So just for the hell of it I got a set of the Dayton AMTPOD-4 tweeters to check them out, they were cheap so why not? These are ribbon tweeters and the ribbon is about one square inch in size, encased in a plastic pod. Nothing really to talk about here, just cheap plastic, nothing impressive. I got it from Parts Express and they shipped with a set of 6.8uF caps, which was nice. To test these I replaced my ID tweeters from the CXS set. I really don't know if you have to break in ribbons but these are my impressions of the tweeters on the first hour of playback. I mounted them in the factory location of my Tundra pointing up towards the glass. As a disclosure, I am not a pro reviewing stuff so please be patient with me.
Before the test I did do some quick tuning to iron out the peaks and level match with the mids. I also had to change the crossover settings on the mids as I have to cut the Daytons a little higher (4.5k for the Daytons and 3k for the IDs).
Right of the bat, the IDs were brighter. The Daytons seem to have a veil in front of them, or maybe is that the IDs are a little bullies with their sound (not output). As far as output the Daytons are noticeably louder, so I had to tone them down a bit. The sound of the Daytons is more mellow, but louder when compared to the IDs.
What I really liked about the Daytons is that they completely opened up the depth in my soundstage. With the IDs everything is pretty much in your face, which is not really a bad thing for some music I like (Electronica anyone?). Things were as close as before but other things were further back and some recordings really benefit from it like Nik Bärtsch's Modul 47 and Alice in Chains MTV Unplugged. One thing that totally blew me away is how these Daytons handle sibilance, there is none. This was a small problem with the IDs. The bells at the beginning (and throughout the song) of Al Di Meola's South Bound Traveler sounded very detailed and defined. I always knew they were there but not like this, a pleasant surprise.
After installing and tuning I was left with little time to listen to more music, but it is for sure that I will be listening and updating this post a few more times. As of right now I don't know of the IDs are going back in my truck but at the same time I may have to consider better ribbon speakers in the near future. You see, I was already familiar with ribbon tweeters at home and my last ribbon tweeter was 36". I was a bit reluctant to get a 1" ribbon tweeter for my car but after today I came to the realization that they are very capable.
What I did not like is that these tweeters seem to have moved my soundstage down a bit, not much but it is lower. They do look cheap, but that is expected at $60 a pair. There is no flush mount, I had to get creative to mount them flat.
That is it for now, here are some pics and specs from the PE site:
Dayton Audio AMTPOD-4 Motion Transformer Automotive Tweeter Pair
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Gear used:
Pioneer AVR8500 Head Unit
Helix Precision B4 (mids and highs)
NVX JAD1200.1 (sub)
Audison Bit Ten
Dayton Tweeter and ID CXS 6.5" Mid
Before the test I did do some quick tuning to iron out the peaks and level match with the mids. I also had to change the crossover settings on the mids as I have to cut the Daytons a little higher (4.5k for the Daytons and 3k for the IDs).
Right of the bat, the IDs were brighter. The Daytons seem to have a veil in front of them, or maybe is that the IDs are a little bullies with their sound (not output). As far as output the Daytons are noticeably louder, so I had to tone them down a bit. The sound of the Daytons is more mellow, but louder when compared to the IDs.
What I really liked about the Daytons is that they completely opened up the depth in my soundstage. With the IDs everything is pretty much in your face, which is not really a bad thing for some music I like (Electronica anyone?). Things were as close as before but other things were further back and some recordings really benefit from it like Nik Bärtsch's Modul 47 and Alice in Chains MTV Unplugged. One thing that totally blew me away is how these Daytons handle sibilance, there is none. This was a small problem with the IDs. The bells at the beginning (and throughout the song) of Al Di Meola's South Bound Traveler sounded very detailed and defined. I always knew they were there but not like this, a pleasant surprise.
After installing and tuning I was left with little time to listen to more music, but it is for sure that I will be listening and updating this post a few more times. As of right now I don't know of the IDs are going back in my truck but at the same time I may have to consider better ribbon speakers in the near future. You see, I was already familiar with ribbon tweeters at home and my last ribbon tweeter was 36". I was a bit reluctant to get a 1" ribbon tweeter for my car but after today I came to the realization that they are very capable.
What I did not like is that these tweeters seem to have moved my soundstage down a bit, not much but it is lower. They do look cheap, but that is expected at $60 a pair. There is no flush mount, I had to get creative to mount them flat.
That is it for now, here are some pics and specs from the PE site:
Dayton Audio AMTPOD-4 Motion Transformer Automotive Tweeter Pair
Gear used:
Pioneer AVR8500 Head Unit
Helix Precision B4 (mids and highs)
NVX JAD1200.1 (sub)
Audison Bit Ten
Dayton Tweeter and ID CXS 6.5" Mid
