[column col=”1/3″]For me the best placement was dead center top, in line with my tweeters, and at a level depth, flush with the front baffle of the main speakers. With cables, connections and positioning all satisfied I spun my first critical tune and sat down for a listen.. ..Wow.. The sound had changed, and not a tiny change either, quite a discernible change.

The sound stage has grown, the whole sound has matured not just at the high frequency range but across the whole range! Vocals sound fuller and more correct, breaths on wind instruments were real, violin and strings in general sounds as real as I’ve heard on my system to date and atmosphere on live recordings were more perceptible. Without exception one of the best purchases I have made within Hi-Fi.

If I could compare Hi-Fi to food it would be like adding a little bit of salt to the food, the flavour was always there, but the salt just makes the flavours stand out more and adds a further dimension to the complete flavour. That’s what the Maximum Supertweeters have done for my set up. Just as a well set up subwoofer adds to the fullness and roundness of the sound, the Supertweeter does the same also, just tailor the level to your preference and system matching and away you go.

Removing them after a few days has made the sound dull, flat and even two dimensional. Was that really what I was calling decent quality Hi-Fi a couple of weeks ago?!  What I had thought was a pretty good sound was now without the Supertweeters only mediocre in terms of sound quality. The difference was a night and day one. So obviously they were welcomed with open arms and re-instated into the system once I had established there was a “gap” without them. [/column]

[column col=”1/3″] On first play the smile returned to my face and I earnestly started to rummage through my music collection to get another playlist together. At which point I should also tell you that I found the effect was still there even at night time listening levels, but it does need a few decibels to be “magical”.

My 15W per channel Leak valve amps had no problems with the load on top of my speakers and when using full range “horn” speakers, these Supertweeters are simply a must have item and being quite minimal in operation they don’t seem to destroy the single driver sound of a good Lowther or Fostex, rather adding to it to give a fuller sound so long as you are careful with the volume level.

Discretion is the key, and blending without over exuberance or understatement is a must and worth taking the time to tune in and get right because when you do, the sound is simply stunning… …In conclusion, my humble opinion can only be used as a guide because we all hear differently and we all like a different sound.

The Townsend Maximum Supertweeters are well executed, well made, capable, very discrete super tweeters.  

In my opinion in terms of user friendliness and sound they are the best passive super tweeters I have heard on the market today and the fact I have purchased a pair with my own hard earned money is testament to how good they are and the impact they have had on the sound of my system. [/column]

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I am not going to get into the “snake oil” debate because they work within my hearing range and with all of the formats I use. Lossless on the MacBook, DAB, Cd and analogue, vinyl and tape cassette all benefit from a fuller more emotional sound.

Science is great, and will one day crack cancer and HIV but it struggles to quantify certain things in life and one of those things is emotion. I’m sure my hearing doesn’t extend much above 16kHz or so and yet the super tweeters work and work well for me.

I think transients, atmosphere, detail, attack and sustain all benefit as does timbre between instruments, sounds and especially vocals within the hearing range due to less distortion, less smearing and better definition at frequency extremes. Definitely not snake oil in my opinion.. ..A worthwhile investment and I will not be returning them or selling them on. Many Thanks and keep the music musical..

Patrick Thomas.

Link to Supertweeters page[/column]