The best tweeter is no tweeter

In a recent review in Stereophile for the Elac Carina over an AMT based speaker (I’m a fan of AMTs by the way) the author, Herb Reichert, makes this statement:

My personal experience suggests that the overall sound of any loudspeaker is greatly determined by the designer’s choice of tweeter.

and then he goes on to list some speakers with AMTs, some of which I like, some of which I hate, which he feels share the same qualities. And it got me thinking about something as I hook up my home theater again. In my mind, the very best tweeters are completely invisible and transparent. I do not suggest you should use a single-driver, full ranger with a whizzer, heavens no. That’s just wrong (grin) and a clear cry for help.


What I am suggesting is that in the very best tweeters in the world, of which some are AMTs, and many are not, you simply cannot tell what they are.


That is, they are absolutely transparent. You do not perceive sound emanating from them at all. Music is just there, in front of you. Some of these are ring radiators that are really reasonably priced. Some are German or Spanish AMTs, some are diamond or Be tweeters.


In fact, my home theater has both ring radiators and AMTs in them, both of which may be found among the most prestigious brands of speakers. Though they have entirely different operating principles and materials, their performance is absolutely seamless. I barely use EQ except for the sub and center due to the latter’s location on a shelf. What both of these tweeters share is incredibly smooth output (unlike crappy AMTs or Be tweets) that is flat to beyond 20 kHz.


Please, buy what you like, but to me, if you want to talk about a world class driver, it’s not one you can sit in front of and say "aha! I know this is an Aluminum/Be/Diamond/AMT tweeter!!"


If you can tell the type of tweeter you are listening to, I can assure you it is not among the best in the world.