Polk SR6500 review

[FJF]

Hi, folks. There are been some mentions of the SRs on this forum. I wrote a review of the speakers and hopefully it will be of use to someone considering the SR6500s for his system:

http://caraudio-forum.com/forums/?showtopic=1436

[James Bang]

the tweets look like vifa xt variants.

[maloy013]

i think they are....wonder how they sound of axis....

[FJF]

i think they are....wonder how they sound of axis....

Relative to the driver's seat, the left tweeter sits ~60* off-axis and the right tweeter is ~30* off-axis. As such, the sonic virtues/pitfalls that I described in the review were gathered with both tweeters off-axis, albeit to a varying degree.

[FJF]

the tweets look like vifa xt variants.

I think you're right. IIRC, Polk uses a 22mm version. It would be interesting to see how the more commonly available 25mm version compares sonically to the 22mm XT.

[jdc753]

Very nice review.

This makes me really wanna go out to my truck and start fooling around with the tuning a bit. I believe currently my crossovers are setup at the same points you had initially, so I wanna try bumping up the tweeters and rolling the mids off a little smoother like you did.

If you don't mind what does the gear in the install entail and could you give a general description of the install? Looks like you mentioned a 9887 HU, are the doors deadened and sealed, were the mids installed in the doors or in kicks and such.

The tweeters definitely do like to be mostly on axis, I believe within 15-20° they seem to loose a bit of detail in the upper region when placed off axis, still sound wonderful with the relatively lower frequencies but a hint of just something missing. Least this is what I found when experimenting with them.

Thanks again, definitely a big fan of the SR6500's specially active

[FJF]

Very nice review. This makes me really wanna go out to my truck and start fooling around with the tuning a bit. I believe currently my crossovers are setup at the same points you had initially, so I wanna try bumping up the tweeters and rolling the mids off a little smoother like you did.

It's worth a shot. When I originally tuned the system, I played with a variety of crossover points and kept notes on each one. Going back for a retune, I reviewed the notes and started working with alternate permutations, eventually arriving at the present config.

I also find that walking away from tuning helps. I know from experience that my ears lose their acuity after ~1/2 hour of concentrated listening. If I'm tuning, say, the EQ, and I make more than 2-3 changes in that time period, I shut off the system and come back later.

If you don't mind what does the gear in the install entail and could you give a general description of the install? Looks like you mentioned a 9887 HU, are the doors deadened and sealed, were the mids installed in the doors or in kicks and such.

HU - Alpine 9887
Tweeter amp - ARC Mini (to be replaced with a Zapco 200.2 later this week)
Mid amp- Zapco AG350
Sub - Blaupunkt PCwb1200 in 1.5ft3 ported (this thing is sensitive enough to drive with a hair dryer)
Sub amp - PG Xenon X400.1
Car - Evo IX SE

The mids are mounted in the factory locations low in the doors. The doors are deadened and sealed with RAAMmat. Due to the Polks' prodigious low-end dynamics, I still need to address an audible vibration in the door cards that manifests itself at ~80Hz.

The tweeters are installed low in the A-pillars. As the tweeters' frequency response noticeably varies with positioning, I tried to aim them symmetrically. Meaning, both are off-axis to the listener.

Due to the nature of the car, weight was and still is a major consideration: the sub and its enclosure weigh a total of 33lbs, the amp racks are made from Baltic Birch to save weight...well...you get the picture.

The tweeters definitely do like to be mostly on axis, I believe within 15-20° they seem to loose a bit of detail in the upper region when placed off axis, still sound wonderful with the relatively lower frequencies but a hint of just something missing. Least this is what I found when experimenting with them.

I found that having the tweeters on/off axis was mostly a matter of amplitude. The musical information remained; it was just projected at a lower relative volume. This said, I usually aim high-rez (home) speakers directly at the listener's ears and gain a greater sense of focus.

Thanks again, definitely a big fan of the SR6500's specially active

Any time.

[FoxPro5]

It's an XT25 based RR tweet. Never liked it unless it was right on axis...even 15* lost considerable performance due to the dispersion pattern. To me, these tweeters are more like lasers vs a conventional compact dome which are more like flood lights.

Lots of good test results and info on this set in the CA&E magazine review.