[Notes] Impressions of the SG Acoustic Super Tweeter and Carbon-Fiber Speaker Pads

This write-up is nearly three months overdue, XDD
Let’s just call that stretch the burn-in time my new super tweeter needed, XDD

First, let me introduce the company SG Acoustic~
Although the brand itself is only about three years old,
SG Acoustic is merely the name of their home-audio brand.
The real them has actually operated for years in fields like car-audio modification (going for the Xie-brand speakers), speaker-driver R&D, and manufacturing. Their philosophy and technology really impress me, and their approach differs quite a bit from many mainstream modification methods. Boss Xie himself also works hard at running a blog, so drop by and take a look when you have time! ( http://blog.xuite.net/sgacoustic/twblog ).
Take SAAB audio modification, which I know something about: what SG Acoustic cares about is the overall imaging and positioning of the sound, and how to pair the factory amplifier with good full-range drivers—no crossover, using drivers of different sizes directly to handle the highs and lows. This differs from the common approach that chases high wattage, adds a crossover, and only cares about bass quantity while ignoring overall imaging and positioning. I’ve also chatted with Boss Xie, and personally he strongly agrees with the so-called “Sound Field” placement/pairing method. For in-car audio systems, using Sound Field is both more convenient and more correct. And as for SAAB specifically, he mentioned that the factory design actually never used a crossover to begin with—it just used full-range drivers of different sizes to do the job; for cost reasons the factory drivers are ones we can still upgrade a bit.
I had the good fortune to hear Boss Xie’s own modified SAAB audio, and the overall listening experience left a deep impression. I felt as if I were truly inside a concert hall, with the singer performing above the dashboard to my front-right (I was in the driver’s seat). It wasn’t like the typical crossover setup where you can clearly feel level gaps in certain frequency bands, especially at low volume…
Boss Xie is cheerful and straightforward, and he really cares about the voices of us consumers. Back then he chatted with me about lots of things—like what amplifier I’m currently using and how to pair it for better results. We had a really pleasant conversation, XD

I’ve said all this just to tell everyone that this is a company working really hard here in Taiwan. If you have time, do go and learn more about them~

Alright, back to the point. Today I want to write about my impressions of the second-generation super tweeter.

First, let me lay out my setup:
Dedicated music-playback PC -> Supplier USB -> BlueKey -coaxial> Spitfire HD (with Supplier HD) -> Xiaomin 3 (PREOUT) -> BigJoe V1.3 (used as a pure power amp) -> JVC UX-B1013 (the warm, dependable everyman of small speakers) + SG Acoustic 2nd-gen super tweeter (silver-wire special-capacitor version + Kevlar diaphragm)
I also used a Supplier AC to eliminate high-frequency noise.

Let me first describe the difference before and after adding the super tweeter.
Before the super tweeter, because the JVC UX-B1013 I use is the warm, dependable everyman of small speakers,
the sound was quite full-bodied. The bass, coming straight out at ear level,
was more direct than the other set I was using at the time, the EDIFIER S330D.
And because its crossover work is well done, there were no obvious level gaps between frequency bands.
The only issue was that it was too thick-sounding, with the highs not extending enough,
which is what gave me the idea to buy a super tweeter.

After switching in the super tweeter, I immediately felt many highs I couldn’t hear before come out,
and the improvement was quite obvious. Because the highs extended upward,
it even made the bass feel like it dug deeper—especially the strike of cymbals, which became mesmerizing… crisp but not harsh, with the brightness it should rightly have~
There was also an “ethereal/see-through” quality I’d never really felt before, which became quite pronounced after adding the super tweeter. The old dependable everyman didn’t feel so plain-and-dependable anymore, XDD
Then, the longer I used it, the more I could hear the highs gradually relax, without the slight tension the sound had when first fired up~
A friend who came over to listen was quite surprised too, since he hadn’t expected that adding one super tweeter could change so much, and it made him very interested in this tweeter as well.

What sets SG Acoustic’s super tweeter apart from other products is that it crosses over starting from 13K (the 13K crossover-point version), so once installed you can directly confirm whether the installation succeeded. And after installation, you’ll also find it doesn’t steal the show from the main speakers; instead it plays a solid “supporting” role.

I once read an article that said “a super tweeter is like a hardware plug-in EQ,” and I agree with that. But as I mentioned earlier, because the highs extend upward it also gives the sense of the bass digging deeper. And because it’s a hardware plug-in EQ, you could say it “reinforces” the direction you want to change, without the distortion problems a software EQ can bring~

Of course, a super tweeter isn’t a cure-all either, because it still has to be used in the right place to get better results. In my case, a speaker that was already thick-sounding sees great results, and a typical full-range speaker also benefits nicely from this tweeter. But if your speaker is already ethereal/see-through in character, then unless you want to reinforce it further, using this won’t necessarily be better. And if your speaker is already super high-end—the six-figure kind—then after adding this it may not necessarily beat the mighty diamond tweeter you already had… though you can of course give it a try, XD

Now let me also talk about my impressions of using the pads~
These pads were something Boss Xie gave me first, because we hit it off so well, and asked me to write up impressions later, XD
Actually, even before using these pads, I’d been wanting to use some pads/spikes, because the environment I use my speakers in isn’t great—it’s the ordinary assemble-it-yourself computer desk—so placing the speakers directly on it tends to cause resonance… and the overall sound quality turns very muddy…
It wasn’t until Boss Xie specially sent me a few pads that I could use them on my speakers, and the results were quite good~
And unlike typical pads/spikes, these are ring-shaped, so they sit very stably in practice. For an environment like mine—a computer desk that still occasionally wobbles when I type too hard—I personally feel that rather than chasing a perfect “three-point” mount, it’s better to be a bit more stable, since a speaker toppling over would be a real headache…

All in all, for me, SG Acoustic’s super tweeter is genuinely something worth investing in, especially on thick-sounding speakers and full-range speakers. As for the pads, SG Acoustic now also offers a service where you can get them for free after writing up your impressions—so if any of you use SG Acoustic gear and are still missing a pad, come write up an impressions post to get one!