CDT 07 RE XXX and Seas G18RNX/P Review

[npdang]

CDT 07 - Lightest driver out of the three. Cast frame has a cheap, plasticky feel to it. Pole vent in the rear, no venting under the spider. Claims to have a copper faraday ring atop the pole piece. Straight profile fiberglass cone, with a soft, dome shaped poly dustcap. This driver has very noticeably the least amount of physical excursion, but is a good ~3mm shorter than the Seas G18RNX/P. (Driver provided courtesy of Ken)

RE XXX - Heavy driver. Cast frame feels like a heavy aluminum cooking pot. Huge tapered chrome top plate. Ventilation under the spider. Rear pole vent. A good amount of physical excursion, but surprisingly seems a tad bit under the Seas G18. Soft poly cone with inverted poly dustcap, feels like tupperware. Would be nice to see more than 4 mounting holes for such a heavy driver. Depth is a good 10mm+ or more than both the other drivers. Don't drop this one on your foot.

Seas G18RNX/P - Very solid, heavy open cast basket with wide open ventilation under the spider and rear pole vent with bumped backplate. Without bump on the backplate this would be the shortest depth driver. Physical excursion is the best of the three. Straight profile fiberglass cone with hard plastic phaseplug. Would be nice to see copper, but only on the Excel I guess 8 mounting holes on the frame, vs. 6 for the CDT and 4 for the RE.

How do they sound? I'm still listening.... I will say this though. My first impression is that NONE of them can touch the Seas W18 Excel

The CDT and the Seas G18RNX sound identical to me. Which is to say pretty good. Not the absolute best midrange like what you'd expect from a stiff cone driver with a top notch motor, but definitely at the top of the class with respect to conventional overhung drivers. Sound was lively, fairly open, smooth, and without hint of cone breakup or coloration. And btw, the Seas just killed the CDT's in mid/bass. Although they were fairly punchy, they began to show definite signs of strain well before the Seas. Also, with about half the power available the 8ohm Seas driver was roughly about the same loudness and headroom as the CDT.

The XXX was the worst performer of the bunch. Good bass, just perhaps a bit less than the Seas. Tonally very good in that respect, as least for IB door applications. Midrange sounded much like a Hi-Vi poly cone I tested earlier this year... which is to say not that great. Details were very "mushy" and confused sounding, and overall "congested".

Here are the frequency response plots. Keep in mind that the nearfield response is only good up to 500hz, and the farfield plots are good only down to 500hz. The idea behind this is to measure the driver very close to the cone, where the driver's own response won't be affected by the room or baffle. However, it's only useful up until a certain frequency (4311hz / driver diameter in inches per D'appolito). The farfield response is taken at 1m away and gated... that is information recorded beyond a set amount of time is disregarded... that keeps room reflections from interfering with your measurements. Merging both the nearfield and farfield plots therefore gives you a reasonably accurate overall frequency response measurement.

Note - 1/3rd octave smoothing applied

Measurements include spreading loss (drop in response below 1khz, due to mounting on a small baffle)





Comparison of relative efficiency:



I'd say they're more or less the same, with perhaps the CDT being slightly more efficient.

Waterfall plot:



Distortion:

Scale is 10db per line. I don't know the drive voltage or actual dbspl. Taken at 1m, decently loud. (Save the pics and zoom in to distinguish better)



At 80hz the XXX leads, followed closely by the Seas G18, and lastly the CDT07 which has a significant amount of higher order products.



At 200hz, the Seas G18 has significantly higher 2nd order distortion, but otherwise very low on higher order distortion. XXX has lower 2nd order, but more serious higher order distortion. CDT07 just performed terribly with significant 3rd, 4th, and 5th order distortion. I'd have to rank from best to worst Seas, XXX, and CDT.



800hz is really a tie. XXX has higher 2nd order distortion, but lower 3rd. Seas G18 has pretty decent results all around. Cdt did OK as well. No real winner here.

Listening with just pure sine waves, I prefer XXX < 1khz, Seas above 1khz, and CDT not at all. CDT showed the most obvious coloration with test tones. XXX above 1khz began to sound "shrill" and raspy, otherwise good performance.

I also did a high power sine sweep from 20hz to 80hz. Significant rubb and buzz with the XXX. Driver was nowhere near xmax at ~60hz, and the thing was buzzing like an angry bee's nest. CDT was bad too, but not nearly as bad as the XXX. Seas showed poor performance, but was the quietest of the 3 by a noticeable amount.

[newtitan]

hmm I cant wait to see this review especially with all the test equipment you have

Ive owned two of the three

and I swear man I need to hear on of these darn seas drivers lol

all I can fit now would be the little one the little w12 since im 3 wayd now


one day

[daitrong]

Originally Posted by npdang

My first impression is that NONE of them can touch the Seas W18 Excel

[tokyofist]

Originally Posted by npdang

8 mounting holes on the frame, vs. 6 for the CDT and 4 for the RE.

is it just me, or are there only 6 on the seas :?:

[MIAaron]

^^^It's called the dewalt mod. :mrgreen:

[npdang]

I never learned to count

[10K2HVN]

Originally Posted by npdang

I never learned to count

lol!

Npdang needs a break.. :wink:

This thread is a TEASE!

looking forward for more.......

[Stupify]

How much power are you giving the 07's

[Derek]

those 07's honestly look like cheap crap for as expensive as they are....

[10K2HVN]

Originally Posted by Derek

those 07's honestly look like cheap crap for as expensive as they are....

lol..almost as bad as Adire drivers..!?

[ksin291]

Originally Posted by Derek

those 07's honestly look like cheap crap for as expensive as they are....

Honestly I don't feel that they are cheap at all and to tell you the truth I think that the XXX's feel cheaper. Yes I have owned both and to me the XXX mid's just did not live up to the hype. For the price that RE is charging I expected the mid to have a sturdier look and feel to it. Not to mention that it's a beast to work with, freaking thing is huge, heavy and deep. I'm going to have to try one of the Seas driver eventually but I'm pretty happy with the 07's now. BTW the set that npdang is testing is mine, there an extra set.

[racerraul]

Originally Posted by 10K2HVN

lol..almost as bad as Adire drivers..!?

Come on guys... if you have not priced the cost of orange paint lately, then you have no room to comment... :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

[Stupify]

Originally Posted by ksin291

Honestly I don't feel that they are cheap at all and to tell you the truth I think that the XXX's feel cheaper. Yes I have owned both and to me the XXX mid's just did not live up to the hype. For the price that RE is charging I expected the mid to have a sturdier look and feel to it. Not to mention that it's a beast to work with, freaking thing is huge, heavy and deep. I'm going to have to try one of the Seas driver eventually but I'm pretty happy with the 07's now. BTW the set that npdang is testing is mine, there an extra set.

You should install all 4 of them. Then you would have some crazy midbass

[99StangGT]

Originally Posted by ksin291

Honestly I don't feel that they are cheap at all and to tell you the truth I think that the XXX's feel cheaper. Yes I have owned both and to me the XXX mid's just did not live up to the hype. For the price that RE is charging I expected the mid to have a sturdier look and feel to it. Not to mention that it's a beast to work with, freaking thing is huge, heavy and deep. I'm going to have to try one of the Seas driver eventually but I'm pretty happy with the 07's now. BTW the set that npdang is testing is mine, there an extra set.

I agree with ksin on those XXXs.

[newtitan]

me three on the XXX's--I had similiar feelings about them


I really liked them when I first got them in, but after listening and tuning for awhile I was left with a lacking feeling to them in the midrange. I kept wanting the soudn of the k2p mid and they werent doing ti,

then i got the 07's ................

I dont know guys the orange paint on the 07's is a little blah, but IMO the overall construction is top notch

they sound sweeeet if you ask me (SUUURE wish I could have found some 04's the 5")

but yes I know I need to tyr the seas drivers---soon lol

I bet if they priced the 2-way at 500 (400 online) and the way at 700 (600 online)

folks would be jumping all over them and CDT would REALLY change their companies SQ image website suggested retail is utterly ridiculous for any speaker


but this is DIY, anything over 60 buckes per driver is sacriledge

[Kali77]

Thanks for all the great reviews :wink:

[Stupify]

npdang just wondering how many watts is each speaker getting?

[10K2HVN]

Bump for the new graphs!

Looks like the CDT 07 and SEAS G18RNX are very similar!

..but with the lower price and better bass response, the G18 seems like a clear winner...

^edit: ..or perhaps i spoke too soon.. we should wait for distortion graphs tomorrow..

[ksin291]

You know I'm just goint to have to order a pair of SEAS G18RNX's. If they kill the 07's in mid bass then I have to hear them. My 07's put out a ridiculous amount of midbass in my door's so I'm curious on what the SEAS will do.

[npdang]

Updated with more data.

[newtitan]

I dont get it, since that g18 is a "older model" right ?? wonder why they stopped making them

man I wish they had a 8" midbass and a 11-13cm midrange


[or maybe I surry hurry the heck up and finish my doors/pillars to get the vifa pl's and peerless xls in before I start going off to think about new stuff already lol]


those things sound awesome

I really dug the 07's in subjective tests( for me they were waaay better than the XXX and anyting else I have had so far), but it seems overall that the g18 is the better woofer

hmmmm


very very interesting

[10K2HVN]

i remember my friend was looking into the older ones too..

the older ones were Excel-class drivers (pretty copper everywhere!)...

[npdang]

I miss those mids... they were very nice! My dream speaker would be a Focal utopia w cone with Seas motor... sigh

[Drumah]

Now all you need to do is test the Extrwemis :wink:

[300Z]

Originally Posted by npdang

I miss those mids... they were very nice! My dream speaker would be a Focal utopia w cone with Seas motor... sigh

I thought you said the motor on the Dayton RS was better than the Seas Excel and the Excel had the better cone... or am i delusional... :?: if i'm correct, why would you want the Seas motor instead of the Dayton?

Leo