The tweeter is the most critical part...

[Pearljam5000]

I noticed that I love or hate a speaker mostly because of how the highs and the tweeter sounds.
Obviously you can EQ the highs but it will never change the basic characteristics of how the tweeter sounds.
Obviously bass and mids are also important be less so in my mind( you can always add a sub etc)
Does anyone else feel the same way or am I the only one?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Nope it is just you.


I find what I think most important is what is most bothersome to me. One reason I spent most of my life with ESL's is while not without their own treble problems they were better than damned dome tweeters. OTOH, they aren't so good with firm deep bass. So maybe to me the woofer becomes more important after that. I accepted the lack of low end partly because it uncovered the beautiful ESL midrange, and honestly to me that is the most important part. If that is wrong nothing else matters.

The good news is speakers have improved plenty and one can find those that aren't much lacking in any part of the spectrum.

 

[kongwee]

No doubt the cone material does make a difference, even the cast, magnet and voice coil.

Once I own ESL too. Really very easy to listen.

 

[Tangband]

I noticed that I love or hate a speaker mostly because of how the highs and the tweeter sounds.
Obviously you can EQ the highs but it will never change the basic characteristics of how the tweeter sounds.
Obviously bass and mids are also important be less so in my mind( you can always add a sub etc)
Does anyone else feel the same way or am I the only one?

No, youre right about that. The instruments caracters is defined by the upper frequency range. We dont listen to sine-sweeps when we listen to music. If the hights is not audible good /correct sounding, everything is gonna sound bad. Try to use a program or eq that can cut everything above 1 kHz and listen how bad everything sounds. Doing the same cutting at 100 Hz and below still gonna sound good if everything above 100 Hz is intact.

 

[mhardy6647]

If the loudspeaker doesn't get the midrange right -- to me... it's an epic fail.
So... yeah, another vote for it's just you.
Is this a poll?



(just a little good-natured ribbing -- perhaps even a ribbing about ribbons)

oh, man, I'm on a roll today...

EDIT: I've got examples of pretty much every kind of tweeter/treble driver extant here, the one exception being electrodynamic drivers. There are satisfying examples of every genre, even (yes, gasp) cones -- the venerable Peerless 2"AlNiCo drivers were used in some pretty pricey and well-thought-of commercial designs. So, yeah, in all seriousness -- it's nice to have good HF reproduction.

 

[Mnyb]

My speculation is that it’s is in the treble’s lower range especially where it crosses with the midrange/mid woofer not what it does > 10kHz and the corresponding upper range of the midrange/ mid woofer?

When I was less informed I used to not like aluminium tweeters , but I think it’s all about implementation all the time.

For example I’ve heard Audiovector or B&W with that kazoo type of treble.

In my current Meridian speakers and in a pair of Thiel 1.2 I owned they worked out well.

I had a couple of Dynaudio speakers with that esotar softdome too

 

[Pearljam5000]

If the loudspeaker doesn't get the midrange right -- to me... it's an epic fail.
So... yeah, another vote for it's just you.
Is this a poll?



(just a little good-natured ribbing -- perhaps even a ribbing about ribbons)

oh, man, I'm on a roll today...
View attachment 182750

I guess tonality is more important than anything else

 

[thewas]

Obviously you can EQ the highs but it will never change the basic characteristics of how the tweeter sounds.

We mainly hear direct sound frequency response, directivity and distortion (in this row of decreasing significance), here I had posted a research about the effect of different tweeter materials and types.

The effect of materials employed in drivers re loudspeaker performance

I noticed in one of Amir's speaker reviews a newer member made an allusion to driver materials having some salutary influence on the reproduced sound of a speaker. All things being equal, I wonder how true this assertion really is. I know it's a great marketing point for some of the companies...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Blumlein 88]

There was the old timey idea about balance in a speakers response.
Rule of thumb was multiply the low end reach by the top end reach and it should equal 500,000 (some said 400,000)

So a speaker with 25hz-20,000 hz was just right 25x20,000=500,000
50-10,000 hz works
100-5000 hz works (something you might find in a good table top radio).
200-2500 hz is about what an old analog telephone would give you. Or maybe walkie talkies.

 

[dfuller]

You can't look at the driver itself in a vacuum. You have to observe as a whole.

 

[Pearljam5000]

You can't look at the driver itself in a vacuum. You have to observe as a whole.

Yes but still
I knew after about 10 seconds if liked or hated the 8050B, KH120, Solo6 etc...
And it was mainly because of the highs... If they sounded off or not.
If tonality is off it's pointless to me.

 

[thewas]

I guess tonality is more important than anything else

To quote also Floyd Toole:

Frequency response is the most important parameter in any audio component. If it is wrong, nothing else matters.

Source: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-and-smooth-off-axis.8090/page-13#post-200658

 

[dfuller]

Yes but still
I knew after about 10 seconds if liked or hated the 8050B, KH120, Solo6 etc...
And it was mainly because of the highs... If they sounded off or not.
If tonality is off it's pointless to me.

Faulty logic. That's not the tweeter, it's the whole speaker.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Faulty logic. That's not the tweeter, it's the whole speaker.

Or I'm just more sensitive to high frequencies

 

[Frank Dernie]

I noticed that I love or hate a speaker mostly because of how the highs and the tweeter sounds.
Obviously you can EQ the highs but it will never change the basic characteristics of how the tweeter sounds.
Obviously bass and mids are also important be less so in my mind( you can always add a sub etc)
Does anyone else feel the same way or am I the only one?

I'm not that at all.
One of my favourite pairs of speakers has a quite basic tweeter but since the vast proportion of the music is below the mid/tweeter crossover - in fact almost all the fundamentals of most instruments - I have never found them lacking

 

[JustJones]

The Genelec Ones use a Minimum Diffraction Coaxial dome. Dutch and Dutch some type of metal dome. I think it's the implementation that matters

 

[Pearljam5000]

I'm not that at all.
One of my favourite pairs of speakers has a quite basic tweeter but since the vast proportion of the music is below the mid/tweeter crossover - in fact almost all the fundamentals of most instruments - I have never found them lacking

Yes but still
If the highs feel rolled off, the sound is dull and clarity feels less good.
The KH120 may measure perfectly but sounded dark to me, on the other hand the Genelecs sounded more lively and clarity was better to me, I also liked Focal's Berillyum.

 

[AdamG]

 

[Zaireeka]

I absolutely don't attend to making fun of you, but have you had an audiogram made recently? Thanks to this I know for example that my right ear is less sensitive to high frequencies than my left one. You may have a slightly degraded audition when it comes to the higher register, which leads you to prefer bright speakers.

 

[More Dynamics Please]

When I was less informed I used to

This simple phrase covers so much ground. As I look back over many decades to the era when I was less informed about the science and engineering applied to consumer audio products I realize that I used to believe much widespread but unverified speculation that I've come to learn is not supported by science and engineering.