Soft Dome vs Metal Dome Tweeter: Audio Myths 

This channel, so far, appears to be one of the best accidental discoveries I’ve made in a while. I’ve not had time to watch too many videos but so far it appears to be everything I like most about audio reproduction; science/facts that are used in different combinations to make a sort of art. The basics are simple, anyone can easily grasp them, and are easily built upon yet there’s no end to what can be learned and used. Unfortunately channels like this, that actually gets into the science behind everything, aren’t easily found. Not by the average person anyway.

I have 2 way speakers designed and built by a small local manufacturer. It has SB Acoustics alu dome tweeter and alu midbass drivers. I love its sound. Very smooth, balanced and calm, I can listen to it hours without any fatigue.

Could be a self fulfilling prophecy in that designers know people expect a brighter sound from metal dome tweeters compared to soft domes and design the cross over network/L pads to match fueling the belief that metal domes are brighter than soft domes. I've read that myth a lot too on forums when I was starting my journey building my own speakers. In general I like the highs to be not too forward and bright so I picked soft domes, and it worked out well. But it makes perfect sense that it shouldn't matter when building your own crossover, you just measure them and create a network that brings all drivers in line SPL wise. There's shouldn't be a difference in SPL unless you make it so. Ringing, nodes and resonance can be a problem but I tend to think it's so small in that range (at least with 3 way speakers) it barely makes much of a difference at a certain quality level (my tweeters are in the 40-60 euros range). It's mainly for spatial cues, not so much to produce notes that are played. Brightness is mainly in the 1-3khz range according to Danny of GR-Research and I believe that to be accurate. I've crossed the mid range and tweeter at around 6khz and above 15khz I don't hear anything. 6-15khz is about 1.5 octave I think. I might buy a good quality metal dome tweeter to try it out, I'm curious how it would improve (or not) listening to music and how it's different. It's probably going to make more of a difference in a 2 way speaker design.

I appreciate this series of videos. I fondly remember the articles written by Alan Lofft, Ian G. Masters, Larry Klein, and Tom Nouisane (I'm dating myself) that tackled these same myths, and decades later the audiophile community is just as full of true believers. I blame the audiophile publications that have a vested interest in perpetuating the $$$=better narrative.

My two way speakers have Focal drivers. The tweeters are acid etched titanium inverted domes. They are the smaller version of their 90’s vintage tweeters, td90k’s vs the td120k’s. They are incredibly accurate, bright and not harsh at all. My old speakers had peerless soft domes in them, which were popular in the late 70’s. They are rectangular in shape with the wiring for the voice coil in the front of the tweeter. They are not as accurate as the Focals, and don’t play as high in frequency, but they sounded pretty good when I built those speakers. This is solely my opinion, but they measure quite different from each other, the Peerless tweeters having an f3 of 19k, while the Focals have an f3 of 23k. So I believe my opinion is correct.

Thanks for this. Maybe you can speak of the relationship between tube and solid state amplifiers and how they effect the sound of speakers.

Thanks for a great video. Cleared a lot of concepts.

In the early 90s, I bought Heybrook HB1s with the same Tweeter used in Monitor Audio speakers. My young ears could hear the breakup modes about 20k. I'm also the kid who couldn't stand store fluorescents. BUT some $6000 ProAcs, 10X the cost, had metal domes in a hi-end store with no audible problems. Lesson: Lower-quality metal domes cannot match the finest metal domes for detail and distortion.

One of the best informational channels on audio out there. So glad I stumbled across it. I'm finding perception to be the #1 cause of arguments... Like opinions, everyone has there own perception on how things sound. I'd rather see real scientific evidence, rather than opinions/perceptions, before I make a decision. This hobby is full of "experts" who can't back up their findings with measured data or applied scientific means of gathering such.

so lets say you want it modifed to be brighter how would you make your klipch speakers hit higher im curious

You guys do definitely make good videos, good job!

When a Canadian is telling me something I have faith. The one thing I wonder about is why some domes have a cap over dome and some don't.

Now to get crazy. Where would a compression driver and AMT fit? What do you think of those?

Thanks for clearing that out. Now I don't have to throw out my focal tweeters for a Silk dome tweeters. Can you also clarify if class d amplifier is inferior to class ab?

Man! This guy is so smart, and he teaches clearly.

Im guilty of having held that myth. Your video made me reflect on how/why i had acquired that view. I think I came to that conclusion that soft domes sounded warmer/less bright not because i was comparing metal dome, but just comparing cheaper low grade products i owned in the past that may have had mylar or other plastic material, or a strip of cheap metal for tweeters, all of which have rather poor sound quality. Thank you for this...i will try to audition as many speakers as I can with metal dome tweeters without bias going forward.

I reinstalled back the metal tweeter that came with the woofer and tune the dsp again. The tweeter sound is now as neutral as the silk tweeter and in harmony with woofer sound.

Are speakers for PA systems different from speakers for personal music?

I ordered a pair of Paradigm 200B bookshelves, metal dome... They sounded beautiful for 20 minutes, then my ears would be ringing and had a headache... Sent them back and just ordered a pair of Wharfdale Dentons... My ears agree with warner speakers with soft domes.

Love your videos & here is a topic, directly related to "tweeters" Hi-RES Audio ! What do you think about it ?

Hi Andrew, In this series of video could you please talk about impedance. I have a basic understanding of it but can't decipher all the different brands ways of describing this specidications. For example spec shows Impedance 8 Ohms nominal; 4 Ohms minimum ?? While another one rates the speakers at 4 ohms but in the same description says its compatible with 4 , 6, 8 ohms ??? I got more concern about this when I bought my last av receiver. Sony 1080 .when I opened the box there was a big sheet of paper with a warning not to use it with speakers less than 6 ohms. It is my understanding most avr are 8 ohms some 6 ohms. A lot of speakers coming out including yours are rated 4 ohms. ? VERY confusing to me all that stuff. Thanks

Why aren’t tweeters cones. Is it due to the directionality of high frequencies?

Most metal dome tweeters have a higher sensitivity so that contributes to easily over doing the highs And new models Can handle twice the power of soft dome tweeters

You didn't talk about resonance, which is the real difference and problem with hard dome tweeters. The harmonics produced from that resonance are like ringing a bell and that's where the metallic sound comes from. Soft domes have less resonance and dissipate it much faster. The downside of soft dome cones is lower resolution. Obviously, as you mentioned, the design is the most important fact to obtain a pleasant sound, but the main challenge for hard domes is resonance and the main challenge for soft domes is resolution, mainly at the highest frequencies. This should be very clear when designing a speaker.

The crossovers are important as they have diverse ranges for different speakers .

People saying metal tweeters are harsh have never heard a proper focal inverted aluminum/magnesium tweeter or have only compared cheap soft vs cheap metal

Do we need to worry about the sound coming from the rear of the tweeter cone? Where does it go and can you get cavity resonances?

Very good info

Great video - very informative, just a shame you couldn't find a better mic. 😂😂

I like metal dome tweeters in my car because...... they match the color of my dashboard. Hehe

They're midwoofers rather than tweeters, but I still wonder what's people's input on SEAS U18RNX/P VS L18RNX/P VS ER18RNX. Poly cone, aluminum cone and paper cone respectively. They all seem to be VERY hard choices as all of them seem fantastic midwoofers, preactically regardless of price bracket in theory... I don't know what these are capable of in practice however.

Having listened almost exclusively to soft dome tweeters in my speakers for the last 40 years I can tell you that there is an audible difference. I initially perceived it to be a slightly colder quality to the sound of my aluminum domes. Keep in mind my custom speakers have two aluminum domes per cabinet. In truth, I adjusted to the "new" sound within a week and don't even notice it now but enjoy those speakers immensely.

When looking for a set of loudspeakers I got this question a lot "what type of music do you listen to". What a stupid question. What I want is a loudspeaker that will as failfully as possible reproduce the signal. This is right up there with the notion that a center channel sounds better than a good 4.1 system. There are so many snake oil crap out there. And of course the more snake oil the more money you spend.

Love the videos, but gotta say, for an audio channel these videos are too quiet... I have to turn up the volume and then switch to another video or an ad plays and its extremely loud.

I'd argue that people who know what they are talking about are saying anything like that now, since beryllium is the most commonly used material in super high-end tweeters now. Then you got ceramic one of hardest substances around, that are even more expensive right at the top.

For your next video can you address the dual tweeters in your vp180 center channel?

I'm guess it has to do with mass. Fabric tweeters and paper woofers have less moving mass than metal type drivers. So the smooth or more transparent sound usually is a driver with less mass. A 6.5" heavy duty metal woofer is going to store more energy than a paper 6.5" woofer. There is always a trade off with every design choice. The metal tweeters are much more noticeable when they break up than fabric soft domes.

soft doemes hit more db at the higher frequencys i like it that way i dont like the low pitch sound of metal marerial to much db at 4k

I know in theory what you are saying may be correct - but I have yet to hear a metal domed loudspeaker I like .. and interestingly Wilson have moved away from the Focal metal dome to a soft dome tweeter .. and sound better for it.

We probably all agree that piezo tweets are for carnivals and fairgrounds 😁😁👍

people will tell one over another about Soft Dome vs Metal Dome Tweeter and viceversa but the reality is that most people listen with thier eyes. How hard can it be to close your eyes and listen. Why hasent't anybody done a blind test a real practical blindfolded test where the listener is blindfolded and the listener can swith between two sets of speaker A/B but without knowing wich one is soft dome or metal dome.

when i mean metal i mean klipsch they demand qaultiy its true it does affect it this guy just deosnt notice it he probablly has wayy to goood of hearing to notice a differnce i have bad hearing and notice every little .5 db differnce titanium is annoying it like the treble is to low pitched on the highs dont get up theri i wish i new his eq sectret he prob doesnt use klipsch cuz their terrible at hitting high like a soft doeme

Easy soft dome tweeters are little children finger magnets and metal tweeters although they still attract little fingers don't collapse as easily

Dude you do understand the concept of truisms and tendencies right? Saying metal domes can sound metalic and hard is not saying that ALL of them do. It's saying that more of them do than for other materials like silk. A generalization is valid if taken as a generalization not an absolute rule. Of course there are excellent metal domes but there are lots of nasty ones too especially those made back in the 80s. Just as there are both lousy and wonderful sounding soft domes. One advantage soft domes have which people rarely mention is that they have lower moving mass than do metal domes. That makes for potentially higher resolution of low level detail. But again there are other facts that determine quality so it's not an absolute rule.

this is easy metal domes - sound harsh and metallic. plastic domes - sound unnatural and plasticky. silk domes - soft and natural non-silk soft domes - soft but unnatural. diamond dome - clear and BRILLIANT you just need to learn how to deal with it. for example - take a regular AL dome tweeter, anodize it to a weird color like blueish-green and claim this is secret soft metal "alusilk" technology. (don't forget to double the price otherwise it will not be convincing)

Why do you need a tweeter

what is that music on the background its really fcking enoying

The myth originates from the fact, that most cheapo speakers have PP or Metal tweeters and soft domes are usually found in the higher range. That said, I agree with your statement about "engineering is king", since I know how good even simple components can sound, when they are made with concept and reasoning and vice versa. But, from what I've experienced, "good sound" lies in the ears/brain of the listener. It is almost as subjectable as musical taste. Take ten persons and ten pairs of speakers and you will never have all agree on which sounds the best. Some people can sense the difference between a harsh/soft sound others don't. Add to the equation the variable of the amp used and the conclusion for finding the best sound is only one: listen for yourself to various mixes and matches of amps/speakers, without any preconceptions and outer influences, possibly blind folded. I myself was surprised, how I ended up preferring cheaper components (prize wise) over top of the line ones.

The blind test you mentioned is already flaw in the first place. To compare whether metal dome really sound more harsh than a soft dome tweeter, you should design both speaker with a similar frequency response and crossover point. By pushing the output of the silk dome, of course you are making it sounds harsh and bright. What you did is simply stating a poor design crossover will sound bad no matter it is hard or soft dome tweeter and it did not show whether a hard dome sounds the same as a soft dome tweeter.

Sir, you have a part British, part American accent😊

I've heard some awful soft domes for the record though 😂

metal sounds metalic and unatural unless u put extremly high quality thruough it doem soft is more universal with quality

Why is the video and audio quality so bad in this video? Like there is a hissing sound in the whole video that sounds like the video was highly compressed before uploading to youtube! Not dismissing the content but you should make it better in future videos! Thank you for the lesson though!

Soft tweeters are less likely to convey the metal of instruments, but many love them because - with prolonged listening and a volume higher than average, you get less tired of them, their sound is not so annoying.

I have yet to hear a Corundum, Diamond or Ceramic tweeter that has ever sounded pleasant to me. Likewise I have only ever heard 1 horn based speaker that I could ever listen to for a prolonged period of time. I think some of this has to do with my own hearing deficiencies. It blows my mind that 30+thousand dollar speakers can have unpleasant sounding tweeters...... I know this is totally subjective, but maybe these opinions get passed along and create these preconceived notions that poison peoples' mind and create a bias.

Beyond anything else, reviewers want their opinions on sound to be treated as authoritative truth. As with tv shows, if their statements are less spectacular than a competing reviewer, they lose market share. So exaggerations grow, golden ears claims are profound, and bullshit reigns. You are best off simply ignoring all reviewers that fail to start by showing competent measurements. They don’t measure = they don’t have clue 1 what they are talking about.

Not a myth. Wait 20 yrs, youll throw away those hiss pots and put silk domes in every speaker you have