really a thing of consequence?
Or is it just a claim they can make because of how they enclosed the tweeter, but it has no real effect on the sound?

 

[shadyJ]

It's probably used for damping backwaves from the tweeter. Transmission lines aren't just a way to load a woofer for backwave output, it can also be used for simply absorbing acoustic radiation from the back of the cone so that it does not bounce back and affect the cone motion. See the B&W Nautilus, for example.

 

[KEW]

Ahhh, that makes sense that a T-L would "give the back wave a diversion until it lost energy".

 

[TLS Guy]

Ahhh, that makes sense that a T-L would "give the back wave a diversion until it lost energy".

I have successfully used TLs to adsorb and totally damp the back wave of midrange units to reduce coloration. The problem is of course that it takes up a good deal of room in the enclosure, and is only practical in a large bass TL.

 

[gramsey]

I was given these little speakers, designed by David Gore. They have these crazy looking eyeball like tweeters. I hooked them up. After a few minutes of listening, I realized I was hearing something really special. On the back was a patent number. I looked it up . . . What are things that make you go "huh"?