[newtitan]

"The Polk Audio SR6500 component sets are the best component sets and coaxes I have tested. The best performance, the best cosmetics, the best engineered and so far the only thing I have seriously considered putting in my own car," and I hate to install. If you want to know why, keep on reading, it's pretty interesting...

http://caraudiomag.com/testreports/0511cae_polk/


too bad they are 749 @ cardomain

i need to get my hands on that vifa xt25 and xt19 ring radiator tweets

ascendant and polk ae using derivatives

 

[95Legend]

I too want to try the ring radiator tweeter, except I want the scan speak version

 

[blackreplica]

Always nice to see some new stuff and read up about it!

The review was glowing indeed, but i think that the reviewer needs to test more speakers. a spike in distortion in at frequencies as critical as 400-800Hz hardly deserves a score of 9.9? cough....seas...cough...lotus...cough...excel...cough...nextel...cough

I read up the white paper on that speaker from the polkaudio website. its a good read, just like the reviewer says. I tried to find differences between the tweeter used in the polk set and the alpine spx-177r. They appear identical, same faraday ring, same size, shape, grill design, just a little different cosmetically. Its nice to see that this tiny little alpine/polk tweet is less than 1% distortion from the crossover point of approx 4KHz onwards though, not to mention the killer off axis response...there arent any objective measurements of that tweeter up till now and this is the first i've seen...from my experience with it i always felt the alpine spx-177r tweet aka vifa mini ring radiator was pretty much as good as small domes got, and this kind of proves it, provided he didnt fudge the measurements.

The mid doesnt appeal to me that much though. I like the BL, i'm so-so on the FR, but i dont like the distortion. for a car audio speaker, its probably much better than the typical run of the mill stuff like focal polykevlars/utopias and the dynaudios but maybe higher quality DIY drivers like the ones we see here and are used to have spoiled us a little too much? I personally think you could do better by using a Peerless HDS Exclusive 7 incher, or the SEAS W18NX (both better than the polk mid) and combine these mids with the Alpine SPX-177r (probably identical to the polk tweet) and there you go. better performance for less than half the price? 2 nextel mids ($300) and the entire spx-177r set ($215 from ikesound?) will cost you 500 bucks. thats still 300 less than the polk and you still have an extra pair of vifa XG18 midbasses! (think of it as compensation for not getting the polk crossovers, fair trade).The cost difference widens a lot more with the Exclusive 7 incher. With those its like about $450 in savings right???

I guess as 'commercia car audio speakers' go, these are probably da shiznit. But still a long way from impressing the DIY crowd. I think polk deserve a pat on the back for bringing mainstream car audio speakers to another level the way SEAS Lotus did though.

Just my thoughts

Edit: After i saw npdang's post, and remembered zaph's test of the XG18 mid (very low midrange distortion) which is used in the alpine SPX-177r set, i suddenly realise that the spx-177r is already a match (even better it seems) than the polk component set. You dont even have to use a different mid. 215 bucks , a quarter of the price, and you have already matched the polk set...and the alpine is a commercial component speaker

 

[npdang]

I dunno, personally I can't see a big difference from the much cheaper Alpine variant spx-177r. Not too impressed with the Klippel tests of that Polk mid for that price either...

 

[ArcL100]

i need to get my hands on that vifa...fa_xt25.htm 'Dang, a lil insight 8-) -aaron

 

[Rbsarve]

I´m not that impressed with the SPX kit. Sure you´ll never grow an ear fatigue from listening to it and there is depths of infromation there, but they sound plain dull to me..

The F1 kit is a whole other matter...

 

[xencloud]

This is why I really can't wait to see how ascendant's new comp. set get's reviewed.....I'm interested in sets that use these radiator variants also.....

 

[af22]

are there any radiator variant tweeters availible to buy instead of getting a SPX-177r set and wasting away the drivers and xovers. anyone have model numbers i can look at on madisound or partsexpress?

 

[newtitan]

-----

NOW thats some analysis WHOA!!!

I just found itinteresting that they would say such strong statements about a single component set

the polks and the lotus got the best component reviews ive seen out of that mag in the last few years

 

[blackreplica]

LOL....it was a moment of boredom...needed to let off some steam (its exam time over here, sigh)

does anyone have a link to the details on the ascendant component set? whoops, never mind, i found it!

Component Set:
Mid

* Ascendant Audio 6.5 inch dual-layer carbon fiber sandwich cone.
* 11.5 mm xmax (one-way).
* Copper shorting ring.
* Solid aluminum phase plug.
* High power neodymium magnet structure.
* Dual-coil linear motor.

Tweeter

* Custom Vifa XT25-based ring-radiator (oh yeah...).
* 1 inch neodymium.


Oooooh now this looks interesting. if they can price it as competitively as their subs, we might have something here! Man! are these vifa mini ringradiators getting popular or what!!!

 

[blackreplica]

I´m not that impressed with the SPX kit. Sure you´ll never grow an ear fatigue from listening to it and there is depths of infromation there, but they sound plain dull to me..

The F1 kit is a whole other matter...

Well i can definitely see where you're coming from, there isnt that 'tzz' that people are used to hearing on regular tweets in car audio...but theres definitely plenty of detail, extension, and off axis response, to my ears at least. It just sounds 'right' to me, all the detail, none of the harshness, which is what i like them sooo much. I suppose you could always EQ in some liveliness if you wanted a different sound signature? I'm always on the lookout for newer and better small dome tweeters though, are there any tweeters you could recommend i look at (besides the TEC ribbon, i cant get them where i am )

 

[newtitan]

welp im going to buy and try

1) the aurasound 2.5" monopoles 56 shipped
2) thee vifa x25 ring radiator 100 or so
3) those TEC planars (theyll ship them to you, but they are costly and you need a driver that can play up to mate with them around 7k or so--or at least thats what they told me $200 or so

I may hold off on the vifa though cash it kind tight right now for me at least

 

[npdang]

You should be able to buy the xt25 neo from Frequence.dk since no one in NA carries them. Avoids having to buy the spx-177r set.

RBsarve... btw which spx set are you referring to? Imo the F#1 sounds no different really than the spx-177r when both are tuned properly.

 

[xencloud]

I can't wait to hear your reviews of those three new titan :>)

 

[mk1982]

npdang, do you prefer the spx-177r over diamond audio hex and dynaudio 240gt ?

 

[npdang]

I feel the Dyn midrange is a bit more open than the spx-177r. But the ring radiator from the spx-177r is far better than the md100's Imo. I wouldn't put the Diamond Hex in the same category as the above 2.

 

[mk1982]

thanks npdang, how about the spx-177r radiator vs the lpg ?

 

[racerraul]

npdang, do you prefer the spx-177r over diamond audio hex and dynaudio 240gt ?

Out of those 3 I'd pick the SPX set.
The Dyn just isn't a good value unless you prefer the sound... not saying its bad.

The HEX... even when properly tuned... lack midbass... so unless you have a dedicated midbass... forget it.

As for the F#1... too expensive... you can buy the RAW drivers for a fraction of the price. And you can match & exceed their performance with less expensive drivers & be able to afford the amps before you even come close to the price of a full 3 way rev set.

I have a friend that opted to spend a chunk of change on a set of Revelator mids over the Dayton Ref... Can't wait to see how his Refs sound compared to my RS150's...

 

[Rbsarve]

You should be able to buy the xt25 neo from Frequence.dk since no one in NA carries them. Avoids having to buy the spx-177r set.

RBsarve... btw which spx set are you referring to? Imo the F#1 sounds no different really than the spx-177r when both are tuned properly.

I never judge speakers after they are eq-ed but IMO the scanspeak ringradiator is head and sholders over ANY tweeter I´ve heard. (The Focal Be tweeter unheard, but never fancied Focals voicing before)
I´m still searching for a way to justfy changing my modified ScanSpeak 9700´s to the ring radiators... So far time constrains in x-over rebuilding has been the major stopper...

I was referring to the SPX 177 and 137 models that uses Vifa derived drivers as the Polk set does. As said they are great speakers, but just don´t do it for me (nor do any of CDT´s offerings) I do prefer the Scanspeak 6000 (old F1 tweeter) to these.

I use the Tec Surface Slims (we do import them to Sweden) in my car and they are a great match to the Triuses, especially shines on strings. But the other tweeters mentioned are much more flexible drivers when it comes to x-over frequencies.

A note on the Trius, it was never designed to be the best midrange driver that money could buy (that would be the Thiel & Partner C2-44 IMO), it was designed to be a driver that could cover most of the human vocal range in one driver and give great install flexibility, to a sensible cost.

Now if someone only could design a proper 6,5" midbass... I have some ideas, but they are not something that Tymphany could realize without massive tooling costs, so for now I have to wait for someone else to do that...

 

[mk1982]

raceraul, would you say that the RS150 is equivalent in midbass the dyn mw160 or spx-177r ? in other words, would a dynaudio md100 or spx-177r tweeter with an rs150 produce a better result ?