Review DLS Nobelium 6.2

[Here-I-Come]

Ok lets start with the setup using the passive crossovers. Now I was told that out the box the Iridium might sound a little better, but give about 25 hours of brake in time the Nobelium just blow the Iridium away.

This setup has the following items:

Head unit: Kenwood Double din (don’t remember the model number)

Front components: DLS Nobelium 6.2

Rear coax: DLS 426

Sub: JL Audio 13W7

Front and rear amp: JL Audio 400/4

Sub amp: JL 1000/1

Car: 2001 Eclipse

Now out the box the tweeter sounded more detailed then any DLS tweeter I have heard to date. I'm not sure if the tweeter has truly been changed or its just the new/improve metal housing it is now in, but there is not question about it, it is a better tweeter now. It has more detail on the high end now. Where before I personally tough the UR1/IR1 was missing a little sparkle on the top end, but I also like the top end on the QTD25 so go figure. I did notice that it seems to be a little less efficient then the UR1/IR1 even with the higher setting on the crossover.

On the built quality side of things, I love the new metal housing. It just feels like a real high-end tweeter now. So in my book thumbs up on the Nobelium 1.

Now for the Nobelium 6. Out the box on the passive crossover I was not that impressed with the driver. Without question the mid-bass is better and more controlled in this driver then on any of the other DLS drivers. But out the box I could not recommend someone to buy it over the IR6. The IR6 was a little more natural sounding in the midrange area, were the nobelium sound a little thin on some male vocals. On female vocal I think out the box the Nobelium sounds a little more natural. The nobelium also had an ever so slight edge in the upper midrange area.

On the build side of things the nobelium just blows the Iridium drivers away. Point blank.

So I ask the owner of the car to do his best to record how long he played the system until he was able to come back by so I could take another listen to the system. About a week and a half past and he show up at my shop about 10:30 pm (yes I work very, very late). He said he has bout 12 hours of play time on the sound system at low the mid volume levels.

So I pop out my EMMA comp CD’s and my Chesky Records Ultimate Test CD and One of my own CD I compiled with a lot of great SQ songs from a lot of different Test Cd’s. First I listen to Hotel Cali live and man let me tell you it was like listen to different sound system. The midrange was more natural, the mid-bass was tighter and faster. And when the (I guess it is a bass guitar)comes in it makes a lot of drivers fall apart and the nobelium did not brake a sweat. Next I played the drum track off the EMMA 2005/2006 Comp CD and the beats are fast and tight in this track and the nobelium did not miss a beat. I must also drop a honorable mention on the 13W7, this thing sounds great in this sound system. I have install many W7 and did not see what the hype was about, but now I can truly say it has to be one of the best sound subs on the market. It makes me think I did something wrong in the other setups. Back to the topic at hand. Next I played a little Sade and man I fell in love with her all over again (different topic). Next was a little Spanish Harlem and it was sweetness. I'm not say they are the best I have listen to, but they are very nice and in their price range they should be hard to beat as a pre-made setup.

I can’t wait until they have another 15 hours or so of brake-in time to see what they can do. From what the guys at DLS say they are head and shoulders above the Iridium and from what I have seen this just might be true. Only time will tell. When the suppose time has past I will give my final impression.

COMING SOON A REVIEW ON THE NOBELIUM 6.2 WITH THE IR3 IN AN ALL ACTIVE SETUP

ALSO A REVIEW ON THE CIRTICAL MASS LS122 SHALLOW MOUNT SUBS.

All in the same setup. The setup is as follows:

Head Unit: The great DRZ-9255 (believe the hype)

Highs: DLS Nobelium 1

Midranges: DLS Iridium 3

Mid-bass: DLS Nobelium 6

Subs: 2 Critical Mass LS122 mount under the rear seats. :o

Highs and midranges amp: DLS A4

Mid-bass amp: DLS A3

Sub amp: DLS A6

Truck: 1998 GMC 1500 extended cab.

[effenay]

Great review, Mark. What's the price range of the Nobeliums?

[newtitan]

man I want that set so bad, but I cant find them anywhere


oh well one day I guess thanks for the review!!!

[xencloud]

I can't wait for a review of those subs, hurry! I was looking at the slim Earthquakes too.......but not sure of the SQ on those at all......

[demon2091tb]

Very nice review Mark :D

IIRC those Nobellium sets are EXPENSIVE!

[Here-I-Come]

Man I had a ton of typos in that post. Fixed some but it may be a ton more.

O ya I must add that guitars on the Nobelium 6 sounds so good to me i'm also wanting to try an all Nobelium 3 way setup with the Nobelium 1, 5, and 8. I have the 1 and 8 already, but the IR3 is so easy the setup for great imaging and staging it is hard to even think about letting it go. Not to mention is sounds great when tune correctly (key word correctly)


And Xencloud the C-Mass LS122 are great sounding subs. IMHO they sound every bit as good as the ND12 and they get louder. I will say this for now. The 1500 setup kills the eclipse setup right out the box and the bass is so tight, so clean, so fast in this setup i'm starting to re-think which subs i'm going to run upfront in my comp car. Their not too costly either considering the built of the subs. Man I'm starting to re-think a lot of things.

I must also add they I'm not nor do I claim be the best tuner in the world, but I know what I like and I have listen to some very nice setups, they alot of people consider or consider to be top notch. With saying that it is only my OPINION.

ALSO COMING SOON IS A REVIEW ON THE CRITICAL MASS C652 6.5 COMPONENT SET.

I will say this now I really like to tweeter in the set. Kind of DLS UR1/IR1 and MB Quart QTD25.

The retail on the Nobelium is as follows:

Nobelium 5.2 $998.00

Nobelium 6.2 $1099.00

Nobelium 8.2 $1298.00

Nobelium 10 $498.00

Nobelium 12 $638.00

Nobelium 15 $838.00

Just to add one more thing. I had a meeting with Chris Ribeiro Arc Audio's National Sales Manager and there Regional sales reps today after I wrote that post. And Man the new Arc Audio SE amps are madding. The Technology and Functionality behind and of these amps are amazing. They have to be at the top of the food chain when it comes down to amp technology. Robert Zeff out did himself on these.

[mojako]

they upgraded the Iridiums!

It is called the 6.2i now.. very familiar looking basket and tweeter :)

http://dls.se/speakers/IR62i_F.jpg

[03blueSI]

I just have one question about the 8", does it have the same dimensions as the Iridium 8"? The only reason I ask is because the Iridium was a tight fit for me and if I end up purchasing the 8" and the tweeter I want to make sure the 8" will drop right in. I plan to run it full active with my Iridium 3" off of a DLS A4 and A5 combo. Hope to pick them up soon.

[Here-I-Come]

I just have one question about the 8", does it have the same dimensions as the Iridium 8"? The only reason I ask is because the Iridium was a tight fit for me and if I end up purchasing the 8" and the tweeter I want to make sure the 8" will drop right in. I plan to run it full active with my Iridium 3" off of a DLS A4 and A5 combo. Hope to pick them up soon.

Yes, I should drop right in.

[typericey]

I recently purchased a Nobelium 6.2 set. Very happy with it, especially coming from my old Focal Polykevlar 165's that had razor sharp, shrilled highs. The Nobys had thick mids and laid-back top end (my preference really). It also seems to love percussion heavy music and plays them with palpability. The tweeter plays low, with an FS below 1khz, according to the manual. I think this is the secret on why it sounds so good. However, even after the break in period I find the midbass quite inadequate. Could it be the Cascade Deflex pads I had installed with it? I'm not giving up, it may still be solved with proper tuning.

[nash]

Hi guys.. just registered to this forum, I"m from the Philippines :) did a search about Nobeliums and landed here hehe.. I love the review on this set.. but wondered if you guys think I shoudl still upgrade.

This is the current setup ive got right now..
IR 6.2 / A3 / A6 / 1-JL12w6v2 / Alpine 9855

Am planning a change and this is what i'm thinking... tell me if you think its still worth it.. :)
Nobelium 6.2 / A3 / A6 / 2-Nobelium 12 / Alpine 9855... Basically took out the IR and JL and replaced them with the Nobeliums, so its a complete DLS setup.
Question - How are the new reviews on the Nobeliums? are they much better than the IR's? and how are the Nobelium Subs compared to JL's?

[Here-I-Come]

Hi guys.. just registered to this forum, I"m from the Philippines :) did a search about Nobeliums and landed here hehe.. I love the review on this set.. but wondered if you guys think I shoudl still upgrade.

This is the current setup ive got right now..
IR 6.2 / A3 / A6 / 1-JL12w6v2 / Alpine 9855

Am planning a change and this is what i'm thinking... tell me if you think its still worth it.. :)
Nobelium 6.2 / A3 / A6 / 2-Nobelium 12 / Alpine 9855... Basically took out the IR and JL and replaced them with the Nobeliums, so its a complete DLS setup.
Question - How are the new reviews on the Nobeliums? are they much better than the IR's? and how are the Nobelium Subs compared to JL's?

Are you using the passive crossover with the IR6.2 set if so keep the IR6.2 crossovers and used them it the Nobelium 6.2 set, trust me on this one. It was recommand to me and I tried it and I notice a small different in how stable things sound. But the nobeliums are and grade. Now if you can/are running active, The answer is H*ll Ya!!! The Nobelium really come to life in an active set (as do all of DLS speakers) and the Iridiums do not stand a chance.

As fear as the subs go that is a tough one I really like the W6.v2 and I have only played with the 10" nobelium and I really like the sub.

Hope this helps.

[nash]

Thanks for the advice mark, but the only concern I've got is when I do go for Nobeliums i'll be selling my IR's and don't think I can sell them w/o the crossover.. I'll give it a shot here and try to sell it off.. else i'll prolly just keep with the IR's untill I decide to go for an active set up. Though I've been warned that going active is very difficult to tune, any adivce on where to go for info on how to tweak an active setup?

Guess I should start saving up for an A2 as well hehe, and its a pitty that Nobeliums don't have a 3way yet.. would love to save for a setup like this. :) Sweeeeeeeet!

[Eastcoast]

I'll drop my .02 in.

I have a lot of experience with the iridiums, 8.3. I know them inside and out at this point. I have a good amount of experience tuning cars, and working with many different drivers, low end to high end. I've been a serious listener in car and home for about 10 years now...in short, this isn't a review from a kid with his first car.

I just got to use the nobelliums the other day, already broken in. Now these were supposedly "prototypes" but the same as the Nobs being sold now. ..though I can't be positive on that. It was in a car that I've not worked with before, the mid was the dome from the IR set. The build quality is great, but thats only good for so much. First off, the tweeters are just wretched below 4k, no matter what you do with the mid. Even above that they are very forward and pissy and spitty. Sibilance is present, and a funny thing with this tweeter, no matter how much I attenuated it those characteristics were just inherent. Drop the gains, kick up the x-over, change the slope, mess with the EQ, you got the same sound with just a smaller band. I spent a whole day, trying to get them to behave, trying to get them to mate well with the mid and it was not an easy task. I don't know if they have a Nob mid, but if they have a mid that "mates" with this tweeter I wouldn't touch it. Got them to where they were tolerable, and we decided to throw the Ir tweet back and it was an immediate improvement. It was also easy to get the IR tweet to play properly, its an easy tweet to work with. Dropped the point back down to 2k, soundstage opened back up, vocals were far less arrogant, sibilance and spitting was gone, and everything was back to sounding natural. I think this is one of the worst tweeters I've ever heard.

The midbass I preferred the IR as well. It seemed just as "fast" with a better resonant tone (ie silk vs alum) than the Nob. Didn't use them in the vocal range but for kick drums and stand up bass, the nobellium seemed a bit thin when It shouldn't be. It also seemed to have less output.

I'd like to end this by saying I'm not a fan of DLS in the first place, but with some work their inherent characteristics can be overcome to have a system that is lively but well balanced. The IR's are too "brown" in their natural state, but the Nobs were way too bright overall. Maybe DLS can find something in the middle, till then I'll commend them on some nice amps ;)


Forgot to add that the near side tweet was about 40 degrees off axis and the far side about 10, did not try the tweeters in any other configuration as it wasn't an option.

[Here-I-Come]

I'll drop my .02 in.

I have a lot of experience with the iridiums, 8.3. I know them inside and out at this point. I have a good amount of experience tuning cars, and working with many different drivers, low end to high end. I've been a serious listener in car and home for about 10 years now...in short, this isn't a review from a kid with his first car.

I just got to use the nobelliums the other day, already broken in. Now these were supposedly "prototypes" but the same as the Nobs being sold now. ..though I can't be positive on that. It was in a car that I've not worked with before, the mid was the dome from the IR set. The build quality is great, but thats only good for so much. First off, the tweeters are just wretched below 4k, no matter what you do with the mid. Even above that they are very forward and pissy and spitty. Sibilance is present, and a funny thing with this tweeter, no matter how much I attenuated it those characteristics were just inherent. Drop the gains, kick up the x-over, change the slope, mess with the EQ, you got the same sound with just a smaller band. I spent a whole day, trying to get them to behave, trying to get them to mate well with the mid and it was not an easy task. I don't know if they have a Nob mid, but if they have a mid that "mates" with this tweeter I wouldn't touch it. Got them to where they were tolerable, and we decided to throw the Ir tweet back and it was an immediate improvement. It was also easy to get the IR tweet to play properly, its an easy tweet to work with. Dropped the point back down to 2k, soundstage opened back up, vocals were far less arrogant, sibilance and spitting was gone, and everything was back to sounding natural. I think this is one of the worst tweeters I've ever heard.

The midbass I preferred the IR as well. It seemed just as "fast" with a better resonant tone (ie silk vs alum) than the Nob. Didn't use them in the vocal range but for kick drums and stand up bass, the nobellium seemed a bit thin when It shouldn't be. It also seemed to have less output.

I'd like to end this by saying I'm not a fan of DLS in the first place, but with some work their inherent characteristics can be overcome to have a system that is lively but well balanced. The IR's are too "brown" in their natural state, but the Nobs were way too bright overall. Maybe DLS can find something in the middle, till then I'll commend them on some nice amps ;)

Nice review, but I have not had that problem with the Nobelium tweeter, in fact it has been very hard to tell them apart from the IR1 and IR1i. I have a truck with the same setup you talk about and it sound amazing and I have had the tweeter as low as 2.5 in this setup and sound fine, but not to my likings. As a matter of fact, I don't like any tweeter playing that low, it just seems to thin the midrange to much for my taste. The setup is the GMC on my website. Also the midbass is nicer in the truck now. It had and all IR setup before. I've been playing with a Nobelium 3 setup Nobelium 1, 5, and 8 and it has been a very postive thing so for. I not sure if the ones you have has a problem or not, but I have sold many IR sets and many nobelium sets and I not beginner either the best part of the last 14 has been listening to SQ cars, home audio and in the studio also.

[Eastcoast]

You going to Iasca finals? I'd like to hear what they are supposed to sound like.

If it even takes a second glance to tell them apart from the IR tweet than its not the same one and disregard my review. These were a prototype directly from DLS to experiment with and they were supposed to be the ones in the new sets...but something could be amiss.

As far as tweets playing that low, there are a number of them that do it well. The IR isn't one of them.