Upgrading comps: Rainbow, Dynaudio, Morel?

[Buffalohed 10+ year member]

As the title says I am looking to upgrade my components, currently the Kicker SS6.5 series 2-way. I am going 2-way and need a small format tweeter, budget is

I have a couple of questions though before I can decide which set to go with. First of all, when going active and sending 115 to each woofer/tweeter, this is equivalent to sending 115 total per side to a passive crossover, correct? It is my understanding that 115 to a passive splits the signal so that the woofer/tweet are still getting 115 each. I'm not sure exactly how biamping works, but would that be basically sending 230 watts to each side and consequentially 230 to each woofer/tweeter in its respective frequency?

I am looking for a lot of volume out of these components so I want to use as much of the power I have available as possible. I listen to electronic, metal, ambient, noise, and the occasional rock and rap, so accuracy and uncolored sound is my preference. I have roughly narrowed my choices to the following, and I would appreciate it if someone could look over these and try to match their sound characteristics and power handling to what I am looking for:

Morel Hybrid Ovation 6", rated at 160wrms.

Dynaudio System 240GT or 240mkII, rated at 100wrms but I have heard they love a lot of power

Rainbow Profi Vanadium Kick, rated at 120wrms, have heard of people sending them 400

I'm leaning a bit towards the Rainbow Profi's because the woofer will be going in the door and I want that extra midbass presence, but I need to know which set would really thrive off 450 watts (or 230 if biamping works like I think it does).

Volume is important but obviously I'm looking for a big SQ upgrade as well. My Kicker components sound decent but that deteriorates greatly at high volumes, especially the lower midrange and midbass falls behind.

Thanks for the help... and sorry for so much reading.

Click to read more...

 

[Buffalohed 10+ year member]

Let me try to paraphrase a bit... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

I know that in reality I will probably be extremely happy with any of these 3 sets, so the most important question is really which will handle the power the best?

 

[purerx7tt 10+ year member]

from what i have read on other forums, the rainbows have a problem handling more than their max power, which would make sense. If it were me i would get the rainbows, wait, thats because i ordered two sets of rainbow profi's. Personally its about preference, some will say that the dyns have it all over the rainbows, but i have heard both and just prefer the rainbows. The morels were way to laid back for me, I did like the elates though, but those are a bit out of your budget. Someone on elitecaraudio.com was selling a set of active rainbow plats for 785 btw.

 

[Gary S 10+ year member]

Although the morel and Dyn tweeters are highly regarded as being consistently good, one of my installers once tested a morel woofer and we were not impressed.

I would look at the Alpine AlpineF#1Status SPX-Z15M

Looks like they are using a Scan-Speak Revelator mid/woofer on that set... do a search for Scan-Speak Revelator for more info.

Might also look at the rainbow power line and see if they handle more power.

 

[envengineer 10+ year member]

Get the vanadiums and just set your gain properly. Regardless of what speakers you get you are still going to need to go through the routine of proper gain setting and with passives all you have to do is set the HU volume to 75% and then up the gain until you hit the loudest level you want to continually listen at. It doesn't matter if you are using 150 or 450 as long as it sounds right and integrates well with your substage.

Once you decide you want to go active (you will), just remove the crossovers and run the vanadiums active.

 

[Gary S 10+ year member]

I don't know why I did not think of this earlier.... if you have the space, get the matching Kicker SS midbass add on kit (mids and crossovers). Should solve all your problems.

 

[Buffalohed 10+ year member]

I don't know why I did not think of this earlier.... if you have the space, get the matching Kicker SS midbass add on kit (mids and crossovers). Should solve all your problems.

I don't have room, but even if I did I want an upgrade to the Kicker tweeter. It is good, but not fantastic. And the set as a whole doesn't handle high volume very well.

Can anyone compare the Dyn and Morel sets with Rainbow Profi? In fact, since I know not many people here have extensive experience with them, if anyone can shoot me a link to where I could read more about them that would be great.

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

I'd lean to Dyns with the input power you have in mind and you listening habits.

You want dynamics with low compression from the drivers, and the 3"VC's on those babies are good for that.

The Rainbows can take power too, but passively i can see maybe the xover complaining with that kind of abuse because of its HALO protection. 400+ rms is a serious amount of power for any speaker-i just see the Dyns doing more with it.

 

[Buffalohed 10+ year member]

Ok that is the kind of information I'm looking for.

Can anyone compare the Dynaudio midbass response to that of the Profi Vanadium Kick? Or if anyone has heard the Dynaudios and wants to give us a rundown on their tonal qualities. Warm, bright, flat, natural, etc?

 

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

Morel makes some great stuff!

That's all I can say and all I know. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[Hebrew Hammer 10+ year member]

Ok that is the kind of information I'm looking for.
Can anyone compare the Dynaudio midbass response to that of the Profi Vanadium Kick? Or if anyone has heard the Dynaudios and wants to give us a rundown on their tonal qualities. Warm, bright, flat, natural, etc?

dyn has some of the best midbass you can possibly get....very few drivers can supply the note and the tone...dyns do it flawlessly

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

dyn has some of the best midbass you can possibly get....very few drivers can supply the note and the tone...dyns do it flawlessly

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yumyum.gif.0556df42231b304b9c995aefd13928a8.gif

I just got some cascade deflex pads for my mw172 lovin'..//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[16.6V 10+ year member]

With that budget you should consider 3 way setup with dedicated 8-9" md bass //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yumyum.gif.0556df42231b304b9c995aefd13928a8.gif I had a number 6'' components, including morel elates that I am running now, and all of them had shitty mid bass, except maybe JBL c6008 GTi (but I am not sure about those impressions because it was my first aftermarket componet system)

After I listened to properly installed $30 8'' door speakers in my friend's ride, I immediately understood that the brand your speakers is not as important as the physics involved behind cone area and x-max when it comes to chest pounding mid-bass. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yumyum.gif.0556df42231b304b9c995aefd13928a8.gif

So go with the biggest cone area you can fit in your doors...

 

[16.6V 10+ year member]

Dynos //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[Buffalohed 10+ year member]

With that budget you should consider 3 way setup with dedicated 8-9" md bass //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yumyum.gif.0556df42231b304b9c995aefd13928a8.gif I had a number 6'' components, including morel elates that I am running now, and all of them had shitty mid bass, except maybe JBL c6008 GTi (but I am not sure about those impressions because it was my first aftermarket componet system)
After I listened to properly installed $30 8'' door speakers in my friend's ride, I immediately understood that the brand your speakers is not as important as the physics involved behind cone area and x-max when it comes to chest pounding mid-bass. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yumyum.gif.0556df42231b304b9c995aefd13928a8.gif

So go with the biggest cone area you can fit in your doors...

In a perfect world this is what I would do. Dynaudio makes an 8" 3-way set that I'm sure would be tremendous.

The reality of it though is that an 8" in my door would be a lot of modifications that I don't have time/energy for. I also will not put kicks in my car, they would get destroyed in short order, so 3-ways are limited to dome midrange/small tweeter in some kind of unconventional configuration that requires even more mods/glassing. Another thing I don't have time for.

But I appreciate the suggestion.