Morel Tweeter - Test Report

by CAE, Oct 01, 2002

I slapped in a classical disc next, Telarc's 20-bit recording of Schubert's Symphony #9, The Great. Wow! This is really relaxing and enveloping. Imaging is layered and wonderful. The hall is large and alive with ambience. The sound is soothing, and warm. It's almost like being there. Definitely, one of the best reproductions of classical music I have tested.

The Morel Supremo tweeters are high-tech marvels. They sound great and will out perform many tweeters that are available. I do wish, however, that they came with a crossover and matching woofer. This tweeter would have racked up a much higher score in the "Ease of Installation" category if they were available that way. As it is, they have achieved the highest score that I have assigned so far.

If you are serious music lover, you should get these tweeters. Thankfully, no funky chrome to polish like on some speakers. Morel put their money into research that improved the sound quality and performance. So, yes, these tweeters are expensive, but it is money well spent to achieve a high level of sound.

PARAMETERS Supremo Fs Hz 819.2 Re Ohms(dc) 5.25 Qms   1.2 Qes .656 Qts .424 SPLref dB(2.83V) 92.5

Objective Score Chart PointsPossible MorelSupremo Sensitivity 10 10 On axis response 10 10 Off axis response 10 10 Total Points 30 30

Subjective Score Chart PointsPossible MorelSupremo Overall Sound Quality 20 16 Tonal Balance (above 80Hz) 10 9 Low Frequency Extension 10 9 Clarity at Low Volume 10 8 Clarity at High Volume 10 8 Image stability 10 8 Listening fatigue (moderate volume) 10 9 Flexibility/Ease of installation 20 13 Total Points 100 80

On Tracy Chapman's album, New Beginnings, the first track, "Heaven's Here On Earth", opens with a simple wood block, tambourine, and acoustic guitar. The wood block strikes have excellent detail, realism, and a fixed - non-moving image. The tambourine images well, but I do not get the full detail of each of the bangles shaking independently. The guitar is nice and well rounded, but a little boxed. There should be a little more air. Vocal reproduction is nice with a little more sibilance than I would have expected from Chapman.

Next, I tested with a male vocal track, from Chris Isaac's Heart Shaped World album. On the 5th track, "Wicked Games", the rhythm cymbals are open sounding with a nice ring. The brush strikes on the snare have excellent detail. The male vocals are great with good clarity and thickness. The Supremo is really well balanced overall and enjoyable.

The flush on-axis response was pretty amazing, +/- 1.5 dB from 2kHz to 20 kHz - with a sensitivity of 93dB at 2.83 volts! This is hands down, the smoothest dome tweeter response built for car audio I have tested (or seen). This is very surprising considering the shape of the dome. Typically, with a dome this tall, major peaks and/or dips appear between 10-20kHz. The Supremo stayed flat throughout that range. It also fell off above 20kHz smoothly, a good sign that that dome material is well damped and all of the parts are working well together. This is no small feat when a simple change in glue properties can cause response errors in the range of 4-5 dB.

The 30 degree off-axis test was also quite good. The response stayed flat until it hit 10kHz and then had a minor dip and rise to 15kHz, where it started its final rol-off. This is again the best off-axis dome response I have tested and even more remarkable because it is a oversized dome.

Morel's solution: design a tweeter with a very low resonance so the crossover point between woofer/mid and tweeter can be dropped below the point where the woofer's response has dropped off. (Most dome tweeters need to be crossed over around 4 kHz)

If you carry this process on long enough, you begin to define a product that is uniquely optimized for car audio and, in many ways, unlike anything that has come before.

Supremo Features*1 1/8" voice coil for a larger radiating surface and lower resonance.

*Underhung gap geometry for higher linear excursions and lower distortion.

*Symmetrically balanced neodymium motor for highest magnet field energy.