Do you like AMT tweeters?

[ThatSoundsGood]

The Neo is very good, but it isn't an AMT. It is a planar magnetic. I've had both the Neo and now an AMT (AST2560, same as the Bordeaux) in my DIY speakers and slightly prefer the AMT both objectively and subjectively.

Not sure if they are better than regular tweeter, but I run them dipole.

Fair enough. My next DIY build will have some Mundorf AMT's so I'm excited to experiment with them. The Neo's are just finicky and the frequency response is not very flat so it's challenging with the crossover.

 

[Deleted member 51065]

I think cymbals can sound a little more realistic through AMT's

 

[Chromatischism]

I think cymbals can sound a little more realistic through AMT's

Is that just bare drive unit or on finished speakers? Because most speakers I've seen with AMTs have the tweeter turned up either a little or a lot, in an attempt to make it stand out. Some extra pizazz on the top end can certainly a make cymbals shine on any tweeter.

 

[thaddeussmith]

I like my AMT's.

https://imgur.com/aZd7rNT

https://imgur.com/SzfmjqQ

https://imgur.com/3YfcRa5

 

[Weeb Labs]

AMTs and ribbon tweeters are aesthetically pleasing to me but beyond that, I have no preference. So long as the driver's directivity and distortion characteristics are well suited to the desired construction and crossover point, it will perform well. There exists no special "sound" unique to AMTs and ribbons.

 

[Deleted member 51065]

Is that just bare drive unit or on finished speakers? Because most speakers I've seen with AMTs have the tweeter turned up either a little or a lot, in an attempt to make it stand out. Some extra pizazz on the top end can certainly a make cymbals shine on any tweeter.

I was comparing to how cymbals actually sound; just my personal opinion, mind you I have spent many hours playing them

 

[Chromatischism]

I was comparing to how cymbals actually sound; just my personal opinion, mind you I have spent many hours playing them

Right but on what speaker?

 

[Deleted member 51065]

Right but on what speaker?

Quite a few over the years; Emotiva, Goldenears, Wharfedale & some studio monitors; they often don't have a name on them.

 

[puppet]

I was comparing to how cymbals actually sound; just my personal opinion, mind you I have spent many hours playing them

I think this comes down to the AMTs' transient response and the lack of the typical coil driven cone break up and distortion levels. The AMT power handling is pretty good.

 

[funnychap]

AMT = ASR Measured Tweeter ?

Ideally I would get floorstanding speakers by GoldenEar Triton Reference or T66 or One.R, with the awesome AMT ribbon tweeters.

I have a mixed setup (home theater 7.2.4) with an Arcam AVR5 receiver and a 150in 6x9 projector pulldown screen that's 11' wide x 6' high. Even movies sound better with the GoldenEar BRX speakers with their AMT ribbon tweeter.

I upgraded my front L and R speakers to the GoldenEar BRX (with AMT ribbon tweeter) (I was searching for short 12in tall bookspeakers). Wow, clear, live, airy, gives me goosebumps, and adding the subwoofers did not cover up the treble/vocalists, the biggest soundstage.
I now hear so many vocalists taking in breaths before they sing (before I could only hear a few), I can hear things that are really low in volume and more instruments (especially cymbals), different performers moving around on the stage when listening to broadway musical soundtracks.
The best bass at 40Hz. The speakers disappeared so I felt the singers in the room.
Elvis Presley's vibrato has never sounded so live until now.

I liked my new pair of GoldenEar BRX speakers for music so I was curious if it would improve my old center channel speaker (like how the new BRX improved the L/R speakers for movies).

So today I hooked up the BRX to the center channel...and wow. There were high notes missing with my old speaker!
So I bought a 3rd GoldenEar BRX to replace my center channel speaker.
----
What's amazing is that previously I bought better RCA cables/interconnects by Worlds Best Cables (mogami wire and Neutrik plugs) from Amazon but I did not hear an improvement with my old speakers.

But now I do hear an improvement with the GoldenEars BRX in the high notes, female vocalists, cymbals, bigger soundstage, and more airy.

source=Apple Music (hires lossless, and spatial audio surround music) and Denafrips Ares II 12th dac (R2R technology for 3D live/realistic sound).

 

[tw 2022]

Is that just bare drive unit or on finished speakers? Because most speakers I've seen with AMTs have the tweeter turned up either a little or a lot, in an attempt to make it stand out. Some extra pizazz on the top end can certainly a make cymbals shine on any tweeter.

That was one of the main parts of the emotiva b1 mod , Dennis flattened out the rising treble response... It makes a difference..

 

[BigRez]

Probably a roughly Gaussian distribution, with a mean of meh.
Not unlike our (late) puddy cat, Zappa.
Zappa was grey on the average.



I guess the SD would be interesting to calculate.
(for AMT preference, that is, not Zappa)

As a photographer who grew up carying an 18% gray card around and studying Ansel Adams ZOne System, I appreciate this humor very much.

 

[jim1274]

Not really all that much talk about AMT tweeters here, especially the dipolar “Great Heil” AMT. I’ve been playing my ESS AMT 1b extensively, primarily in some soundstage testing vs Omnis and unipoles, the AMTs being only dipole in the house for this purpose. I never really was all that impressed previously used alone in 2 channel stereo, using them for a number of years as surrounds until going to an ATMOS object based 7.1.4 setup, DOLBY recommending uniopoles in this configuration. Once I figured out proper placement of the AMT 1b, liked them a lot more. The dipole radiation needed more spacing from the front wall to sound right. Have not systematically assessed them on sonic characteristics beyond soundstage aspects, but played a lot lately and really like the detail resolution that exceeds any speaker tested so far.

Just thought I’d throw my 2 cents in. You could put me in the “like” camp.

I’m Talking about these—this is the latest incarnation but looks to be basically the same as mine:

AMT-1D Revival (Pair)

The AMT-1D Revival is the spiritual successor to the legendary AMT 1D. Characterized by excellence in every detail, you'll find a build and finish designed to last, equipped with the latest drivers and crossovers. Please note that each AMT-1D Revival is carefully crafted by hand, making each...

essspeakers.store

 

[Ian Knight]

I have a pair of Martin Logan 35XTi . To my ears the tweeter in that speakers starts to get uncomfortable with Sopranos or massed orchestral strings at medium volumes. The tweeters don't have the pristine hf of a well implemented dome tweeter in my opinion. The over excitation and compression sounds quite unlistenable and unnatural. Almost as if some sort of limiter or protection is kicking in.
They never exhibited these properties in the dem room or the shop on a high powered HiFi Rose amplifier used at much higher levels. Perhaps they are objecting to my NAD C368 amplifier.

 

[tw 2022]

I have a pair of Martin Logan 35XTi . To my ears the tweeter in that speakers starts to get uncomfortable with Sopranos or massed orchestral strings at medium volumes. The tweeters don't have the pristine hf of a well implemented dome tweeter in my opinion. The over excitation and compression sounds quite unlistenable and unnatural. Almost as if some sort of limiter or protection is kicking in.
They never exhibited these properties in the dem room or the shop on a high powered HiFi Rose amplifier used at much higher levels. Perhaps they are objecting to my NAD C368 amplifier.

the ml's i have heard tend to have elevated f.r. ..... the emotiva b1 mods i have had the treble flattened by Dennis Murphy , they are in no way harsh on good recordings (although sibilant recordings can get "screechy"), i think frq. response is key here not the type of tweeter...

 

[JohnnyAudio]

The ones I've heard have been very nice sounding, but do seem to lack a certain bite or sharpness (compared to a waveguided metal dome, for instance). They don't quite seem to convey the reality of sound to the same extent, seems a bit too good, if you know what I mean.

What are your thoughts on AMTs?I

I have 6 of them in my system using active crossovers and tube amps. When people want a little extra sparkle in the music, I turn them on. I use ESS but there may be some better units now. Does anyone know of a better AMT?

 

[JohnnyAudio]

Outside ESS (Heil AMT) they are crap i think. As the Heil is a bipolar design it's hard to implement right, so often done wrong. But when done' right, it's better than any dome or compression driver i heared. The best i heared was a modified version of the Heil speaker with it and a 10" woofer, wit the tweeter crossed at 700hz i thought (it's a while ago).

Someone in Belgium has a bunch of the very nice Air Blades, the manufacture told me that. Do you know if they are in a concert hall or club?

 

[MattHooper]

I've never heard one which properly integrates with a cone bass-mid driver. There always seems to be some added 'tinsel' on top, more than a well integrated dome/cone can do...

I’ve had similar impressions.

 

[Jon L]

I have 6 of them in my system using active crossovers and tube amps. When people want a little extra sparkle in the music, I turn them on. I use ESS but there may be some better units now. Does anyone know of a better AMT?
View attachment 384297

I have 6 of them as well, and you might want to look into stacking 3 on each side instead of one at a time

0726240757_HDR by drjlo2, on Flickr

 

[ThatSoundsGood]

This is the result of my build with a Mundorf AMT and it is definitely my favorite. The 1db elevation of the AMT tweeter works well in room since the vertical dispersion is minimized. I prefer these tweeters over the Bliesma T34B that I have used in a build.