Dayton Reference rs52 dome mid

[npdang]

http://diymobileaudio.com/pics/rs52/pic1.JPG
http://diymobileaudio.com/pics/rs52/pic2.JPG
http://diymobileaudio.com/pics/rs52/fr.JPG
http://diymobileaudio.com/pics/rs52/bl.JPG
http://diymobileaudio.com/pics/rs52/cms.JPG
http://diymobileaudio.com/pics/rs52/le.JPG
http://diymobileaudio.com/pics/rs52/dist.JPG

Dome mids really have a special place in car audio. Being self-enclosed, you don't have to worry about trying to stuff a driver into too small of an enclosure, and the resulting heavy low end resonances which can muddy up the midrange. It's also nice to have a solid 90dbwm+ sensitivity, rather than the traditional low 80's you'd see from your typical 3-4" mid.

My favorite dome mid coming into this review was the Usher silk dome. It had an excellent mix of detail and body and was well built. I have to say that I have a new favorite now, and it's the Dayton rs52.

The rs52 is well built, with a large aluminum rear chamber and flange, and a copper shorting ring above the pole. Clarity and realism is unbelievable, and among the best I've heard to date in a dome mid (or cone above ~600hz). I also felt that coloration was extremely low, and not nearly as cold sounding as some titanium and aluminum domes I've tested before. Notching the breakup above 10khz yielded a slightly more neutral presentation that I doubt many would notice in their cars. Some may even prefer the brighter, more detailed sound from not filtering it.

If I had to pick something I didn't like, it would be the low end dynamics... although it's certainly arguable that domes weren't designed to play optimally below ~500-600hz. There is a slight amount of resonance in the rear chamber and the driver audibly breaks up when pushed hard. For car use, I'd recommend no lower than a 4th order highpass at 300-400hz. For those that push their drivers hard or have an extremely discriminating ear, 600hz would be more ideal.

[kevin k.]

Thanks for the review, Nguyen... :)

Your new favorite dome? That says a lot... :o

I've got my ATC dome mids x-ed at 360 Hz with 4th order slopes... I've found that output begins to drop noticeably at 315 Hz...

;)

[npdang]

The ATC's are actually very good, and more dynamic and effortless but for $35 each the rs52 is very hard to beat.

[kevin k.]

You could buy quite a few for the cost of a pair of ATC's... :( :blush:

:)

[3.5max6spd]

Nice. My only complaint of the Ushers was the size of the flange/width of the motor. These look much more compact and caraudio friendly.
These look like a bargain for me to try a 4way active front plus sub:)
Leave the lower midrange to my 4's and xover those RS's to play from their sweet range up.

[WLDock]

Nice. My only complaint of the Ushers was the size of the flange/width of the motor. These look much more compact and caraudio friendly.

USHER - 5-7/8" flange, 4-1/2" cutout, 1-3/8" depth
DAYTON - 5-1/8" flange, 4-1/8" cutout, 2-1/8" depth

Damn! Still too large to fit on my A-Pillars. Although, i like the Idea of using a sealed back mid up there over say the TRIUS(TG9) in the pillar in too small of an enclosure.

I just don't like the idea of a big speaker on the pillar. You get visual reflections off of the windshield as well.

Car audio is not easy!

[Mike Hall]

Why cant you turn the ring down to a smaller size on a lathe? If you could knock off a full inche in diameter that would help out a good bit. At least it would for my truck. LOL

Mike

[WLDock]

Not sure if that can be done...look at the screw holes:

http://www.partsexpress.com/images/285-020m.jpg

[Mike Hall]

I would just drill new holes. I did not know if the large ring was there for just looks or if it had something to do with how the driver responded.

Mike

[WLDock]

I see what you are saying but the cup is still large...say compared to the TG9/TRIUS mids. Again, the lack of enclosure needed makes them still very attractive.

http://diymobileaudio.com/pics/rs52/pic2.JPG

So, Mike...I don't have a lathe...are you offering your services?

[Bob]

Taking an inch off the faceplate wouldn't work too well... at that point you'd basically just have a faceplate connected to the rear chamber/motor, with no way to mount the speaker... unless you lathed down most of the faceplate and left a couple of tabs extending outside the rear chamber diameter I don't think it would work... would be better off rear mounting them.

[jdybnis]

You can remove the front flange by taking out those four screws. Make the cutout hole in the pillar 2", or just big enough for the dome. Then rear mount the driver using those same screws that held on the flange. Should make for a very discrete installation too.

[Bob]

Right, except that 2" is too small for the surround to fit, and if you want the grill also you need to drill another groove for it to sit in... I found that 2 7/8 inches works perfectly for the grill hole, and 2 9/16 works perfectly for the opening.
I don't have access to a good camera right now, but I took a couple quick pics with my cell phone to show how it looks when finished... I'll take better ones later.

[Mike Hall]

Bob, How did you get the grill of the mid? I looked at doing a setup like yours but was afraid to pull on that grill to much as I did not want to bend it.

Thanks
mike

[dwk]

Bob, How did you get the grill of the mid?

You can probably just pull it off if you hook into the grill, but if you're worried about that just pull the faceplate off by unscrewing the mounting screws. You can then just pop the grill off by pushing from the back - it's just held in by a bit of adhesive of some sort.

[Bob]

You have to remove the faceplate, and then hit it out with something from the back side to break the glue joint. I used the back side of a screwdriver with a fairly large rubber handle... left a couple dents in each one, but unless you look at them from profile or up real close they are unnoticeable, and even then they aren't too bad. No damage to the coloring or anything. If you had a rubber ball about the size of the opening and stuck that in there and hit it from behind you would have better results with no dents I'd assume, but I didn't have anything like that laying around.

[Sephiroth619]

Are these good at 30-50 degrees off axis?

[Bob]

I have them mounted almost perpendicular to me in the kickpanels... and they are good at least up to my crossover point of 3600hz 24db/oct that far off axis.

[SSQ]

If these are used on axis with the peak at 13k eq'ed out, is there any need for a tweeter?


-Kris

[Diru]

Does the metal grill need to be there? If not, what do they sound like without the grill in place? How much change would there be in response?

[kappa546]

If these are used on axis with the peak at 13k eq'ed out, is there any need for a tweeter?


-Kris

ditto bump

[npdang]

It's not needed, especially if you are a full range driver fan... but personally, I would still use a tweeter as the driver begins to beam above a certain point.

[demon2091tb]

What would a good xover point between the RS52 and an RS225, in a tower for home audio duty :D.........Either an LPG 26nafm or Neo 3 on the top end.

Possibly might be off topic but does the RS52 work well in home being a dome as well as in a car, but with a low enough ~6k or so before beaming may start would it be a good point for the tweet, and down low possibly around 400hz, mabey 500hz then the RS225 play down to a good 40 or 50hz, dual tempest sonotubes down low.

[danssoslow]

What would a good xover point between the RS52 and an RS225, in a tower for home audio duty :D.........Either an LPG 26nafm or Neo 3 on the top end.

Bump for discussion on this setup, particularly for a car setup w/ the 26nfa.

[Hillbilly SQ]

i'm considering these mids for my qforms crossed between 1khz and around 5khz. here's the catch...my tires are allterrains and my magnaflow exhaust really bellers when driving around town but is whisper quiet on the hwy up to about 65mph. do you think these dayton domes could keep up and at least get up to near painful listening levels without selfdestructing if crossed high enough? with the loud truck and my hearing being somewhat shot i need whatever i get to be loud and fairly bright.

[bobditts]

if you want loud and bright, you should match that driver with a focal tweeter and aim it right at your ear. Normally I would never recommend that, but you said you want bright.

[Hillbilly SQ]

eh don't know about it being THAT bright, but my mcsq mids could pass for focals. and i'm keeping my morel tweets in the stock location in the doors. i like a snappy lower end but up above 5khz i like it to be somewhat smooth and balanced. i'm strange like that :confused:

[toolfan91]

if you want loud and bright, you should match that driver with a focal tweeter and aim it right at your ear. Normally I would never recommend that, but you said you want bright.
I definitely agree, I had the RS52 in my car for a week... That was all I could bear really. Off-axis, on-axis, numerous xover points(couldnt STAND them above 3.6khz), a bit of eq work, and still WAY too bright.

[sundownz]

How are these compared to the DLS Iridium IR3?

[npdang]

It's noticeably cleaner, more open sounding but a touch cold/sterile.

[s10scooter]

Not to mention quite a bit cheaper.

[backwoods]

It's noticeably cleaner, more open sounding but a touch cold/sterile.

I would agree with that, but I found them somewhat laid back on vocalists, because they needed crossed over fairly high, it left alot of the realism for the midbass drivers to reproduce for certain vocalists.

I also have the usher domes, and prefer the dayton drivers as well.

[MiniVanMan]

I've just now installed these in my wife's vehicle, and the tweaking/tuning has begun.

These are very difficult to work with. They can be harsh, and as was pointed out before, with the high crossover point on the low end, getting vocals, primarily male to sound right is hard.

I'm finding that a low crossover point, with a low slope is working pretty well, i.e. 4000 hz at 6db/octave. I'm going to have to hit the high end breakup with some EQ, but that's not a big deal. The low crossover point with the low slope helps attenuate the harshness these exhibit in the upper midrange to treble frequencies. The breakup at about 13-14k will need to be addressed though. Using a higher slope, kills the dynamics of the driver, so that's where I sit right now.

I'm tuning with a DCX-730, so I can do a lot to tame these down. I definitely wouldn't suggest using these without having a vast amount of tuning ability.

To be fair though, this is only my second day working with these. I haven't hit them with any EQ yet. I'm still trying to get the crossover points right. Overall, I'm expecting I should be happy with these. They are very lively, and very accurate. They are a bit sterile as npdang pointed out, but it's not "metal coned driver" sterile. It's just harsh on the top end. They will tear your head off if you're not careful.

Oh, and one more thing, these things are EFFICIENT. I have a 50 watt @ 4 ohm amp running them (they're 8 ohm), and I have them attenuated a huge amount.

[backwoods]

I had good luck using a 6 db slope from 600 down, and boosting my midbass around 350.

If you are using a driver like the dayton Rs 180 or 225, you may not need the boost, but with most midbass only drivers, you'll need the help to bring out some of the fundemental tones of lower vocalists...

I cut them off sharply between 3k to 3.5k and was happy with a silk dome up top.

[MiniVanMan]

I had good luck using a 6 db slope from 600 down, and boosting my midbass around 350.

If you are using a driver like the dayton Rs 180 or 225, you may not need the boost, but with most midbass only drivers, you'll need the help to bring out some of the fundemental tones of lower vocalists...

I cut them off sharply between 3k to 3.5k and was happy with a silk dome up top.

Yeah, I've still got a nasty CDT tweeter that's pretty beat up handling the high end, so I haven't been able to really blend the tweeter that well.

For midbasses I'm running Adire SF7s. They seem to be a very nice driver, and were picked because of the relatively high point the RS52s need to be crossed on the low end. Tomorrow, I'll attack it some more, and maybe start hitting it with some EQ. :D

[backwoods]

I had a quart tweet hooked up for demo'ing with that dome...Now THAT combination, although extremely detailed, was just painful with no eq...

[MaXaZoR]

How did you like them better as far as imaging, on or off-axis?

[X Ray]

I've just now installed these in my wife's vehicle, and the tweaking/tuning has begun..........

Just curious as to how the tuning of those dome mids turned out MiniVanMan.

[MaXaZoR]

I can check my settings as well...I believe I have them starting up around 350 and cutting them off at ~ 2.5 - 3k. I really like these speakers. Others have noted that the tend to be bright, but after a little tuning u can get them to settle down

[npdang]

You're probably experiencing the effects of a small baffle on the low end sensitivity. What you could try is rather than using EQ, just highpass them first order at around 500hz to 1khz and see if that doesn't help.

[a$$hole]

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd226/Hic_07/deadthreads.jpg

[Hernan]

First order @ 500 is not a bit on the low side? They sound good but I'm a bit worried about their powerhandling playing that low...

After living two years with them.. I use them from 900/18 to 4K/18 or 7khz, depenpending on the tw used. A -3dB wide Q at 4K tame their bright character.
Nice drivers overall. They have very low distortion, loud and clean.

[npdang]

Sorry I don't know what I'm saying. I meant lowpass! (to compensate for the rising response unbaffled).

[mitchyz250f]

How did you like them better as far as imaging, on or off-axis?

Good question, how are you guys running these?m Dash, doors, kicks...?, on asix off, are the tamer off axis?

[MaXaZoR]

I personally have mine in the kickpanels On-Axis. I really couldn't see how I could make them sound good off I have a large pertruding dash in my Civic.