Home General Asylum

General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ General Asylum ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

Ultrasonics?

Going past 20kHz is possible, but more difficult. Currently the easiest thing to do is to purchase a 1" beryllium dome tweeter from Scan-Speak. This will give flat frequency response to about 30kHz and then start to rise as the diaphragm "breaks up" at its first "oil can" resonant mode, with a 10dB - 15dB peak at around 40kHz. Diamond is stiffer, but also heavier and won't go much higher. The max SPL at 1 meter will be around 96dB or so. More than that and you will likely blow the voice coil.

If you need higher SPLs, then try to purchase the 1" Be dome horn tweeter used in the JBL K2-S9800. It's discontinued now, but the horn loading will give another 10 dB output over roughly the same frequency range.

To go beyond that, you will either have to have something custom-made or else use what they use for ultrasonic transducers - piezoelectric crystals. These operate in a resonant mode and are only good for creating one single frequency. This is OK for a signaling system but horrible for music.

There were also some Be ribbons made by Pioneer/TAD that would go to 40kHz, but they were super expensive ($1000 each) and discontinued 5 years ago. They had a built-in horn, but the rectangular shape of the diaphragm made the off-axis dispersion different in the two axes.

Hope this helps.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  VH Audio  

Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
FAQ

Post a Message!

 Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]