What is the most used, most popular good tweeter ever? DIY or mass market and why?

Gentlemen, wasn't this the question?

What is the most used, most popular good tweeter ever? DIY or mass market and why?

So it is not about what you think is best bang for a buck, but most popular, that is number of units sold worldwide.

My vote is for two units already mentioned, whether you like them or not:

1. Philips AD 160/1/2/3 etc. series. Must have been around in some million units or so worldwide.

2. Audax HD 12x9 or the same type with circular faceplate unit. (HD100?) The ubiqitious unit of choice if tweeter quality was a requirement in the 7-ties and 8-ties, at either side of the Atlantic, and both in the UK and on the continent.

Reason? Simply because both were more or less universally available, contrary to other tweeters back in the day.

Martin Colloms, however, thought otherwise: "that sibilant squacky Audax splash".
 
Thanks for the input. Some good suggestions there. Those are recognisable units.

As for the more or less universally available bit I get that, but surely there has to be a point were the 'good' bit comes into it as well. And I'm sure both those units were good enough for most but I thought the factor that people were drawn to a particular type of sound as well might influence it. Say for instance a soft dome that was more pleasing to the ear in whatever speaker system, or perhaps a metal dome which presented more detail which might have swayed the market and peoples buying decisions that way.

And the discussion so far has been interesting I think and I've enjoyed all of it even if people don't know exactly what the best sellers were or why. Wouldn't want to deter anyone for saying what's the best bang for buck or even most overlooked high cost driver either when talking about, 'the best' tweeters out there.
 
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frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
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Not sure this answers your question but two of the most popular in this neck of the woods over all those years, and I suspect others, are from CTS and Philips.

Cal,

Not the ones i would hav ethot about 1st but they ar eclose to spot on i figure. Both were seen all over the place in the 70s.

The AD0160 (and relatives) probably had larger numbers (i have over a dozen to give away). It was the 1st tweeter i ever used.

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The tweeter that 1st came to mind is teh SEAS 19mm tweeter (besides with SEAS faceplates many company’s used enuff of them to warant their own bezels.

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dave
 

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Cal,

Not the ones i would have thot about 1st but they are close to spot on i figure. Both were seen all over the place in the 70s.

The AD0160 (and relatives) probably had larger numbers (i have over a dozen to give away). It was the 1st tweeter i ever used.

dave

Do you still like / use them?

That reminds me of the Audax 1” dome (available with many faceplates) which looked much the same was widely seen in the 70s/80s.

dave

I think it is based on that looking at the design, just a new modern day equivalent for replacement of perhaps the old aging ones.
 
I think what a lot of you call a Peerless used to be a Vifa. Peerless had a lot of tweeters in the old days, but to my knowledge the D19 and D25 supronyl domes originated from Vifa. I think I have some of them lying around, dating back from the ‘80s. Of course everything has been rebranded since the Far East took over command. And sold the brand Vifa. Somewhere in between Scan Speak also came by... funny how a small country like Denmark brought so many in this industry.
 
I like and respect cone tweeters so much that after many years I manufactured a new batch of high power ones............

Se ven muy robustos, y seguramente entregan buen SPL ! JM, las bobinas de voz de los tweeters se bobinan también en doble capa ? Pregunto porque nunca he visto uno .....

They look very robust, and they surely deliver good SPL! JM, are the voice coils of the tweeters also double-wound ? I ask because I have never seen one .....