When you get in your car and turn on the radio, you’re most likely accustomed to hearing the sound come from all around you. This is due to the speaker setup that your car has. And although most of the sound that you hear comes from the larger speakers near the floor and behind you, some credit needs to go to the tweeters. But what are tweeters and what do they do?

Tweeters make songs sound sweeter

Any stereo system will have a subwoofer and mid-range speakers to cover the low and mid-range of a song. However, the tweeter – which is typically placed higher on the car’s door panels or dashboard – takes care of the high tones in any song.

According to car sound pro, a tweeter is a speaker that has been “uniquely designed to produce high-frequency sounds from 2,000 to 20,000 Hz.” DS18 notes that tweeters are essential for sound separation, and without them, the music in your car will sound like it’s just coming from around your feet.

Tweeters are more important than you think

Have you ever heard a symphony without the flutes or the brass instruments? That’s kind of what your car audio system would sound like if you don’t include the tweeters in the mix. According to Car Sound Pro, if you want crisp, clear sound then you’ll need to be able to hear treble for that, which is what tweeters provide.

Treble is the sound that is produced by vocals, guitars, cymbals, horns, and other drum effects. And if you skip out on a good set of tweeters, you could be skipping out on and important pieces of every song you play. Tweeters fill in the missing, high-frequency sounds in music and they also provide “stereo imaging.” Stereo imaging is when the listener is given spatial cues as to where the instruments are placed in the recording process.

Placement of tweeters

Most tweeters are placed higher in the cabin from the factory. If you look in most newer cars, especially luxury cars, you’ll typically notice that the tweeters are mounted on the upper parts of the door panels or on the sail panels. The sail panels are the little triangular panels located on the corners of the front windows.

Some manufacturers team up with premium audio manufacturers in order to provide drivers with a high-end auditory experience. For example, Audi has had a long-standing partnership with Band and Olufsen, which provides premium audio systems for its vehicles. On those equipped with a B&O system, you’ll notice that the tweeters are placed on the dashboard and actually rise up out of it.

Don’t forget the tweeters

If you’re planning on building a customized audio system for your car, or just looking to complete its current setup, don’t forget to add tweeters. They may be small, but they are a specialized piece of any good audio system.

So, if you want to listen to music the way that the artist intended, invest in a good set of tweeters. In some cases, they’re more important than that massive subwoofer that you’re planning on sticking in the trunk.