Best comp sets under $500

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

neither did my old Adire audio Shiva but it ate subs it's price alive
though the lotus's are ****NNNNN sexy

You actually have to have one of the mids in your hand to truely appreciate them. I wish I still had my Pro Vanadiums to take a side by side picture of them....almost embarrassing for Rainbow //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/blush.gif.99bc659ee2012b7d826165e26fb5eebe.gif. But, surprisingly, they are very nice speakers as well.

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

Acidic Dreams...Lotus is revising the Reference set and new drivers will be here shortly, thats why you see lots of Reference sets for sale- out with the old, in with the new.

The Germaniums on the other hand are new and rare, kinda exclusivity factor going for them. The lengendary Cal25 silk tweeter- but better- they chambered it,lower FS-great sparkle , very dynamic silk tweeter. Copper in the motor of the mid. And an xover thats amazingly flexible- kinda lets you keep it simple and just crank some serious power to them.

As I posted on ECA..

The x-over gives you the ability to adjust x-over frequency for the midrange and tweeter individually at 2,200 Hz, or 2,600 Hz. You get to choose from 4 different levels for the tweeter, Direct Loud (recommended for kick panel operation in floor space), Linear Balanced (for installation outside of the direct listening area), Middle Optimum(recommended with the installation of the tweeters directly in the listening axis and/or ear proximity, e.g. A- or B-pillars.), Reference Soft (similar to Middle Optimum but the level drops continually by 2dB per octave. You can also disable the PTC Tweeter Protector, you can replace the halogen bulb with a silver wire jumper.

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

the germs sound like a score right now for a passive set... I'm still not ready to spring for going active..

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

the germs sound like a score right now for a passive set... I'm still not ready to spring for going active..

They would great great active as well...point is the passives allow you to dial in the phase relationship of the drivers as you put the drivers where you want, whether together or apart. Something a fixed xover point in other sets wont allow you to do.

You can also biamp, biwire, etc...the set, so in essense you have close to the flexibility of going active .

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

They would great great active as well...point is the passives allow you to dial in the phase relationship of the drivers as you put the drivers where you want, whether together or apart. Something a fixed xover point in other sets wont allow you to do.
You can also biamp, biwire, etc...the set, so in essense you have close to the flexibility of going active .

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif neato.... that lotsu set for $500 is tempting but it's just the drivers and my kenwood doesn't setup for active yet and I can't spring for an Xover just yet. The Germs should make me plenty happy... we'll see

 

[headless 10+ year member]

5$ says you love 'em. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif One of these days ima get around to buying a powerful enough 4ch to go active.

 

[nourkah 10+ year member]

I may sound stupid for saying this but the Germaniums don't really look that impressive physically.

which picture did you look at though? On the rainbow website if you just click the link on the left for the Germainums I dont' think that's really a photo of them. If you click the links on the right after the Germainum information is up there is different pictures. I think those are the real ones. They look much more durable than the regular picture of them that comes up.

Can anyone verify this, however, I've never actually seen them.

 

[JoeHemi57 10+ year member]

i've heard great things about the polk sr6500's, how would they compare to the germaniums?

 

[spudracer326 10+ year member]

acidic...I should have my other side in this weekend and then ill let you take a listen....After hearing the one side all I can say is wow...the tweeter is awsome and very smooth compared to my old infinitys...but what impressed me most is the mid bass and lower frequencies...it is very smooth and detailed....and much better then anything ive heard...(including the matrix elites)...get the germaniums...youll be impressed.....and in the question above...they are the pics that you click in the side column on there site not the woofer on the front page....

 

[spudracer326 10+ year member]

and the build quality on them is up there with the type x components i have...though they arenet as flashy the woofer is much heavier....remember looks can be decieving...

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

cool... I've pretty much decided to get the germaniums... I'll probably by them by this weekend... I'm just waiting on 6spdcoupe, he hasn't been on in a coulpe days

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

cool... I've pretty much decided to get the germaniums... I'll probably by them by this weekend... I'm just waiting on 6spdcoupe, he hasn't been on in a coulpe days

He's over in Deutshland procuring goodies for us Rainbow deprived American souls. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

There is another dude on here running the Germs already and has written up a review on them....I don't recall his name at the moment, but I believe if you search the General Audio section you'll find the thread.

And $500 for those Lotus raw drivers is a steal!!!

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

sorry but i'm with fox, LOTUS FTW!

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

He's over in Deutshland procuring goodies for us Rainbow deprived American souls. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
There is another dude on here running the Germs already and has written up a review on them....I don't recall his name at the moment, but I believe if you search the General Audio section you'll find the thread.

And $500 for those Lotus raw drivers is a steal!!!

I'd like to but it'll put me a bit over budget when you include an active xover... I'll deal with the germaniums for now, they should make me happy...

 

[bumpin_blazer 5,000+ posts]

germaniums ftw. mainly b/c you dont want the hassle of going active at the moment.