I think I understand where Erik is coming from. In terms of how much energy a loudspeaker puts out, typically relatively little is actually delivered by the tweeter. In terms of wattage, a typical tweeter might see 5% to 15% of the wattage that the amplifier puts our, right in the ballpark of what Erik said.
But imo the tweeter’s contribution to sound quality is disproportionately large relative to its contribution sound quantity.
My understanding, based on the research of psychoacoustician David Griesinger, is that the ear gets most of its information from sounds in the 700 Hz to 7 kHz region.
The middle of that region is about 2.2kHz, and the ear’s sensitivity peaks in the 3-4 kHz ballpark. So imo a lot of important stuff happens in the range that tweeters usually cover. Also there is typically a crossover somewhere in this general ballpark, and getting that crossover right matters more than which tweeter is used.
Personally I’m MUCH more interested in how well the midwoofer and tweeter work TOGETHER than in the solo performance of either. In other words, the overall system design is what matters... but system design doesn’t make for enticing ad copy like tweeter exotica does.
Imo, ime, ymmv, etc.
Duke
