The Seas H087 was also very popular in the 1970's, used by Goodman, Dynaco, B&O, Telefunken, ... in their top models of that time and still very sought after. I have a Goodman Mezzo SL with those and that tweeter sounds still very good, even to the standards of today it's a toplevel tweeter.
The modern variation of it is the Seas TC35C002. Never heared it but it's reported to be very close to the original.
But on mass produced cheap tweeters that were used everywhere, the Philips AD016x series is king. They were cheap mass market products and sound actually quiet decent, not only for their price, but also in general. They were used everywhere for decades.
The modern variation of it is the Seas TC35C002. Never heared it but it's reported to be very close to the original.
But on mass produced cheap tweeters that were used everywhere, the Philips AD016x series is king. They were cheap mass market products and sound actually quiet decent, not only for their price, but also in general. They were used everywhere for decades.
I need to speak up in defense of the Audax TW010 aka TW74A.
Others in this thread have slammed it, but it is THE all-time most popular tweeter (and knocked off, sometimes well, other times not) since 1980. And for good reason.
Most manufacturers chose it because it was cheap and small, and easy to throw on a 4.7uF capacitor and give no further thought. But if you took it seriously as a transducer and applied excellent engineering you got excellent results. It's associated with car speakers and cheap home designs because most of the designs it was used in was cheap. It's only as good as the designer and his dedication to the craft.
The Audax design is ingeniously simple and economical; and if crossed over properly (not too low) delivered more precision and detail than most soft domes. I used it a few years ago with a Dayton RS150P woofer and a DSP crossover at 3500Hz and was super happy with the results.
Duntech, who in the 80s was light years ahead of most manufacturers, used it in their PCL-3 and PCL-5 speakers and achieved flat frequency AND phase response, excellent impulse and superb sound, pairing it with Audax 17cm Bextrene woofers and a precision engineered crossover.
Some of the Audax clones were pretty good too. Onkyo made a slightly larger version (1" dia instead of 3/4") which I've used in several designs.
To be fair, it's not the tweeter that @westsounds is searching for based on his original post in this thread... but it remains one of my favorite tweeters, and one of the most elegant designs in the history of audio.
Others in this thread have slammed it, but it is THE all-time most popular tweeter (and knocked off, sometimes well, other times not) since 1980. And for good reason.
Most manufacturers chose it because it was cheap and small, and easy to throw on a 4.7uF capacitor and give no further thought. But if you took it seriously as a transducer and applied excellent engineering you got excellent results. It's associated with car speakers and cheap home designs because most of the designs it was used in was cheap. It's only as good as the designer and his dedication to the craft.
The Audax design is ingeniously simple and economical; and if crossed over properly (not too low) delivered more precision and detail than most soft domes. I used it a few years ago with a Dayton RS150P woofer and a DSP crossover at 3500Hz and was super happy with the results.
Duntech, who in the 80s was light years ahead of most manufacturers, used it in their PCL-3 and PCL-5 speakers and achieved flat frequency AND phase response, excellent impulse and superb sound, pairing it with Audax 17cm Bextrene woofers and a precision engineered crossover.
Some of the Audax clones were pretty good too. Onkyo made a slightly larger version (1" dia instead of 3/4") which I've used in several designs.
To be fair, it's not the tweeter that @westsounds is searching for based on his original post in this thread... but it remains one of my favorite tweeters, and one of the most elegant designs in the history of audio.
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Yes, a great tweeter. It -- and the OW2 -- was used in many Linn speakers. The 3/4" diameter gives it wide dispersion to a higher frequency, and with damped back chamber, low enough Fs (850Hz) that it can be crossed surprisingly low. Difference at 10kHz between on axis and 60 deg output is as little as 3-4 dB. Cross at ~3kHz or lower with steep xover to a 4-5" high quality mid can provide a wide dispersion, neutral & transparent performance. That easy wide open dynamic sound is seductively involving.
The audax TW025A0 is a great cheap soft dome. It was used alot in Germany when I grew up in the 70s and 80s.
The TW034XO is another great one when used correctly. It plays loud and very clear with the right passive network. I usually take these one step further adding another magnet, opening the pole piece and extra dampening. It fixes the weird resonance around 2k.
The TW034XO is another great one when used correctly. It plays loud and very clear with the right passive network. I usually take these one step further adding another magnet, opening the pole piece and extra dampening. It fixes the weird resonance around 2k.
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Re: inductance of Al vs Cu. Thicker wires means the coil turns are slightly farther apart, so there is less repulsion (and blocking of changes in current) between the lines of electrons flowing adjacent to each other.