Stevens SA1 25mm or CDT ES-1200iS

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

The stevens is on sale for $99 and the CDT is on sale for $114, price is a deciding factor here. Anyone have a preference and why? They'll be fed by a HELIX B FOUR in conjunction with sony KAPPA 2" silk mids. Leaning CDT as it offers extended range. 60 Watts from the B FOUR so power/efficiency is not an issue.

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[Jimi77 5,000+ posts]

The stevens is on sale for $99 and the CDT is on sale for $114, price is a deciding factor here. Anyone have a preference and why? They'll be fed by a HELIX B FOUR in conjunction with sony KAPPA 2" silk mids. Leaning CDT as it offers extended range. 60 Watts from the B FOUR so power/efficiency is not an issue.

IMHO, Stevens. Since you already have the Kappa 2" mids, you have no need for extended response. I might even consider some cheaper 1/2" or 3/4" tweeters.

 

[djdilliodon!]

Never heard the Steven’s so
I can’t say. I have heard some tweeters that look very much like them made by ningbo and if they are the same I’d definitely take the 1200iS over them. Sound is subjective and everyone has their own tastes so really there isn’t such a thing as best. It will come down to personal preference. The best way to describe the 1200iS is it has the smoothness of a silk dome but with the detail of a metal dome without the harshness. This is personally the exact type of sound I like.

Edited: the Stevens tweeters aren’t the ones I heard as I checked and they don’t use ningbo as a build house. They use Dentaly electronics and tang audio LTD.

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

IMHO, Stevens. Since you already have the Kappa 2" mids, you have no need for extended response. I might even consider some cheaper 1/2" or 3/4" tweeters.

Not sure I understand, using a bandpass on the mids, 700 to 4500, tweeters to pick up from there. The CDT is rated to 50 khz , my HeliX B FOUR to 30khz as opposed to - couldn't find the top end rating for the Stevens.

Decisions , decisions!

 

[djdilliodon!]

Not sure I understand, using a bandpass on the mids, 700 to 4500, tweeters to pick up from there. The CDT is rated to 50 khz , my HeliX B FOUR to 30khz as opposed to - couldn't find the top end rating for the Stevens.

Decisions , decisions!

Stevens tweeter is 24khz

 

[deez283 10+ year member]

Never heard the Steven’s so
I can’t say. I have heard some tweeters that look very much like them made by ningbo and if they are the same I’d definitely take the 1200iS over them. Sound is subjective and everyone has their own tastes so really there isn’t such a thing as best. It will come down to personal preference. The best way to describe the 1200iS is it has the smoothness of a silk dome but with the detail of a metal dome without the harshness. This is personally the exact type of sound I like.

Edited: the Stevens tweeters aren’t the ones I heard as I checked and they don’t use ningbo as a build house. They use Dentaly electronics and tang audio LTD.

"tang audio LTD" is that Tang Band? or different company?

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

"tang audio LTD" is that Tang Band? or different company?

I wondered the same thing. Looks like Tang Band.

 

[djdilliodon!]

"tang audio LTD" is that Tang Band? or different company?

Tang audio LTD is a Chinese company based out of China. Tang band was based out of Taiwan in its early days known as tang speaker but moved operations to China. I’m pretty sure they are indeed the same company. They do OEM work for a lot of companies besides Stevens. Earthquake is another company that uses them and obviously parts express sells their drivers under the tang band name.

 

[Jimi77 5,000+ posts]

Not sure I understand, using a bandpass on the mids, 700 to 4500, tweeters to pick up from there. The CDT is rated to 50 khz , my HeliX B FOUR to 30khz as opposed to - couldn't find the top end rating for the Stevens.

Decisions , decisions!

I was thinking you meant the low end extension. I seriously doubt the CDTs have response to 50hz. The CDTs slightly bigger, so off-axis response will suffer. Impedance would tell us which driver will truly have a more extended high end, but neither company is lists impedance for their drivers. Both are trustworthy companies.

If you're concerned about extended top end, you'll get better top end extension from a smaller tweeter due to better off axis response and a smaller coil.

 

[spokey9]

There's no reason to list any response over 20khz...it's just a marketing gimmick on something you can't hear 1

 

[djdilliodon!]

There's no reason to list any response over 20khz...it's just a marketing gimmick on something you can't hear 1

What if you have a dog and you bring it with you, they can hear up to 65khz

 

[spokey9]

What if you have a dog and you bring it with you, they can hear up to 65khz

Then the dog can kick in on some tweets

 

[Doxquzme Premium Member]

There's no reason to list any response over 20khz...it's just a marketing gimmick on something you can't hear 1

Actually it's not that you can hear it, it impacts the way you actually hear the stuff within range. They started looking at why initially, CD playback was considered so steril and one of the conclusions is the sharp cut-off of the perceived limit of the human ear eliminated various harmonics present on analog playback.

Pioneer, came up with a solution on it's ELite PD-65+ units to mathematically/electronically emulate harmonics to the cd playback called "Lagatto-Link", adding back harmonics that are present on analog vinyl records. It was done to try an replicate that "warmer" sound. Modern, quality DA converters are no longer capped at 20khz for the same reason. Kind of like a magnetic field, you can't see it with your eyes, but hold a magnet up to a metal object like a paperclip and the clip moves, jumps to the magnet.

You can't see magnetic fields but they are all around us and strong enough, they do affect us as well. They can't really prove/measure that higher quality RCA's or speaker wires are better but I have personally done blind A/B test and whether it's a perceived improvement or just a change is subjective but there is a difference nonetheless.

 

[spokey9]

Maybe that'd make a difference in a proper home set up...but in an automotive environment you won't notice a difference if a tweet plays past 20khz or not...and that's assuming the individual can actually hear up to 20khz

 

[Jimi77 5,000+ posts]

Maybe that'd make a difference in a proper home set up...but in an automotive environment you won't notice a difference if a tweet plays past 20khz or not...and that's assuming the individual can actually hear up to 20khz

I know I can't hear past ~12khz and don't really hear below ~30hz and I'd say my hearing is better than most. In a daily driver, I agree chasing "stats" isn't worthwhile. For competition, maybe that extension pays off.