Okay, seeing as the Focal Beryilliums are finally here I've decided to put my Rainbow References up against them in a back-to-back comparison.

Just like the subwoofer day, we’re on a mission to determine which speaker is the 'king of the world' (a little presumptuous but that’s marketing for you). On that note, I’m thinking of holding another of our famous BBQs for this experiment so if any other people could possibly make available their cars containing other high end splits in them (DLS, Scanspeak (Nathan), Phass (Bobsical), Ti Comp Elite (John) that would be very much appreciated?

Whilst I’m doing some experimenting with the Focals and Rainbows has anyone got anything specific they want me to listen for and report on?

Some Focal Beryllium images for you:

Some Rainbow Reference images for you:















Let the sport commence. :D:D

Some people need less money and to share with me.

I'd have to sell my car to afford those things

I'll be there

considering those speakers (rainbow) have an $11k price tag I'd agree.

Lol, wonder how much the gloves were worth

Wish i could be there, fervently.

Do you sell the lunch boxes seperately?

Awesome speakers none-the-less.
Would love to hear how they go up against the IASCA favourites... The DLS Iridum 6.3's and 8.3's.

I would also like to see how these go against the Dynaudio Esotar.

Are those metal dome tweeters on the Rainbow and the Focal? I'm very curious to see whether they still sound metallic or whether they've managed to engineer that out of it.

Dont think they're metal dome

Close Chris, but these ones are a bee's poo under $7,500 But who's counting!

you would think for that much money they would have got rid of the .30c jaycar screw down terminals on the xover...

Make sure you put your criticisms in writing to Rainbow GmbH when your set arrives

your got to be kidding, your defending them for using cheepo parts on a premium product?

Where am I defending anybody?

I'm sure you can do better than a throw-away line on what you percieve to be an inferior part rather than comment on the build quality of the product as a whole.

Perhaps we should wait for Mr. Price's review, seeing as he has a lot more to go off than photographs on the internet and would be the most qualified opinion as this is the only set in the country.

no it's not a throw-away line

you pay premium money ona premium product and they use .50c terminals on it.

think about it for a minute

1: they look crap
2: there not secure
3: they should be covered.

would you want a maclaren f1 if it came with some weber downdraughts straped to it? or no seatbelts?

1. They look functional
2. When using a set of speakers this expensive, i imagine the install should take care of "security" of components. The connection wont be experiencing too much stress, i'd say.
3. Heck, you can cover them. There may even be covers that we dont see in the photo's for them.

and 4. I'd doubt the terminals are made of the same material as the el cheapo versions. Highly. But you may be right...i'd be suprised though.

http://www.caraudioaustralia.com/forums/in...ndpost&p=557308

Marty,

If your having this comparision day sometime soon, my car will still be in pieces, but you can borrow my Z6's if you want them in the comparision as well (If they are of high enough quality )

1: they look functional - $7.5k and you only want functional, for $7.5k i want functional and sexy!

2: i dont care if there is no stress on them, i like my terminals to be secure for everything.

3: $7.5k i shouldent have to make up covers.

4: the price diifference between screw down terminals and a good terminal is negligable. i doubt they have come up with a new hi tech screw down terminal.


were not talking jaycar here liquidity, were talking quality components.

ouch...

Hi-tech material coating, perchance ;P

What sort of connection WOULD you expect on a crossover, incidentally. I'm new to the "connection" side of things.

hi tech like Gold maybe???

mate, get you gead out of jaycar and go look at some hi end amps and look what kind of terminals they use.

well arnt we a smart bum.

the only reason your doing this is your a rainbow fanboy and want to get some of these huh?

now your just being a knob who brings up old posts.
yes i did say that and ill stand by it. you cannot compare the terminals on a 7.5k speaker to a gasket of a A6 on a lambo. the gasket dose nothing at all. it's just a gasket. a pice of rubber that had no baring on the car.

what kind of gasket should they use then pete? do you think if they designed one specificly for the lambo it would be any better? seal any better?

grow up fool or go away.

Now now people, that is fine if you do not like them. I don't expect everyone too; such is the beauty of being human is it not?

Dragon, if I can borrow your Z6's that would be fantastic.

I think people (or persons) are arguing just for the sake of it... lets not mess up the forums now.

In terms of pure sexyness I think the Rainbows have it all over the Focals. A serious question, what actually makes these speakers worth $7k+ materials, construction? (pretty boxes )

not sure, they are too exxy for my blood. I'll stick to the vanaduim kick lines.

they certainly look very nice, im curious but i really shudnt read on... these are worth the cost of my car!!!! ill do some product/feild/reliability testing if you have a 2nd set i could borrow marty???

as sexy as those speakers are, is it really worth forking over that extra few thousands just to get that little bit more accuracy on a particular instrument?
For home audio i can kinda justify it, but when ur in a car, u have to combat all the ambience noise which degrades half ya sound anyways...

(someones gonna mention to sound deaden ur car, but that does reduce ALL noise)

One word, marketing, These are "flagship" products designed to gain mindshare, like B&W's $40,000 Nautilus, the companies make their real money on mainstream products.

so they really do put 7k into them??? just for the elite and simple keep up the profit margins via lower products??? yer 40,000 k is kinda rediculous.

Marty - you need to install them into similar cars.. acoustical properties of interiors will affect the sound. Of course i'm sure you know this, but i'm reitierating after people moaned at how the last back to back used different cars and the sub comparison didn't come off as they expected.

hmm.. someone get hold of some DLS Iridiums as well

Ummmmm. you can count me in. I have everything DLS in my car. So I would love to do a comparison between those super expensive splits and the so called cheap ass DLS IR6.3. It might change your mind forever. I have done that before and I keep using DLS ever since. OK those speakers are just a tad better in term of SQ but look at the price tags. 1.5K ( 45,000 THB) splits that can be ranked in the same class as the 7.5 K spilts. If money is no object, go for either of the above. If you need a system that sound nearly as good but wnaan pay 5 times less cash, DLS Ir6.3 is the go. Y pay 5 times the price when it is actually 10% better in SQ?

Utopia Be & rainbow reference are one of the finest speakers available but DLS IR6.3 have the best $$$ to SQ ratio I ever know. I have won one of the taughtst IASCA in South-East Asia region with everything DLS before. The whole speakers+amp system cost less than a milbert I use last year. you do the math.

i am testing some 3 way iridiums in the car at the mo Golf.. they are alright speakers.. not too bad..

!!!

What DeeCee means to say is he did a rushed last minute install using some 6.3"s in the last few days leading up to a major SQ comp 600km's away, and cut a few corners, so the lovely 6.3's sound like they are being played through a cheese grater

<hides from Dave>

you better f-ing hide.. yes install would help, but the mid basses bottom out when the volume is cranked up and the tweeters aren't as detailed as the dynaudio tweets in Erkels car imo.. they are good, but still not that fab..

Dont suppose erkel used eq, and you didnt? Just question, not a dig.

he was using the EQ a bit, but i'm still not overly impressed with his car.. and i'm talking strictly tweeters when i reference erkels dynaudios.. don't get me on the rest of the system *groans..

Anyway - the iridiums are mounted as such in the Celica:
Mid Bass on baffles enclosed door volumes
Mid range in stock locations under dash
Tweets on A-Pillers
Sub in the centre console in front of gear stick

and i can just as easily mount the mid range in the kicks for a couple of hours to test them out if need be 4 screws and its done

Pictures?

With splits that cost you an arm and leg arent you even scared to turn them on ! OMG i would be scared crapless and i would be crying when i just increase the volume to hear a decent bass hit from them...why spend so much on the splits man

...big_bass y spend so much? coz u have money to burn? or you REALLY like music.

any updates???

Would it be possible to try those new hertz drivers in the comparison?

Hey Marty, Loooooong time no see,

I'd love to chuck my car up in the comparison, as you know I'm running the following:

Dynaudio System 340
Esotar Tweeters
Run active Audison Vrx 6.420.2
EQ = Alpines' 701

Cheers

Soapy

Is this the "FFF Soapy"? Or someone else.

One in the same

Nice to see you like my install on FFF

It looks awesome. Whats happened with this thread anyway? When is this comparison supposed to happen?

What have you been doing to my speakers DC?