What does a tweeter do?

[fenderx55]

...yeah nuff said.

 

[TheNerdBass]

"...a small loudspeaker designed to reproduce high-pitched sounds in a high-fidelity audio system."

Used to capture the high notes of your bass. You can turn it off for warm, upright sounds. Or, you can keep it on to get some clear high end.

 

[Freakin Idiot]

What's the difference between a tweeter and a horn? I've been on some manufacturer sights and the word seems almost interchangeable.

 

[KeithBMI]

Same thing, just a different word.

 

[BurningSkies]

Isn't a horn different from a regular 'tweeter' speaker? I've never thought of them as interchangeable. But then, except for on PA gear, I turn them off.

 

[Petary791]

How can I turn my tweeter off?

 

[KeithBMI]

How can I turn my tweeter off?

Some amps have a switch on the back, some don't.

 

[KeithBMI]

Isn't a horn different from a regular 'tweeter' speaker? I've never thought of them as interchangeable. But then, except for on PA gear, I turn them off.

Everything I've seen just says horn/tweeter, so I assumed it was the same.

 

[seanm]

How can I turn my tweeter off?

Many, but not all, bass cabs with a tweeter have a knob on the back with controls how much signal goes to the tweeter.

Tweeters are an evil invention for people who like to slap their basses and think they need the high end

 

[syciprider]

A tweeter is a high frequency driver.

A horn is a style of speaker. It looks like, well, like a horn.

So a horn tweeter is a tweeter that looks like a horn.

Visit the Klipsch home audio website to see speakers utilizing large horns.

 

[link wray]

Not all tweeters on bass gear are horns; Hevos for instance uses a 'slot tweeter':
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Horns are used because they are louder than other tweeters. This high efficiency comes at a price: they can sound harsh.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

Not all tweeters on bass gear are horns; Hevos for instance uses a 'slot tweeter':
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Horns are used because they are louder than other tweeters. This high efficiency comes at a price: they can sound harsh.

That slot tweeter is a horn. The slot shaped horn mouth is vertically aligned to control HF dispersion.

The harshness often attributed to tweeters in general and horn loaded tweeters in particular seldom has anything to do with the tweeter. It's usually a product of using a woofer to cover the bass/midbass, along with a tweeter for the high end, but with no midrange driver to cover the frequency range in between. Musical instrument/PA cabs in general, and electric bass cabs in particular, seldom use midranges, and high frequencies often sound harsh as a result. Most bass cabs would actually be better off to use a woofer and midrange and no tweeter, rather than woofer and tweeter and no midrange, but -surprise, surprise- tweeters are a far less expensive option than midranges, so that's what usually ends up being used.

 

[A9X]

The harshness often attributed to tweeters in general and horn loaded tweeters in particular seldom has anything to do with the tweeter. It's usually a product of using a woofer to cover the bass/midbass, along with a tweeter for the high end, but with no midrange driver to cover the frequency range in between. Musical instrument/PA cabs in general, and electric bass cabs in particular, seldom use midranges, and high frequencies often sound harsh as a result. Most bass cabs would actually be better off to use a woofer and midrange and no tweeter, rather than woofer and tweeter and no midrange, but -surprise, surprise- tweeters are a far less expensive option than midranges, so that's what usually ends up being used.

Agreed 100%. Add to that, most 'horns' attached to MI and small PA cabs are generally cheap crap, and poorly implemented wrt matching the dispersion angles between the driver covering the range below the horn and the horn itself at the xover freq, the usually poorly designed xovers themselves, and it's no wonder people don't like them. Done right, they're excellent.

 

[link wray]

That slot tweeter is a horn. The slot shaped horn mouth is vertically aligned to control HF dispersion.

The harshness often attributed to tweeters in general and horn loaded tweeters in particular seldom has anything to do with the tweeter. It's usually a product of using a woofer to cover the bass/midbass, along with a tweeter for the high end, but with no midrange driver to cover the frequency range in between. Musical instrument/PA cabs in general, and electric bass cabs in particular, seldom use midranges, and high frequencies often sound harsh as a result. Most bass cabs would actually be better off to use a woofer and midrange and no tweeter, rather than woofer and tweeter and no midrange, but -surprise, surprise- tweeters are a far less expensive option than midranges, so that's what usually ends up being used.

I was not aware that a slot tweeter was a horn too. So this was the wrong example. I know Accugroove uses dome tweeters; those certainly are not horns. I have to agree with you on the mid-drivers missing and that being part of why things can sound harsh. That being said i must also say that most domes sound less harsh than most horns. And that slot tweeter (Beyma i think) is certainly a horn that does not sound harsh despite being a horn.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

most domes sound less harsh than most horns. And that slot tweeter (Beyma i think) is certainly a horn that does not sound harsh despite being a horn.

The reason for that is that dome tweeters tend to be 10-15dB lower in sensitivity than horn loaded tweeters. The dome sounds less harsh because it simply isn't as loud. A slot tweeter will usually have a fairly high cut-off frequency, at least 5kHz, so the horn may be only an inch or less long, giving the unit the appearance of a non-horn loaded device.

 

[Ben Clarke]

It should be noted that there are lots of horns still being designed and produced today. The main benefit to many of the designs is drastically reduced IM distortion due to decreased cone excursion.

 

[Kael]

What does a tweeter do?

Well.... it tweets.