Saved for what I thought of the X2/Soul combo in Chris's truck.
OK Chris came by earlier today to pick up the Ebony mids to do a A/B comparison against the Soul mids, and while he was here he allowed me to take a listen to the X2/Soul combo. I'll admit I have never been that fond of Metal drivers. The ones I have heard in the past, especially those playing higher in the freq band all seemed to reach out and stick a spike in my ear( The WWF Road Warrior spikes) due to the harshness and peakiness that they seem to allows exhibited. Also the last time I heard Chris's truck he had those tang band ceramics in there and his staging was off, and not really something that I would want to listen to in my own car.
Please understand that Chris is using stock locations, with no special fairy dust or custom fabrication allowing superior aiming, just plan-O Ill work with what I have kinda install. So again my hopes were not very high, I was going to listen to it, nod, and then tear into the problems areas.....not to be an ass or Elite like, just something we do with each others systems/tunes. I actually find it quit entertaining and a learning experience all the same time.
Well I get in and try to set and the same height as Chris would if he was in the drivers seat which means I slide down a little in the drivers seat. He does not prep me in any way, just music on. Here are the first couple of songs that he throws at me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9B66p6LwjU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXhtm3CW9-o
Now I have heard of Alice in Chain, but I am not sure if I have every really listened to their music ( I am still expanding my listening habits), but I was literally blown away(as in I was in the front drivers seat and 1 minute into the song I was hanging on to the back bumper of a whole other vehicle), but I did not let Chris know that I was impressed and kept a poker face, trying to pinpoint that one area I could nit-pick. They did not just sound good for Metal-like drivers, They sounded good for drivers in general. If I had not known that the X2 were metal I would have sworn they were a soft dome driver.
I have read the words, Sterile, Reviling, and Clinical to describe these drivers, but I have a few to add to this list: Buttery, Soothing, and how about REAL. I honestly felt like I was in a smokey, badly lite lounge listening to them play. There was only a handful of people in the audience and the show felt very personalized to the few that showed up to listen. In the song "Angry Chair" the chord on the Guitar that really got me was the lazy twangy tone of the Down tune acoustic guitar. In Chris's truck, with the X2/Soul combo I could actually here the guitarist fingers sliding around on the strings of the guitars as he plucked the strings. The rest of the song was great as well, as the ability to hear the back up singer that seemed to come right out from behind Chris's passenger side mirror to attempt to harmonize the some what dark song was very remarkable.
I am sure some of what I was listening to had something to due with the tune and the fact that Chris let me hear the X2 crossed lower than the 4khz that he was running them at along with running them with a flat Eq. They did not sound bad, but once we went back to Chris's tune the music just appeared more Real.
Overall, after hearing Chris's X2/Soul combo I am actually thinking of picking up a pair for the house. Or maybe even just run a 2 way front stage instead of the Ebony/Trinity/Enigma set up that I currently have.(yet to install)
Now as I said before I initially went into this listening looking for weak areas. Then I found it.....Mid bass....I shouted out "Eureka!" Where is your midbass, as Chris flips to his Eq and shows how low he actually pulled the Midbass freq down....once her turned them up there it was, but it seemed to take away from the sound I was hearing at first. They area very capable in the midbass region as well, but the way Chris had them tuned they were not going to rip your leg off, more like an annoying Indian burn due to chaffing.
Please do not take this as someone with a H-Audio Avatar reviewing H-Audio drivers so it is a shoe in on how the review was going to go, I told Mark that me even buying H-Audio revolved around ONE thing....Me liking the performance of the drivers. I was not going to have any ties with the brand that was going to prevent me from being honest, and if I felt another driver may suit a persons needs better then I was going to recommend that OTHER driver. I do not get anything FREE from H-audio nor did Mark pay me, hell not even a man on man hug:rolleyes Mark laughed and agreed and followed with he to will not hold back from recommending other drivers to people. So someone is distributing drivers, loves them ,and believes in them , but also recognizes there are still some OTHER wonderful drivers out there.....to me that screams stand up guy....back to what I was saying....So I honestly have NO reason to be on the H-audio band wagon.....Until this afternoon. At a introductory price of $290 you would have to be crazy not to try them, they kick what once was my favorite bang for the buck
pioneer PRS720 comp set in the chesticles.
I look forward to what others think about them once installed and dialed in.
9.4/10 (due to Chris's tune dialing back the midbass
