![]() ![]() The Z1's detailed, delicate, coloration-free, and holographic midrange presentation impressed me with all vocal recordings. Although BG felt there would be a slight improvement in sound on-axis with the speakers' grilles removed, I got the most timbrally natural sound with them left on, which is how I did most of my listening. I placed the Z1s on my trusty Celestion Si stands, loaded with sand and lead shot. BG says this allows them to largely retain the transducer's necessary sensitivity while providing sufficiently wide horizontal dispersion. Their patented ribbon design uses fewer magnets than conventional ribbons by eliminating side magnets positioned close to the clamping frame and, instead, placing strips of acoustically semitransparent absorptive material close to the diaphragm in the area between the diaphragm and the metal plates. BG feels that Teonex can withstand higher temperatures and is stronger than the Mylar film used in earlier ribbon designs.īG set out to design a ribbon tweeter with smooth frequency response, low noise, wide horizontal dispersion, and high efficiency, all at low cost. Second, BG makes their diaphragms of Teonex film, developed by DuPont in the 1990s. Magnets made of neodymium have magnetic energy 20–30 times greater than the ceramic magnets used in the ribbons of the 1970s and '80s. First, neodymium has become less costly, making it viable for use in the motor structure of ribbon tweeters. ![]() It can be energized more quickly, stores much less energy and inertia, can stop vibrating sooner, and its decay pattern is cleaner.īG credits two major developments in materials science over the last two decades that have enabled further advancement in ribbon technology. Thus, according to BG, the tweeter's mass is comparable to that of the air that is vibrating along with the diaphragm. The mass of BG's tweeter diaphragm is 30–50 times less than that of a typical dome tweeter. The Z1 ($499/pair), the first model in BG's affordable Z series, is a fairly unassuming shielded bookshelf speaker in which BG's ribbon tweeter is coupled with a 5.25" aluminum-cone woofer.īG feels strongly that a ribbon driver is the best way to reproduce midrange and high frequencies. In addition to a line of conventional speaker pairs-the flagship of which, the Radia 520i ($4000/pair), Larry Greenhill reviewed in December 2004-BG manufactures a wide range of in-wall, on-wall, and custom-installation speakers. ![]() "Sounds good," said I, and resumed my ivory duties.īohlender-Graebener Corporation, now known as BG Corp., is a Nevada-based company that since 1994 has produced a broad range of loudspeakers, all of them featuring BG's proprietary ribbon-tweeter technology. "It's an interesting little bookshelf speaker featuring a ribbon tweeter." Hmm-an affordable bookshelf speaker matching a ribbon tweeter to a dynamic woofer? Very interesting. As JA adjusted his microphones and I became increasingly nervous about the running, jumping kids splashing chlorinated water on his Nagra digital recorder, he asked me if I'd like to review the Z1 loudspeaker from BG Corp. Last summer, John Atkinson and I were playing a jazz gig poolside at my local club, and during a break we began discussing equipment. ![]()
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