Looking for "smooth" 6.5" components

echo1434

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I haven't seen any specific info regarding this on the forum, so sorry if this is a duplication of some sort.

I am one who really prefers are "warm" or "smooth" sound from a speaker. However, this does not mean dull or muddy either. But it does seem that most car speakers I hear are overly bright/harsh/tinny for my tastes. Perhaps this is to compensate for road noise or something, but I have a very quiet car so this is really not an issue.

I currently have ARC6000 components installed in my doors and A-pillars. I really thought these would be "it." I got them from one of my favorite local dealers and one selling point was that they are made in the USA (pretty rare these days for this kind of thing).

Everything seemed good on paper: silk dome, adjustable crossover settings, etc. — but in the end I found them to be too bright. I've turned down the tweeters as much as possible on the crossovers and used the EQ on my deck, and even did some funky things trying to dampen them with various materials. I have gotten them to the point of at least being bearable, but there is simply something about the tone color that I don't think I'll ever completely like.

Don't get me wrong, they are great speakers, some of the clearest I've ever heard. I'm sure many people would love them and think I'm crazy. But they are just not my taste.

I would like to stay buying locally here if possible. My other main dealer is heavy into the JL stuff and gives me great discounts off the retail prices. I've heard the older XR650 line, and these are REALLY bright too. The owner of the store has some Evolution C5 650s in his truck which I did get to hear, and while they "seemed" to be more to my liking it was hard to make a perfect comparison since his staging is totally different than mine and I'm in a car.

As for home speakers, I'm currently using Event ASP6 studio monitors in my home studio and an old-school JBL SCS120 surround sound system in my living room. These both sound great to my ears — a perfect blend of warmth and clarity. The JBLs are actually a bit on the metallic side (titanium tweeters), but they are still very pleasing to my ears. If I could just get my car system to sound more like my home system I'd be a happy camper.

The remaining dealer in town I'd consider doing business with specializes in RE speakers, but he only keeps the lower-end stuff in stock. I'd say my price range for a pair of 6.5 components is somewhere around $500, although it doesn't have to be that much.

I've heard that JBL 660GTis are "the bomb," but I have no idea what they actually sound like. Material-wise they seem similar to my home speakers, but I know this can be misleading. These are over my planned budget, but if they really did sound amazing and to my liking I may consider them.

For the record, I did audition some high-end Polks and those simply took my ears off (ouch!) I've also tried some higher-end Bostons, Kenwoods, and Alpines... In my opinion they were in the range of mediocre to decent in terms of sound quality — but really not what I'm looking for.

I've also heard the Sonys, Pioneers, and such at Walmart... But no use wasting time talking about those. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

If it matters, the rest of my system is JL Audio Evolution C2 6x9s in back and a 10W7 sub in sealed ProWedge enclosure in the trunk, all powered by a JL HD900/5 amp. Works real slick for me, just need to find some tweeters (and probably some matching 6.5" woofers) that are a bit more to my liking.

The one thing that I do love about my ARCs is the lower crossover point, around 2.8K. Many components cross-over closer to 4-5K, which is about an octave-and-a-half higher. And I really do think it helps to have more sound coming out of the tweeters up high than from down in the door panels.

Any suggestions or input would be much appreciated. I was going to post links to some of the above-mentioned models, but as I'm a newbie it won't let me post any. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

Anyway, thanks in advance.

 
Never even heard of CDT, to be honest. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/blush.gif.99bc659ee2012b7d826165e26fb5eebe.gif

My tastes in music are very eclectic (I like pretty much everything but country - lol). I've always believed that good speakers are good speakers, despite what one is playing on them.

My car is a Chevy Malibu 2009 1LT. The 6.5" woofers are in the factory door position and the tweeters are in the original factory position behind the A-pillar, about a foot or so above the woofers.

Swapping them out would really be pretty easy, I'm just tired of the whole trial and error thing. There has to be something out there that my ears will really like!

 
Bravox are supposed to have some nice sets. Even the Eclipse SC8365 I (and many of us) have are pretty nice. Theyre a 3way set priced around 180 but sound amazing. They have strong midbass and smooth tweets, though the mids may be a wee bit harsh. Others have had luck reversing phase to get them toned down.

There was a huge thread on CACO about them...

 
Do you have a dealer who sells CDT Audio nearby? Your budget of $500 puts the HD line of components into consideration.
No dealers around here, but the HD-62US components certainly look promising.

Tons of great reviews out there. I know there's no substitute for demoing them in person, but I just have a good feeling about these. All the information I've found seems to describe exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks for the tip!

P.S. Anyone know what "CDT" stands for (if anything)? Just curious. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 
I went and listened to the hertz line of speakers in person. The guy only had them set up on a headunit so they weren't at full potential. I loved the hi-energy (HSK165). They are exactly what I am looking for (although im going with the hsk163 3-ways instead). They got real loud and clean, nice and mellow, and that was only on ~15-20 watts. The regular energys were super bright, I did not like them at all. The lower end hertz below the energys actually sounded second best! They were also a tad bright but I have a feeling that with a sub it would have evened out the brightness of it. Now, I know its not the best review because they werent powered to full potential but based off of that I have a feeling they will sound better with an amp. In order to confirm this I am going back in a couple weeks to listen to the new display that will be amplified and have a subwoofer installed also to get the full sound of it all. I'll let you know how they sound if you haven't picked a set out already.

 
I don't know officially what CDT stands for in the context of the company's name, but they have a cone design called "Contoured Dispersion Technology". I suspect those are two different things. CDT has relied mostly on their reviews and word of mouth advertising until recently.

No dealers around here, but the HD-62US components certainly look promising.
Tons of great reviews out there. I know there's no substitute for demoing them in person, but I just have a good feeling about these. All the information I've found seems to describe exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks for the tip!

P.S. Anyone know what "CDT" stands for (if anything)? Just curious. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif
 
look into Hybrid Audio Technologies or HAT for short. they make some of the industries best components right now. maybe something will fit your liking

 
I am also very picky about how the speakers sound and know what you mean about everything sounding "tiny"/upper mid/screech. Some of the best car audio speakers I've ever heard were the German made MB Quart components of the early - mid 2000's. I don't know if the ones they make today sound the same, but I've read they are not the same and can't find any dealers to audition them. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

I have heard some of the higher end Focal "hand stitched" speakers in a friend's car and didn't really care for them, despite what I had read/expected. Same goes for anything made by Infinity. CDT and the REAL Hertz (lots of fakes on the web!) seem to be some of the only reliably good sounding speakers.

 
I am also very picky about how the speakers sound and know what you mean about everything sounding "tiny"/upper mid/screech. Some of the best car audio speakers I've ever heard were the German made MB Quart components of the early - mid 2000's. I don't know if the ones they make today sound the same, but I've read they are not the same and can't find any dealers to audition them. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
I've heard the same thing about MB Quartz going downhill from several people. Seems to be the case with a lot of once great companies, unfortunately.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions people. It's definitely some food for thought. I'm really not in a massive hurry here as my current setup is bearable, just not my dream setup.

 
I am also very picky about how the speakers sound and know what you mean about everything sounding "tiny"/upper mid/screech. Some of the best car audio speakers I've ever heard were the German made MB Quart components of the early - mid 2000's. I don't know if the ones they make today sound the same, but I've read they are not the same and can't find any dealers to audition them. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
I've heard the same thing about MB Quartz going downhill from several people who've been in the industry for a while. Seems to be the case with a lot of once-great companies, unfortunately.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions everyone. It's definitely some food for thought. I'm really not in a massive hurry here as my current setup is bearable, just not my dream setup.

 
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