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
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.
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.
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.

facten,
When I owned and used the Townshend super tweeters they seemed to add a level of air or spaciousness that was not obtainable by my speakers. 
Once I installed the Focal Sopra 2's they added the same amount (or perhaps more) of the same qualities that I heard with the super tweeters.

I just didn't think the Townshend's added anything more to the Sopra's.

ozzy