Pioneer TS-C720PRS

[npdang]

I'll start by saying I was very impressed with the quality of the midbass driver in this set. I didn't evaluate the passive crossover, so no comments there. The tweeter I found to be adequate, and quite good compared to your typical run of the mill car audio set.

Some comments about the drivers; the midbass uses a very stiff and thin composite cone with a microfiber (yes the same material used in towels) high loss surround. This leads to a driver with both good resolution and dampening. The motor is also a world class design with a thick copper shorting ring above the pole and amazingly enough an underhung geometry. I also found the basket to be extremely sturdy and well constructed, along with the solid metal phase plug. All in all, very well done.

The tweeter on the other hand came in a rather solidly built aluminum chassis, however I wasn't overly fond of the obstructive grille bars running across it or with the profile and coating of the dome. I generally find that very round dome shaped profiles lead to poor top end dispersion, and the light see through coating on a silk dome tends to smother details. The cutouts diagrams of the tweeter also appeared as if the tweeter was a near even hung design, which should yield higher efficiency but at the expense of higher distortion.

Klippel results for the midbass:








Distortion analysis at 96dbm for the tweeter (red line indicates 1% thd threshhold):



T/s parameters for the woofer look well optimized for door use, although efficiency is rather poor. Very good bl and cms curve. The flat extended plateau is evidence of a well executed underhung design, although there is a small forward offset. LE curve looks good, and notice overall inductance is extremely low for a 7" driver. Combined with the low efficiency and underhung design, this driver is a bit output limited especially in the lower octaves as compared to drivers such as Seas RNX or Scan-Speak Revelator. Lastly, if you examine the impedance plot it's perfectly smooth with a very low rise due to the massive copper shorting ring and short coil design. Especially notable also is the lack of surround edge resonance indicative of soft cone drivers in the 800-2khz range. Although not included, the frequency response of this driver is very smooth with only a rather mild (+4-5db), well defined high q peak at 4.2khz. This is really impressive for such a stiff cone driver to be so well damped and controlled.

Listening to the mid, I found that compared directly to the Peerless Exclusive 830883 it was a bit more detailed and open sounding with very little coloration. Not an easy feat to accomplish as the Peerless is considered by many to be a top notch driver irregardless of price. For those who enjoy the sound of stiff cone drivers, this one proves to offer much of the same detail with far less compromise in terms of coloration and ease of use.

The tweeter I found to be an adequate performer. I felt that it was a bit sharp and shouldn't be driven too low or too hard, as evidenced by the fr/distortion plot. Surprisingly, for what I had assumed to be a near evenhung design the efficiency was rather poor.

[khail19]

I've never really checked (cause I'm poor and married ), but what's the price of the Seas and Peerless drivers you mention in the review. I know the Scans are big money, but not sure on the other two. Seems like the PRS set is a good buy just for the mids, and the rest is just bonus.

[azngotskills]

~$150-170 shipped for a pair of Seas Standard or Peerless Exclusive mids....thanks for the review i kinda regret letting mine go

[The Drake]

Cool, I look forward to getting mind pretty soon. Thanks npdang!

[fej]

Thanks for the review NP. I have a set sitting in the box for my truck install, I am curious however with as smooth as the midrange appears to be, would this be a worthwhile set to throw in kicks? I am considering the rather large factory door option or kicks. Second question with the seemingly average performance of the tweets do you have any suggestions for something that will mate up with the mid nicely with a little more efficiency? HDS? Neo's? Setup is active with 24db slopes available and 150w per driver.

Thanks

[Anatoli_KZ]

Hmm.. Mms = 25.38.. it is a lot of.

I have measured 15.7g at Qts=0.7 and Vas=10.9l

[rekd0514]

Originally Posted by fej

Thanks for the review NP. I have a set sitting in the box for my truck install, I am curious however with as smooth as the midrange appears to be, would this be a worthwhile set to throw in kicks? I am considering the rather large factory door option or kicks. Second question with the seemingly average performance of the tweets do you have any suggestions for something that will mate up with the mid nicely with a little more efficiency? HDS? Neo's? Setup is active with 24db slopes available and 150w per driver.

Thanks

I think he already answered that somewhere in a different thread. The answer was they are designed to be in a car audio situation, thus inside of a door. The best performance should be found with them there.

[quality_sound]

all I have to add is that "irregardless" isn't a word.

[LexNBimmer]

Originally Posted by quality_sound

all I have to add is that "irregardless" isn't a word.

Yes it is, and it's in the dictionary very acceptable in the North East and as a part of casual/informal writing or speech. It is a part of non standard English.

[fredridge]

Originally Posted by LexNBimmer

Yes it is, and it's in the dictionary very acceptable in the North East and as a part of casual/informal writing or speech. It is a part of non standard English.

Is it like Flammable and inflammable?

[mvw2]

Just a small question...

Did you ever do a frequency response plot for the Pioneer woofer? I know you mentioned an extended low frequency sensitivity. I'm curious how far it goes out to...as well as upper end, if there's a rising response, dips anywhere, etc.

[kappa546]

Originally Posted by mvw2

Just a small question...

Did you ever do a frequency response plot for the Pioneer woofer? I know you mentioned an extended low frequency sensitivity. I'm curious how far it goes out to...as well as upper end, if there's a rising response, dips anywhere, etc.

x2. any mid FR plots anywhere?

[casey]

maybe a silly question, and i know this thread is old but if you could replace the tweeter with another what would it be?? as cheap as these are, it wouldnt hurt to try out a set of different tweeters. id be doing oem door mounting for the the speakers in an s2000 and probably would use the stock passive crossover.