Foreword / YouTube Video Review
I purchased this tweeter through Parts Express.
The review on this website is a brief overview and summary of the objective performance of this speaker. It is not intended to be a deep dive. Moreso, this is information for those who prefer “just the facts” and prefer to have the data without the filler.
Information
Retail price is about $25 USD/each.
I tested this tweeter both flush mounted and surface mounted so you can see the impact that flush mounting a tweeter such as this has on the response on and off-axis.
Test Results
Foreword: Subjective Analysis vs Objective Data of Drive Units (click here)
While I would love to be able to confidently do so, I do not provide subjective analysis of raw drive units. Realistically, there is no easy way or meaningful way to do so. Drive units are parts of a whole. In order to test, subjectively, you would want to integrate it into a system and find what works best when mated to another driver (like a midwoofer to a tweeter, a midrange to a midwoofer, etc.). And to give it a fair shake it must be optimized in that inegration which would be a very arduous task to perform for every drive unit I review. It makes no sense to subjectively critique a single drive unit on its own because it may be used in a different configuration than someone else. One person may cross it with an LR2 HPF and LR4 LPF where another may use it in a completely different bandpass with completely different crossover and slopes. And if I were to try to create a speaker from it for the point of subjective analysis I am left with the same issue. The best implementation for a 6.5-inch midwoofer is different than it is for an 8-inch midwoofer. The data tells the story of performance on an apples-to-apples basis far better than someone's subjective imagination can.For all the reasons listed above: What I provide here is objective-heavy analysis. However, I provide my own subjective experience and provide insight into what I believe might be positive or negative performance characteristics based on the objective data.
Frequency Response & Impedance
All data collected using Klippel’s Near-Field Scanner. The Near-Field-Scanner 3D (NFS) offers a fully automated acoustic measurement of direct sound radiated from the source under test. The radiated sound is determined in any desired distance and angle in the 3D space outside the scanning surface. Directivity, sound power, SPL response and many more key figures are obtained for any kind of loudspeaker and audio system in near field applications (e.g. studio monitors, mobile devices) as well as far field applications (e.g. professional audio systems). Utilizing a minimum of measurement points, a comprehensive data set is generated containing the loudspeaker’s high resolution, free field sound radiation in the near and far field. For a detailed explanation of how the NFS works and the science behind it, please watch the below discussion with designer Christian Bellmann:
This speaker was measured using the Klippel Near Field Scanner Baffle module, permitting accurate “infinite baffle” results. Per Klippel’s documentation (here):
“By scanning on 2 hemi-spheres in front of the speaker, room reflection as well as diffraction effects from the baffle can be removed, providing accurate half space data."
The test baffle has a sealed volume of approximately 2ft³ which is well above Vas for this driver. If you would like to see the construction of my baffle, please watch this video.
Countor (Normalized to On-Axis Response)
Harmonic Distortion:
Harmonic Distortion at 86dB @ 1m:
Harmonic Distortion at 96dB @ 1m:
Support the Cause
If you find this review helpful and want to help support the cause there are a few ways you can do so below. Your support helps me pay for new items to test, hardware, miscellaneous items needed for testing and costs of the site’s server space and bandwidth. Any help is very much appreciated.
Join my Patreon: Become a Patron!
Or using my product affiliate link below to buy anything they sell that you want to try out. This will earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. You can use these links anytime, now or in the future.
You can also join my Facebook and YouTube pages if you’d like to follow along with updates.