Hi-fi enthusiasts are often forced into swampy waters. And it is not always easy to identify which innovations really have a beneficial impact in our experience, and which respond solely to a marketing trick devised by the manufacturer who intends to sell them to us.
One of the strategies most used by brands to capture our attention is to use exotic materials in the manufacture of their loudspeakers that are intended to reflect sophistication and complexity. The problem is that sometimes their real input it’s not clear at alland it is not even noticeable using the analytical methods used by laboratories.
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However, on other occasions the presence of these unusual materials is justified. And when it is, the brands do not skimp when it comes to breaking down in great detail its optimal physicochemical properties. In this article we invite you to investigate four of the exotic materials that some high-quality loudspeakers offer us in their tweeter. And yes, all of them are worth it.
the synthetic diamond
This material is even more refined and eye-catching than the graphene used by some speaker manufacturers in their most sophisticated speakers. The brands that use it in their tweetersamong which are the British Bowers & Wilkins or the Taiwanese Usher Audio, manufacture it using a method known as chemical vapor deposition, a procedure that allows it to be produced industriallybut preserving the physicochemical properties of natural diamond.
The diaphragm of diamond tweeters is characterized by very low mass and extremely high rigidity, making it capable of withstanding natural mechanical stress to which one is subjected tweeter assuming a minimum deformation that is possible to measure with the appropriate instrument. These properties are precisely those that place it close to the ideal pistonic behavior.
Bowers & Wilkins, Kharma and Usher Audio are three of the speaker manufacturers that use synthetic diamond domes in the tweeters of their high-end offerings.
The diaphragm of a perfect loudspeaker should be able to move back and forth instantaneously, changing direction without being subjected to inertia. And, of course, without deforming in the least as a result of the mechanical stress to which it is subjected when it is generating the pressure waves that we perceive as sound. Of course this is just a theoretical ideal completely unfeasible.
Still, this precept is useful to loudspeaker designers because it helps them identify materials whose behavior when used in a tweeter diaphragm is closest to that of an ideal piston. I have had the opportunity to listen many times tweeters of diamond of B&W, Kharma and Usher Audio, and all of them stand out for its high resolution and extensive frequency response.
beryllium
This chemical element is a very interesting alternative to diamond in the tuning process of the diaphragm of a tweeter. In fact, some loudspeaker manufacturers, such as the French company Focal or the Japanese TAD (Technical Audio Devices Laboratories) prefer it. Interestingly, both companies produce their diaphragms using essentially the same manufacturing method. chemical vapor deposition used to make the diamond domes.
French brand Focal produce high-quality beryllium tweeters, although their high price means they are only available in their most sophisticated and expensive speakers.
Brands that prefer beryllium often argue that the physicochemical properties of this element give the tweeter behavior closer to that of an ideal piston than diamond. However, in practice these loudspeakers have a similar character. In fact, the tweeters Beryllium, like diamond, stand out for their level of detail and wide frequency response.
the zylon
This synthetic fiber produced in Japan is if anything). Too bad they aren’t more affordable.
Silk
This is perhaps the least exotic of the materials that we have collected in this article, but even so, many manufacturers of high-end loudspeakers bet on him to tune up your tweeters. Silk domes are not as stiff as beryllium, diamond, or zylon domes; they are not usually able to deal with a power delivery as high as the latter; its frequency response is not as wide, and, finally, its level of detail is usually less.
We’ve heard it, and Dynaudio’s Esotar3 silk tweeter is a real stunner. He gives us a detailed sound, handles a lot of power and is not aggressive at all. Due to its performance it rivals the best beryllium and diamond designs.
However, this does not prevent such reputable brands as Dynaudio, DALI, Wilson Audio or ATC, among many others, from choosing them. And many hi-fi fans also prefer them because its sound is less incisiveand also less strident, when reproducing the higher frequencies of the audible range.
Some audiophiles claim that metal tweeters cause them more acoustic fatigue, which may force them to limit the length of their listening. These are the enthusiasts who tend to go for the tweeters silk, which can also be surprisingly sophisticated. Ideally, and this is the best advice we can offer you, is to listen to them before buying an acoustic box to have the opportunity to choose the speakers that fit best with our favorite sound aesthetic.
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