H-Audio Enigma Tweeter

[Megalomaniac]

Okay I got the go ahead to reveal what Tweeter X was/is It was a prototype at the time of testing, now in production(but wont be available until a few more months), model from H-Audio called the "Enigma".




Build Quality

- When I first received these from my H-Audio Dealer to test out, Stereo Clarity I was real impressed with the material used for the flange. It wasnt plastic, it was a cast metal type of flange. Extremely sturdy and durable. The tweeter has a small amount of texture to it too, so it doesn't look too boring. The tweeter does weigh a bit heavy for the size, but that actually made me smile when holding it, you wouldn't expect that kind of weight from just looking at it.

Installation

- The tweeter is pretty shallow, it does not have a large chamber, which lead me to believe these wont be able to play low. You can mount these almost anywhere. These are top mount tweeters that need to be "pressure" fitted, so cutout is very important when installing them. I chose to mount them in the corners of my dash(00' accord sdn) on-axis sitting on some acoustic foam. I didn't actually mount them solid to a surface because my tweeters right now are way larger than these and the mounting hole would not fit for them.

Equipment List

Source: eclipse CD7000
DSP: Eclipse CD7000
Mids: Hertz HV165 (50hz-2.5khz, but not more than 4khz) 12db slopes
Tweeters: H-Audio Enigma (2.5khz+; thats the lowest I went, i played with other xovers points too)
Sub: Stereo Integrity Mag v3 (40hz and down) 12db slopes
Amp: NINe.5



Tonality
- First CD I listed to was a mix CD we made at the DFW tweeter showdown day. It had a bunch of music from the Focal discs. Lots of classical and jazz string playing on this CD, I don't the names of the songs but I do remember one of them was "Mumbai Theme". The triangle in that song is well defined, like razor sharp defined. You need no level eqing to align it. The trade off to this well defined stage is the sound does sound rather thin and not full enough, at least for my tastes.

- Tool - "Stinkfist", "Aenma", "Lateralus", "46&2" why? because I really wanted to jam out at the time, I wanted to see if it could handle the crunch of the guitar all over the place. and boy it does it well! It was like I had just listened Tool Cd for the first time ever. You could really hear the high hats and ride with no bleed at all! The toms and kick drum sounded snappier than ever. I thought my windshield was going to break it sounded like a hammer hitting the windshield(obviously exaggerating a bit, but it really does sound better and snappier than I have heard before). I didn't sense any ear fatigue after listening for an hour so.

Side Thoughts
- These can be played down to 2.5khz, but I do not recommend that you do! Try to keep these at least at 4khz on upwards. These should be used in a 4-way setup(3way front stage) if all possible. If you want to use these in 2ways like I have, make sure your mids can play pretty high to bring in the fullness.

- For fun I tested them in the house, they performed pretty weak in the house. I noticed the same thing when testing Hybrid Audio's L1v2. But the moment you listen to them in the mobile environment it sounds completely different(for the better)! In the house they sounded dull and lack of top end. If I have to guess the tweeters are relying on the odd curves a shapes of the car to act as a waveguide and react with that to bring back that sparkle. In the end it worked well in my opinion.


- I do not know of any pricing on them at the moment, since these were the final prototypes that I had gotten to test for free. Please do not ask me for any prices on them. email/call your H-Audio Dealer for more information on that.

Conclusion

Pros:

- A great little 1" tweeter for running in a 3-way application, and 2-way (under close supervision)
- Gets loud enough, clear, tonality is well neutral for my standards, solid materials the tweeters are made out of, and shallow depth.
- No Bling! (one of the reasons I didnt like HAT was the fact it had too much chrome/shiny alloy to them)

Cons:

- Doesnt disperse wide as I would like them too, but this could be install related

- Sounds thin when running on a lower X-over point, not H-Audio's fault since they don't recommend running them lower than 5khz, it was not designed for that at all.

- Sensitivity could be better





* These are just my opinions of the product, do not complain if my testing was flawed, because every testing will have flaws, I just tested real world. No anechoic chambers or Klippel testing from me

[azngotskills]

Thanks for the review Mir, I had the same feelings about how it sounds in the home environment during the DFW tweeter test but im glad you like them in the automotive environment. Hopefully great products from H-Audio are coming!!!

[H-Audio - AKA - Here-I-Come]

Thanks for the review and I'm glad you really like the Enigma in its intended application. You are correct; if ran to low it will make your midrange sound somewhat thin, as it is a treble unit in every sense of the word. If you have a mid that can be ran up to around 5khz, the Enigma can be used with great results. Now if you are running a 3-way front stage and you midrange can play up to about 6-7khz, like a nice wide-band driver as it was designed to mate with the Trinity on the very top end (10-11khz). When use in this matter IMHO I think the Enigma is hard to beat at any price point in the top octaves.

Also they should be available mid next week.

Once more thanks for the review and happy listening to all.

[unpredictableacts]

Great...I am looking forward to more h(ug me) audio equipment tested out.....hopefully Chris (hillbilly SQ) will step up and purchase some of the X2 or X3 drivers to go along with the Soul mids so we can build out some kick panels and see what they can do.