Confused about the Seas Lotus Reference series...

[orangeblast]

I'm a bit confused about what speaker to actually make a 2 way and a 3 way set of the Seas Lotus Reference speakers...

If I wanted a 3 way front stage setup then I'd have to get the following..

RW 165 Woofer @ 6.5 inches
RM 110 Mid @ 4 inches
RT25 A/F Tweeter @ 1 inch

Now this would give me a front stage 3 way setup right??

If I wanted the 2 stage setup go with the...

RW 110 Mid @ 4 inches
RT25 A/F Tweeter @ 1 inches

or

use the woofer and tweeter?

and this would give me a proper 2 way front stage setup?

[springy101]

yes, 3 way frontstage is when you have a 3 seperate speakers on each side, a tweeter, a mid range, and a mid bass. but you would also have to get a higher end head unit which has built in active crossovers and amps to push each speaker.

[orangeblast]

oh yea I know all this already...but was confused about the type of speakers the Seas made for there reference series...

Looks like I'd have to go with the tweeter and the woofer...the Mid would be the extra speaker most likely in a 3 way setup...I could do w/ out the mid.

[alphakenny1]

for the two way you would get the tweeter and the 6 inch woofer. the 4 inches probably can't play the midbass well (ie ~60hz - ~ 500hz). 4 inches is probably designed to see ~500hz- ~5khz or something like that. the 6 inch is designed to be able to see ~60hz - ~3khz.

[orangeblast]

Okay...I may get flamed for this but...

is the 4 inch mid really REALLY all that needed??

I would think I could tune that 6 inch mid woofer to put out some pretty good mids...even though it is used for mid bass.


what do you think?


would there really be a horrible gap between the tweeters and the mid woofer if there was no 4 inch mid??

[alphakenny1]

Okay...I may get flamed for this but...

is the 4 inch mid really REALLY all that needed??

I would think I could tune that 6 inch mid woofer to put out some pretty good mids...even though it is used for mid bass.


what do you think?


would there really be a horrible gap between the tweeters and the mid woofer if there was no 4 inch mid??

is a midrange absolutely needed, nope. but for people who are **** about their SQ, then yes. i mean trust me, there are tons of people who just use the woofer and the tweeter and sound great. i think for your application, i'd just stick to a 2way setup for now because it seems like you are kinda new to this stuff start simple first. once you start learning more then maybe you can go with a 3 way frontstage. i mean i myself don't feel ready to run a 3way frontstage yet. there is lots of tuning to be done with a 3way frontstage especially when its an active setup.

as for the frequency gaps nope you shouldn't have any. i mean i have my mids run up to 1.25khz and my tweets are highpassed at 3.15khz. i do have a gap, but it sounds pretty good. hopefully that will change soon when i buy my new Seas CA18RLY mids, which can be ran up to around 2.5khz or so. from what i've read (no experience) but the seas lotus reference tweets can be crossed down to ~2khz or so and i'm sure the mid can be lowpassed around there as well. you shouldn't have a problem. TRUST ME, i heard a set of just the woofer and tweets and it sounded so smooth and warm and fuzzy. it was great!

[Dr. Dan]

Speaker building technology has really improved and as a result they can build single drivers to cover a larger frequency range.
In the 70s and 80s everyone bought those huge 3 or 4 way home stereo speakers, and now look at how small many are.
Many are single driver designs. Like Bose using single 2" inch drivers.....Not that Bose sounds all that great though

[orangeblast]

what in the hell is a CA18RLY mid?

[alphakenny1]

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/ind...72.31&pid=1599

seas is a pretty big company. they run three main companies: regular seas, seas excel and seas lotus. the regular seas and excel are mainly for home audio but many people use them for car audio. seas lotus is a car audio focused company. if you look at madisound, the excel stuff is expensive and for good reason. seas excel is highly regarded especially the w18. madisound is mainly for people who do DIY setups, which yourself is doing with the seas lotus reference stuff.

[orangeblast]

so you plan on using home audio speakers in your car? but...I always thought that home audio stuff ran on different Ohms than car audio stuff...not to mention...the whole understanding that a car speaker will need to over come much more variables given its going to be placed in a car rather than a wooden post in someones wide open living room...

home audio speakers in a car...hrm....perhaps explain more?

[alphakenny1]

yea the seas drivers usually are 8 ohms, except the seas lotus of course. also its also important to look at the frequency response graphs to see if these home audio speakers play well off axis. and certaintly if you look at the frequency response graphs of the seas, they do play well off axis. thats why they are so popular especially with the people at diymobileaudio.com.

[orangeblast]

so....now you got me thinking...however...becuase of ease of installation...I should still stick with the Seas Lotus series. Those Excel home tweeters and stuff look amazing but don't think I could mount those anywhere in my car.

Should probably just stick with the lotus eh?

[alphakenny1]

i mean since you are getting the cd7000, which comes out i dunno late feb/early march, then you still got time to look around although the seas lotus reference would be an excellent choice. since it seems like you are going the active route maybe go visit diymobileaudio.com and read more about the DIY stuff. you'll learn lots because probably every single person over there is running an active setup. you can lots on how people tune their setups, which is of course the key.

also over there at diyma, they are coming out with their own DIY stuff if you go to the general audio area and look at the stickies, that might be another option and possibly save yourself lots of money.