Comp. Speaker Recommendation

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

yea georobu. i'm comtemplating on getting the Seas Lotus Ref Aluminum tweets. how do you like them? how much power? xover pt and slope?

 

[georobu 10+ year member]

the aluminums have amazing detail and clarity without being harsh at all. U get all the goodies associated with metal tweets without the harshness that usually comes with them. They are livelier than the quarts with no ear strain at all, I just love them. I listen to electronic music a lot so I needed something very dynamic. They are built like tanks, I dropped //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crying.gif.ec0ebefe590df0251476573bc49e46d8.gif one of them by mistake when I was installing them and It sounded like I dropped a 5 pound weight while weightlifing.

As far as install goes it's far from perfect ~60 degrees off axis in my '00 Accord Coupe, in door slightly below ear level. I whish I could get them to point directly towards the listening spot but they come with very little mounting options (flush mount only, no angle job here).

I'm actually running 75 watts /tweet (6 ohm), gains at half.

I oscillated xover points anywhere from 2k where it sounded like it was straining a little to 3.5k where it lost a lot of its vigor. I settled for 2.7k with a 4th order slope. I think 2k is too low of a xover point although I'm guessing people run these very low. However it is the best tweeter yet for low cross points that I've used.

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

the aluminums have amazing detail and clarity without being harsh at all. U get all the goodies associated with metal tweets without the harshness that usually comes with them. They are livelier than the quarts with no ear strain at all, I just love them. I listen to electronic music a lot so I needed something very dynamic. They are built like tanks, I dropped //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crying.gif.ec0ebefe590df0251476573bc49e46d8.gif one of them by mistake when I was installing them and It sounded like I dropped a 5 pound weight while weightlifing. As far as install goes it's far from perfect ~60 degrees off axis in my '00 Accord Coupe, in door slightly below ear level. I whish I could get them to point directly towards the listening spot but they come with very little mounting options (flush mount only, no angle job here).

I'm actually running 75 watts /tweet (6 ohm), gains at half.

I oscillated xover points anywhere from 2k where it sounded like it was straining a little to 3.5k where it lost a lot of its vigor. I settled for 2.7k with a 4th order slope. I think 2k is too low of a xover point although I'm guessing people run these very low. However it is the best tweeter yet for low cross points that I've used.

Cool, thanks for the tips. What's a 4th order slope? 24db/octave?

Also, what amp at 75 watts per tweet are you using?

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

Now I hear the morels might not be as detailed.... Would there be a difference in midbass at least? 3.5Max6spd what kinda of power are you running to those seas mids? Do morels have anything over these?

Seas mids haven't got to me yet, i'm a few weeks away-they are being custom made as they are no longer in production. They will be getting ~300rms per mid, as my Morels are doing now. Obviously I 'll be running 8's, so I cant compare them to my Morels quite yet. However I'm very familiar with the Lotus driver (6.5") , and truth is they dont like anything lower than an 80hz/12db slope , as is my experience with most Rainbow mids as well...But the Lotus in particular at higher volumes like to bottom out and lose their precision.

I say Morel and Reference tweeter is a not so good combination quite honestly. Morels are on the warmer side and coming from the Lotus you'll find the Morels to sound on the plasticky side, and lacking that strong snappiness that you've come to love from the Lotus. On the other hand, power handling with their 3" coils and bass quantity are its benefits , but at a lower level of precision and IMO poor efficiency at lower volume. Now i gotta say 6's maybe a different story, i'd look into Dyn mw170's if looking into that route. Some Skaaning Audio Technology C-Quence drivers arent too shabby either:yumyum:

 

[georobu 10+ year member]

I'm using the polk momo c400.4 amps. These have been tested to do 109.3 x4 at 4 ohm with 14.1 v. I was guessing that in a 6 ohm they'd be doing at least 75x4 rms. I'm running one for my 4 tweeters: 2 front 2 rear. I'm running a second amp bridged. It's been tested to do 260 x 2 at 4 ohm bridged with 13.75 v. so 250 per mid is underestimated. My ho alt holds the load at around 14.5-14.4v I wouldn't be surpridsed If I gave them amost 300 a piece. I'm waiting on my third amp to run the rear woofers. Before I bridged the amp on my mids they would get far less midbass and output. I think you need at least 150 watts/woofer to get the most out of these, that's not to say that they are not efficient.

I use 24 db slopes all over, mids are high passed at 80hz. I noticed that low xover points aren't any good like you said. Move it up to 100hz and you loose all the good midbass. I also bump it up about 5 db at 100hz through the eq.

To be honest with you I wanted to get the morels so that my amp would still get a damping factor of 800 bridged. I should have kept the 7 inch seas excel I had before that were 8 ohms. Is going from a damping of 400 to 800 make a noticeable difference in sq?

It sounds like you are running a 3 way with 8 inch woofers. How much are you feeding your mids? I tried a 3 way route but I couldn't get enough output out of the 5.5 excel to hold its own against my woofers, tweeters or subs.

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

i have an 6th gen accord to //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif. where do you go the tweets and mids at? stock? i'm thinking of about pairing my seas CA18RLY with the lotus alum tweets and planning to put the tweets in the a-pillars and mids in the doors, what do you think?

 

[Blazin Civic 10+ year member]

In your budget range from my personal experiance (haven't heard a lot of the speakers people here are suggesting) I really recommend the JL ZRs. They are a fabulous sounding speaker that in my opinion sounds very natural.

 

[georobu 10+ year member]

I've tried tweeters b4 in the stock position, but that's honestly the worst. Other than moving the soundstage far and lifting it It does nothing for you, especially with metal dome tweets deflecting off the windshield. I gave up on that install a year ago. Next I mounted them in the lower part of the dash, near the woofer-->excellent blend with the mids (changed this install too due to the fact that I was constantly covering the tweeter with my leg). I can't do fiberglass pods either since I drive stick shift, so the only option was the regular flush mount high up on the door panel. I whish I could install them in the little plastic piece near the window sill or the pillars like you said but I lack skill for such things. Note: tweeters are very deep, u will need to do a lot of work to get them just right.

As far as woofers go, I removed all factory mounting pieces, dynamated the door twice, isolated the openings with carpet backing, customly made a 1 inch spacer mdf,glued it to the speaker basket and secured it with screws, and cut the door panel (6 inch opening) to minimize sound deflection (looked getto at first but now it looks decent, and above all I get clear sound).

 

[georobu 10+ year member]

In your budget range from my personal experiance (haven't heard a lot of the speakers people here are suggesting) I really recommend the JL ZRs. They are a fabulous sounding speaker that in my opinion sounds very natural.

I had jl xr's and seas own these any day and in every way. I don't know zr's that well, demoed them at Tweeter, sounded the worst on the wall. Are the zr's Vifa's as well?

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

yo i actually haven't done the a-pillar install but it doesn't seem that hard at all. the a-pillar you can just rip it out. its not hard. i'm planning on going out and buying a 1.75" hole saw bit and then cutting the hole in the a-pillars with that. probably making a tight fit on the lotus tweets if i choose to get them.

yea just looking at the specs the lotus tweet mounting depth is 30mm and the lpg is only 10mm. hopefully it can fit the lotus tweet.

 

[georobu 10+ year member]

Seas mids haven't got to me yet, i'm a few weeks away-they are being custom made as they are no longer in production. They will be getting ~300rms per mid, as my Morels are doing now. Obviously I 'll be running 8's, so I cant compare them to my Morels quite yet. However I'm very familiar with the Lotus driver (6.5") , and truth is they dont like anything lower than an 80hz/12db slope , as is my experience with most Rainbow mids as well...But the Lotus in particular at higher volumes like to bottom out and lose their precision.
I say Morel and Reference tweeter is a not so good combination quite honestly. Morels are on the warmer side and coming from the Lotus you'll find the Morels to sound on the plasticky side, and lacking that strong snappiness that you've come to love from the Lotus. On the other hand, power handling with their 3" coils and bass quantity are its benefits , but at a lower level of precision and IMO poor efficiency at lower volume. Now i gotta say 6's maybe a different story, i'd look into Dyn mw170's if looking into that route. Some Skaaning Audio Technology C-Quence drivers arent too shabby either:yumyum:

I got the morel 631s in the mail today and installed one of them to do a fair comparison with the seas. It's everything you said it would be. It lacks some detail, and it's not as accurate as the seas. I will replace the boston z6's in the back with these and keep the seas for front stage. The morels do have really nice midbass though, and they blend perfectly with the re xxx's in the trunk. I can't say that about the tweeter blend, the mid is rather dull compared to the lively aluminum seas tweets.

 

[bigwise1 10+ year member]

Seas mids haven't got to me yet, i'm a few weeks away-they are being custom made as they are no longer in production. They will be getting ~300rms per mid, as my Morels are doing now. Obviously I 'll be running 8's, so I cant compare them to my Morels quite yet. However I'm very familiar with the Lotus driver (6.5") , and truth is they dont like anything lower than an 80hz/12db slope , as is my experience with most Rainbow mids as well...But the Lotus in particular at higher volumes like to bottom out and lose their precision.
I say Morel and Reference tweeter is a not so good combination quite honestly. Morels are on the warmer side and coming from the Lotus you'll find the Morels to sound on the plasticky side, and lacking that strong snappiness that you've come to love from the Lotus. On the other hand, power handling with their 3" coils and bass quantity are its benefits , but at a lower level of precision and IMO poor efficiency at lower volume. Now i gotta say 6's maybe a different story, i'd look into Dyn mw170's if looking into that route. Some Skaaning Audio Technology C-Quence drivers arent too shabby either:yumyum:

you're getting lotus 8's custom made? is mobilesq doing this for you? i've seen c-quence recommended alot. any idea how much they go for and how are they treated for a damp car environment?

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

you're getting lotus 8's custom made? is mobilesq doing this for you? i've seen c-quence recommended alot. any idea how much they go for and how are they treated for a damp car environment?

http://www.audiotechnology.dk/iz.asp?id=4|a|132|||

 

[Hebrew Hammer 10+ year member]

They are one of the rare exceptions //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif -- I'd be more willing to call that a damped rigid cone though...

and that exception is the Audio Technologies drviers...none...I mean non of the drivers I own come close to these babies plain and simple

 

[bigwise1 10+ year member]

and that exception is the Audio Technologies drviers...none...I mean non of the drivers I own come close to these babies plain and simple

even the genesis absolute? can these be used ib?