We spend too much time talking about tweeters

I think the Wilson inverted domes were terrible tweeters.

@thom_at_galibier_design ,

Your point on overtones, i.e. harmonic reflections of base notes is fundamental for not only defining timbre but also location in the soundstage. To wit: look at the astounding effect of supertweeters such as Murata or Townshend on the overall perception of bass (!) and soundstage.

@noble100 ,

Suffered from excess distortion and bad allignment... Also may have had a dent in his cathode.

kingharold is correct. Music is in octaves. If one considers the 3.5 kHz crossover, in a two-way system, the woofer then covers 7-1/2 octaves! If there is a midrange speaker crossing over from a woofer at say 250 Hz, the woofer then covers about 4 octaves, while the midrange covers about 3.5 octaves before crossing over at 3.5 kHz.

As audiokinesis posts, the ear is most sensitive over 700 to 7000Hz range, with the most sensitive in the ~1-3 kHz zone. It then makes sense to have a very good midrange speaker crossed over below 500 Hz and maybe above 8 kHz, ballpark frequencies, so that the most sensitive hearing range has no crossovers at all, so no large phase transitions over that range.

This is a design problem with compromises galore.

my point was never that we should ignore the high frequencies, but that we talk about tweeters like they are the whole speaker.

Speaking of using a 3 way, I have to say I'm really intrigued by the idea of a woofer-assisted wide band.  It's almost like a full-range, with a woofer added. Could be pretty interesting, but like Duke, I don't find crossovers to be nearly the villains they are made out to be.