My tweeter review

[jearhart]

Well i finally have a chance to share with you guys my thoughts on the tweeters that i got to review. i also threw in the Rainbow cal25s that i use in my car now. also i will note that i did get a little picture happy so i will leave most of them out and here is a link to my photobucket so you can look through them if you choose. http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i2/earhjaco/



I will start by saying that i am not experienced with reviewing high end equipment so everything i say should be taken with a grain of salt. i did try to be as unbiased as possible and i think i did a fair job of it. also i will say that when i do my subjective review my main concern is "real" sounding. i want my stereo to sound like the performer is sitting on the dash, so my review followed that trend


Next i will walk you through the process i used during the tests. each tweeter was placed in a 12"x12" baffle and placed in a vice inside a shop. this was done to avoid any reflections that may be present in my car, and also give the tweeters the benefit of proper baffling. I did not take the time to flush mount the flanges of the tweeter, that would have made it impossible to get through the test in one day which i needed to do since i go to college and work 30 hours a week free time is at a premium.





The first thing i did with the tweeters once they were properly baffled was to determine an optimum crossover frequency. the crossover was controlled by a ppi DCX-730 with LR4 slopes. I started at 3500hz with all of the tweeters and went up or down depending on how they performed at that frequency.

Next was the listening test. One thing that i made a point of reviewing was an output comparison between them. my reasoning for this was because i have not seen that as a part of any other review and i truly believe it can be a big part of choosing a speaker for some people.

Next i moved around in the listening area to get a feel for off axis response. i will give an estimate in degrees of how far off axis these can be used. but remember that this is my experience and nothing else. also i will note that some of the tweeter went from great to terrible in like 5 degrees of movement and others were best in the middle and slowly got worse the farther out you go, those i was forced to give my preference on how far off i would use it.

the last step of the listening test was the subjective review. my listening material was from the ECA sq disks and from Eagles greatest hits for Hotel California.

[jearhart]

Now on to the review.

First the crossover setting.

Cal25:
3500-good
3000-still good
2500-lowered output
2000-lowest i would go, limited output

DIYMA:
3500-fine
3000-liked it here the best
2500-wouldnt go this low

Vifa D26:
3500-good
3000-about the same
2500-harsh, best to stay above this

LPG:
3500-slightly spitty, limited output
4000-tolorable, still low output
4500-good
5000-best

Seas neo:
3500-good
3000-still great output
2500-less composure at extreme volumes
2000-still decent output, doesnt sound as good

Vifa xt25:
3500-good
3000-still good, lower output(i didnt feel safe running this below 3000 so i didnt)

Dayton:
3500-good
3000-still liked it
2500-still good, still had decent output



Listening test
Dayton:
Output- surprising for such a small and cheap tweeter
Off axis- decent to about 40deg
Subjective- Finger snaps didnt quite sound real, very in your face. Womans voice was thin, and not lifelike.
Overall: had a "not real" sound, seemed to fall off in lower treble.


Vifa xt25:
Output- Less than desired
Off axis- 20deg max
Subjective- Finger snaps were acceptable. womans voice was fuller than the dayton, much improvement. hotel california was slightly disappointing


Seas neo:
Output- Best of the group
Off axis- great, close to 60deg
Subjective- Finger snaps were very real sounding, womans voice sounded just right. more revealing, had good dynamics on hotel california. also has a good top end.


Cal25:
Output- Just behind neo
Off axis- great, right with neo
Subjective- Finger snaps sounded more natural than the neo. Womans voice was airy but still sounded real. Has a very natural sound to it. Stood out on acoustic guitar, very enjoyable to listen to.


LPG:
Output- Disappointing, and a high crossover to achieve that
Off axis- decent, less than 45deg
Subjective- Finger snaps sounded real but overly critical. womans voice sounded great. for me this tweeter is overly critical, but it is great if you can deal with the high crossover and limited output. Also it is GREAT up top, but almost too much.


Vifa D26:
Output- about the same as the dayton
Off axis- similar to the LPG
Subjective- Finger snaps were good but that is where the good ended. Womans voice sounded like she was singing through a tin can, not real at all. Overall this was a big disappointment. seemed very peaking in lower treble.

I will also make a special not on this tweeter that it is a pain to cut a hole for it, it has to be funny square shape.


DIYMA
Output- Decent but looses composure very easily
Off axis- 45deg
Subjective- Finger snaps sounded in your face but decent. woman’s voice sounded "breathy". Great dynamics, loved hotel California. acoustic guitar sounded funny though.

[jearhart]

for the rankings since i have no reference i just made the best in each category a 10 and went from there
Rankings:
Output
Seas Neo-10
Rainbow Cal25-9.5
Dayton-7
Vifa D26-7
DIYMA-6.5
LPG-6
xt25-6

Off axis
Cal25-10
Seas Neo-10
DIYMA-7.5
Dayton-7
D26-6.5
LPG-6.5
xt25-3

Subjective
Cal25-10
Seas Neo-9
LPG-8
DIYMA-6.5
xt25-6.5
Dayton-6
D26-5

Value
Dayton-10
Seas Neo-8
Cal25-7
LPG-6.5
xt25-5.5
d26-3

Usability(taking into account xover, off axis, size, and shape)
Seas Neo-10
Cal25-10
Dayton-9
DIYMA-7
LPG-6.5
xt25-5.5
D26-3


Well the big surprises of the day would have to be the cal25, dayton and xt25. I really thought the seas neo would own the cal25 but i was pleasantly surprised.

The dayton was by far the biggest surprise. ignoring price for a second, this would be a great tweeter to put in the a-pillars. especially if you have a mid that can play high. or if you needed a second pair of tweets to raise stage height. when you figure in price this tweeter is a STEAL. there are just so many possibility when you have such a low cost.

The biggest disappointment was the xt25, i couldn’t wait to hear this tweeter because of what a rep it has. well i really was disappointed, there is no place it stood out as being the best or even a bargain. for the money there are many others that could do much better.

[jearhart]

also there was some slight damage to the dome of the seas neo. it didnt seem to change the performance of it. it looked like the grill had been pressed into the dome. im assuming it happend during shipping. i took several pics of it as you can see in my album

[npdang]

Thanks for the review!

It's interesting to note, that objectively the top 3 with best off-axis performance (minus the rainbows) are:

1. LPG
2. DIYMA
3. Dayton

[ocuriel]

I'm glad the rainbow tweeters did well. I have some cal26's on there way and excited to get them .

[3.5max6spd]

Nice review. Man its been years since i had the cal25s (part of the Arc ACS265 set) and indeed it hits home on how you feel the strings/plucks are so enjoyable. Quite enchanting all around tweeter.

[AVI]

Once again , someone hears the insanely natural sound of a rainbow tweeter. This is a definite trend every time a Rainbow tweeter is reviewed. Maybe Rainbow is indeed not a DIY product , but they do seem to have that certain majic that justifies their asking price

[jearhart]

yes overall there were 3 main grounps, the seas and rainbow definately seperated themselves from the group. the LPG and DIYMA were somewhere in the middle and the rest were in the lower section.

price wise they are all about the same except the rainbow and the dayton. making it obvious to me the only tweeters in this bunch i would consider would be the dayton, seas and rainbow.

im not sure you can justify the price difference between the rainbow and seas. the rainbows are slightly better in all categories but not enough you would probably even notice in a car.

long story short: the rainbows are staying where they are at, but if i had nothing i would probably buy the seas.

[POLKAT]

Which version of the Cal 25 is that? I am guessing it is not a metal dome but it is hard to tell.

[jearhart]

Originally Posted by POLKAT

Which version of the Cal 25 is that? I am guessing it is not a metal dome but it is hard to tell.

silk dome

[less]

I have had my Rainbow CAL 26s as part of a Profi kick system for a couple months now... and instead of noticing more faults, I am tending to notice more positive things about them! Just nice speakers. The tweeters just sing in these puppies, but they do it without screaming... hey LOOK AT ME! They just sync up with the mid and do what good tweeters should do!

The only thing I could say as a negative is that they don't seem to project as nice of a sonic stage with intricate placement that I heard with my old set of Focals... but I promise you I wouldn't trade them for 20 Focal T52's! I am trying a new location soon a bit further out on the A pillar and that will probably help, but I don't expect them to get too close to the Focals honestly... that was the one area where they were just undeniably terrific.

Overall, what I am looking for is good sound, and I think that is why most DIY people go DIY... they like tinkering sure... but learned to do so because they didn't find what they wanted from other comp systems. Sadly, Rainbow doesn't have too many places out there where people can listen to them. If their marketing were up to snuff, they could sell the dog out of the Profi line as it is easily the best sounding comps in their class.

I recently bought a SLX 265 deluxe set for my rear stage and surround. Even here, at a price point of $250 - $300ish retail, Rainbow seems to have put together a winner. I haven't listened to them much and they aren't quite the same overall sound as the Profis but they are definately respectable little speakers.

I am sure glad I finally listened to AVI and all the others who kept telling me how natural the Rainbows sounded - thanks to you all!

Thanks for this review and confirmation of my expectations for the Rainbow driver.

Less

[AVI]

Originally Posted by less

I have had my Rainbow CAL 26s as part of a Profi kick system for a couple months now... and instead of noticing more faults, I am tending to notice more positive things about them! Just nice speakers. The tweeters just sing in these puppies, but they do it without screaming... hey LOOK AT ME! They just sync up with the mid and do what good tweeters should do!

The only thing I could say as a negative is that they don't seem to project as nice of a sonic stage with intricate placement that I heard with my old set of Focals... but I promise you I wouldn't trade them for 20 Focal T52's! I am trying a new location soon a bit further out on the A pillar and that will probably help, but I don't expect them to get too close to the Focals honestly... that was the one area where they were just undeniably terrific.

Overall, what I am looking for is good sound, and I think that is why most DIY people go DIY... they like tinkering sure... but learned to do so because they didn't find what they wanted from other comp systems. Sadly, Rainbow doesn't have too many places out there where people can listen to them. If their marketing were up to snuff, they could sell the dog out of the Profi line as it is easily the best sounding comps in their class.

I recently bought a SLX 265 deluxe set for my rear stage and surround. Even here, at a price point of $250 - $300ish retail, Rainbow seems to have put together a winner. I haven't listened to them much and they aren't quite the same overall sound as the Profis but they are definately respectable little speakers.

I am sure glad I finally listened to AVI and all the others who kept telling me how natural the Rainbows sounded - thanks to you all!

Thanks for this review and confirmation of my expectations for the Rainbow driver.

Less

Glad you are enjoying them Less ..... Look elsewhere for your imaging and staging issues ..... We use the same tweeters , and my soundstage is HUGE , and my imaging pin-point , with everything sounding it's proper size too

[ocuriel]

I received my Rainbow cal26 tweeters today and the pictures don't do them justice. They sounded pretty good too while I was testing them.

[Boostedrex]

I haven't been able to find any sources for Rainbow tweeters. Could someone help me out with that? Thanks in advance.

[FoxPro5]

Originally Posted by Boostedrex

I haven't been able to find any sources for Rainbow tweeters. Could someone help me out with that? Thanks in advance.

AVI

Those appear to be the Cal 25 fabric domes that are now part of the current X-Line. Guess I shouldn't have sold them for 95 bucks.

Very nice review. I liked how you did your best to test each speaker using the same variables. You said that used Hotel California, but then kept mentioning a womans voice and finger snaps.

I just looked at the pictures of the Neos. It does look like the diffuser dented the dome. If you bought them from Madisound I'd definitely try to return them.

[jearhart]

Originally Posted by B-Squad

You said that used Hotel California, but then kept mentioning a womans voice and finger snaps.
them.

i used a few songs off of the ECA sq disks and i was too lazy to look up the names and artists, i will do that now.

[jearhart]

these are the songs i used, some more than others

1-Nneena Freelon- "Better than anything" SACD
2- Terry Callier- "C'est la vie"
3- Keb' Mo- "Everybody be yourself
4- Patricia Barber- "Ode to billy joe" xrcd
5- Michael Ruff- "Wishing Well"
6- Emiko Shiratori- "Amazing Grace" HD

[FoxPro5]

Originally Posted by jearhart

i used a few songs off of the ECA sq disks and i was too lazy to look up the names and artists, i will do that now.

Let me guess, Patricia Barber??

*Edit* you beat me to it, but I was right. I love that track with her snapping her fingers and the stand up bass. Must be Vol 9??

I also forgot to say that my Neo tweeters were very slightly dented, but right underneath the center of diffuser. You have to look really close to see it. There's Seas QA for you. They sound fine otherwise.

[jearhart]

yup thats the disk. you win a years membership to www.diymobileaudio.com

[FoxPro5]

Originally Posted by jearhart

yup thats the disk. you win a years membership to www.diymobileaudio.com

How bout to www.playboy.com instead?

V9.2 to be exact. Get it if you ain't got it!!