The Lifespan of a ribbon tweeter....

nooshinjohn

Just curious if anyone has an idea as to how long a ribbon tweeter should last before being replaced or otherwise serviced? The 6 foot talll ribbons in my MG20's are working alright, but seem to lack the crispmess and detail I would expect from them. Magnepan will do a replacement of them for just a hundred bucks apiece, and I was thinking that I would take them up on the offer, but wanted some feedback first.


Thanks

tonyb

Though I don't have big ribbons like in the Maggies, but from being around those that do, there's alot of variables that go into the life span of ribbons. Smoking, humidity, to name a few. Not having them near a heating duct in the winter or A/C duct in the summer. They are more fickle John, in general, and if they can be done for 100 clams, seems well worth it to me. Actualy I'm shocked it's not more.

That said, many moons ago a pair of Apogee's graced my home for a short period. To me they sounded great but as time went on it seemed to me the ribbons also lost something, almost like they became less flexable or something. Couldn't explain it myself and they weren't really my speakers so never looked into it. Now at that point it could have been humidity issues because I was still learning about ribbons then. One thing for sure is they need some current, alot of current, to make them sound their best.