Polk db6501 or Cadence CWM6KIT

[dontbeaprix 10+ year member]

What is your budget? You could either go with a good set of passive componets , or get raw drivers at someplace like parts express or madiasound and build your own crossovers.

 

[barbaroja 10+ year member]

well not clear now what my budget would be for that, as I prefer to wait and go for the good stuff, but I think anything 220 tops. I want something that sounds pretty good without being, you know, like "boutique". for example with the CWM6KITs, I feel to get to the next step you have to spend like $140 or so. I was checking individual drivers this evening and it seems you can make a good combo with $160 (dayton woofers). Thats not including a crossover.

I am not afraid about picking individual drivers, however I do not know a lot about crossovers.

 

[dontbeaprix 10+ year member]

Dayton makes some very good speakers. Another good combo is silver flute mids with lpg tweets

 

[barbaroja 10+ year member]

Without leaving the comp idea... I was looking into CDT, Morel and PG. Wondering what would happen to those if run active. And how much of a difference would they make if compared to the CWM6KIT, since I have no way to testing anything more before buying. My studio mons have silk dome neodymium tweeters, so I am trying to get that as a lil bit of reference since the highs sound nice to me.

 

[barbaroja 10+ year member]

Dayton model: RS180-4 Dayton Audio RS180-4 7" Reference Woofer 4 Ohm 295-374

 

[zako 10+ year member]

I have heard that the Dayton RS drivers are excellent for the money, but they don't extend very high in frequency response, and they may not fit in all doors. I personally, would try Alpine type Rs. The woofer has a crossover built into it (an inductor that according to my research results in -6dB low pass crossover filter starting at 3KHz). The tweeter crossover plugs into the woofer, but you can plug the tweeter crossover wire into an amplifier channel resulting in a bi-amp setup. Alpine Type-R drivers always had decent midbass and you don't need to make any mods to make them fit in most car doors. According to a post of Alpine engineer on DIYMA, the new neo Type-R woofers are quite a step up from the old version in terms of tech, and I personally liked even the old version. Some people have not liked the new tweeter, but if you don't like it, you can always replace it with something comparable. I personally like the Seas neo aluminum tweeter ($70 a pair new or less for used). If Alpine tweeter didn't work well, I'd plug a Seas neo or comparable tweeter into a spare amp channel with a capacitor inline with value appropriate for -6dB low pass filter with crossover frequency at 12KHz, or perhaps a tad lower, resulting in -6dB point at 6KHz, approximately where mid-woofer's -6dB frequency is, resulting in flat FR since adding sound pressure of two drivers increases SPL by 6dB. If this leaves a gap in FR, I'd try a lower low pass frequency for the tweeter. This is just a thought, this is what I would have done if I was buying new components.

 

[barbaroja 10+ year member]

oh yes they are big. 7". but they are also 3" deep just as the cadences. that should fit in my explorer doors, the distance from the covers to the metal is enough. those alpines seem to be good, I have seen many people reccomend them.

Any word about the phoenix gold comps?

 

[dontbeaprix 10+ year member]

My low end morels sound better than the new alipine type-r comps and they are cheaper. Best budget comps around at $130. They are comparable in sound to the old hertz hsk, but the tweeter is better sounding on the morel. And yes I have heard the new alpines both on a sound board and in a couple cars and they are much improved over the old, but not near as good as the morels. I have 125 rms feeding each set of mine and they love it.

Amazon.com: Morel Maximo 6 1/2 inch 2 way component system: Car Electronics

 

[barbaroja 10+ year member]

cav you are right on spot. let me take a sec to stop about talking about speakers to say thanks for your advice in this whole thread.

for me now is those morels or going active. the morels have all the things in build construction I want... gotta investigate a lil bit more into active side. right now it seems those dayton drivers are nice... but it seems like they can not take a healthy dose of power...

at the end I may well end up running passively the morels, and if I do not like the crossover points, just add an active xover and start to tweak. what do you think?

oh before I forget: Seems like not all passive comps can work in an active setup (placing them before the amp). what does it takes from a crossover to have that capability? cant seem to find that info.

 

[zako 10+ year member]

oh before I forget: Seems like not all passive comps can work in an active setup (placing them before the amp). what does it takes from a crossover to have that capability? cant seem to find that info.

Only very few passive crossovers are bi-amp capable. You can of course go active if you have active crossovers.

 

[dontbeaprix 10+ year member]

Any set of passive componet set can be ran active, in fact i thought about running my morels active. You just dont use the outboard crossover that comes with them. To run active you either have to have a good headunit that is active cabable or have a amp with good crossovers in it or have a nice crossover network to go inbetween your h.u and amp. Going active also requires alot of knowledge about crossover points and slopes and what will work best for your particular speakers. For a beginer I would highly suggest just running a set of passive comps for now such as the morels and make shure you spend the money to install them corectly by sealing and deadning the doors. It can easily cost you another $100 on top of the comps that you buy to properly set up your door for them .Here is a pretty good how to on preparing your doors for the new componet set.

How-To

 

[barbaroja 10+ year member]

I have not found the answer, but I really think its related to impedances. If the output stage of the crossover is not seeing the expected 4ohm or so impedance, the operation of the crossover would not be the same... (just individual analysis, but would love to find a subject on this)

I have mailed Morel as to give me the individual specs for the woofer and the tweeter for the Maximo series, so I can have an idea of what to do if I decide to run them active in the future.

For the crossover network there is a JBL on amazon that seems nice. its 4way bandpass capable. But that would be if I am not satisfied with the stock morels.

 

[dontbeaprix 10+ year member]

According to morels website crossover point is 3800hz 6db/octave .

Morel Loudspeakers - Mobile Audio - 2 Way Component Systems - Maximo

 

[barbaroja 10+ year member]

Yeah I checked that. There is a principle in active system design that states every loudspeaker should have a flat response 1 or 2 octaves (depending on the slopes used) extension past the crossover point. Thats why its important to have individual specs for each driver so you know where your limits are. You could do that by ear too, but having the data saves time.

Cav, have you heard the hertz 6.5 comps? They are not very far from the morels in price and also got good reviews. I have not heard them nor have the chance to do so.

 

[dontbeaprix 10+ year member]

Which hertz? The hsk is what is comparable and it far from being close in price.