Robert Canning
I recently got delivered some Eton Adventure A1-160 6.5in splits to listen to; I have been wanting to listen to these speakers for some time now.
Upon opening the box you are greeted with 2 rather lovely looking xovers, they have a slightly frosted cover with exposed sides, very well built. And i must say an excellent addition to any show install.
They have a 0db –2db and –4db attenuation.
Next you find the midbass speakers, Another well built component using a diecast alloy frame and is well finished , the magnet is very slim with a 50mm mounting depth these would fit into almost anywhere that has a 6.5in hole!
The cone is made of Hexccone material which is yellow in colour, probly not my choice of colour but i do like my black cones, they seem to blend in allot better in most car’s.
On a side note, the cone is quite sticky to touch; im assuming this is just the resin on the cone itself.
The tweeter is the next to come out, i had seen photo's of these but i diddent realise how big they are!
At 50mm is diameter is quite large and not easy to hide.
Installing:
Installing the midbass's was a breeze, the small magnet combined with the many screw hole's makes this an excellent speaker for. Replacing stock speakers, the screws down terminals are a nice touch too,
The tweeters were a bit trickier, but if you were doing a custom install they would be easy to mount and come with quite a few mounting options.
Listening:
When I first started listening to these I was a little disappointed, not what I expected from a $1200 pair of speakers, I am lead to believe these speakers need 100 hours running in time, to me that is a bit excessive but each manufacture to there own.
The tweeters worked well on and of axis, I used the –2db attenuation on the crossover for them and ran them at 90deg facing the windscreen (not the best location for them from testing but as a med term install it was the best I could install them).
Listening to A Perfect Circle - The Package, the Midbass was quite strong, sometime it sounded a little like cardboard but I would say this was from them being new and not run in. Christina Agulera - ………. Was quite nice, the vocals were awesome very clear and only a slight bit of sylliblis (possible from reflecting of the windscreen).
A played a few eminim songs; they handled the midbass quite well. But a sub was definitely needed to accompany these, tuning the sub off completely left a little to be desired from the midbass. Midrange was nice and strong, in all the tracks and very well detailed. They don’t like too much power and with a relatively low spl of 88db 1w/1m. There not a loud speaker, i am very curious to see how they go after some time breaking in.
After a few days of listening and running in, these speakers started to shine. A tribe called quest – best of album sounded awesome, big fat bass beats and rich vocals gave these speakers a good work over, and they did it with ease. Even the sound from the stylus on the records they used to sample on the album sounded perfect.
Equipment:
The Equipment I used to test this was a Hertz H535 5 channel amp with the front and rear channels bridged and putting out around 220 – 250wrms. The sub channel was running a 10in Boston Pro. The Source unit is a JVC SH909R. No processors were used at all during this test as not to “colour” or adjust the sound in anyway.
The Midbass was mounted in the bottom of the doors in custom pods with the tweeters mounted in the dash.
Conclusion:
I started not likening these when I first put them in, but after a few long drive’s they grew on me, the tweeters is very nice sounding and I could listen to these comfortably for hours on end, very laid back but still had plenty of kick when needed.
The tweeter being so good of axis is an excellent addition for installing into stock locations. Hopefully I will be able to leave these in the car for another week or so and see how they sound then. Also the RRP on these has just dropped to $1098, which makes them a damn good buy!