Review: Rainbow Soundline 6.5 comps

[Raven]

Today I finally managed managed to install these little babies. I've had them for two days and been able to listen to them for a very short time. Needless to say, I'm going to try and follow up with another review later on.

These are the sole source of music in my car. The bass is handled by two Incriminator Audio 187s receiving 200 to 300 watts apiece. Attached to the rainbows is a Jensen JXP460 sending roughly 60-70 watts RMS. The first song played was Skinny Puppy - Pro-Test, followed by tracks from Lacuna Coil - Comalies and In Flames - Soundtrack to Your Escape.

Skinny Puppy - Pro-Test
The first thing I noticed about these speakers was the incredible efficiency. They were more efficient than the Sony Coaxials I had installed before! This was just insane. I had to play around with the gain to get it where it sounded best. Even with the track being mixed by Brian Big Bass Gardener and Mike Bozzi the Rainbows never lost place against the subs, blending in smooth and seamlessly.

Lacuna Coil - Humane
Lacuna Coil has a lot of subtleties, anyone who's listened to them with headphones knows this. As such, even with background noises like the engine, the road, and the heater, these subleties came out crystal clear. However, right now my doors don't even have baffle. It was almost literally free air, and as such, midbass lacked really bad. My equalizer touched it up, and once again the Rainbows shine through. At first I thought the tweeters were a little harsh, but after dropping the gain a hair, and compensating by raising the volume a notch, this corrected itself. There's a Jensen Amp for ya.

Lacuna Coil - Self Deception
I actually pulled over because I thought something went wrong with my steering. Turns out the Rainbows were hitting midrange frequencies even my HEADPHONES were missing!

In flames - F(r)iend
Oh sh*t, I almost hit a deer! I was driving down a secluded road, so I had slowed up to 45 just to kill more time, and suddenly there's a 4 point buck about 8 feet in front of my car! Rainbow Soundlines saved my front fenders and a deer's life. Thanks, Rainbow! Anyway, as far as the song goes, the real winner is the Incriminators. This song is so incredibly difficult for a sub to keep up with, and the 187s in their poorly designed box blew my old subs out of the water. The Rainbows just made vocals, guitars, and highs sound like they were coming from a concert. =p

In the end, I have more listening to do, but for $300, these speakers are worth every penny. For the $160 I paid, well, I'm not giving them up any time soon. ;-)
To be continued?

[brandontw]

why not in the review section? cool though, good to know. what other speaker have you heard to compare them to, just your sony's?

[Raven]

Sonys, stock, and Roadmasters. =p Wow, how's that for an upgrade? I must say, enclosed, and with one inverted, both roadmasters did more midbass in my room than a single Rainbow did in my car until I touched up on the EQ. =\

I *REALLY* need to finished deadening my doors. They are either free air or ported to 400hz right now. =p

I'm still trying to perfect how I do reviews. I mean, some people just have this knack of getting down every important detail. I don't. =p So instead I leave it here, edit as necessary, and when I'm satisfied I've said all the important stuff I need to, I'll put it in the reviews section. After all, in there, the edit button does not work.

[flakko]

luck lucky raven gettin the soundlines...i wonder if eD would mess up on my order and upgrade me to the 6500s

[amedeuce]

Good review raven, I recieved my soundlines a few days ago, cant wait to get them installed. Although I did pay the 279 for them from dynamic sounds in austin texas that shipped them to me.

[Vestax]

Cool glad you like them. IMO, that's a characteristic of Rainbow speakers, a little sibilance on some music. It's not peaky like MB Quart, but they can get a little fatiguing after long hours of play. I much prefer this over a dull silk dome.

[3.5Max6spd]

Cool- love the the SL's
I have facilitated a few sets to members here who love them...

The crossovers have adjustments galore..where do you have them set Raven?and how are they intalled, as far as placement and distance between tweet and mid? just curious...

[req]

IMO, a review means nothing withought pictures. good job tho. i wish you had a better amp to listen to them.

so before your next review.

get a new amp
deaden the doors
and baffle them

then tell us how the midbass sounds.

[Raven]

Well, actually, I have them on a board about 2 inches from the comp amp. I decided that wire is easier to hide than a crossover, so I have roughly 6-8 feet between the speakers and the crossover.

I haven't done any tweaking to the crossover. I don't even know *what* I can do beyond the two seperate tweeter levels. Right now it's at 0db, and it works perfect for me.

[Raven]

IMO, a review means nothing withought pictures. good job tho. i wish you had a better amp to listen to them.

so before your next review.

get a new amp
deaden the doors
and baffle them

then tell us how the midbass sounds.

I've been on dial up for years and avoid those reviews with a million pics. Still, if I'm able to get out to where I want to go so I can deaden the doors, I'll take pics. It's a horrible install, really, I had to invert some of the screws and stuff. Icky, but it does the job.

Ok, something you seem to know but I don't: I truly thought deadening the oustide of the door, and coovering up the 1' x 8" hole on each side *was* baffling. Let's say it's not, how can I improve on this?

EDIT: Oh, right, I've already paid for a PPI PCX 280 from Jynx8402, he said he'd ship it Friday. One of the last of the great Precision Power amps attached to Rainbow comps, oh yeah.

[req]

I've been on dial up for years and avoid those reviews with a million pics. Still, if I'm able to get out to where I want to go so I can deaden the doors, I'll take pics. It's a horrible install, really, I had to invert some of the screws and stuff. Icky, but it does the job.

Ok, something you seem to know but I don't: I truly thought deadening the oustide of the door, and coovering up the 1' x 8" hole on each side *was* baffleing them. If it's not, what can I do to improve upon this?

get a piece of 1\4 or 1\2 wood (preferably MDF) and make it like a bracket to fit in the stock location (with holes in the right place)

if you have trouble with mounting locations, get some JB Weld, and some nuts\bolts. drill a hole so the nut fits into place, and mush the jbweld on all sides of it - jb weld is like an insane metal glue. then you have a nice threaded hole for your baffle. mount your speaker in the new baffle, and deaden the ENTIRE door (the skin of the door directly behind the speaker helps remove resonance too)

you want to seal your door as best as you can

[Raven]

Easier said than done, It's uneven, in fact they use a flat mount with a 1" tab on one side and some foam to give it baffle. If it were warmer, I'd take some 3/4 mdf I have along with some 1/4" mdf to do exactly that. Right now we're talking a woodshop in a pole barn that's literally colder inside than out, and a project like that would take me hours.

Oh, BTW, your AT power supply install page was incredible useful, I now use one to power the sound in my room.

[3.5Max6spd]

Well, actually, I have them on a board about 2 inches from the comp amp. I decided that wire is easier to hide than a crossover, so I have roughly 6-8 feet between the speakers and the crossover.

I haven't done any tweaking to the crossover. I don't even know *what* I can do beyond the two seperate tweeter levels. Right now it's at 0db, and it works perfect for me.

Open up the crossover and you may do further attenuation- 0db, -3db -6db
i belive externally you have 0db, +3db....

Glad you like them- i recommend them alot, in their respective price the are my favorite

[Raven]

Review Part 2:

Okay, I've had the opportunity to do two things, listen to them more, and deaden the doors. Req, my apologies, I got no pics of the process of deadening. I will get ones of the finished result as soon as I can. Let's just say it involved peel&seel and a salamander heater (oh yeah). You get that stuff hot enough and it sticks to your skin. Single layer.

After deadening my doors, I didn't notice much of a difference, actually. The mids were a hair less clear than they used to be, but the midbass what a hint better. I guess it's a tradeoff. After learning my amp pushed static, I'm wondering if it's even giving a clean frequency response. I'll find out in a few days, I'll be attaching them to a PPI PCX 280 and giving them the kind of power they deserve.

I'm really starting to like Lacuna Coil, the Rainbows just make everything crystal clear. The only difference I can tell between Rainbow Soundlines and good headphones is that headphones have better imaging.

After this, I put it them to a test that's a little more real, Cradle of Filth. For anyone who knows, this band is just killer on a system not tweaked right. Vocals and intruments came out well enough to put my old setup to shame. Danni Filth's voice comes out as harsh at it can possibly be, and it's supposed to be that way. ;-) The crystalized water droplets in the background of "Carrion" were especially enjoyable. Hidden extras just come alive, I'm finding more music in my music than I ever knew I had, if that makes sense. Rainbows motto, "More sound than you could possibly need" rings true.

After driving around for a while, my ears feel really strange. This must be that "fatigue" that some people mention. It goes away, it's not from the music being too loud, it's just there. It's a little annoying, but you get used to it quickly.

Still impressed with the speakers, hoping to finish deadening and insulating the doors (Pink Panther, baby!) and get some baffle in there.

[andy1234]

i know this is old but try some cephalatic carnage (sp?) on them see how they sound