Horn Tweeters vs Bullet Tweeters

RE: Horn Tweeters vs Bullet Tweeters, posted on July 28, 2014 at 18:49:10
Bill Fitzmaurice Industry Professional Posts: 5371 Location: New England Joined: October 20, 2002	What's usually referred to as bullet tweeters are horn loaded tweeters with a very large phase plug, which resembles a very large bullet.

RE: Horn Tweeters vs Bullet Tweeters, posted on July 28, 2014 at 18:53:03
jcmusic Audiophile Posts: 1387 Location: New Orleans, La. Joined: June 13, 2006	Ok thanks.

RE: Horn Tweeters vs Bullet Tweeters, posted on July 29, 2014 at 05:56:43
b.l.zeebub Audiophile Posts: 9361 Location: 52deg 28'N,1deg56'W Joined: April 17, 2006	As Bill said bullets are horn tweeters. I suspect the main difference will be that bullets tend to have a very narrow dispersion compared to some other horn tweeters which may or may not be what your situation demands.

RE: Horn Tweeters vs Bullet Tweeters, posted on July 29, 2014 at 09:20:40
Bill Fitzmaurice Industry Professional Posts: 5371 Location: New England Joined: October 20, 2002	>'I suspect the main difference will be that bullets tend to have a very narrow dispersion compared to some other horn tweeters' They do have the same pattern on the vertical and horizontal axis, which may or may not be appropriate for a given application.

RE: Horn Tweeters vs Bullet Tweeters, posted on July 29, 2014 at 11:10:07
b.l.zeebub Audiophile Posts: 9361 Location: 52deg 28'N,1deg56'W Joined: April 17, 2006	What I meant is that bullets have a 40deg conical dispersion while other compression tweeters usually have a much wider dispersion like 100x60 or even 140x40 for the slot-loaded ones. (Data from Beyma for three tweeters using the same motor assembly but different horns/loading.)

RE: Horn Tweeters vs Bullet Tweeters, posted on July 29, 2014 at 11:22:56

eso
Manufacturer

Posts: 7843
Location: Long Beach, CA, USA
Joined: March 15, 2001

All of the Bullets I'm aware of are Ring Radiators, i.e. the diaphram is a ring concentric with the voice coil and former. They are typically horn loaded and the large phase plug previously mentioned is a necessary result of the large middle area in the ring radiator design.

But just about any tweeter can be adapted to a horn, whether soft dome, planar, ribbon, compression or plasma type.

Really I'd say that most bullet tweeters are horns, but not all tweeters are horns although they can be adapted to one.

The image shows a comparison between a standard compression driver diaphram and the diaphram of a ring radiator. Should be self explanatory.

eso
They were a carnival of American decay on parade, and they had no idea of the atrocity they had inflicted upon themselves." Henry Chinaski

RE: Horn Tweeters vs Bullet Tweeters, posted on July 29, 2014 at 11:43:27
Bill Fitzmaurice Industry Professional Posts: 5371 Location: New England Joined: October 20, 2002	>What I meant is that bullets have a 40deg...dispersion Some do, but not all. For instance,these are 80 degrees: http://www.parts-express.com/eminence-apt-80-super-tweeter-with-80-degree-conical-horn--290-532 http://www.parts-express.com/pedocs/specs/294-580-bc-speakers-de35-specifications-45777.pdf Like all horns the angle of dispersion can be tweaked with changes in the horn geometry.

RE: Horn Tweeters vs Bullet Tweeters, posted on July 29, 2014 at 12:19:05
b.l.zeebub Audiophile Posts: 9361 Location: 52deg 28'N,1deg56'W Joined: April 17, 2006	I'm not familiar with those. The ones I'm familiar with are those made by JBL, Beyma and FaitalPro which all have 40 deg conical dispersion. Anyway since I do not know all available bullets I used the phrase 'tend to' in my first post.

RE: Horn Tweeters vs Bullet Tweeters, posted on July 29, 2014 at 14:47:31
zako Audiophile Posts: 935 Location: Mo. Joined: March 29, 2004	The so called bullet,,,do not have a phase plug,,,If you slice the socalled bullet in half,,, you will see that is is a circular HORN some call it a ring radiater but it is a true horn,,,My JBL 075 has a dispersion of 90 degrees

RE: Horn Tweeters vs Bullet Tweeters, posted on July 29, 2014 at 16:00:39
b.l.zeebub Audiophile Posts: 9361 Location: 52deg 28'N,1deg56'W Joined: April 17, 2006	I used to have 2402s which have a dispersion of 40deg.

RE: Horn Tweeters vs Bullet Tweeters, posted on July 29, 2014 at 18:56:34
Bill Fitzmaurice Industry Professional Posts: 5371 Location: New England Joined: October 20, 2002	Some bullets are ring radiators, but not all. In a ring radiator the bullet style center plug doesn't just fill the space in the middle and secure the inner suspension, it also comprises part of the horn flare. But sometimes it's just a phase plug over a dome diaphragm. For that matter a 1005 style piezo has a bullet phase plug over a cone diaphragm.

Useful generalities, posted on July 31, 2014 at 09:28:57

BofService
Audiophile

Posts: 741
Location: Atlanta
Joined: February 28, 2003

Since we are answering a fairly novice question...

Since "bullets" are horns with compression drivers (a certain type of small horn with some type of compression diaphragm/driver) bullet tweeters tend to be highly efficient like other types of horns. And, as compared with larger and more typical horns they tend to produce more output at higher frequencies. This is why they are frequently paired with larger horns to fill in the frequency response above where the larger horn is able to perform well.

Though these are the general properties of bullet tweeters, there are some fake bullets out there that look like bullet tweeters but don't use compression drivers. No telling what these will sound like. There are also MANY "real" bullet tweeters being sold that are poorly designed or manufactured, so are difficult to integrate into a speaker system to produce good sound.

High Efficiency Speaker Asylum

Horn Tweeters vs Bullet Tweeters

70.180.113.233