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Let's talk Tweeters!

Another thread which talked about specific speaker brands was taken over, so I’d like to start a new one.

Mind you, I do not believe in a "best" type of tweeter, nor do I believe in a best brand of speaker, so lets keep that type of conversation out, and use this instead to focus on learning about choices speaker designers make and what that may mean to the end user.

There is no such thing as a speaker driver without trade offs. Some choices must be forsworn in exchange for another.

In the end, the materials used, magnet and motor structure, and crossover choices as well as the listening room come together to make a great speaker, of which there are many. In addition, we all listen for different things. Imaging, sweetness, warmth, detail, dance-ability and even efficiency so there is no single way to measure a driver and rate it against all others.

Also, please keep ads for your 4th dimensional sound or whatever off this thread. Thanks.
erik_squires

Showing 5 responses by wolf_garcia

wolf_garcia
6,794 posts
 
The ribbon tweeter festooned speakers didn't work out, but the little single ended amp did. Now I have horn loaded tweeters in Klipsch Heresy IIIs that sound amazingly uncolored and sweet, and image like crazy. Great speakers.
wolf_garcia
6,794 posts
 
I’m about to take delivery of a pair of speakers that use ribbon tweeters…a first for me…and I hope they sound as good as the aluminum/magnesium tweeters in my current "I won’t mention the brand as to not anger the OP" speakers designed by Alan Yun. I’m trying these new speakers due to their substantial efficiency with the plan of scoring a single ended low wattage tube amp at some point simply to see what all THAT fuss is about…I'm currently in Push Pull tube land for my main listening rig. I have noticed with my current speakers that although they utilize aluminum/magnesium for both the tweeters and woofers, they’ve been voiced to simply sound somewhat neutral and certainly not "forward" like one might assume metal drivers would sound…nothing hot or metallic in these, and I am certain that the crossover and voicing choices made by competent designers is the thing that matters here, not driver material.
wolf_garcia
6,794 posts
 
Tweeter Mythology isn't unlike Speaker Cone Material Mythology as "doped paper" seems kind of dopey, "nanotube sandwich" sounds kind of foody, and a good designer can make music happen with either. It's still kind of interesting that piles of all sorts of mids and woofers always combine with (generally) one good tweeter, so I do agree with the fact that the mid/woof generators are of primary import. I think there needs to be more research into using actual bird parts for tweeters…I think there's a lot to learn from natural beaks perhaps being grown in labs to save the actual birds, plus there are few tweeters made using feather damping.
wolf_garcia
6,794 posts
 
If you look up Piezo tweeters (there seems to be about a zillion pages of stuff about 'em) you'll notice that the "crystal" (or something) allows them to be used without crossovers…and these tweeters can cost less than 3 bucks. Amazing. Another note, tweeters allow aural "cues" that make recorded music sound real and lead your ear balls in the right direct, thus making them extremely important to audio reproduction. They also have the benefit of allowing a dinner party guest to stick their pesky fingers right into the beryllium domes of your Magicos, causing you to look around for a Tweeter Insurance Policy as well as revising your list of Friends You Invite Over.
wolf_garcia
6,794 posts
 
I have to mention the extremely inexpensive piezo tweeters that don't require a crossover. HERESY! Although an audio snob myself (a fan of aluminum, magnesium, titanium, ribbons, all that), I've experienced these things over the years in cheap "pro" gear and actually stuck one to a little "Hot Spot" monitor I used mounted to my mic stand when gigging…a little vocal monitor a foot or so from my face that worked really well. Go figure. I have a pair of rarely used little Peavey speakers with 10s and a piezo that sound amazing and cost bupkis. This note should serve as a thank you to piezos everywhere.
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