Car Tweeters – Purpose, Working And Types
What Are Car Tweeters?
Back in the days when cars were only used as a mode of transportation, they were not comfortable; there were no safety measures or audio systems. We know that music might be the least a person might think of while buying a car.
But you will get the difference when you want to listen to your favorite music on a long drive, and your car’s audio system ruins it. And, a perfect car audio system doesn’t include two sets of speakers alone; there is more than that. If you want a nice audio system that can make you groove to each song, you must include sound components, and different types of car speaker, such as tweeters and woofers, in your car.
You might know about woofers, but what are car tweeters? Many people exclude these small yet crucial components as they seem petty. However, a true melomaniac won’t do it, and if you are one of them, you should have all knowledge regarding car tweeters. And for that, read this guide to get the best car tweeters.
Purpose Of Car Tweeters
If they seem negligible and small, trust us, none of the big and pricey speakers can work without them. While working with other components such as woofers and sub-woofers, these small tweeters can produce a wide range of sounds.
Tweeters mostly produce high-frequency sounds that the woofers cannot deliver. Guitars, cymbals, and vocals are excellent examples of high-frequency sounds. You cannot use tweeters only for listening to music because they can easily distort the sound.
Hence, tweeters are used with a combination of mid-range speakers and woofers in an audio system. Lastly, tweeters are a must if you love listening to podcasts while driving.
What Sounds Do Car Tweeters Produce?
In a sound system, tweeters produce high-frequency and high-pitched sounds like trebles and vocals. The other parts, such as woofers, cannot reproduce high-frequency sounds because of their size and shape. On the other hand, tweeters are small and can easily cover the highs with clarity.
They add minute details to your music, making it great to listen to. Like other sound components, tweeters can cover only some of the frequency range. Even though it depends on the manufacturer, most tweeters range from 3 kHz to 20 kHz.
How Do Tweeters Work?
The tweeters are a kind of speaker which can reproduce high and medium-range frequencies. Due to their small size, they can smoothly emit high frequencies. Moreover, tweeters work by combining woofers and mid-range speakers and cannot work independently.
These small speaker components are connected to an amplifier that helps in converting electrical signals into understandable waveforms. Even though different tweeters have different workings, most of them have a diaphragm connected to a voice coil that converts electrical signals into mechanical ones. That’s how tweeters reproduce high-frequency sounds.
Types Of Car Tweeters
There are various tweeters available. However, we have included only those used in-car speakers. Therefore, read their details carefully and choose which one to have.
Cone Tweeters
Cone tweeters are the most commonly used tweeter types because they are easily available. Moreover, they are cheap too. They are very lightweight and come with varied cone sizes.
Further, the cone can be made of woven glass fiber and metals such as titanium or aluminum. They are used with midrange speakers and woofers, thanks to their low dispersion properties. Also, cone tweeters can easily reproduce vocals as well as mid-range frequencies.
Dome Tweeters
The dome tweeters are the most fragile ones on the list. And expensive too. These tweeters cannot reproduce high-frequency sounds without any distortion. Besides that, dome tweeters are perfect if you want clean highs at medium volume.
A dome tweeter is constructed to attach to a voice coil, and the dome performs piston motions sound production. The dome in the tweeter is made of silk or any lightweight metal. Moreover, they don’t come with any protective frame, that’s why they are fragile.
Piezo Tweeters
The piezoelectric tweeters are for people who are not that much into music. These tweeters are not as accurate as compared to cone and dome tweeters. Moreover, they are not highly available.
Piezo tweeters work due to piezo crystals, which convert electrical signals into audio using the physical diaphragm. They are rarely used, and we are sure you won’t find piezo car speakers. Hence, it’s hard to find piezo car tweeters and if you find one, avoid them because they are worth the money spent.
Ribbon Tweeters
The ribbon tweeter gets its name due to the thin metal ribbons used inside it. The metal used for making this ribbon is mostly aluminum and is very thin. Moreover, it’s lightweight too. The aluminum diaphragm is too thin, so it can move faster and give high-frequency responses.
Therefore, ribbon tweeters can easily reproduce sounds of high frequency but struggle while producing medium frequencies. Also, ribbon tweeters have a low impedance and can be connected to only amplifiers of low impedance. Also, their manufacturing requires skills and time, so they are expensive.
AMT Tweeters
The Air Motion Transformer tweeter has a weird construction, including a pleated diaphragm that folds perpendicularly and reproduces sound. AMT tweeters are heavy as compared with ribbon and horn tweeters. That’s why AMT tweeters don’t reproduce sound as balanced as lightweight tweeters.
However, they are sturdy and won’t break easily. AMT tweeters are used in many high-end stereo sets and car speakers. Hence, you can go for AMT tweeters without any second thought.
Horn Tweeters
Horn tweeters can easily produce highs and low frequencies because of their horn structure. Horn tweeters can easily survive a fall because they don’t include diaphragms or voice coils. However, as you will install them in a car, there is no chance they will fall. Talking about the sound quality, horn tweeters have small dispersion angles yet can provide clear sound. They produce sound using piston motion.
How To Find The Best Car Tweeters For Your Car
As of now, you know how important these small tweeters are for your car audio system. Here is a small guide to finding the best tweeters for your car. In this guide, we have included some factors that you should consider while buying car tweeters.
Material
Mostly tweeters are made of silk or metals. These materials have different properties, so the sound quality varies too.
Silk- If you go for silk or any fabric tweeter, you will get a smoother sound with great-sounding treble instruments. Also, silk tweeters sound balanced. Hence, you can buy reinforced silk tweeters for loud and balanced sound.
Metal- the metal tweeters made of aluminum and titanium are strong yet lightweight. Moreover, their loud yet balanced sound can make you feel the energy. Therefore, if you are a person who loves blasting off music in your car, metal tweeters will work best for you.
Silk vs Metal, which one should I go for?
If you are someone who loves to boost up the volume while driving your car, you should go for metal tweeters. That’s because metal tweeters don’t distort sound even in high volumes. On the other hand, silk tweeters will distort the music while on high volumes. Hence, you should only go for silk tweeters if you love your music in moderate volumes.
Shape
The shape of the tweeter decides how the sound will disperse in your car, so it’s important.
Cone – the cone tweeters are popular and also the best shape for wide dispersion. Moreover, the sound stays balanced even in high volumes.
Semi Dome – the semi-dome tweeters take the smallest space in your car yet can deliver good sound. But, the sound dispersion is lower as compared to cone tweeters.
Dome – the dome tweeters sound well and disperse the sound perfectly. However, dome tweeters require more power.
Which shape should I go for?
The shape of your tweeter should depend on your car size, the space in your car, and the sound dispersion you prefer. Hence, depending on all these parameters, choose one of the tweeter shapes.
Power Handling
The power rating of the car tweeters should match that of your existing car speakers. If yes, then only you can move further and buy them. Power handling capacity is essential because if the power rating of the other speaker components is higher than the tweeter’s power rating, then the tweeters will be damaged. On the other hand, if the power rating of other components is lower than that of the tweeter, it won’t get an adequate power supply.
Impedance
The impedance of any speaker, including the tweeter, should be balanced. That’s because, if the impedance is higher, less current will flow through the tweeter, resulting in low-quality sound. Similarly, if the impedance is lower, other components of your audio system will get damaged due to high flowing currents. Hence, we recommend an impedance of 4 ohms for better sound quality and lifespan.
Conclusion
If you want a well-sounding stereo system, tweeters are a must. These small yet important components of a speaker can make a lot of difference in the audio reproduced. You can get the best of all other audio components, but without tweeters, they are of no use.
Therefore, having the best car tweeters is important, or else you will feel their loss. In this guide, we have mentioned a small guide to getting car tweeters, which you can refer to while buying tweeters. Similarly, we hope now you know what car tweeters are and their importance.
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