Focal 165a3 vs Cdt hd-642

[collegiate89 10+ year member]

Has anyone had experience with either of these component sets?

http://www.woofersetc.com/p7028/165A3--Focal-65"-+-4"-Access-3Way-Component-Speakers.htm Focal

http://www.woofersetc.com/p1119/HD642--CDT-Audio-High-Definition-65"-3Way-Component-Speakers.htm Cdt

Click to read more...

 

[adhumston 10+ year member]

One consideration is power. The CDT's will want the full 230w a side, and then some to really sound their best. Not sure abut the Focals, but who would go through the trouble of correctly installing a 3 way, then power them off of a head unit (like it says you can on the link), seems a little counter-productive IMO...

 

[Hoodlum007 10+ year member]

I love the silk tweeters on the CDT comps.

 

[okiedokie 10+ year member]

collegiate89,

what amp are you useing???

how are you planning on installing a three???

pillars,doors,kicks,????

are you playing on deadening your doors????

if i where to go three way i would go active,

look into hybrid audio,rainbow,hertz,morel, before buying anything,

if you want to go active look into peerless,seas,aurum cantus,vifa,eton,etc.....

madisound or partsexpress,

a three way set is kind of hard to turn well.so i hope you have the processing to

adjust everthing????

 

[collegiate89 10+ year member]

What amp I get would depend on what set i end up buying considering the large difference in power consumption. I was checking out a sundown 50.4 bridged if I go with the cdt's, but idk.

Setup would have the mids and tweets in the pillars, and the midbass in the doors. Doors would definitely be deadened and have a barrier as well.

I don't plan to go active at first since I don't have the money and I don't really have the knowledge yet, but that is an option for the future. The main reason I want to go with a 3-way in the first place is that currently my speakers are in the stock locations in the dash. So to me, the sound stage is already good, but the sound quality not so much.

This is all for a 1987 Celebrity btw.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[okiedokie 10+ year member]

Since your'e going to go passive right now, you can get a two channel with more power, then if & when you decide to go active you can buy a 4 channel amp.

remember if you use 4ohms speakers on a channel amp you will get 4ohms, but if you bridge the amp to 2ohms, then your speakers will still be 4ohms,it will change the xover points on the passive xover, because most xovers are designed for 4ohms inputs,

the cdt xover is pretty good, i went back to passive because i want to keep it simple, so i'm useing the cdt es560 xover which i'm starting to like.

my mids are 4ohms, but my tweeter is 8 ohms which that xover was designed for 4 thur 8 ohm, at least that's what cdt tells me.

Bridging will also make theamp run hotter aswell.

just make sure you pick the right set for your budget, cdt hd line is ok, the es is much better sounding.

have you looked into those rainbows???

http://www.woofersetc.com/p7066/SLC-365--Rainbow-SLC-3Way-Component-System.htm

 

[adhumston 10+ year member]

From my experience with CDT, you'll want more than 160W a side to power those. I give the HD-62's in my truck a lot more than that from my DLS A4, probably close to the 250W it's rated at (amp rating). They didn't really start sounding good until I gave them A LOT of power. If you do go with the CDT, and want to go with Sundown for power, I'd look a lot closer at the 100.4 bridged. It will also power your mids and woofers better if you decide to go active down the road.

 

[mobeious 10+ year member]

CDT = power hungry Focal will do fine with 100w on each side