HYBRID TWEETER - A DALI TRADEMARK

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HYBRID TWEETER - A DALI TRADEMARK
Due to the obvious benefits of the Hybrid Tweeter module, it has been used in most mid- and high-range DALI speakers for years - delivering a smooth and well-integrated sound for a wider listening position (wide dispersion).
by Simon W. February 22nd 2024

A DALI trademark
One of DALI's sound design trademarks is an extremely smooth and wide horizontal dispersion, which the Hybrid Tweeter module is designed to support. For this reason, it has been used for years in most mid- and high-range DALI speakers such as the EUPHONIA, HELICON, IKON MK2, IKON MK1, and MENTOR series.
Today the Hybrid Tweeter is used in most of our speaker models. It's used in popular series such as the KORE, EPIKORE, EPICON, RUBIKORE, PHANTOM M, and PHANTOM S. Just to name a few.
The Hybrid Tweeter consists of a soft dome tweeter and a planar tweeter and it allows us to get the best of both worlds in the quest for superior high-frequency reproduction. Both tweeters are free of artifacts such as resonances and high Q peaks within their working range. And when working in unison, they form the ideal frequency solution. Together, they create an amazing rendering of the high frequencies as well as a dispersion of high-frequency sounds that outperform other tweeter technologies. It starts working as low as 2.5 kHz and continues to perform well above 30 kHz.
Why a Hybrid Tweeter?
Pairing a soft dome tweeter with a planar tweeter delivers a smooth and well-integrated sound for a wider listening position (wide dispersion). This ensures that DALI loudspeakers are easy to position in any room as both the direct and reflecting signals have the same high quality when reaching your ears. The result is a consistently high sound quality across a much wider listening area.

Soft Dome Tweeter
The Soft Dome Tweeter is characterized by low resonance frequency, high power handling, and exceptional headroom for high sound pressure levels as well as extreme excursions. It is designed to reach higher into the very high frequencies than the norm for a soft dome tweeter.
Furthermore, it incorporates an ultra-thin magnetic fluid for cooling, which has very high flux saturation to achieve greater power handling. This induces a superb control of coil movement – even at very high sound pressure levels.
The dome material itself is very lightweight. It is so thin that the coating contributes significantly to the dome's structural stiffness.

Planar Tweeter
The Planar Tweeter is a true master of horizontal distribution of high frequencies and it is a superb partner for the Soft Dome.
The Planar Tweeter features a broad frequency band as well as an excellent dispersion in the higher frequencies. Furthermore, it is equipped with a rear chamber that is fitted with rigid bracing, and it is, therefore, shielded from the disruptive influence of the woofers.
In the Hybrid Tweeter, the Planar Tweeter is a magneto static type of tweeter where four bands of conductive material make up the active diaphragm, which is controlled by a strong magnetic field formed around it.

Why not use the dome or the planar alone?
A dome tweeter with a flat on-axis frequency response will not be flat when you are listening just slightly off-axis. Some tweeters even start to drop off at an earlier stage. This means that the listeners have to sit precisely on-axis between the speakers to enjoy the full spectrum of the music. However, this is rarely how you sit in a common living room. So to make up for this, DALI uses a planar tweeter, which is inherently excellent when it comes to reproducing high frequencies – even at significant off-axis angles.
On the other side, the planar tweeter is not used alone because the excursion is limited at low frequencies as it introduces distortion and seriously compromises dynamics and power handling.

The combination of the two in the Hybrid Tweeter module has several advantages: