Diamonds and Tweeters Oh My..!

We’re talking audio speakers today, which is where the “tweeter” comes into play. Webster informs us that a tweeter is…”a small, high-fidelity speaker for reproducing high-frequency sounds”. In a loudspeaker you will generally find a tweeter working in conjunction with a woofer, which handles the lower frequencies. This is an oversimplification of course but gives you a general idea…

When speakers are designed, every aspect of that speaker influences the final sound, and this includes the material from which the speakers are constructed of. The dome of a tweeter – think of it as the little curved part – can be made of many different materials. Fabrics such as silk, various metals… they all lend certain characteristics to the overall sound.

What does this have to do with a girl’s best friend..?

I am here to tell you that diamonds are in fact being used by some speaker manufacturers for the dome surface of their tweeters. The hard surface of the diamond-coated dome lends itself to lower distortion levels. If the speaker is engineered well, this can lead to a more precise representation of the signal sent to it from the CD, vinyl, mp3, etc…

For you real geeks out there, click here for a nice white-paper on the subject to melt your brain with.

Several manufacturers have taken to using diamond tweeters. A couple of the more accessible are B&W whom I talked about previously (pictured above), as well as Usher Audio. Follow the links for more information and then take a listen and see what you think.

Maybe diamonds are an ear’s best friend…