Scan speak 9300, 9500, and 9700.

Frequency response

Note that all three, the 9300, 9500, and 9700 are on this graph.

Impedance plots

I did not do an impedance graph of the 9700.

Off axis response.

SS9300

SS9500

SS9700

Linear distortion

Waterfall

SS9300, SS9500-Not done.

SS9700

4 cycle cosine squared tonebursts

At 2k

At 5k

At 8k

At 11k

At 15k

Nonlinear distortion

At 1.5k

SS9300

SS9500

SS9700

At 2k

SS9300

SS9500

SS9700

At 3k

SS9300

SS9500

SS9700

At 5k

SS9300

SS9500

SS9700

At 7k

SS9300

SS9500

SS9700

Conclusion

Overall, a very nice line. Certain items stand out and surprising and others expected. In general, from 2k on up, the higher you go in price, the better the performance.  There is a significant difference between the 9300 and the 9500/9700 with the 9300 being slightly worse when considering nonlinear distortion. The 9700 is incrementally better than the 9500, but the overall spectrum of the 9500 is slightly cleaner, even if the numbers are slightly higher for the 9500. So the rank order, as expected, from top to bottom is 9700-9500-9300. What's not so expected is that the 9700 does notably worse at 1.5k than the other two. The 9700 is best used at 2k and above. In fact, tests as well at 2k and above then any other tweeter to date.

The linear distortion numbers pretty much fall into line with the FR curves. All of them are good or could be good with some crossover shaping.

Since the price premium for the 9500 is marginal over the 9300, you can see why the 9500 is such a popular choice.  The 9700 is overall incrementally better. Whether it's worth the price is up to you to decide.