40 replies to this topic

[flyinwrx]

Hey everybody,

I'm currently in the process of searching for a set of speakers that will be suitable for rock music and trance music, that doesn't sound harsh on my ears but can also go loud.

At the moment I am using set of Focal Polyglass 165v2 splits, but find them to be lacking body whilst being very harsh. The rock guitar for instance sounds high pitched, edgy, and definitely lacks the fuller sound that I am looking for.

I have played with different installation options for the speakers, and although this has improved things slightly it still hasn't solved my problem

My budget is < $1000 for the splits (the cheaper the better I suppose!).

At this stage I am looking for recommendations, and then I will go and have a listen to them myself and make a judgement.

Thanks a lot!

[muzzy66]

flyinwrx, on Dec 14 2007, 04:22 AM, said:

Hey everybody,

I'm currently in the process of searching for a set of speakers that will be suitable for rock music and trance music, that doesn't sound harsh on my ears but can also go loud.

At the moment I am using set of Focal Polyglass 165v2 splits, but find them to be lacking body whilst being very harsh. The rock guitar for instance sounds high pitched, edgy, and definitely lacks the fuller sound that I am looking for.

I have played with different installation options for the speakers, and although this has improved things slightly it still hasn't solved my problem

My budget is < $1000 for the splits (the cheaper the better I suppose!).

At this stage I am looking for recommendations, and then I will go and have a listen to them myself and make a judgement.

Thanks a lot!

A good accurate speaker will play any form of music equally well regadless of genre.

What other gear are you going to be using, and how do you intend to set up the system (active, factory passive, etc)?

My personally recommendation for under $1,000 would be Focal 165K2P - above 1k more options come into consideration, but below that price point nothing I've heard comes close.

[gutza]

Hi There
Before you rush out and buy a different set of speakers,
it may not be a problem with your speakers as such.

Your problem may be a simple case of installation issues,
lack of adequate amplification etc.

Questions....
1. What head unit do you have ??
2. Are the speakers amped externally ?? or off the head unit ??
3. Are you using the supplied passive crossover or running active ??
4. How / where are the mid - bass and tweeters located ??
5. Any sound deadening in doors etc.
6. Any subwoofer in the mix ??

[flyinwrx]

Quote

A good accurate speaker will play any form of music equally well regadless of genre.

What other gear are you going to be using, and how do you intend to set up the system (active, factory passive, etc)?

My personally recommendation for under $1,000 would be Focal 165K2P - above 1k more options come into consideration, but below that price point nothing I've heard comes close.

I'll have to give those a listen. I would have thought being a Focal speaker, they would have similar characteristics to the lower models?

What are the options above $1000?

Quote

Questions....
1. What head unit do you have ??
2. Are the speakers amped externally ?? or off the head unit ??
3. Are you using the supplied passive crossover or running active ??
4. How / where are the mid - bass and tweeters located ??
5. Any sound deadening in doors etc.
6. Any subwoofer in the mix ??

Head unit - Alpine cda 9815
Speakers - they are running off a rockford fosgate amp receiving about 80-100w rms each (i dont remember exactly)
Passive crossover..
Mids and tweeters are located in the stock locations in the door - Car is a 2003 wrx
The doors are sound deadened extensively
I have 2 12 inch rockford fosgate T1 subwoofers

Edited by flyinwrx, 15 December 2007 - 10:53 AM.

[HISPL]

I know what you mean about the Focal splits, they wouldn't be my personal choice either.

MB Quart Premium splits would be a good option, the Widesphere tweeters are great and it comes in under your budget.

Another option is 2 paid of Rockford Power Series splits, it would be a little more than $1k but an awesome option if you are going to build a set of door pods

Edited by HISPL, 15 December 2007 - 01:15 PM.

[2LOUD2OLD]

for a little over $1k i would highly recomend the Rainbow Vanadiums, just bought a set of the phase plugs and will be installing in the very near future

[Juls]

flyinwrx, on Dec 15 2007, 09:52 AM, said:

I'll have to give those a listen. I would have thought being a Focal speaker, they would have similar characteristics to the lower models?

What are the options above $1000?



Head unit - Alpine cda 9815
Speakers - they are running off a rockford fosgate amp receiving about 80-100w rms each (i dont remember exactly)
Passive crossover..
Mids and tweeters are located in the stock locations in the door - Car is a 2003 wrx
The doors are sound deadened extensively
I have 2 12 inch rockford fosgate T1 subwoofers

The K2P Splits are NOTHING like the 165V2 at all.. completely different set of speakers
in every aspect in every way.

Personally I'd steer clear of the MB Quartz for your intended use, yes they upgraded there tweeter, and it is better than the old one.
they have opted to change to a focal style design, (rockford also use this design on there power splits)
the Problem is the midbass driver is fine at mid volume, but forget high volume high bass scenarios, the midrange goes
distorted and the midbass starts to struggle. The Flimsy plastic cone is mostly to blame. (and possibly the cheap plastic baskets despite being upgraded further).

I'm willing to bet alot of money the Parametric EQ, the X/overs and the Time alignment are not setup on your head unit,
or they are not setup correctly.. you should be able to correct alot of the issues you don't like with your current setup
with the tuning tools available to you. You have VERY powerful tuning tools at your disposal in that headunit.

I'm thinking you just want new speakers, because you heard some people bad mouthing Focals and you've gotten it into
your head that they are no good.. when this just isn't the case. Yours might just need some TLC.

No speaker sounds the same from one car to the next, The Sound board in the shop gives you no real indication
of what the speaker will sound like in your car, it does give you some opportunity to compare to other speakers "in the same board"
but it will not tell you how the speaker will sound setup properly in your car.

If you install them in one car, the next car will not sound the same with those speakers, Even if it's the same model,
with all the same modifications and equiptment, it still is unlikely to sound the same. My Point being
even listening to a speaker in someone elses car still doesn't give you a clear idea about the capability
or the reality of what the set of speakers sound like. 99.9% of car speakers installed in cars in Australia are running at
less than 60% of there capability.

Juls.

Edited by Juls, 15 December 2007 - 03:55 PM.

[flyinwrx]

Quote

I'm willing to bet alot of money the Parametric EQ, the X/overs and the Time alignment are not setup on your head unit,
or they are not setup correctly.. you should be able to correct alot of the issues you don't like with your current setup
with the tuning tools available to you. You have VERY powerful tuning tools at your disposal in that headunit.

I'm thinking you just want new speakers, because you heard some people bad mouthing Focals and you've gotten it into
your head that they are no good.. when this just isn't the case. Yours might just need some TLC.

I have spent countless hours trying to tune these speakers to sound better, but it just doesnt happen. I've had these splits for 4 years so I have had a lot of time to try things , and based on personal tastes these simply don't cut it.

I have even asked the store where I originally purchased the speakers from to tune my system for me, but once again this didn't give the intended results...

For sure, I am open to suggestions about how to tune these to make them sound better, but after a lot of effort with my setup as well as listening to other cars with the same speakers, I'm not feeling confident about the outcome...

At this point in time, I will take the time to go and have a listen to the few different sets of speakers mentioned so far in this thread.

Quote

Personally I'd steer clear of the MB Quartz for your intended use, yes they upgraded there tweeter, and it is better than the old one.
they have opted to change to a focal style design, (rockford also use this design on there power splits)
the Problem is the midbass driver is fine at mid volume, but forget high volume high bass scenarios, the midrange goes
distorted and the midbass starts to struggle. The Flimsy plastic cone is mostly to blame. (and possibly the cheap plastic baskets despite being upgraded further).

Is this to suggest that there are much better manufactured speakers out there?
Have any of these been mentioned so far?

Quote

The K2P Splits are NOTHING like the 165V2 at all.. completely different set of speakers
in every aspect in every way.

What makes these speakers so much different and would they be suitable for what I am trying to achieve?

Edited by flyinwrx, 15 December 2007 - 04:45 PM.

[muzzy66]

flyinwrx, on Dec 15 2007, 12:52 AM, said:

I'll have to give those a listen. I would have thought being a Focal speaker, they would have similar characteristics to the lower models?

The K2P's sound absolutely nothing like the lower range Focal's from what I have heard.

I heard the Polyglass 165V1/V2 (can't remember which of the two it was - around $350rrp) range and was very unimpressed - the K2P's on the other hand blew me away. Completely different sounding speakers, with the Polyglass showing extreme peakiness up in the 6k region that is completely not existent on the K2P's.

Comparing the Polyglass splits to K2P splits is like comparing an FPV GT to a Ford Fiesta. They wear the same badge, but are nowhere near a like in any way.

The K2P's are a far higher quality set with outstanding midrange and brilliant midbass, and contrary to the claims of many others they also have a half decent tweeter - as long as you respect it's limitations and use it the right way..

Edited by muzzy66, 15 December 2007 - 05:43 PM.

[xwfalcon]

what juls says in above post about mb quart premium is spot on the tweeter sounds realy good but i fell the woofer lets it down thats why at the moment i looking for new splits for my car and mb quart will go to rear fill
cheers xwfalcon

[Surefire]

The newly upgraded Oz Audio Matrix speakers scrape in under $1k and are worth looking at.

[danc666]

What about Morel hybrid ovation 6? or Morel Elate 6? they both come under $1000 same as the Boston pro and Sl series speakers. Just a suggestion.

[Pulse-R]

I vote for Morel for smooth highs, and I agree that the higher-level focals are less harsh.

more importantly, don't blame the speakers until you know for sure that your install is optimum.

[TEGBOY]

JL Audio ZR's.. by far and away one of the most impressive speakers I have heard in ages!

[data_mine]

Dance/Trance is my genre of choice, and I run a 3-way Hertz Hi Energy setup.

I found in the 2-way setup before I couldn't get the required mid bass, but adding the MD-500 midrange, has allowed the mid bass (HCX-570) to play low and hard, while retaining punch. The tweeters, everyone has said are surprisingly smooth and detailed, yet aren't overpowering (HT-25), I tie the lot together with the 3W.30 crossover (have the tweets and mids set to 0dB gain), a slight peak in the highs is tuned out on the HU, otherwise it's a flat EQ setting. All powered with 130WRMW a side.