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Townshend Maximum Supertweeters

Yes, Maximum. I don’t come up with the names, I just review the stuff, okay? ;) And I got em because everyone keeps telling me I should, and once again they are right. Whew! That was easy!

Kidding! We will now laboriously delve into why you cannot live without these tweeters, that you can’t even hear.

For sure I can’t. My hearing rolls off somewhere north of 15k. If that. These things extend to 90k. Why? What difference can it possibly make?

Who knows? And since when has that stopped me?

So out they come and what have we here? Two heavy black bricks, with a screen on the front and a couple binding posts on the back. In between the posts is a little knob you use to turn them off and set the levels. On the bottom are rudimentary rubber dimple feet. Guess I was expecting Pods or something, this being Townshend. No such luck.

They go on top of the Moabs. Well there is already a BDR Shelf on top, and a HFT dead center right where this thing is supposed to go. Moving HFT even an inch changes the sound so executive decision, the Maximum Supertweeters go just outboard of the HFT. They are first just placed there not even connected, just in case this somehow messes with the sound. It doesn’t.

Okay so now you need to know my system is all messed up. No, not the usual mess I mean really seriously messed up. No turntable. Chris Brady has the bearing for some resurfacing and stuff. So we are slumming with the heavily modded Oppo. Not to fear, Ted Denney sent me some of his latest Atmosphere X (review to come) which with the right tuning bullet the Oppo now sounds....digital. Oh well. KBO.

The usual: Demag. Warmup. Listen a while. Hook em up. What level? Who knows? Moabs are 98dB. How ya gonna know anyway? How can it even matter? How do you even set the level of something you can’t hear? Level 3, good as any. Plug em in. No change. Not the slightest peep out of these things. Total dud. Knew it. Sit back down.

What the...? No way. There is not the slightest hint of top end coming from these things. They may as well not be there at all. Except the whole presentation is somehow different. Top to bottom. No way!

I get up and turn the black magic off. Sit back down. Crap. Flat, grainy, digital. Turn em back on. Deep, liquid, analog.

No, not analog like my turntable. They are just supertweeters after all not magic. But way more analog than it was. More dimensional, more solid, more liquid detailed. More black between the notes, and in the black it is now easier to hear the natural acoustic decay. I do NOT want to go back to listening to CD without this! I cannot wait to hear it with my table.

And I haven’t even had time to get them dialed in yet!



128x128millercarbon
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon OP
12,531 posts
 
Thanks, that is precisely the issue! 

Andrewkelley just PMd me with his succinct review and analysis of his newly setup DBA: "Holy F---n F--k. This is awesome." He has a fine career in reviewing ahead I can see. The point is this (DBA) is another one where people measuring the wrong thing keep thinking they can get there with EQ. Inevitably they are able to believe this only until they actually experience the DBA. Then, well read his review again.

I keep coming back to this article. http://www.townshendaudio.com/PDF/The-world-beyond-20kHz.pdf There are some fascinating parallels here that I am trying to figure out.

For example, doing a DBA has taught me that really low bass is mono. Yet at the same time it is with a DBA highly localized. How? Low bass is really just volume, with no location. Higher frequencies are highly localized. The only thing I can think of is our brains seamlessly integrate the two without our being aware of it. Anyone who has experienced bass in my system, probably any system with a DBA, will experience it as seamlessly integrated into the holographic sound stage. It is all but impossible to fight the illusion of bass being stereo. It isn't. But it sure seems like it is.

We need better measurement. Until we get it, the ears have it.
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,018 posts
 
Why would anyone need a super tweeter? A lot of music, especially today's, is already too bright.
rixthetrick's avatar
rixthetrick
1,060 posts
 
I would like to understand more why they shouldn't be placed on the top of the speaker, or what the tradeoffs are by doing so? Townshend's video shows them placed on top and doesn't mention doing otherwise.
Thanks
For the exact same reasons isolation works, if micro vibrations can be lessened as much as possible, hopefully it will improve the sound.
Well at least to me it makes some sense - have I tried it?
No but I'm willing.
smandlej
73 posts
 
Having a relatively small listening room I decided against upgrading my existing speakers as upgrade meant buying something even bigger !! So bought myself a set of supertweeters some time ago and recently the podiums - I'm on my way to a one make system -  er Townshend ..... might get there before MC, but I wouldn't bet on it. Max suggests connecting the supertweeters out of phase, I use setting three/four for most of my listening.
captinmrgn's avatar
captinmrgn
5 posts
 
Not technically "SuperTweeters" - but during the last 14 months I spent a LOT - I mean a LOT of time in the listening room tweaking gear.  I was given a pair of Heil ESS air-motion tweeter/drivers many years ago.  They were used in a pair of DIY main speakers mounted in (essentially) boards with two Dynaudio 8" drivers mounted both above and below them.  Completely open baffle - zero crossover used - there were subwoofers in his system.

I disassembled it all when I got them and saved the tweeters.  During the pandemic (having a lot of free time to tinker) I set them on top of a pair of old Boston Accoustics A40 Series 1s.  Amazing.  Sat them on top of some B&W 686s2's.  Amazing.  Sat them on top of a pair of Klipsch REF IV RF62 Tower Speakers.  I've never LOOOOVED these towers, but they served well in my basement surround sound system.

Adding the Heil ESS tweets to the top - revolutionized the system.  The Klipsch are powered by a MAC6700 and the ESS Tweets driven by MC250.  The openness and airiness - the detail.  The soundstage.  I've heard amazing speakers - been in the pro audio game my entire life (I'm 50) and even though this seems like a band-aid to a marginal pair of speakers - (Head's up:  It IS) - I have never heard something I love more than this setup.  I'd spend tens of thousands to achieve what I've got in the basement theater.

We've been shut for a year - so I didn't believe myself.  As the world opens back up, my friends have come over to listen.  I asked them to sit down and listen.  Don't just tell me it sounds good because they think that's what I want to hear - tell me what you REALLY think.  Each and every one of them suggest it's the best setup they've ever heard (these are not audiophiles, so weight opinion as you see fit).

I recommend highly experimenting with "things" like super tweeters.  Just because you can't hear above 20kHz doesn't mean a driver (and source music) being able to go way up there - doesn't still give your head, your ears and your body some "feeling" that it's there.  We search for subwoofers that can extend to 20Hz and below - because you can "feel" the bass down there.  I think the human body can perceive it.  Headroom.

I added (I know, gasp) a JBL EQ between the output of the preamp and MC250 to tame the ESS's a bit in certain frequencies I found a touch harsh.  "CUT" only - no boost anywhere in the chain.

I have to tell you, it's magical.

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