dayton rs180's

[dazz]

I just picked up my set a few days ago... They look better than I thought they would for a 32 dollar speaker... Build quality is very good at this price point... The one gripe I have with them is that even for a 7inch driver, it has less cone area than my 6 1/2S (6 3/4) coaxes... So basically now, I'm going to spend all this extra time cutting up my door panel and such for a 7 1/8inch speaker and get no advantage from using a 7 inch driver...

On to the listening part... The way I listened to them was in no way ideal, but they do sound pretty good... The mids sounded natural and very full, even though I was using mp3's and my Audigy sound card (definitely need to be upgraded) seems to make mids sound very flat and fake sounding... The one thing that is very evident with them is the midbass... Very strong sounding/lots of presence (even though I was listening to them free air, well more like ap...), snappy and quick, and actually hit fairly low... I expect these to do very in my doors ib... I can't wait! Surprisingly, the cone area didn't hold these back in the least...

Just for fun, I had a set of Nakamichi 6 1/2S coaxes sitting around and decided to do a comparison... They came with my car and thought they sounded pretty decent for a coax... Compared to the Dayton's, they sounded very tinny... Mids lacked presence, mid bass was significantly weaker, and highs actually sounded better on the RS (probably due to the fact I was only 3 feet away)...

So we'll see how everything sounds together when my Seas 27tffn's come in...

[strong*I*bumpin]

Nice review,I just installed the same speaker in my doors & they are definitely worth the money.Price for performance ratio is a no brainer.

[MarkZ]

Ok, here's the rebuttal. ;)

Yeah, for the price, you'll have a hard time beating them. The midrange is good, and yes the midbass has a snappy feel to it, but the overall output of these drivers is somewhat lacking. And therefore, IMO, they're not the best option for a high output system that requires a HPF setting below 90Hz or so. Prior to the RS180, I used an a/d/s/ 3-series 6-1/2" driver off the same amplifier and the output was higher, the midbass punchier, but the midrange surprisingly not as present. Even better than the a/d/s/ driver was the Morel WR-6: slightly higher output than the a/d/s/ but with better midrange.

In a budget 2-way setup, the RS180 is a fantastic option. The midrange is good and the price is right, and you get enough snap in the midbass to yield pleasing results. Mate it with a tweeter that can play low and you're in business. But in a 3-way setup incorporating a smaller cone driver that can handle the midrange duties, I think there are better dedicated midbass options.

Just this week I replaced my RS180-4 with the 8" Peerless XLS and it's night and day. This is to be expected, of course, because the drivers are built for different purposes. Even though the Peerless is 8 ohms and the Dayton is 4 ohms, the Peerless played louder when I swapped them without a change in the gain settings. The midbass is fuller, though perhaps not quite as snappy, and the output capabilities are clearly a lot better. I was also experiencing a peak before somewhere in the 250Hz-300Hz range that I'm no longer experiencing. Overall, the XLS is the far superior option in my system, where the crossover points are high order 80 HPF and ~300 LPF. But, of course, these suckers wouldn't work in a 2-way or even a 3-way incorporating a dome mid or something that couldn't get low enough.

[effenay]

Thanks for the reviews, guys.

What's the cut-out diameter for the RS180?

[strong*I*bumpin]

Ok, here's the rebuttal. ;)

Yeah, for the price, you'll have a hard time beating them. The midrange is good, and yes the midbass has a snappy feel to it, but the overall output of these drivers is somewhat lacking. And therefore, IMO, they're not the best option for a high output system that requires a HPF setting below 90Hz or so. Prior to the RS180, I used an a/d/s/ 3-series 6-1/2" driver off the same amplifier and the output was higher, the midbass punchier, but the midrange surprisingly not as present. Even better than the a/d/s/ driver was the Morel WR-6: slightly higher output than the a/d/s/ but with better midrange.

In a budget 2-way setup, the RS180 is a fantastic option. The midrange is good and the price is right, and you get enough snap in the midbass to yield pleasing results. Mate it with a tweeter that can play low and you're in business. But in a 3-way setup incorporating a smaller cone driver that can handle the midrange duties, I think there are better dedicated midbass options.

Just this week I replaced my RS180-4 with the 8" Peerless XLS and it's night and day. This is to be expected, of course, because the drivers are built for different purposes. Even though the Peerless is 8 ohms and the Dayton is 4 ohms, the Peerless played louder when I swapped them without a change in the gain settings. The midbass is fuller, though perhaps not quite as snappy, and the output capabilities are clearly a lot better. I was also experiencing a peak before somewhere in the 250Hz-300Hz range that I'm no longer experiencing. Overall, the XLS is the far superior option in my system, where the crossover points are high order 80 HPF and ~300 LPF. But, of course, these suckers wouldn't work in a 2-way or even a 3-way incorporating a dome mid or something that couldn't get low enough.
I hear u Mark,different strokes for different folks.I wish I can fit 8's in my doors.I actually have & used the Peerless Exclusive 7",though I admit its a better driver than the Dayton I could never tame that midrange enuff for my liking(installed in stock door location).I'm happy with the sound & performance of the Daytons,they also work well with the ID tweets I'm using.