What does the term rolled off highs mean ?

My tweeters are suppose to be good to 60KHz; WAY beyond my hearing range or anyone else's. Why? Because it is felt by many that what happens outside the audible range affects sounds within it. "Rolled Off" is a pejorative implying that there is insufficient treble to accurately reproduce the music.

Less high information. Like if you had a treble tone knob and rolled it backward.

This term means that you can't hear the cymbles extension as well as if you didn't have rolled of highs.

Stanwal,

some think that when you are hearing multiple instruments and all have high frequency harmonics that the ear is capable of hearing higher than normal and the added response can improve perception of detail etc.

I just butchered that statment but it is as close an explanation as I can remember..

:)

This is a very complex question and goes far beyond the discussion so far.

There's the anecdote about the audiophile who goes to a live orchestral concert and his comments about the sound, "the high's were rolled off."

While it is a good thing to have speakers that have flat, on-axis response well past 20kHz, the last thing you want in home music reproduction is a flat power response into the treble region. When combined with closely mic'd instrument recordings it's a recipe for piercing, unpleasant, unnatural highs.

When talking about rolled off highs in modern loudspeaker it is how the designer/manufacturer handles the on-axis vs. power response issue that is usually being assessed. How the speaker is setup (toe-in), the distant from the speaker to the listener, the room and the recordings used are all factors. And after all that is taken into account it then comes down to listener preference. Although from the non-audiophile world it is the general consensus that audiophiles like a little too much treble in their mix.