Car Tweeters
Tweeter 
is the perfect name for a noisy little speaker that reproduces high pitched sounds. In a way, the tweeter is the twittering insect of the speaker world, in both shape and sound--this little tweeter, however, can chirp up to 130W of Bee Gees heaven. Find a cricket who can give you that kind of power.
Things to Consider
 | - Power: Adding a tweeter will mean a demand for extra power, so make sure your car's power system can handle more of a load. Also, make sure the power on your speakers and woofers match that on the tweeters.
- Output: The tweeter is for reproducing high pitched sounds, so the output impedance must be high also. Anything from 4-8 ohm is good but do not go for anything higher or lower--any higher will consume too much power, and any lower will be too weak.
- Mounting: You should be able to mount the tweeter on any surface around your speaker. It can be on the ceiling, surface, flush, angle or door. Make sure it comes with sufficient options to mount it almost anywhere.
- Tweeter Position (continuation of mounting): Just because tweeters can be mounted anywhere doesn't mean they should be or that that the sound will be the same in every position. A kickpanel mount--near midrange--has equal right and left path lengths, and a good centre image, but it produces a low sound stage. This type of mount is best for bright speakers because it softens the sound. An A-pillar mount is better for stage height and depth, but it is bad for bright tweeters, and reflections off the windscreen. This type of mount often produces less height for lower frequencies than it does for higher frequencies (i.e. soundstage steering). Most people agree it is best to fiddle around with the system to stage which positions produce the best sounds.
- Materials: Tweeters made of lighter materials can carry shorter wavelength vibrations faster and more efficiently. These softer materials--such as polypropylene, silk, and textiles --produce refined highs that work best with jazz and classical music. Tweeters that use harder materials--such as metal, ceramics, or graphite --produce bright, sharp highs that work best with rock, metal, or techno. I would recommend staying away from tweeters with paper cones, which deteriorate rapidly and have a lesser sound quality. Good speakers--made of materials like titanium and chrome --are more expensive, but they last much longer.
- Design: Each type of tweeter produces a different quality of sound, which means that you should keep the type of music you plan to play in mind when selecting a set. The four basic tweeter designs are dome, cone, horn, and ribbon.
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| Tweeter Designs |
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Dome Tweeters Dome Tweeters are the most similar to the midrange designs found in stock automotive systems. They look and work like typical speakers, but their smaller and lighter construction allows them to hit the highs better.
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Cone Tweeeters Cone Tweeters use a small cone shaped emitter to shape the highs--these are powerful and best where highs are important.
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Horn Tweeters Horn Tweeters add a compression driver around the throat of a cone like horn, boosting the output to a stronger level.
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Ribbon Tweeters Ribbon Tweeters use a combination of thin pieces of metal between the positive and negative poles of a magnet. High current transformers vibrate the ribbon to create the sound.
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