You need to give the new Hybrid Audio Imagine 6.5 set a listen. I just got my first listen last week on Friday at Advantage Audio.
Listening impressions.
Midbass/Bottom end very good. I was surprised at how much midbass these had was not expecting them to get down low as well as they did.
Midrange-Very good what you would expect from a HAT product. Clean, accurate, not in your face or to laid back, just right.
Tweeter-Very Smooth with no harshness. Good top end for a set in this price range.
Myself and the guys at the shop A, B, C compared these to everything on the board.
List of everything that I compared the Imagine line in coaxial set-up to.
Hertz DSK165, Energy line ECX165, ESK165. The ECX could almost hang with them on the bottom end, not as good in the midrange and the Imagine highs where on another level. Pretty much same outcome with the ESK but the ESK tweeter is close to the Imagine line but again the midrange was just not as good.
Hertz Hi-Energy line HCX165 (well over $200 for this set)-The HCX did have better bottom end than the Imagine, midrange was pretty equal but to me the tweeter was just a little better on the Imagine.
So I found nothing in the Hertz line-up for $200 that could match the Imagine line.
Diamond Audio-Only thing I am going to say is the Imagine line were on another level even going well above the $200 mark.
JL Audio-XR650xi lacked bottom end compared to the Imagine. XR could just not fill out the bottom end as well. Midrange preferred Imagine, XR just seemed off in some of the vocal regions. Tweeter was very bright on the XR. Imagine again better tweeter.
The C5 is above the price and marketed a lot higher than the Imagine line.
C5650x Midrange was as good as Imagine but just more laid back different sound. Midbass about equal really. Tweeter about equal really. On some songs I preferred the C5 on others the Imagine.
C5650 about the same as above. The component set that was set-up with a little tuning did sound better then the Imagine.
All in all you are going to have to spend more than $200 to bet the Imagine line and in some brands it does not matter if you buy their $400 speakers they still get beat.
IMO These are a winner. After SBN I will be making some switches to the wifes vehicle. Removing the CDT in there now for the Imagine. Can't wait for a 5x7-6x8 version for the Ford rear doors ect.
The guys at Advantage Audio agreed and we all pretty much had the same assessment except some preferred the C5 a little better and some liked certain things about the HCX more. One thing we all agreed on was that there is nothing in the store for $200 that sound better period.