1. How do I connect to the terminals?
2. What is the difference between the main OW dome tweeter types?
3. Is the OW3 and OW4 just a colored
version of the OW2 ?
4. General information about main issues
5. Technical information about construction details
6. Replacement tweeter for Fried
Products Speakers
made throughout the period 1983 to 2003
7. A
Review of The Hiquphon Series of Tweeters
1. How do I
connect to the Hiquphon dome tweeter terminals?
From the beginning the
OW tweeters were intended for soldering.
As the terminals from the beginning were designed to
be soldered, they are of course capable and very robust and they are not easily
harmed while soldering the combination of wires and terminals. In fact you can
solder and unsolder again and again without any problems. Damaging the plastic
around the terminal does not influence the sonic quality of the tweeter at all,
unless of course you keep heating with the solder iron until the iron
penetrates the plastic housing (don't try to do that!).
How to:
Connect leads/wires to the terminals of a Hiquphon dome tweeter:
2. Explaining the
differences between OW-types
It can be difficult to fully understand
the differences in performance of our main OW types. The following was meant to be a
descriptive explanation.
OW3 / OW4 (also available
as OW5 with classic
black dome):
Let me state this
first: OW3 or OW4 are NOT just colored
versions of the OW2!
This could easily be assumed, having studied the frequency curves. But no,
they are not!
The basic construction of the OW3 and OW4 is the same as that
of the OW2. So far so good.
Different cone (diaphragm) and other materials inside, but a very different
combination of coating substances on the dome!
A different amount of coating too! A bit heavier and in fact more like the
coating used with the OWI.
As you may have guessed by now, coating is absolutely essential for the quality
of a soft dome tweeter.
In my opinion coating is THE far most important part of a soft dome tweeter
(when properly done, that is :-).
OW3 and OW4 are coated six times each!
Standard OW1 and OW2 are coated 2 times
each.
Each coating is accomplished using unique special selected coating substances
added to achieve the important damping in the dome surface and of course to
achieve the special colors as well.
The sound picture of the OW3 and OW4 does lean towards a
softer and low distorted output in the lower frequencies than does the OW2.
The right
coating and damping is in fact the secret behind the high quality we
offer!
It takes most of a life time of experience to understand coating and damping in
details.
Consistency really is a major problem, as all involved materials are soft and
difficult to "measure" from batch to batch. Temperature, humidity and
raw materials differ all the time.
To control production of soft domes at the highest quality level does not come
easy.
During
now 25 years Hiquphon have "learned by patiently doing "and now we
just" know how to".
OW2:
The OW2
(an upgrade from OWII and OWIIx) has lower moving
mass and thus is "fast".
When I say "fast" I am not talking of "sound speed", I am
talking "fast to settle" from an impulse and thus ready earlier for
the next signal coming in.
This
means the voice coil is ready for the next pulse while being in a neutral
position.
In that
way TIM (Transient Inter-Modulation distortion) is reduced
more than otherwise.
That’s
probably why some people find OW2 more distinct in the upper end
compared to the OW1.
OW1:
The OW1
and OW3/4/5 are all heavier damped than the OW2.
Heavier damping contributes to perfect asymmetric behavior in the impulse
response domain. After a pulse has been fired the dynamic moving mass is going
to rest very fast without over swing (well damped). Again, settling is important here. A good speaker unit
goes silent without ripple (multiple over-swing) after having responded to a
pulse signal. This is especially important with tweeters as they reproduce the
high frequency area in which the most important information about instrument
positions in the complex sound stage is generated.
Further
comments:
We can still
supply small qty of the old now obsolite OWIII for
repair purposes, but OW3 is a great substitute.
These are available for those customers who absolutely MUST have the good old
OWIII gold dome!
If you need
more information regarding which type to choose, then please don't hesitate to
email Oskar Wrønding with further questions.
Kind
regards
Oskar
6. Replacement tweeter for Fried Speakers...we still
make them!
When the famous
speakers from the old Fried Products Company were made years ago under the
brilliant leadership of Mr. Irving M. Fried (Bud Fried), "The best tweeter
in the world" (so Bud said whenever he had the opportunity and that
happened quite often) was used. This tweeter was an early version of the
Hiquphon OW2 using magnetic oil in the air
gap.
Between
1983 and 1999 Fried Products used a 92mm version. From 2000 to 2003 our
standard 94mm tweeter has been used in the newer
So,
during quite many years we produced thousands of tweeters for various Fried
Products speakers. Most of these tweeters still serve their owners faithfully.
Unfortunately now then an accident may happen.
For instance a child or grandchild with small curious fingers have been
“investigating” the stiffness of the soft dome and pushed too hard :-(
Spare parts therefore now and then are needed as replacement.
We
still produce the original old types for replacement and sell them direct to
any private owner of a pair of Fried Speakers. Simply email us, prepay the
amount asked for, and your tweeters are flying the next day.
Normally
we only sell two units per order because we believe it to be important that you
get a matched pair.
So if one original unit is still playing and only one is off, we recommend that
you change both and save the first still good one for eventual later use if
another accident should happen.
Buying direct from Hiquphon is easy! You can simply prepay us through
PayPal using your credit card. A bank transfer is of course an option, if
that is what you prefer.
Newer types (for
If you
are uncertain of whether or not the tweeters in your Fried Speakers are
produced by Hiquphon, you should email us and together we will find out what
can be done.
Finally we would like to mention, that quite a number of
Fried Speaker owners have chosen to buy our special modified OW2,
OW3 or OW4 as upgrades. Replacing
the original tweeters with those new matched OW-types has generated
quite many profoundly grateful emails to Hiquphon during many years
already.
Our saying: “To music with love…” are not empty words only.
!
A Review of The Hiquphon Series of Tweeters
by Jeff Bagby
November 2002
A while back
Dave Ellis asked if I would be willing to evaluate and write a review on the
Hiquphon tweeters that he was now authorized to sell. Having not yet heard any
of these tweeters I, of course, jumped at the chance, but I told Dave it would
take me some time to get around to doing it right. He said, no problem, take
your time. Well, it’s still long overdue, but here is my review of the Hiquphon
tweeter. I know a lot of you are already familiar with these drivers, so I will
write this review more for the person who is not as familiar, but may be very
curious about trying one out. Hopefully, the information I provide will assist
this person in making their decision, one way or the other, on whether one of
these tweeters is right for their application.
I have a
toddler at home (no, this is not a horror story of dome tweeters and little
probing fingers), and I still have a clear concept of the phrase "hiccup
on". What’s this have to do with a tweeter review? Well, the first
question anyone has about these tweeters is how to pronounce the name, and as I
understand it sounds like hiccup-on with an "f" sound in the middle.
Now you no longer have to deal with fear of trying to order something not
knowing what to call it and wondering if the person on the other end of the
phone is quietly snickering at your ignorance. Say "hiccup-phon" quickly. Now you’ve got it.
Hiquphon is
the name of a small loudspeaker parts company in Pandrup,
Denmark. It is owned and managed by one man – Oscar Wroending,
whose initials are the OW that you see on each of the model numbers. In fact,
it is my understanding that Oscar does everything from own the company, to
assembling and testing the tweeters, to sweeping the floor and turning the
lights out.
Hiquphon
makes four models of their tweeters, each based on the same basic platform – a
20mm soft dome tweeter recessed into a semi-horn designed face plate, and each
using the same motor and cup assembly. The tweeters are aperiodically
damped to a rear chamber. Each has a 94mm diameter flange with 3 mounting
holes. The rear of the driver is completely enclosed in a plastic housing with
terminals that consist of two clearly marked holes of 2.5mm diameter on the
back of the cup.
This brings
me to my only two negative comments regarding these tweeters. First, I’m not
big on plastic faceplates. They’re just too easy to ding up. Look at the Seas
Excel T25-001 tweeter, which is in the same price range. Now that’s a faceplate
and cup assembly to be proud of, other manufacturers should take note. DIYers
often change out tweeters or move them to other enclosures. We like designs
that are durable. I know someone will say that the plastic is well damped or
something like that, but I’m talking toughness here. The second thing I am
whining about are those holes they call terminals in the back of the tweeter. A
good connection is almost impossible short of soldering. Since I did not want
to deface these tweeters during a review I had to resort to cramming twisted
wire leads into the holes, and sometimes holding them in place with tape. This
makes me think back to those Usher tweeters with the big ¼" blade
terminals. These are the kinda terminals I like to
see on a tweeter. I understand that Hiquphon's
terminal holes are the result of the way the rear chamber is sealed, but
still…..
OK, I’m done
whining. Because there are a number of perks when you get a pair of these tweeters
that you do not get with most drivers. Did I say pair? Yes, I did. When you buy
these they come as a matched pair packaged together in a single box. These
tweeters have been matched to within +/- ½ dB from 2Khz to 20kHz (according to
the literature). However, in addition to the assurance that they have been
matched, each box comes with an actual SPL and Impedance plot of each of the
tweeters in the box, each signed personally by Oscar Wroending.
Also included is a small pamphlet giving all of the mechanical, electrical, and
acoustical specifications for the tweeter model, and each tweeter has a nice
sticker on it showing the model and serial number along with some of the
specifications. Plus, the data on the pamphlet is very extensive, even to the point
of giving the THD%, the acoustic center of the tweeter, and the X-max, among
other things. These are all very nice touches that go well beyond what you will
normally receive when you purchase all but the very finest of drivers, and
sometimes not even then. My kudos to Oscar for such excellent and informative
packaging.
The general
specifications of these tweeters are as follows; they have a recommended
frequency range of 2.5Khz and above using a specified 12 dB/oct. or higher
electrical crossover. Fs for the different models runs between 850 and 900 Hz.
The Re is typically 5.8 Ohms with a voice coil inductance of 0.03mH, the
minimum impedance is about 6.5 Ohms at around 3.5kHz, and this is generally
considered an 8 Ohm tweeter. The rated power is 100 Watts (using the
recommended crossover slopes). The THD is listed as less than 0.15% at one
Watt, above 2.5 kHz. Dome and voice coil diameter are both 20mm, with a one-way
X-max of 0.9mm (a heck of lot for a tweeter), and the acoustic center is listed
as 11.3mm behind the front of the tweeter (or 7.6mm from the mounting face of
the flange).
As I
mentioned there are four models and here are their basic distinctions from one
another: The OWI, which is the most heavily coated and damped of the group.
Because of this it also has the lowest sensitivity at 87 dB/W/M and flattest
response of the bunch as well. The OWII, is the same tweeter as the OWI but
with a lighter coating on the dome. It has a higher sensitivity at 90 dB/WM,
but also begins to roll off a little higher in frequency than the OWI. Next is
the OWIII, which is similar to the OWII, but has a different coating on the
dome. Living here in Northcentral Indiana there has always been something
special in any reference to the "Golden Dome", especially in November
(Notre Dame football, sorry). But in this case the golden dome is the one on
the OWIII. I am not familiar with the story behind the gold coating and I
assume that it is primarily for cosmetic reasons, but it does change the
response slightly as well as the sensitivity. The OWIII is a little lower than
the OWII, coming in at 89 dB/W/M. The literature calls this one the "high
end" tweeter, though, so I am not sure if it is only cosmetic. Finally,
the fourth tweeter in the line is the OWI-fs. Unlike the other three tweeters,
which do not have ferrofluid in the gap (did I leave that out?), this tweeter
is the same as the OWI, but with ferrofluid in the coil gap. The basic
difference between it and the OWI is a broader flatter impedance peak at
resonance; otherwise the response curves and sensitivity are almost identical
above 2kHz.
The choice of
tweeter that would be best for your application will more than likely be based
on the different sensitivities, the use of ferrofluid, and the color of the
dome, but what about the sound? Is there a difference in the way these tweeters
sound that distinguishes them from one another? Before I answer that question I
would first like to compare the tweeters to some of the other tweeters that I
had on hand.
When I performed
the comparison of the Usher 9950 tweeter to the Dynaudio
D260, and Seas Excel T25-001, I also included the OWII (which matched up well
in terms of sensitivity). Later I compared the OWII to an Infinity EMIT tweeter
listening to the upper register resolution. Here are my thoughts on these
listening tests.
I spent most
of my time listening to the following CD's:
"Bonnie
Portmore" from the "Highlander Endgame" soundtrack
"Trumpet
Spectacular" with Doc Severinsen and Erich Kunzel
(CPO) on Telarc
"Jazz At The Pawnshop" on Proprius
"Ariel
Boundaries" by Michael Hedges on Windham Hill
"Erkiology" by Steve Erquiaga
on Windham Hill
In each case
I tended to find the D260 to be the airiest of the group, almost to a fault.
This came out the strongest on Bonny Portmore whose female vocal (Jennifer
McNeil) is recorded a little "hissy" anyway (which is why I selected
this CD for the test). A quick response check indicated that the Dynaudio has peak in response in the 10kHz region. This
made D260 sound unnatural to my ears. The Seas had the strongest projection of
her voice, and sounded the least "hissy", probably due to the
slightly rolled off top octave of the T25, which measure very smooth otherwise.
It sounded much more natural than the D260 did. The Usher was very clean in the
upper vocals and tended to sound more natural than the other two tweeters. It
had a little more air than the T25, but not quite as airy as the Dynaudio. Overall the Usher seemed a little more neutral
than the other two, and this is mostly due to the top octave differences
between the three tweeters.
However, when
I played the OWII I was surprised how much it sounded like the Usher, which is
a much larger tweeter. Of course, the lower registers were not as strong with
the OWII, but overall the tonal balance through the rest of the treble and into
the highest octave was similar between these two tweeters. The OWII actually sounding the most neutral of the bunch in terms of
top octave balance to the rest of the treble. This is a hard thing for a most
tweeters to get right, but the OWII nailed it hands down. The OWII measures
almost dead-flat above 3kHz and sounds so natural and open that it’s a little
uncanny.
It is amazing
how much difference there is in appearance between a 28mm dome and 20mm dome,
and you would swear that the 20mm had to be even smaller than that just by
looking at it. Therefore, it was certainly not surprising that the OWII did not
have the brawn to keep up with the other tweeters much below 3kHz. Crossing
over much below this point is almost too much to ask from such a small dome. I
would limit it to 2.5kHz to 3kHz depending upon the crossover slope chosen. As
I reported in the earlier review, the Usher and the Excel tweeter were
excellent in the region around 2kHz in terms of power and dynamics. However, on
the other end of the spectrum it’s a different story. Although the Usher
measures flat to 20kHz the size of it’s
dome means that as you move off-axis the response in the top octave drops off
quickly. The OWII, on the other hand, due to it’s small dome had much better dispersion of sound
in the top octave. So, even though both tweeters measured flat to 20kHz on axis
the OWII sounded much more open with a much smoother power response in the top
octave. The highs on this tweeter are not only very natural and balanced, but
seem to fill the room with a more open, natural balance than the larger
tweeters were able to do.
I spent some
time listening to Trumpet Spectacular and at times I was having a very
difficult time pin-pointing the differences between tweeters. Each tweeter had it's own sound but these
differences were subtle and at times hard to define. The easiest thing to pick
out was always the extra sibilance from the D260. The OWII was always a little
different sounding in the way it spreads the "air" out into the room.
After a while I began to feel that this was "right" and I missed it
whenever I listened to the other tweeters, which started to sound more closed
in. To my ear the other tweeters sounded less like "natural sound"
than when I played the OWII. I have heard this effect before because I lived
with a Dynaudio D21/2 for a number of years, which
was similarly open sounding. I wish I still had them so I could make a
comparison with the OWII, but I had given them away a couple months before
hearing from Dave. From my memory though, it seems that the OWII has a flatter,
more natural balance than the D21 had, but I am working only from memory here.
I have not heard the smaller Scanspeak tweeter
myself, so I am not able to comment on it for comparison, but others have
compared it favorably.
While
listening closely to the brush strokes and hi-hat on the Jazz at the Pawnshop
CD It was easy to tell that the OWII seemed to be a little more detailed and
honest than any of the larger tweeters. It had the best resolution of detail
and was very balanced in the top octave. In this area I felt it was best of
these tweeters. (Having said this, I will add that with a crossover that lifts
the top octave of the Seas Excel a little it really comes alive and sounds
remarkable on this passage too, but the Hiquphon seemed neutral enough that it
would not need any contour. It is very natural over its entire spectrum). The
OWII is the hands down winner among these domes in resolution of detail and
openness in the top two octaves.
It was here
that I tried a head to head with the OWII and an Infinity EMIT tweeter. This
did not work out well as a test. The two tweeters sound very different and
require very different crossovers to sound right, making comparisons difficult.
The EMIT has a rising response in the top octave which exaggerates the detail
that the planar already reproduces. The OWII, on the other hand, is very flat
and balanced. I have said it before, and I will say it again, planars resolve tons of detail, but I find them difficult
to integrate with other drivers. The OWII resolves detail better than any of
the other domes that I had on hand, but it’s smooth response and excellent
dispersion make it very easy to integrate. Because of this I would personally
select the Hiquphon over a planar tweeter in an effort to build a balanced and
integrated "musical" sounding speaker.
My final test
involved listening for differences between the four models of the Hiquphon
tweeters. This proved to be the most difficult test of all. By the time I was
done I wished that Dave had only sent me one sample instead of four different
tweeters. Wow, what a headache! However, I did discern some subtle differences
and I will attempt to describe them the best than I can. I used the same CD for
this entire test, kinda "listening into"
the music over and over as I switched out the tweeters and set the levels. The
CD was Steve Erquiaga’s "Erkiology"
on Windham Hill which is a nice Jazz CD with some really nicely recorded
treble.
Using the OWI
as a baseline here are my impressions of the differences between the models.
The OWI is the flattest and smoothest sounding of the group. It is very neutral
and well-behaved, and based on the response curve looks like it will extend a
little lower in frequency than the other models, as it is flat down to 2kHz.
The OWII is more sensitive by 3 dB, but most of this sensitivity is at the
expense of response below 3kHz. The response of the OWII is gently rising up to
3kHz, levels off, then selves up a couple of dB at about 4kHz where it is flat
out to 20kHz. Sonically though, this is not the only difference between these
two tweeters. It seemed to me that the OWII has a bit more resolution of detail
than the OWI had, possibly due to the extra coatings on the dome of the OWI
adding mass-damping to the diaphragm. The gold domed OWIII had a response shape
that was similar to the OWII except that it had a little more emphasis in the
octave between 5kHz and 10Khz, and was not quite as
flat in the top octave as the other two versions were. Because of this
emphasis, the OWIII seemed to have a little more "bite" or
"snap" to it’s sound. It did not seem as
neutral as the OWI, but it did seem to be a tiny bit more dynamic sounding
because of the mentioned slight rise in response around 8kHz. Keep in mind that
these differences are very subtle. I don’t want to give the impression that one
version is excellent and another is not. That is not the case. Each of these
definitely sound like they are in the same family of tweeters, and they sound
more alike than they sound like other tweeters, it’s just that there are small,
subtle differences that distinguish them from each other.
The fourth
version is the newest one of the bunch. It is the OWI-fs, which is a ferrofluid
version of the OWI. The only real difference that I can tell from this tweeter
is that the ferrofluid produces a broad plateau rather than a peak at the
resonance. The normal OWI peaks at about 16 ohms at resonance and the OWI-fs
has a broader peak at about 10 ohms. This may make the OWI-fs easier to work
with with some crossover topologies. Sonically, try
as I might, I was unable to hear any difference between the sound of the OWI
and the OWI-fs. They sounded exactly the same to me.
In conclusion,
the tweeters from Hiquphon represent an extremely high level of performance for
small dome tweeters. They excel in flatness of response, resolution of detail,
and open, wide dispersion. If you are planning to build a speaker that has a
tweeter crossover around 3khz or so, then I can not
think of a tweeter I would recommend more highly. Above this frequency they do
almost everything right. Personally, I love an open sounding tweeter that
allows you to move around some without loosing the sweetspot. These tweeters give you that and more.
Because of it’s 90db sensitivity, high resolution of detail, and flat
extended response with a nice smooth roll-off on the low end, I really liked
the OWII, and I am thinking of using it with some Dynaudio
D76AF midranges that I have. This may be a match made in Heaven, or maybe just
Denmark, but you get my drift.
If you would
like to know more about these tweeters contact Dave Ellis at Ellis Audio and I
am sure Dave would be glad to answer any questions you may have and even sell
you a tweeter if you are in dire need of one or two.
Jeff Bagby
Kokomo, IN
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this page was last updated 12. March
2019 by OW