Need suggestions for good tweeters

[Blackout67]

Right now I have Kicker CS 6.5 components on a 50 watt Infinity amp. I also have two Deaf Bonce MF 15's on 2k. Now obviously they massively over power the door speakers. I could get a better amp for them but I just hate the way the tweeter sounds. I've tried to use the dsp built in my Kenwood unit but goddamn those tweeters just ****. My ears are very sensitive to the higher frequency's and after listen to metal my ears ring and hurt same thing with the Kicker CS coaxials in my girlfriends car. No matter the volume they just hurt my ears after listening for 20-30 minutes. Never had the problem with my Alpine S components even clipping them off my old JVC headunit's amp.

I guess my question is what are some nice components in the $200-250 range with tweeters are are nice and natural and blend in the midranges? I don't care for high frequencies as much as I do miss/bass range. Don't get me wrong I love those high frequency sweeping guitar solos but I don't need them to be the center stage of the sound. I like to hear nice smooth rolling bass and guitar complimented by a nice soft vocal range.

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[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

guitar complimented by

Try silk dome tweeters. I have the same issue where I cannot enjoy hairband guitar solos because it resonates my eardrums. Silk domes athough not 100% effective, do help alot.

 

[Blackout67]

Try silk dome tweeters. I have the same issue where I cannot enjoy hairband guitar solos because it resonates my eardrums. Silk domes athough not 100% effective, do help alot.

What kind of sound difference could I expect switching from titanium dome (kicker CS) to silk dome?

 

[mat3833 10+ year member]

Before you switch tweeters try mounting them off axis. I don't know what car you have or where your stuff is mounted currently, but metal dome tweeters are alot less harsh if you aim them across the csr and not at your face. One of my favorite tweeters is a metal dome, but if it's not aimed properly it just plain hurts.

Matt

 

[Blackout67]

Before you switch tweeters try mounting them off axis. I don't know what car you have or where your stuff is mounted currently, but metal dome tweeters are alot less harsh if you aim them across the csr and not at your face. One of my favorite tweeters is a metal dome, but if it's not aimed properly it just plain hurts.

Matt

Well in my jeep they are mounted in my daily panel pointed at the driver and passenger. If my girlfriends car I put kicker CS in the front doors and rear deck. So they are not pointed at us. But I've noticed they are a lot more harsher than the ones in my jeep

 

[deez283 10+ year member]

The tweeters are more than likely alot more sensitive than your mid bass. Have you trying dialing back the tweets so levels match? EQ might help too.

I prefer silk tweeters myself but even those can be harsh if not tuned proper.

Edit to add>
You mention DSP are you running active or using passive XO's?

 

[djdilliodon!]

If you have the room, the cdt audio ES-02A’s are pretty incredible. While they are able to play down as low as 250 hz, they provide a perfect amount of sparkle up top without being harsh at all. If space is limited, the cdt audio DRT-26s is a sweet silk dome. Another option which is more cost effective is the SEAS Prestige 27TFFNC/G (H1396) 1" Textile Dome Tweeters. These are a tad brighter but not something I would call harsh. These are probably one of the best bang for the buck options available.

 

[Blackout67]

The tweeters are more than likely alot more sensitive than your mid bass. Have you trying dialing back the tweets so levels match? EQ might help too.

I prefer silk tweeters myself but even those can be harsh if not tuned proper.

Edit to add>
You mention DSP are you running active or using passive XO's?

I just set basic crossover points on my Kenwood head unit. My tweeters also have a passive crossover that splits the frequencies and sends them to the woofer and the tweeter. I wanted to get a 4 channel for tweets and another 4 channel for mids and mid bass. I have two fifteens so it's difficult to make out some guitar/bass in my metal songs and the sampling in the rap music I listen to. But I don't want to turn down the bass because I like the way it feels and sounds I just want my speakers to be able to keep up with my subs

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Try silk dome tweeters. I have the same issue where I cannot enjoy hairband guitar solos because it resonates my eardrums. Silk domes athough not 100% effective, do help alot.

This!

My Rainbow speakers were still the best component set I ever heard, OP (not that what I've heard means anything). This was years ago, but the setup was a passive crossover with an independent neo-magnet silk dome tweeter (very soft domes) and a ferrite motor 6.5" paper cone woofer. They were very colorful speakers, and very tunable. I was running a 9887 head unit and an Elemental Designs 9.2x (200w per door @ 4 ohms at 12.6v), and the components were rated at 150w. Both of those were very loud and clear and almost kept up from 100 hz+ with my 2 pretty loud 18's. That was my experience.

I highly recommend silk dome tweeters vs. metal or more hard dome styles. I had a 7 band parametric EQ in my 9887, and all sorts of crossover range and dB/octave slope options.

It always helps when your speakers start off sounding balanced out of the box, but clean power, sound quality, signal, etc. + customizable EQ's with multiple high frequency bands and selectable roll off can very much manipulate the sound of any tweeter system or, really, any speaker in any part of the speaker. I would make sure you have the various tuning options available before you super invest in amps and speakers.

If you can tune the brain of the system and all of the signals BEFORE they even go into the amp, then you can really tune your sound however you want, and quality/knowledgeable speaker purchases just further refines that ability.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

The dome material and lack of enclosure type or type of tweeter enclosure (like a horn variant) are the 2 biggest factors to the fundamental raw-sound differences between tweeters, IMO. With non-horn tweeters, the dome material directly affects the type of sound. Typically harder materials = harsher sounds, maybe like how Infinity and Kicker speakers can be excessively bright. But, some people like that, and that's ok. It's all about what you want for your sound.

Horn-type tweeters, depending on type of horn and quality of design, are typically more peaky, but have a wider angle of dispersion. Horns are technically just tweeter enclosures, just like a sub can be put in a horn or transmission line. High frequency horns are difficult to design, due to the natural angles of high frequency sound and how short the wavelengths are (small mistakes can make a big differences in resonant peaks).

In a vehicle, I would prefer multiple silk-dome tweeters to create more sound or a wider angle instead of a full horn.

 

[Blackout67]

The dome material and lack of enclosure type or type of tweeter enclosure (like a horn variant) are the 2 biggest factors to the fundamental raw-sound differences between tweeters, IMO. With non-horn tweeters, the dome material directly affects the type of sound. Typically harder materials = harsher sounds, maybe like how Infinity and Kicker speakers can be excessively bright. But, some people like that, and that's ok. It's all about what you want for your sound.

Horn-type tweeters, depending on type of horn and quality of design, are typically more peaky, but have a wider angle of dispersion. Horns are technically just tweeter enclosures, just like a sub can be put in a horn or transmission line. High frequency horns are difficult to design, due to the natural angles of high frequency sound and how short the wavelengths are (small mistakes can make a big differences in resonant peaks).

In a vehicle, I would prefer multiple silk-dome tweeters to create more sound or a wider angle instead of a full horn.

Exactly what I was thinking. I found the tweeters from those alpine set I mentioned. I still have those old alpines so I'll just take the tweeters from that component set and buy another pair and throw them on a 4 channel. They're silk dome. By far the best tweeters I've heard. I hate harsh bright highs I like them to blend into the rest of the sound. I prefer my subs to overpower the best of my system but only marginally. Kinda like the opposite of what most people go for I feel like

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

Horn-type tweeters, depending on type of horn and quality

I have always found horn and bullet tweeters to be quite harsh, therefore I always thought them to be entry level quality. It also seems that bigger tweeters are gentler on the ears. I currently use a/d/s 336is.2 tweeters that are 1-3/4" diameter. They are mounted high on the A pillars reflecting off the windshield. Does it make sense? Not to most people, but to me, it sounds just right.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

>>379905732
Location, aiming, crossover point, and EQ are probably all better ways to get where you want rather than just throwing different hardware at this.

 

[technobass 10+ year member]

Steg MT650C II 6.5″ 2-Way Speaker System – AudioStatus

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

I have always found horn and bullet tweeters to be quite harsh, therefore I always thought them to be entry level quality. It also seems that bigger tweeters are gentler on the ears. I currently use a/d/s 336is.2 tweeters that are 1-3/4" diameter. They are mounted high on the A pillars reflecting off the windshield. Does it make sense? Not to most people, but to me, it sounds just right.

I have mild horns with metal domes in my 3.5” Klispch towers, but it’s 1 milder horn + 3x 5.25’s in each tower. There, the horn works and makes sense and sounds balanced, to my ears.

In a car, bigger speakers tend to have lower Fs’s, because more Mms or Mms tends to lead to lower Fs’s, really with just any structure, just in a general sense. Larger cones also make more sound sort of more easily, so bigger diameter tweeters makes a ton of sense to me for softer sound, especially when lower Fs’s can be sometime naturally play flatter.

I think horns just need to be used in like non-ear rape fashions. I hate getting into a walled vehicle with a bullet tweeter right next to my face; it just feels like rape, sometimes. It’s like I can feel my cilia cracking with some of these tweeters people put in their cars. Some dudes will have 1 set of bullet tweets and like 8 subs on 10-20kw, and I’m just confused why they want the ear rape. I know enough about hearing, where I may listen to something like that for 2 seconds, but if a horn or bullet tweeter is like 1.5 feet away from my face, I probably will dip out. It’s just too much like nails on chalkboard for me.