Popular Products > Electronics > Tweeter

A tweeter is essentially the opposite of a woofer and a subwoofer. It is a specialised speaker which is used when audio of very high frequency is required. Such frequencies are generally in the range of 2000 hertz to about 20,000 hertz beyond which the human ear cannot really “hear”. A tweeter is so called because it picks up noises that are emitted at high pitches, much like the tweeting of birds versus the low pitch woofing sounds made by dogs, giving birth to the name of woofers. Woofers are speakers that are used when low bass frequencies are required to be heard.

There are several types of tweeters. The cone tweeter usually imitates the design of the woofer however it is specialised to work for higher frequencies instead of lower ones. Cone tweeters are optimised so that a tiny lightweight cone can move quickly and the cone itself is stiff or it made from silk or both. Cone tweeters are quite cost effective which is why they are primarily used in home audio systems, car speakers and so on. Cone tweeters are pretty rare these days but manufacturer of premier speakers, Bose, uses them in their 201 and 301 models.

Dome tweeters are also popular and piezo tweeters are also used extensively. Piezo tweeters are also known as piezo-electric tweeters and these are even cheaper than cone tweeters. They are used in low-end inexpensive PA (public address) speakers and stereos. There are also quite rugged in comparison to voice coiled tweeters but they cannot produce the same quality. As the name suggests, ribbon tweeters have a wafer thin diaphragm and these were developed almost simultaneously with the ribbon microphones. Ribbon tweeters have stacked drivers which produces high sound pressure at great distances from the speakers themselves.

A quasi ribbon tweeter is also known as a planar magnetic tweeter and these are cheaper than ribbon tweeters. An electrostatic tweeter can also be used but these consume high voltage power. AMT or Air Motion Transformer tweeters are seldom used these days but they are sturdier than ribbon tweeters or electrostatic ones. Horn tweeters are can be any type of a tweeter attached to a horn. These horns help improve the tweeter’s efficiency. Plasma tweeters use electrically charged ionized gas and are therefore also known as ion tweeters.

The tweeters thus help the human ear perceive sounds that cannot be normally heard, and hence maximum audio clarity is ensured.