Our native mobile app has a new name: Fora Communities. Learn more.

Speaker with ribbon tweeters

5155 Views 53 Replies 24 Participants Last post by eephusman, Jul 10, 2015

Elihawk

Discussion Starter · Mar 5, 2015 (Edited)

I have always loved the clarity of a ribbon tweeter when listening to music. My next speaker purchasewill be a speaker with a good ribbon tweeter, for mostly music. I recentlyheard the Acoustic Zen Adagio Junior, OUTSTANDING speaker,but at over 3,000/pr, probably not going to be a purchase I make. I am looking at either book/towers in the 1500/pr orless category, trying to make a list of speakers with ribbon tweeter. Please help with me other brands I should look at...
Again, 1500/pr or less, ribbon tweeter speakers only and perfer three way speaker, since I love a good midrange driver (but a two way will be okay as well).

1. Ascend Acoustic Sierra 2 with RAAL tweeter,essentially 1,500/pr. Great company, nice looking speaker/cabinet. I have only heard the CMT340, so I have never heard the ribbons from AA. Tower jump up to 2,700/pr, so those areout.

2. Philharmonitors 850/pr, beautiful cabinets and nothing Dennis Murphy does is sub par. He has talked on these boards about doing a three way speaker with a ribbon, BMR driver for midrange and woofer.That speaker I would buy right now!

3. Golden Ear Aon2/3 Books 800/pr, 1000/pr,Towers triton 7 1350/pr

4. Martin Logan LX15, 500/pr 35XT, 1200/pr

5. HTD level 3- ~350/pr for books, 900/pr for towers

6. Chane Arx 300/pr for books, 850/pr for towers.You don’t hear much about Chane and I have had a friend who swears the speakers he auditioned from Chane were terrible, but I have seen his room and not sure too many speakers would sound good in that room.

See less See more

1 - 20 of 54 Posts

Transmaniacon

· #2 · Mar 5, 2015

My money is on the Ascend Sierra-2 at this price range, but I also really enjoy the Martin Logan sound, a pair of 35XT bookshelves would run you $1200, and they look fantastic in the cherry finish.

http://www.amazon.com/MartinLogan-M...ef=sr_1_2?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1425572408&sr=1-2

SmittyJS

· #3 · Mar 5, 2015

Golden Ear Aon2 and 3, and Triton 7.

Legacy Studio HD is a few hundred more than your budget, but when you're talking $1,500 what's $300 more. I've also seen them below $1,500 used.

ien2

· #4 · Mar 5, 2015

I'd vote for waiting to see what that three-way is, with what little Dennis has leaked out it sounds like it could be a better value (and maybe better speaker) than the Sierra 2's. He already indicated it'll be priced lower.

65 Electra Glide

· #5 · Mar 5, 2015

ien2 said:
I'd vote for waiting to see what that three-way is, with what little Dennis has leaked out it sounds like it could be a better value (and maybe better speaker) than the Sierra 2's. He already indicated it'll be priced lower.

I concur. It almost sounds like it will be too good to be true, but at the very least, it's a no-brainer to wait a little longer and find out.

Elihawk

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 5, 2015

I updated the list to reflect some of your suggestions, just in case anyone else is looking for an affordable ribbon tweeter option (affordable can be open to interpetation, but 1500 or less is my definition). Thanks for the input, I was thinking Martin Logan last night, but just didn't get them on the list. Golden Ear, good reminder!
I emailed Dennis/Philharmonics, so hopefully he can give me an update on the speaker availability. He said in another thread that he had recently lost his cabinet maker, but hope to find another and was trying to use some modified cabinets from Parts Express for now.

Craig Peer

· #7 · Mar 5, 2015

Elihawk said:
I updated the list to reflect some of your suggestions, just in case anyone else is looking for an affordable ribbon tweeter option (affordable can be open to interpetation, but 1500 or less is my definition). Thanks for the input, I was thinking Martin Logan last night, but just didn't get them on the list. Golden Ear, good reminder!
I emailed Dennis/Philharmonics, so hopefully he can give me an update on the speaker availability. He said in another thread that he had recently lost his cabinet maker, but hope to find another and was trying to use some modified cabinets from Parts Express for now.

I absolutely love my Martin Logan Motion 40's, and other Motion series speakers. I have an 11 channel surround system using them. Ribbon tweeters sound excellent. if you are in Northern California, you can come hear mine.

I had a fellow AVS forum member over to my house to check out my VW600 projector. He was more surprised and impressed with the sound of the Martin Logan Motion speakers I have !!

LowTech1

· #8 · Mar 5, 2015

I think with the top 4,you can't go wrong.

Reactions: 1

theblackangus

· #9 · Mar 5, 2015

I have a set of Philharmonitors and I do like them quite a lot. The Martin Logans are the only others I have heard from that list and while they were good I think the phils sound slightly better.

doublewing11

· #10 · Mar 5, 2015

Seriously.....

Adam Audio Pencils or columns.........or Aerial 20T V2's are simply heaven!

murphy_5

· #11 · Mar 5, 2015

I Love my motion lx16's...the 35's are even better! Hands down the best under $500 pair of speakers I have heard...

htpcforever

· #12 · Mar 5, 2015

I just bought two GoldenEar Triton 7s and a 60C (for the Center). I love them.

Archaea

· #13 · Mar 5, 2015

Perhaps consider the Behringer Truth 3031A.

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/B3031A.aspx

I've been playing with the sister model to the 3031A, the Behringer Truth 2031A after reading the blind shootout that Earl Geddes performed with the 2031A Truth speaker against a Linkwitz Orion reference tower $6500 speaker where the Behringer was preferred by the blind meet voters. My 2031A doesn't have a ribbon tweeter, but the 3031A does. These speakers are very well designed and truly sound very good. Each individual speaker comes with it's own unique, QA agent signed frequency response capture verifying performance levels before leaving the factory. They have a very good polar plot, and a smooth frequency response rivaled only by speakers costing much more. They don't have a ton of output, but for critical listening they are proven exceptionally nice for the inexpensive/budget price. I'm selling my 2031A, and still want to try the 3031A next -- or maybe the 3030A for a smaller computer desk footprint.

See less See more

LowTech1

· #14 · Mar 6, 2015

Craig Peer said:
I absolutely love my Martin Logan Motion 40's, and other Motion series speakers. I have an 11 channel surround system using them. Ribbon tweeters sound excellent. if you are in Northern California, you can come hear mine.

I had a fellow AVS forum member over to my house to check out my VW600 projector. He was more surprised and impressed with the sound of the Martin Logan Motion speakers I have !!

I'm jealous your in N Cal..

Why did you go with the Motion 40's over the Esl's? I went with the Esl's over the GE triton 3's. The Aon 3's sounded awesome! I wonder how different the ribbons tweeter sound between the logans and Ge's..

discopaul

· #15 · Mar 6, 2015

I'd say the magnepan 1.7 but they are just slightly over your price range, around $1900. They are worth a listen for sure before you buy anything else.

hotrodguy

· #16 · Mar 6, 2015

Off the beaten path, my friend is a local speaker builder here in L.A. and his speakers are absolutely amazing and he's getting rave reviews. Granted they're all two way bookshelves but some of the best two way bookshelves I've heard. Starting at about $1500 but awesome. I have a pair of the original Grand Tetons in piano black.

http://www.wavetouchaudio.com/

Be sure to check out the review page too.

Elihawk

Discussion Starter · #17 · Mar 6, 2015

I hate to tell your buddy this, but someone stuck a popsicle stick in his woofer. He better get that thing out of there!

What the hell is that, a 3D phase plug?

toddman36

· #18 · Mar 6, 2015

I wish my budget allowed for a pr of Legacy Focus HE's and a Silverscreen HD!

hotrodguy

· #19 · Mar 6, 2015

Elihawk said:
I hate to tell your buddy this, but someone stuck a popsicle stick in his woofer. He better get that thing out of there! What the hell is that, a 3D phase plug?

Haha, that's funny! There's also one in the ribbon tweeter...

Both the "popsickle stick" and the cone around the drivers are for directionality. As you know, sounds waves travel in all directions once they leave the speaker, including crashing into each other at the center, this design helps control that. It givs you direct radiating sound without the need for elaborate acoustic treatment for a more controlled environment, basically aligning the sound waves and eliminating crosstalk of the sound waves from the center of the speaker.

Elihawk

Discussion Starter · #20 · Mar 6, 2015

toddman36 said:
I wish my budget allowed for a pr of Legacy Focus HE's and a Silverscreen HD!

Throw in a Legacy Goliath Subwoofer and you got yourself a Royal Flush!

1 - 20 of 54 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.