The Cable Test
Yankee
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,599
John believes he disagrees with George, there is more to this then resistance thinks John and size doesnt matter...(dont go there)copper will always be a beter conductor new, silver will be the better conductor after the copper or silver makes contact with the air/moisture.
Yankee
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,599
lemonlime- the vague generalization is that IC with silver tend to be more detail oriented (brighter) but as stated not everyone hears this. I do think the associated equipment has something to do with it.
To actually address your question, I have not heard the Streetwires silver. I am sure it is as good as the rest of their line (decent quality middle of the range price)
To actually address your question, I have not heard the Streetwires silver. I am sure it is as good as the rest of their line (decent quality middle of the range price)
0 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 40
Interesting observations, I myself have never been able to distinguish the differences among high er quality cables.
On a side note, how do you like the w3's, thats the 3 way utopia set correct? I'm interested in buying a set of those, and am curious how they sound on their own, WITHOUT a sub!
On a side note, how do you like the w3's, thats the 3 way utopia set correct? I'm interested in buying a set of those, and am curious how they sound on their own, WITHOUT a sub!
Thread Starter
1000 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,783
Opinion on the 165W3 kit.
Well I've lived with mine installed about 3 different ways for the past 6 months. I've done a fair amount of experimentation with them, so I feel qualified to give my fair oppinion.
First, if you want to seriously complicate your install, get a 3 way front stage. It's much harder to get all 3 drivers to work together than 2. Usually with a 3 way front stage, the midbass drivers get installed in the doors. This means you'll need to sound deaden the doors pretty heavily. I've done this in my BMW, and I've still got resonance problems with the door skins.
Second, the passive X.O. in the kit limits your tuning a lot. In a car system, you want to be able to play with gains and X.O. levels quite a bit. So I'd ditch the passive setup, and go all active if you are after really good sound in your car. This means you need 6 amplifier channels and a good active X.O., this isn't getting cheaper is it?
Third, the TN-51 tweeter isn't the greatest tweeter on the planet. I've been able to get it to work in my sytem, but it's crossed over at about 6khz.
How does it sound? Well despite my poor installation, they sound pretty good out of the box. If you were to mount all 3 drivers in ONE baffle, the kit is pretty balanced from the bottom up to the midrange. But that tweeter just breaths fire, you'll need a good EQ to control it. Numerous times I've run the kit in my car without a sub, and it is pretty impressive. I've demo'd the system to a few people at these times, and generally people don't believe that I don't have a sub running. The 6.5" midbass drivers go really low, and take a ton of power. I've been running about 200 watts per side, and I've never heard these midbasses stumble at high volumes. I have however done stupid stuff with them, and they take the abuse. The suspension in both the 6.5" midbass, and 4" midrange limits machanical excursion so the voice coil doesn't bottom out. I've been running the midbass drivers from about 50-60hz up, and they match pretty well with my 4 Focal 21V2 subs.
The Utopia midbass and midrange drivers can play extremely loud without breaking up. Not just that, but they are extremely musical with playing loud. They don't lose deffinition the way the Polykevlars do at 8/10 volume levels. Tonally, the Polykevlars are warmer, and many people prefer this. The Utopias tend to be more neutral, even a little thin deppending on the installation. But, they are much more accurate than any other drivers I have heard in car audio. (dynamically, the utopias are the best raw drivers that I have ever heard if you like loud)
Here is where I pan the 3 way kit.
Check out the Utopia 2 way kit. It's much easier to install, costs less, and has all of the 3 way's tonal and dynamic attributes. I would say the clearest benifit of the 3 way over the 2 way is it's ability to play very loud cleanly.
I'd run the 165W kit active with the mids installed in the kicks.
If you are absolutely set on the 3 way, and can afford to run them totally active, I believe a good install with blow away the 2 way kit with good tuning.
...but then I have to believe that...I've bought the whole 3 way thing hook, line, and sinker...
Adam
Well I've lived with mine installed about 3 different ways for the past 6 months. I've done a fair amount of experimentation with them, so I feel qualified to give my fair oppinion.
First, if you want to seriously complicate your install, get a 3 way front stage. It's much harder to get all 3 drivers to work together than 2. Usually with a 3 way front stage, the midbass drivers get installed in the doors. This means you'll need to sound deaden the doors pretty heavily. I've done this in my BMW, and I've still got resonance problems with the door skins.
Second, the passive X.O. in the kit limits your tuning a lot. In a car system, you want to be able to play with gains and X.O. levels quite a bit. So I'd ditch the passive setup, and go all active if you are after really good sound in your car. This means you need 6 amplifier channels and a good active X.O., this isn't getting cheaper is it?
Third, the TN-51 tweeter isn't the greatest tweeter on the planet. I've been able to get it to work in my sytem, but it's crossed over at about 6khz.
How does it sound? Well despite my poor installation, they sound pretty good out of the box. If you were to mount all 3 drivers in ONE baffle, the kit is pretty balanced from the bottom up to the midrange. But that tweeter just breaths fire, you'll need a good EQ to control it. Numerous times I've run the kit in my car without a sub, and it is pretty impressive. I've demo'd the system to a few people at these times, and generally people don't believe that I don't have a sub running. The 6.5" midbass drivers go really low, and take a ton of power. I've been running about 200 watts per side, and I've never heard these midbasses stumble at high volumes. I have however done stupid stuff with them, and they take the abuse. The suspension in both the 6.5" midbass, and 4" midrange limits machanical excursion so the voice coil doesn't bottom out. I've been running the midbass drivers from about 50-60hz up, and they match pretty well with my 4 Focal 21V2 subs.
The Utopia midbass and midrange drivers can play extremely loud without breaking up. Not just that, but they are extremely musical with playing loud. They don't lose deffinition the way the Polykevlars do at 8/10 volume levels. Tonally, the Polykevlars are warmer, and many people prefer this. The Utopias tend to be more neutral, even a little thin deppending on the installation. But, they are much more accurate than any other drivers I have heard in car audio. (dynamically, the utopias are the best raw drivers that I have ever heard if you like loud)
Here is where I pan the 3 way kit.
Check out the Utopia 2 way kit. It's much easier to install, costs less, and has all of the 3 way's tonal and dynamic attributes. I would say the clearest benifit of the 3 way over the 2 way is it's ability to play very loud cleanly.
I'd run the 165W kit active with the mids installed in the kicks.
If you are absolutely set on the 3 way, and can afford to run them totally active, I believe a good install with blow away the 2 way kit with good tuning.
...but then I have to believe that...I've bought the whole 3 way thing hook, line, and sinker...
Adam
Originally posted by PEI330Ci:
The Utopia midbass and midrange drivers can play extremely loud without breaking up. Not just that, but they are extremely musical with playing loud. They don't lose deffinition the way the Polykevlars do at 8/10 volume levels. Tonally, the Polykevlars are warmer, and many people prefer this. The Utopias tend to be more neutral, even a little thin deppending on the installation. But, they are much more accurate than any other drivers I have heard in car audio. (dynamically, the utopias are the best raw drivers that I have ever heard if you like loud)
The Utopia midbass and midrange drivers can play extremely loud without breaking up. Not just that, but they are extremely musical with playing loud. They don't lose deffinition the way the Polykevlars do at 8/10 volume levels. Tonally, the Polykevlars are warmer, and many people prefer this. The Utopias tend to be more neutral, even a little thin deppending on the installation. But, they are much more accurate than any other drivers I have heard in car audio. (dynamically, the utopias are the best raw drivers that I have ever heard if you like loud)
[ March 16, 2004, 01:02 PM: Message edited by: Mr. Big Schnoz ]
