|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
68.104.247.26
In Reply to: RE: Fetcher Munson Curve vs. the notion of high-frequency extension posted by chocolate_lover on March 22, 2021 at 09:41:44
"Harbeth and some other speaker makers use supertweeters that provide >20khz ultrasonic frequencies and supposedly provide more 'air' and a more 'realistic' and 'human' sound by making it better able to produce the leading edge of each transient without time smear but being neither a firm believer nor a denier but a supertweeter agnostic...well, I have no idea what others can or can't hear"Super-tweeters and tweeters extending well beyond 20 kHz were a big thing back in the 1970s and early 1980s, prior to the CD era..... (Even Radio Shack was marketing such products.) As were "high speed" and "wide bandwidth" amplifiers..... But the bandwidth limitations and HF artifacts from CD playback made these products less desirable..... And unlike vinyl playback, super-tweeters and wide-bandwidth amplifiers didn't make much of a comeback, mainly because they don't do particularly well with digitally-sourced audio.
Edits: 03/22/21Follow Ups:
....was used to make an electronic rodent repellent ;-)
Will vinyl even go high enough in freq to warrant a super tweeter, or were they used to help "tilt up" the highs?
"Will vinyl even go high enough in freq to warrant a super tweeter, or were they used to help 'tilt up' the highs?"There has been a lot of debate about this, especially after the CD became prominent in the mid to late 1980s...... The audio science types were promoting CD playback fervently during that time, claiming that LP playback didn't extend much above 15 kHz...... (I think they're probably correct, but I do notice "sparkle" at the top end with a good analog source that I've never heard to the same degree with any digital format, regardless of resolution.)
Prior to the CD era, it was believed by many that high-frequency extension beyond 20 kHz had a profound effect on "spatial cues"..... The one thing that I remember prior to the CD era was that "soundstage" extending beyond the speakers (and beyond the walls of the listening room) was a common phenomenon with systems that were capable of extended response.... In spite of the systems being quite modest by today's audiophile standards...... (Although I sometimes wonder if I had better hearing during that time, which may have contributed to the effect.) And many of us believed that to maximize this effect, extending well beyond 20 kHz (as far as going up to and even beyond 50 kHz) was the key factor.
But after the CD came out, the obsession with "huge soundstage" faded, quite dramatically...... (I also believe the proliferation of digital devices and computers, due to the increase of ambient RFI of several orders of magnitude, has made it very difficult to restore this sonic trait, even with systems that once excelled with it prior to the digital age.) And even with high-resolution digital audio playback and vinyl exotica in recent time, this obsession has never been rekindled.
Edits: 03/24/21
Nt.
Mark in NC
"The thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains" -Paul Simon
I've got a pair of those 'piezo button tweeters' on some franken bookshelf speakers ... they run the 8" aluminum woofers MCM Electronics used to sell wide open, with 2.5" paper cone tweeters and simple cap / resistor Xovers
very sensitive, very loud, very garage ... sounds great off my Emerson 8 track player! no bugs or mice in there!! in fact, it sounds best when I'm not in there either with the overhead doors open ... a crude mono 'horn'
in truth they actually give a rather sophisticated presentation driven by my little TDA10 chip amp ... they'll stare down most commercial bookshelf units I've heard in the $200.00 range ... I kid you not
regards,
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: