Super tweeters

[realysm42]

I've noticed atleast one person on here with super tweeters added to their sytem, can you tell me a bit about them?

Would you be able to live without them now?

How much did you pay (if you don't mind me asking, the few I've found for sale are very expensive).

Do you think they justify their cost?

Can you recommend me some models to look at please?

[Stratmangler]

I've noticed atleast one person on here with super tweeters added to their sytem, can you tell me a bit about them?

Would you be able to live without them now?

How much did you pay (if you don't mind me asking, the few I've found for sale are very expensive).

Do you think they justify their cost?

Can you recommend me some models to look at please?

Make your own - I have these http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/192083-frugal-super-tweeter.html

[realysm42]

Can you tell me what you think of them?

Also, aren't super tweeters meant to reach up much higher than 30khz?

[Stratmangler]

Invaluable with my speakers - I have the FH3 speakers with wide band drivers (CHP-70), and the tweeter is crossed over at 13.5 kHz, with a first degree slope (basically means that the tweeters are quite audible down to 7 kHz and 3.5 kHz).

If you can hear up to 30 kHz I'll send you a chocolate Noddy :D

[realysm42]

:D

[Puffin]

Make your own - I have these http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/192083-frugal-super-tweeter.html

Snap. Very nice tweeters.

[DSJR]

SOME of the after market ones made by well known speaker companies actually weren't anything of the sort i remember reading once (in HFC I think it was). The Tannoy one came in at 8kHz and actually rolled out above 27kHz, so in my book, the only thing it could do was smooth a "pesky Pepperpot" perhaps and maybe slightly improve dispersion.

I remember hearing KEF's then new "blingy" reference speakers around ten years ago. I'm sure the current ones are better, but there was no "extreme" treble audible at all, just a razor sharp stingy sizzle from the smallest driver, all of 8 - 10kHz I suspect, otherwise it wouldn't be very audible..

Jimmy H once tried some cheapo piezo tweeters which he made to rool in at 15kHz or so. next to nothing could be heard coming out of them (various listeners and not just me, half my life ago), but they did seem to be doing something good to the music being played. Jimmy is a wonderful kindly man, but a rather "persuasive" one, so whether what we heard was expectation bias I really don't know.

[realysm42]

My understanding is that you're not meant to be able to hear them very much but they enhance what you can hear, which I'd be happy to experience :)

[DSJR]

I could go all objective here, since so many excellent speakers and monitors have used good tweeters that do little to nothing over 15kHz (Spendor BC1, BC2, SP1 (despite the dinky Coles "super tweeter" which does little excpt to flatten the celestion HF1300) , BBC LS5/9, ATC 200A/300A just off the top of my head), but at the end of the day, you really are going to have to try it for yourself. There may well be a gain in having the dispersion at HF improved, even if all there usually is above 15kHz is hiss or distortion harmonics (digitally recorded hi-res close mic'd cymbals may have too, but most of what is recorded on analogue tape won't have much if anything over this frequency I reckon due to the workaday nature of the pro recording equipment used in commercial studios and the physical age of the tapes, although I'd love to be proved wrong here...

[realysm42]

Indeed. I'm a little skeptical over this one as I can't seem to find any I'd be willing to take the (financial) risk on.

Perhaps I could have a go with the diy ones first.

[Mike A]

I have a pair of diy supertweeters on an old pair of Acoustic Energy floorstanders which, if I remember rightly, are rolled in at about 20kHz and don't go much higher then 30kHz. They add a bit of air and sparkle to the top end but strangely they improved the bass more, becoming smoother, deeper and more tuneful. Unplugging the supertweeters makes me wonder why I bought the original speakers in the first place :scratch:

[realysm42]

Lol Mike, have you tried just having the bass and super tweeters and not the "normal" ones, would sound odd I think.

As far as I know, the reason they "work" is still unkown; unless someone can correct me?

[Mike A]

Will have to try that some time Martin. I haven't heard a really convincing explanation about how it works from anybody yet, but my experiment and what I have heard in other systems means I look for extended high frequencies when I audition speakers.

[DSJR]

Some of the best non-metal diaphragm tweeters routinely go out smoothly to 30K and well beyond these days, making the whole "super tweeter" thing a bit nonsensical in all honesty - IMO of course...