Anyway I like the Dynaudio that's why I keep spending big bucks buying them. But now I am going for a bit more of a perfectionist system, since it is a viable option. So I am giving a quickie review on the next driver the 5 1/4" Tang Band W5-704D ($20 each). This is a more attractive speaker than the Jamo. It is smaller too. The Tag Band has what looks like a phase plug but it really is a pointy dust cap. The driver is made in China but is quite well made and the box they come in is a work of art itself. It is only rated to take 28 watts RMS with an 8 ohm impedance, 88dB @ 1Watt so I was not expecting much output. The Feq range is 55-9000 Hz (interesting) with an Fs of 55Hz. Even though it is a 5 1/4" driver it fits my 6 1/2 inch kick very nicely.

First I hooked it up to my home stereo just to see what kind of coloration's I could hear and basically 'read ahead' on xover points. I guess you should know a little about my home stereo, I have Snell C speakers in the family room and Snell B minors in the serious listening room. This driver had the same sonic neutrality as my multi thousand dollar system, my jaw dropped open ... I was pleased. And here is the surprise ending early these are a great speaker at any price...BUT...

Now onto in car listening... much happiness continues I could cross these over up to 800 Hz with no tonal penalty, there was an imaging penalty but I think with time I could fix that with shims redirecting the speakers. The SPL output was much better than expected and was only 4dB down from the Dynaudio. This was turning into a Dyn killer... BUT all is not perfect. This speaker is silky smooth and detailed without coloration, with a flat response even in the car from 200 Hz to over 1000 Hz (it is higher than that but that is as high as this car's kick panel design would let me go without lowering system height to the floor). This is a special speaker and now for the BUT... as a woofer it doesnt get the job done, it just cant make bass or even car audio mid-bass. This is a fantastic midrange but the bass performance doesn't keep up in the car. The Vas of the speaker was only .41 cu ft so that was not the issue and with time and effort it would be better but would never be a woofer. I think 200 Hz was where it fell of the linear train tracks. So 2 weaknesses with one significant (its better suited for home use but I would use it as a midrange any day in a car). At $40 a pair... a steal but watch that power limitation 28 watts aint much.

In closing I would say this was not a dynaudio killer it was the anti-dyn. The Dyn excels at efficiency,a wide sound stage, dynamics, power handling and SPL (a mans speaker) while the Tag Band excelled at fine detail, neutrality, tended to beam, very low distortion, has no slam but plenty of dynamics in its range (more of a Felix Unger). This is a speaker people should buy but not for up front bass... BUT it wasn't even my favorite (tease) next the OLD SCHOOL JBL 306G

 

I am pretty sure tang band rates their speakers ran full range, and that's why their power handeling is so low compared to the competition. they can take more with a HP filter.

 

with my set up the 125hz and 200hz band adjustment makes a huge
difference in the guitar strings
the install helps alot to....these frequencies need a decent cavity to come alive
I'm running a little better than 1cf3 per door sealed..little better than 1/4" thick glass in the pods

 

^ Well EQ adjustements are fine and expected if it's a problem area or if there are improvements to be had. I personally don't get using a dedicated driver for that small passband it my only point.

 

The HAT 3" is a better sounding driver and is preferred in the bulk of the vocal/ audio range (though they overlap a fair amount in the 200 to 500 Hz range... I had to correct my slope rate in my earlier post they are 18dB slopes). I would prefer not to have as narrow pass band but the 2 key factors in this case is :it is a Dynaudio trait and my cars trait to emphasise the 320 to 400 Hz region significantly. A BIG part of this is to use the best driver in the best band. Since I am greedy and always want a better system... I hold little brand loyalty.

BTW the 3" HAT goes from 400 Hz to 10KHz with a 12dB slope on top

 

Now onto the JBL 306G. I will say right now I wanted to use my 8" JBL 2118 but it just will not fit in my kicks, the 6 1/2 inch drivers barely fit. So I went with a similar period driver as the 2118 the 306 (since it was for sale on eBay). So now I have 30 year old paper woofers with rubber surrounds in (the 2118 has a cloth accordian surround). The only spec I could find on the JBL 306 was the impedance is 8 ohms... so winging it was the order of the day! I did a free air listen with speakers older than most folks on this forum... initially I was pleased with the volume and the clarity then I realized it was over emphasizing the upper vocal range. Soo into the car they go... here is where I discover they have a wider basket than I have hole in my kick (oh joy, rapture), so I have a couple choices and I chose to go the nondestructive route.

So a little brute force and my usual healthy dose of ignorance I kind of sealed them in with screws, double sided tape and duct tape so lets just say they probably have better bass than I have heard with this solution. To select this driver means rebuilding my kicks using a 7" or larger ring... which I wont do just yet.

Well first thing I noticed was a metric butt ton more energy in the overlap region, these are not flat drivers they emphasized the 300 to 1000 Hz range. I am guessing they want about a 1 ft3 volume for the bass region to shine like the vocal region, but that ain't gonna happen too quick either. Also they had a similar emphasis as the Dynaudio in the 320 to 400 region BUT unlike the Dyn the EQ had significant but not a complete effect on the whoooot. So after the fact I am keeping the crossover at 200 Hz for the JBL BUT its vocal energy allows me to raise the crossover point of the 3" HAT to 600Hz with a 12 db slope. The two drivers overlap A LOT in this region and the JBLs voicing matches the HATs very nicely.

Now how did they sound... while saying up front they aren't as smooth and neutral as the Tag Band, with nowhere near the slam and SPL of the Dynaudio and they dont have as broad a radiation pattern as the Dyn's did either (the JBLs beam and the drivers have to be on axis (home audio drivers)). Other than that they are incredible, I have never heard my car sound as real before, They fillered in the center well but had limited width. Their timbre is excellent and blends with the Hybrid Audio midrange. The detail, timbre and stage is as if the instruments were in the room. While they are inefficient and look like an antique, and an ugly antique at that, they sound great if you have the proper EQ and crossover points. This driver in my system was not perfect but it has given me intelectual and emotional satisfaction... just wish it had the Dyn's bass slam... if I keep this driver in the car I will have to make significant changes to the car so it will fit correctly then its full potential could be achieved.

I still have the Peerless drivers to go in this batch and they are hands down the best looking drivers I have ever worked with. I need for the rain to stop to get these in my car.

 

Well the peerless drivers have extremely wide baskets, they will not be going in my car anytime soon as 80% of the driver couldn't fit in the hole

I swapped the Dynaudios back in (JBLs out) and I think I genuinely prefer they Dyns... the JBL excelled on live jazz and classical, but on rock or anything with a demanding bass line they fell down (which I need to point out is the point of the woofer). The JBLs sounded congested on pop music while the Dyns are poised. The JBLs have killer timbre though but I think with their aggressive lower midrange the system they are used in would have to be based on the JBL, currently the HAT is the core of my system. The Dyns needed less EQ to boot and the system plays much louder with more dynamics. As always audio is a mixed bag of good and less good. Frankly the HAT L6 would be better than the JBL as well from my in car audiotions of the HAT L6 showing them to be neutral with great timbre.

So the free air demo I did with the peerless laying in the kicks they look to be similar to the tag bands sonically. But no way no how can they be mounted nondestructively to my existing kick

 

Thanks for giving those great reviews, I have been out of car audio for over 10 years and just starting to piece togeather my new system. Reading your reviews did two things for me. Help me rember what i love about car audio, and why i got out of it lol. I love trying to overcome speaker and car shortcommings. But it's a very expensive hobby to do.

 

First off little changes like my sub box broke a terminal in March when the sub box broke free (during a panic stop due to a tool stopping on the interstate) so the mid-bass has had to pick up the subs duties, the Dyn was doing better with low frequencies than up high anyway.

Well as you might guess (since I revived this old thread) I have bought more speakers and have been adjusting the kicks and amplifier settings to suit them. First off, the Dynaudios have been removed as they are inferior in almost every way to the 5 1/2" Genesis 15w/3531G01 I am currently using. I still have a band pass crossover with 80 Hz (18db slope) and 700 Hz (18db slope) in place (you may recall AAAAAA was aghast at my limited bandwidth of 80 to 200 when using the Dyn 162). This driver is simply tonally superior to the Dyn in almost every way (the Dyn was louder) and is now working essentially the entire human voice area, with time I may expand its range because it is tonally superior to the 3" HAT too. Ultimately the Dyn and HAT combo I have been using didn't really work together tonally, whereas the Genesis and the HAT play seamlessly together.
strengths: it has very good bass extension (it is comfortable making 60 Hz within reason), its midrange is very good and is matching my HAT driver doing what HAT does best (it has better timbre, volume, inner detail and dispersion characteristics than HAT). It significantly improves over the HAT and Dynaudio in the area of dynamics and harmonics (overtones). Is it perfect, no it tends to get a little congested from 80 to 150 hz (probably can be improved by working on improving the kick-panels enclosure). It has very little of the scanspeak Revelator 'house sound' so it is a significant step in the direction I want towards musical realism. This driver returns to the system the emotional interest I lost when I gave up the JBL driver but it is easily the most linear driver I have ever heard in the car audio midbass region. oh yea its midrange is better than the Tang Bands

next up I have a F#1 comp set (new in box) I picked up on the cheep on eBay that will eventually get tested.

I would LOVE to hear the new Tymphany Premier line but it cannot fit in my kick as they are too deep.... also the big Tang Band drivers look promising too (but are also too deep for my kicks).

Any reviews out there of some good drivers?

 

I don't know who this AAAAAA is hehe

When there are really big drops to certain frequencies, it's often because one of the reflective surfaces such as the center console or transmission hump cause cancellation.