I'm confused - Different music...different speakers?

I had the Hawks for a few years, great at low volumes. Turn it up and

the little Revelator just can't handle it. I sold them. I also have a pair

of Polk LSi 15s. I compared them at the same time. The Hawks sounded

much better at low volume. Crank it & the Polks killed them, you can

knock the pictures off the wall with them and they sounded really good.

I use the Polks as HT fronts now.

Maybe you could add a nice sub because they do sound really nice.

Perhaps it's the 1″ / 2.54 cm alloy dome metal tweeter.

every demo in every shop of every metal dome tweetered speaker i ever heard - this is what i recall when i read OP

wonder why audiophile recordings tend to be either trad jazz or small scale classical almost exclusively? (a few jazz rock coryell ones on chesky notwithstanding)?

they sound airy, extended, etc with metal tweets

think thiels.

playing nirvana.

driven by krells.

I’ve owned the Hawks, Forests and Model 1’s and never found them bright. I think the "metal tweeter = harsh" thing that so many throw around is not always true. Harbeth, Spendor and Chartwell all use metal tweeters and are not harsh. I think it has more to do with the crossover level and frequency than the material itself. That said, I think the trouble you are having is due to a lack of impact in the midbass, where most of the "slam" frequencies in rock reside. IMO, real low bass is found in organ or orchestral work, as well as some synth stuff with sub-bass frequencies. You are probably cranking the speaker up to generate midbass impact, which overloads the drivers and stresses your amplifier, leading to an unpleasant sound. If you like the Hawks for acoustic music, I would leave them and add a sub to fill out the midbass and give you more fullness at lower volumes. There are several companies now putting out high-quality compact subs that I think would mate well with the Hawks. Take a look at SVS for one.

It's always tricky to pin things on one factor, such as a tweeter. But different tweeters do have different characters, at least for me. I've moved toward ribbons over metal tweeters. Focal 936s were too bright for me, and Dyn Evoke 30 soft domes were too rolled off. If you ever get a chance to hear a well implemented Beyma AMT, tweeter, well, that's both good with rock and with audiophile jazz and classical.