Bob
07-09-2006, 07:40 PM
As I stated in another thread, one of my 8 ohm rs225's went out of comission for a while so I decided to try out the 4 ohmers. I noticed an immediate improvement in overall frequency response, to the extent that I removed all the equalization I had on the 8 ohmers, which suggested to me that the higher q is much more suited to my cars interior than the lower q.
The 4 ohmers also have slightly more 'snap' to the midbass, which I would also attribute to the higher q and better frequency response mating to my cars interior.
The only drawback to the 4 ohm version is that they do not play as low, which actually is not that much of a drawback at all. While the 8 ohm version could play low, down to about 30hz with authority, it would produce a certain fatigue to my ears that I was not aware of until I switched to the 4 ohm version. This would suggest to me that the level of distortion increased significantly below 40 or 50hz. Right now I have the 4 ohmers running crossed at 60hz 12db/oct with no subwoofers, and they are very enjoyable to listen to. The bottom octave is hardly missed on most songs, as the midbass these provide carry the music so well.
I would think that unless you have a very large interior the 4 ohm version is the way to go for in car use, and sounds much more pleasant to my ears compared to the already brilliant sounding 8 ohm version. I'd have to say it was worth the experiment and the 4 ohmers will be staying in my car for a long time.
Oh and a note on build quality, the push terminals are a huge improvement over the terminals on the 8 ohm version. When I pulled out the old speakers I experienced the all too common problem of the terminal boards being bent and flimsy upon removal, which will no longer be a problem with the 4 ohmers.
The 4 ohmers also have slightly more 'snap' to the midbass, which I would also attribute to the higher q and better frequency response mating to my cars interior.
The only drawback to the 4 ohm version is that they do not play as low, which actually is not that much of a drawback at all. While the 8 ohm version could play low, down to about 30hz with authority, it would produce a certain fatigue to my ears that I was not aware of until I switched to the 4 ohm version. This would suggest to me that the level of distortion increased significantly below 40 or 50hz. Right now I have the 4 ohmers running crossed at 60hz 12db/oct with no subwoofers, and they are very enjoyable to listen to. The bottom octave is hardly missed on most songs, as the midbass these provide carry the music so well.
I would think that unless you have a very large interior the 4 ohm version is the way to go for in car use, and sounds much more pleasant to my ears compared to the already brilliant sounding 8 ohm version. I'd have to say it was worth the experiment and the 4 ohmers will be staying in my car for a long time.
Oh and a note on build quality, the push terminals are a huge improvement over the terminals on the 8 ohm version. When I pulled out the old speakers I experienced the all too common problem of the terminal boards being bent and flimsy upon removal, which will no longer be a problem with the 4 ohmers.