advice on 3-way components?

[Stealth]

Well, I blew my kicker midbass in the doors so I'm looking to now replace my Infinity Perfects and the Kicker midbass with a 3-way system since that's what I essentially created on my own. So far I've looked at many brands: CDT (too deep for my doors though), Dynaudio, Boston Acoustics, Alpine, Morel(all of those are too expensive). Basically leaving me with... Diamond Audio HEX (if I can stretch my budget and find good deals on ebay and Audiobahn. The Audiobahns I can get for $220+ S&H so basically $250. I was looking to keep it under $300 but that doesn't really seem possible so under $400 is where I'm looking.

[JaJay721]

I have the Perfects in my car, I'm not sure why you would want to replace them just because your kickers blew, but I guess we all just need a change.

I have a friend who has the Diamond Audio HEXs. The Perfects are superior in clarity, but the DA have stronger mids. I couldn't switch from the Perfects to the HEXs because I'd feel like it was a downgrade. The Audiobahn's are nice, but the tweeter is a bit scratchy sounding and you're used to the loud/crisp Perfect. The Audiobahn's can't touch the Perfects on clarity either (although they are much clearer than most people think). I think Boston Acoustic speakers sound flat. Never cared for them much. If you can get a deal on the Alpine SPX 3-ways I'd go for them. If not the Focal 165 V3E's are the only way to go in my book for $400 3-way components. Most online dealers sell them for $399. I doubt you'd get a warranty on them though. The JL XR653 are another great option. I'd go with the Focals though personally.

[Stealth]

saw the focals for $318, might have to get them now, only complaint is they dont play low enough (which would be fine if I had a sub but im gonna have to wait a while to get subs), other than that not a bad set the way i hear it. i have two complaints about the perfects: 1, the tweeter is too harsh, nice at low volumes just not when you crank it up. 2, they make the qforms not fit perfectly due to being a little deep (since I have 6.5"... should have got 5.25" instead)

do you know if the audiobahns you heard have the silk or aluminun/titanium tweeter? I think I'm looking more towards something with silk tweeters.

JayJay, thanks for the advice.

[mauibuilt59]

yeah, i always listen to the focals at the local car toys and they sound good. Really clear on the vocals and the sound is full. You can always adjust the settings to your preference. I would go with the focals.

[Neon]

ummmmmm Focal ! good stuff, go for it =)

[JaJay721]

I heard the ABC6003Qs. Three sets of them in a Denali. They had the silk tweeter.

[Stealth]

Originally posted by JaJay721
I heard the ABC6003Qs. Three sets of them in a Denali. They had the silk tweeter.

How did you like em? The silk tweeter ones are the ones I was looking at.

[JaJay721]

They're a lot better than most people think. They're worth the money, but you can do better. I prefer the Perfects, but the Audiobahns did have good clarity and the tweeter wasn't as harsh.

Before my Perfects I had MB Quart. I got used to having a lot of highs and prefer that sound now. The Audiobahns have decent highs and full mids. I haven't tried tuning them since it wasn't my car, but he didn't have any bass coming from them. I think he had them filtered at 100Hz. So I can't comment on the 80-100Hz range. The mids were bright and sounded rich. The highs weren't overdone, but weren't overpowered by the speakers like Diamond Audio components.

[Luc]

Get the Dynaudio System 340 if you can afford it...list is $1150.

[Stealth]

I'm looking to spend under $400, but I may have to go over that to get a Diamond HEX 3-way system (6.5" midbass add-on with 4" midrange and silk tweeter). I've heard nothing but good things about the HEX series speakers so that why I'm willing to stretch my budget for them. Although for the same price I could afford the Alpine 3-ways, but the 50w RMS power rating has me a bit worried.

[Stealth]

Wow I'm an idiot. I had the Pre-EQ on on my amp... its for bi-amping the Polk/MOMO components. So it set the front HPF to 4 kHz and gave it a 2 dB boost at 12.1 kHz, and that was running my Infinity Perfects. That would explain the extreme harshness of the tweeters. The rear HPF preset was 38.4 Hz and the LPF was 2.82 kHz.

Now, my new question is, could playing too high frequencies on my midbass driver caused it to blow? or do only too lower frequencies cause speakers to blow? (assuming the signal was not distorting)

I guess I'll be giving Infinity Perfects a second chance now that they dont have a 2 dB boost at 12.1 kHz, but I think I'll still replace them due to not sitting correctly (too deep) in the kickpod.

[JaJay721]

well uh, good job.

Let the Perfects break in before you do anything with them. Since you filtered them like a wacko I doubt they've had a chance to open up yet. After a few weeks or so the mid bass will come alive.

[Stealth]

As much as I'd love to keep the Perfects, they still don't fit right which really bothers me as I'm very particular. I don't think I'll be going with the Audiobahn 3-way set up, because like you said it will probably sound like a downgrade. If Infinity made a 4" perfect system I would just sell mine and buy those, but like many other companies they only make 5.25" and 6.5". I think I'll be getting the new Image Dynamic 6.5" midbass drivers for my doors, again, wish they made 3-way components and/or 4" components. The thought of getting horns crossed my mind but they seem like they need an assload of tuning, which is something I doubt I'd be able to do very well.

So I guess what I'm looking for now is just a good 4" component set. I figure a 3-way set up will end up costing too much so I'll kind of make my own like I did before. The Focal Polyglass are even deeper than my Infinity Perfects so they're unfortunately out of the question.