| Re: BEYMA TPL 150 [message #74754 is a reply to message #74736] |
Thu, 06 December 2012 10:43  |
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Wayne Parham
Messages: 18691
Registered: January 2001
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Illuminati (33rd Degree) |
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I think ribbon distortion is probably on-par with other direct radiators. A good high-quality ribbon is probably capable of low distortion like a cone/dome speaker with a shorting ring. They can come close to the low-distortion of a horn, but rarely better. The reason is simple - the horn loading reduces excursion, reducing distortion often by a factor of 10x.
I always liked ribbons because they are so clear and crisp. I think it's mostly their extension though that people notice. I find I also like the sound of some horn loaded "super-tweeters", again, I think mostly because of their extension.
Back when the compression drivers would only hit 10kHz, I didn't care for them much because of their lack of extension. To me they sounded like paper cone tweeters only they could get much louder. Their lack of extension made them sound too dull.
But these days, any modern compression driver will reach 15kHz and most of the better ones will get to 18kHz or more. That's not quite the extension of a ribbon, but it is definitely crisp sounding and I think it's very satisfying. That, plus their direcivity characteristics and the fact that they are so efficient, make them a much better choice, in my opinion.
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