If you can time align a super tweeter and it can be used low enough into the midrange,what you wil get is a very clean leading edge addition that will add real information to the signal that the heavier mids and typical tweeter cannot track.
Could really care less about 15 k and above that most cannot hear anyway
But trying to align one properly is the real challenge and also if it can handle power levels you listen to
Regards
David
Could really care less about 15 k and above that most cannot hear anyway
But trying to align one properly is the real challenge and also if it can handle power levels you listen to
Regards
David
....
Just as we can feel a bass, we can also sense a 40 kHz sound, even if nothing is sensed with the ear.
Thats nonsense. Ultrasound is very different to infrasound.
Please dont promote pseudoscientific rhetoric as you could confuse others.
Some of us would disagree kazap.
I have to say that using a Foster ribbon Supertweeter improved one set of speakers I made remarkably but I am willing to concede that the tweeter in the design did not have very much above 15k, but even with my old ears and lacking much above 12k myself I felt the difference and my wife could hear a difference and my wife has excellent hearing and pitch
I have to say that using a Foster ribbon Supertweeter improved one set of speakers I made remarkably but I am willing to concede that the tweeter in the design did not have very much above 15k, but even with my old ears and lacking much above 12k myself I felt the difference and my wife could hear a difference and my wife has excellent hearing and pitch
You should look into the math about this. transient response is not independent of the frequency response. if your "typical tweeter" can hit 15khz, and your ears don't go any higher, then you will NOT be getting more information out of the signal. (assuming you have flat phase)
additionally, you are going to make the transient response worse! because you are going to be adding on another driver, which, unless its co axially mounted, the path to your ear will be different for each driver, meaning that they can only be time aligned for some positions, everywhere else, the response will deteriorate.
additionally, you are going to make the transient response worse! because you are going to be adding on another driver, which, unless its co axially mounted, the path to your ear will be different for each driver, meaning that they can only be time aligned for some positions, everywhere else, the response will deteriorate.
These speakers in my dining room system are single "full range" drivers with whizzer cones and benefitted from the addition of these Super-Tweeters. I made a small aluminum plate to sit them on top of the "full range speakers". They can be slid back and forth for time alignment, and I connected them to the "full range speakers" via a 1.5 uF film cap in series with the + connection and a 22 ohm 5 watt resistor across the tweeter's terminals.
Vintage DR Gear by antennaguru uda, on Flickr

Last edited:
Here's a picture without the grill that might be better for understanding the reason to add Super-Tweeters:
Super Tweeter 2 by antennaguru uda, on Flickr

Last edited:
Nice illustration of the addition of a super tweeter Antennaguru!
Extremely apt in relation to your 'full range' drivers and, gainsayers please note, entirely reversible if required. 🙂
Extremely apt in relation to your 'full range' drivers and, gainsayers please note, entirely reversible if required. 🙂
If you can time align a super tweeter and it can be used low enough into the midrange,what you wil get is a very clean leading edge addition that will add real information to the signal that the heavier mids and typical tweeter cannot track.
Could really care less about 15 k and above that most cannot hear anyway
But trying to align one properly is the real challenge and also if it can handle power levels you listen to
Regards
David
Time alignment "by ear"; as told to me by a professor (PHD, ie, true expert) that used to teach physics, acoustics, speaker design, etc. Use a recording with a "tick" sound. Fast rise time signals such as a tick coming from 2 drivers will sound like it is coming from just 1 driver when the alignment is set correctly. I have done this myself and it REALLY does work. (For those of us without fancy or expensive test and measurement equipment, software, etc.)
additionally, you are going to make the transient response worse! because you are going to be adding on another driver, which, unless its co axially mounted, the path to your ear will be different for each driver, meaning that they can only be time aligned for some positions, everywhere else, the response will deteriorate.
True. Except, it doesn't matter 😱
Way up in frequency like that, our auditory system is totally insensitive to phase and all related minute time mis-alignments. Just look up "phase locking auditory".
Time alignment "by ear"; as told to me by a professor (PHD, ie, true expert) that used to teach physics, acoustics, speaker design, etc. Use a recording with a "tick" sound. Fast rise time signals such as a tick coming from 2 drivers will sound like it is coming from just 1 driver when the alignment is set correctly. I have done this myself and it REALLY does work. (For those of us without fancy or expensive test and measurement equipment, software, etc.)
Sure, but if you can detect separate "ticks", then it means we're talking pretty severe misalignment, and that is certainly worth taking care of.
But not the sort of obsessive sub-cm (even sub-mm) "supertweeter time alignment" that some audiophiles would have you believe matters. It just doesn't.
Just look up "phase locking auditory".
There, I did it for y'all 😉: Phase-locking in auditory nerves
Also, if you have more time and willingness to be educated, there's a full lecture by an MIT professor here (he briefly discusses phase locking and the loss of it above 4-5kHz towards 1h18m30s).
Last edited:
Sure, but if you can detect separate "ticks", then it means we're talking pretty severe misalignment, and that is certainly worth taking care of.
But not the sort of obsessive sub-cm (even sub-mm) "supertweeter time alignment" that some audiophiles would have you believe matters. It just doesn't.
...and here's some evidence (from a proper peer-reviewed scientific study) of the minimum perceived delay between successive "ticks".
Drum roll.... it's about 2ms (that's 68 cm, folks!)
Together with the auditory system's loss of phase locking above ~4-5kHz (see previous post above), this all means that any "mis-alignment" of a supertweeter by a few centimetres is completely and utterly inconsequential.
...any "mis-alignment" of a supertweeter by a few centimetres is completely and utterly inconsequential.
And before anyone calls foul - this applies to supertweeters.
Of course, careful time alignment is instead relevant at more "normal" crossover frequencies, but not because of some hypothesized sensitivity to sub-millisecond delay, but because of the importance of inter-driver phase tracking and its consequence on summed frequency response (think of L-R crossovers).
Alas, it's complicated 😉
In his book 'Loudspeakers' (first published in 1948) Gilbert Briggs went as far as to claim that above 3kHz, phasing is of no importance in domestic listening!. . . he briefly discusses phase locking and the loss of it above 4-5kHz
And in line with scottjoplin's suggestion of having the super tweeter face the ceiling, Briggs said that "Where the treble speaker faces upwards, reversing the phase makes little or no difference."
Mr. Briggs did not have a PhD but he sure knew his loudspeakers! 😉
Ok so super tweeters are a gimmick they can not be properly implemented in any design the wavelengths are far too small....period physics etc etc...
But as the universe is made up of atoms molecules or other particles
Guess what
Wavelengths rule from beneath us to wherever what is outthere exapands😱🙂
But a simple problem exists
If we can’t measure it does it exist
Let’s not get started on Homs but I maybe wrong but an impulse response can show you what frequency sweep can not.
Also it’s well documented animal behaviour can change dramatically upon impending storms but humans struggle with this complex.
So in a nutshell does it exist if you cannot here it
or measure it
But as the universe is made up of atoms molecules or other particles
Guess what
Wavelengths rule from beneath us to wherever what is outthere exapands😱🙂
But a simple problem exists
If we can’t measure it does it exist
Let’s not get started on Homs but I maybe wrong but an impulse response can show you what frequency sweep can not.
Also it’s well documented animal behaviour can change dramatically upon impending storms but humans struggle with this complex.
So in a nutshell does it exist if you cannot here it


Although such animal behaviors might seem mysterious, they may be explained by the fact that animals are more finely attuned to nature and its changing states (humidity, air pressure, length of the day) than humans.Also it’s well documented animal behaviour can change dramatically upon impending storms but humans struggle with this complex.

Although such animal behaviors might seem mysterious, they may be explained by the fact that animals are more finely attuned to nature and its changing states (humidity, air pressure, length of the day) than humans.![]()
Nothing mysterious all governed by wavelength 🙂
Except certain ailments inflicted by parasites can display abnormal behaviour 😉
If your super tweeters were picking up parasitic oscillations would you hear them? 😉Except certain ailments inflicted by parasites can display abnormal behaviour 😉
.....
Also it’s well documented animal behaviour can change dramatically upon impending storms but humans struggle with this complex.
So in a nutshell does it exist if you cannot here itor measure it
![]()
Some animals are sensitive to sub-bass rumbles from distant storms. Low frequencies general travel further.
Once again theres no need to confuse very low frequency effects with ultrasonic effects nor revert to magical thinking.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.
- Home
- Loudspeakers
- Multi-Way
- Adding supertweeters