[Review] 3-way Supertweeter Test

3-way Supertweeter Test

Townshend, JAS, Audiosmile super-tweeter test

WHY ME, MELLSTOCK? While I often log onto ZG, I'm no regular when it comes to posting. In consequence, this 3-way supertweeter test might look like it comes out of the blue. As may the news that ZG-regular Tenson, in his Audiosmile alter-ego, is the manufacturer of the 3rd pair of these speaker add-ons.
What this review points up is how each super-tweeter added its particular genetic-modification to my sound. Secondly, my main finding is that the Audiosmile super-tweeters are the best of the bunch... and the most affordable.

IN THE RING: The other contenders are Townshend Maximums (£UK 800 inc. cables) and the Chinese-manufactured JAS (£649 exc. cables). Tenson himself can tell you exactly what the cost will be of the Audiosmile pair you may wish to encounter since this is very much a bespoke product. They should come in at less than £400 (exc. cables).
All three brands are ribbon-based. All ZG audiophiles will know that super-tweeters don't just do the tweetery things better, they also enhance spatiality and transients in the mid-range and even add depth and substance to the bass.

SYSTEM HISTORY and a confession: don't look to this review for technical explanations. Just not my strength.
The current system is: NAS Hyperspace & AceSpace arm/Denon DL304/Microgroove+; Audio Synthesis electronics: Transcend/DAC; Passion pre- and Desire Decade power- amps; Monitor Audio Studio20 SE speakers.
I bought the Townshends after a pukka shop-dem and lived happily with them for 18 months, even influencing ZG-regular Larkrise to purchase a pair. He then swapped to the JAS and so I gave those a try too. At which point a prototype of the Audiosmile super-tweeters appeared on the scene and I was suddenly knee-deep in these almost inaudible mini-blasters. Time to test. Then the Audiosmile went home, the Townshends found a new one, and finally the Audiosmiles reappeared in the format in which they will soon have a grand launch.
So what you have here is more than a sneak-preview, it's highly subjective, totally non-technical, but sourced in hours of careful comparative listening, most recently JAS vs Audiosmile..

APPEARANCE & FUNCTIONALITY The unobtrusive TOWNSHEND matchboxes have a seven-step variable output completely adjustable therefore to both speaker and source-music. This is a boon since one of the pennies which soon drops with all 3 super-t's is of uneven effect across different types of music, and dependent also upon the things like recording techniques and the engineered mix. My shorthand for the occasions on which one can have too much of these good things is "since when was the hi-hat a lead instrument?"
The cylindrical JAS are much more hifi with their two silver rings of driver-surrounds. We're down to two pass filters, at 12 & 18 khz with significant differences between each, especially in the levels of ambience and locational clues allowed to come through in the recordings.
AUDIOSMILE are more like silver-edged picture-frames, and at 14x9mm undoubtedly have the greatest visual presence when perched on the speaker lids. As with JAS, toggling is between two filters. The manufacturer will, however, set the pass filters according to factors such as speaker-compatability and owner preference and they can easily be reset. The sample were set for my system at 12 & "just under" 17khz.

SOUND QUALITY My experience shows that supertweeters as a breed are somewhat like cats - beautifully pampered, selfish, sightly unpredictable but wonderful to have around when they behave. It follows that each brand has its own way of saying mee-aiow.
Quite simply the TOWNSHENDS will allow you to have as much or as little of the effect as you require. The manufacturer recommends sticking to step 2 or 3 and that was my experience - beyond that I felt I was hifi feature-spotting and losing the coherence of the whole.
FROM THE TOWNSHENDS TO THE JAS was a surprising step. It became clear that the former weren't offering the last level of detail; JAS were better with transients too, and were more accomplished in the trick of hanging a single vocal higher up in the sound-stage, with more air around it and greater body. Rhythms stopped and started more conclusively. Going all the way up to 7 on the Townshends did reduce the gap in detail but at the great expense of that vital cohesion.
FROM JAS TO AUDIOSMILE again offered more surprises. If the JAS have a flaw, it is that even on the 12khz setting on some material they are a tad strident and very occasionally spitty. The Audiosmile gracefully dispatch all such concerns while doing all sorts of key things such as being more rhythmically coherent; holding decays longer; relaxing and opening-out congested mixes even further. In short, they pull off the important trick of being more analytical but less clinical.

SOUNDING OFF I'm thoroughly convinced by the Audiosmile supertweeters and yes I'm having a pair. Swapping between them and the JAS was subjectively akin to an upgrade of a power amp. It's over now to their manufacturer to see how well he can launch them onto the choppy waters of hifi promotion without a big name or advertising budget to propel him.

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Volcano Vaporizer

 

maybe a screw change is in order before showing the Audiosmile ST's to the public Simon. Other than that they appear to look great.

no point spoiling the ship for happeth of tar.

 

Thanks for the write-up

I went to hear the three supertweeters at Paul's a few weeks ago and I have to say his system really works well with them. Even though his speakers have a 1" tweeter that supposedly extends perfectly well the wider dispersion of the supertweeters just opened them up and gave a more involving and live sounding presentation. I am very pleased that my AudioSmile ones did it without adding a 'is the hi-hat a lead instrument' kind of sound which I have heard all too many times with supertweters.

I'm not always in favor of using supertweeters but I think they do have their place such as on full range single driver systems, ESLs and also with speakers that might just lack that last ounce of 'air' and spaciousness in the top end. The idea therefore, is to offer a very bespoke supertweeter not just in the form of a huge choice of solid woods but also in the form of custom designed filters. That way it is possible to achieve a far better match with the speakers you use than an off-the-shelf option otherwise would.

Sq225917, I agree I need to get some silver coloured hex bolt types. I just didn't have time to obtain them before going to visit Paul.

 

Tensons supertweeters are super good - review from myself in due course and I've pretty much had a range of supertweeting experience! - watch the space!

 

sounds good..

 

Shouldn't this be in the dealer classifieds or something?

 

hold on let me just grab my big irony stick...

 

Sounds awfully interesting.
Simon, can the wood finish be completed in Maple?

 

I thought you were able to understand that I have no commercial interest or otherwise with Berning? I don't know the guy. He is not on Zerogain. And his products have been reviewed in Stereophile and other reputable magazines. Didn't that get through?

The difference here is a mate of another forum user posts a semi critical review insinuating that his mate's products are actually better than the established references. No prior history of discussing purchases - let alone taking really good detailed photos and posting a review, despite being a member for almost a year. That smacks of what I hate most about internet forums. I don't like forums becoming an advertorial for users businesses.

 

i thought you were able the undersdtand the concept of 'sense of humour'

 

Hi Mike,

Solid Maple is no problem.

 

Hi other Mike,

There isn't really anything sneaky going on. I originally made a prototype pair and sent them to Larkrise asking for his feedback on what he thought, since he has used a number of other supertweeters. His amp broke down before he got to try them so sent them on to his friend Paul (Mellstock) who has also used the other main supertweeters out there. I didn't know of Pauls existence before that. Paul liked them so much he invited me to visit him when I had more final versions ready, which I did, and he very kindly did this pretty detailed write-up.

I'm happy you consider the photo 'really good and detailed' though! The close-up is one I took myself and sent to Paul to show him what the final versions looked like (quite different from the original prototypes) and I am quite happy for him to use it.

 

Not when my integrity is seemingly questioned. If that's your idea of humour you have a problem.

 

Just to address Stereomic's concerns & to underline both Larkrise's & Simon/Tenson/Audiosmile's comments -

I only met Simon when he came over a couple of weeks back. Before we'd emailed & had a chat on the phone. The protoype supertweeters did indeed come via Larkrise. Having 3 supertweeters sets to hand, I thought it would be a cool challenge to test them systematically using a wide range of listening material, cd & vinyl & short samples versus normal listening and see what I found.

I initially wrote something just for Larkrise and for Simon and for me - to take a break from work and the book I'm knocking up on a totally different topic. The post is a version of that, but Stereomic's welcome to checkover the 4 pages of my original rambles if he likes...

My biggest purchase during my ZG-membership has been going from NSA Spacedeck/Spacearm to Hyperspace/AceSpace but there wasn't enough mileage in writing that one up. (Except to say that it was worth every penny...) Furthermore, systematic A vs B is good to do since it really unplugs the lug'oles. But no way was I going to stretch my limited practical skills by fitting and refitting the cartridge from Space to Hyperspace...

Lastly, I don't insinuate that the Audiosmile are better than the "reference" (Stereomic's word for the Townshend & JAS, not mine) - I state it. And that's because that's what I heard. Maybe in another system you'd get something else - absolutely no doubt about it in mine..

MELLSTOCK
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Medical marijuana doctor

 

Thanks for the explanation. I see the "manufacturer" has now posted links to your review on other forums as part of the product's "marketing push".

To balance, I'd personally add that it might be worthwhile waiting for a review by an independent source, and I would always tread carefully when spending money with companies without a track record.

Sorry Tenson, you seem a nice guy, but it's only fair that if you are going to use enthusiast's forums as marketing platforms, they should be made fully aware that people like Max have been trading for decades from business premisis, and you have just started up from home - or your parents'. I feel the proper route to market is via the established channels and find that 90% of recommendations for previously unheard of companies on internet forae turn out to be BS that cost's innocents time and money. If any business is going to make money at other people's expense, then at least they should have the decency to pay for the opportunity.

You will I hope see that this is not personal - that I have taken this position with many others who've come on the boards posing as mates, enthusiasts, hobbyists, whatever - only to further down the line start selling the products they've raved about. You are just the latest with this and the Behringer.

Rant over.

 

Not everyone has the financial clout or experience to put the show on the road via the established, 'pay per view' channels, magazines etc.

in fact some would choose not to, and rather go the route of assembling a hand built product, sold by personal recommendation and word of mouth, rather than succumbing to the higher bandwidth retailer channels and the innevitable higher prices that incurs.

both are equally valid in this day and age.



given that supertweeters aren't exactly the volume end of the market, i'd guess that simon has made the right choice. after all it's only a demo pre-production product web review. Hardly an all out assault on the established highend.

 

No worries Mike, you are welcome to think and feel as you please. I think you are getting the wrong end of the stick though.

Yes, I posted a link on PinkFish Media, in the trade announcements section using my trade account.

A wise enough approach, but I would point out that all business' start somewhere. AudioSmile has a growing number of customers and as far as I am aware every one is extremely satisfied. I believe good service is one of the most important aspects of a successful business.

The only factor that changes is how great my overheads are. Business run from home are hardly uncommon. The wood work for SoundSpace room treatments for example, is mainly done by experienced cabinet makers in the heart of Kent. They have done some mightily impressive projects from working on mansions for TV shows like Footballers Wives to building custom speaker enclosures for Phil Collins' personal studio.

Such as investing in a pair of the supertweeters for demo purposes and allowing people to home demo them at their leisure. If that person wishes to write a small review of their findings and posit it on a hi-fi forum then that is great, because that is exactly what these forua are for!

As I said, I didn't know Paul until he invited me to come and hear what he was hearing with the 3 supertweeters. That doesn't make us mates, although we got on well enough and he copied a great CD for me Therefore this is an independent review. Paul is not getting anything for it - if he did, then yes, it would make a mockery of the idea of an inderpendant review.

 

Hi Tenson,

roughly what bandwidth do these new tweeters cover and at what sensitivity? Presumably as nothing of note comes from a CD source above 20KHz their benefits are only apparent below that point? If one's existing speakers are nominally flat to 20KHz or above is there some provision to attenuate the output of the stock tweeter so that the output of both isn't summed?

 

Hi Murray,

They extend to approx. 40KHz so if you have vinyl or SACD then you may get some benefit from stuff above 20KHz. Sensitivity is 93dB.

I feel the main reason supertweeters can improve things even in a system that already extends to 20KHz (like Pauls Monitor Audio Studio20) is due to dispersion and/or a drooping response up that high (common of slightly older tweeters, e.g. the Focal TC90). Even a 1" dome tweeter that extends above 20KHz directly on axis can easily be down -10dB at 20KHz, 30° off-axis. By comparison my suptertweeters are down only ~-3dB.

These supertweeters have very even and wide dispersion compared to some more 'normal' tweeters and especially full range drivers. They also have very low distortion of around 0.2%. I would point out most ribbons have distortion commonly around 0.5% to 1%.

I can design the filters for the specific speakers / drivers you have, or if they are an unknown (no data around) then make an educated guess.

I wouldn't usually attenuate the stock tweeter. If it is one that runs up pretty high but needs the dispersion widening out, I have found it works well to gently roll-in at a pretty high frequency just where the dispersion starts to droop. On most 1" dome tweeters that is around 16KHz.

If you are using full range speakers then obviously it will depend a lot upon what drivers you have. Quad ESL are apparently quite receptive to a good supertweeter, too.

The speaker, spacing of the supertweeters from the stock tweeters, and the elevation of the listening position are the things that seem to determine if the summing of the two tweeter outputs cause audible issues. In most cases a little tweaking with positioning can sort it out but I see no reason one could not place a thin piece of silk or something over the stock tweeter to attenuate the very top end. So far I have not found a need too do so.

Hope that helps

P.S. I thought strictly speaking CD extended to 22KHz?

 

But you still have an uneven polar response - just with more high frequency energy across the board. Maybe it can prove beneficial in the far field, but if your lsitening position is within the room's chitical distance, then you are simply turning up the treble. In most domestic listening rooms I would have said it was highly questionable whether you would want increased off axis energy adding to the unpredictable nature of the reverberation field. But subjectively a boost on the old treble control can work wonders at below average listening levels. Indeed it is very reminiscent of simple tone controls in that you screw up the direct sound in order to make the in room result subjectively more attractive.