Hollywood Sound Drivers 6.5" Coax & Assasin 10's

[CBFryman 2]

First im going to do the 6.5's then the Assasin's.

Well, Got them installed yesterday. I must say in short, well worth the money.

I bought these 6.5" Co-Axil's as a stand in for a pair of Type-R 6.5"-Axil's. I've heard the Type R's before but these where tons cheaper. Deciding that even if they didnt sound as clear my GF wouldnt notice a difference, she just wants music and her mom and I just want to save money (we are cheap, I know). I purchased the pair from flakko. They where about $55, dont know what the real cost/shipping was since they where also purchased with a USamps IS2080. No the USamps wasnt used for the review, yes i know it would have been better but i wanted to review with and amp that most people budgeting would have used (just like what is going in there). For the Review i used a Hifonics Zeuss 4400. This has a claimed 110wx4. It ran both the Coax's and the Subs. This is budgeting on sterioids to me.

My initial impression when i opened the box was "What the (insert H-E-Double Hockey Sticks)" They where light as hell. The motor was all fancy, like someone would invert mout a co-ax. I figured for half the price of the Type-R's not too bad, besides, cant judge a book by it's cover. Grill was cheap-ish looking and the X over the tweeter made it look kind of... "ricey." I did like the fact that they put a nice heavy cushion of felt between the tweeter/Xover componets and the cone. This ment one of two things. 1.) extra care was taken. 2.) this thing will move like a mother bumper. Either way i liked that. Upon further inspection i find that the build quality is excelent. Speaking in truth (me being an RE lover), a WHOLE better than my RE Componet Set. But enough is enough, how do they sound?

Well here it is, ill do it as a list, skim through the crap you dont care about or take my initial review as a grain of salt. Doesnt make a difference to me. Though i would like that you read it since im taking up my valuable (pffft) time to type this.

Driver: Hollywood Sound Drivers 6.5" Co-Ax

Vehicle: 1989 4dr Toyota Camry

Location: Kick Panels

Enclosure: Sealed, Roughy 0.25cuft each

Amp: Hifonics ZX4400

Estimated Power: From that amp, 80w if i had turned the gains all the way up.

Amp Settings: High passed ~ 80Hz, 0db Bass Boost, Gains Turned Down

Accompany Subs: 2 Ascendant Audio Assasin 10" Drivers in 24"x36" Decware Designs "Wicked One" Enclosure built to spec.

Sub Location: Trunk, seats up, box pushed to the back of the trunk, opened facing to the back of the car.

Listening Level: Maybe 115-120dB spikes

Gener-Rap: For rap these preformed like any other co-ax or componet set would. All you need to hear is the vocals. There arent that many details in the music. and yes, you can hear the vocals. One thing i noticed is that they didnt pick up the higher beat in "Stay Fly" by Three 6 Mafia. Kinda got annoying after a while. Blended well with the Assasin 10's.

Gener-R&B: The vocals of Usher where smooth and clear. The details in the music such as the snare, or the electronically produced highs where clear and loud butn ot harsh. This amazed me because the tweeters are metal dome. The sound stage sounded a little too low for my likeings, but that is what you get when you put co-ax's in the kicks.

Gener-Heavy Metal: All i can say is wow, Zach Wylde's guitar solo's where wonderful, especially for a $55 speaker. The Vocals, agian, where smooth and clear. These things are powerful little suckers too. I did 4-5layres of 6oz cloth on the kick pods, i could still feel vibrations with my feet on drum hits.

Gener-Rock: I didnt get to pop in my AC/DC or Led Zepplin, the girl doesnt like that. Instead we had some creed and some Jet. Jet's CD is recorded harsh and distorted so no, the vocals werent smooth, still sounded great though. Sound stage still seems low.

Gener-Pop: Yes, we even listned to some pop music. Dont ask me by whom because i dont know anything about pop. To tell you the truth, in this part of the listening time i was trying to tuned out.

Gener-Jazz: Piano is smooth and clear. Not "like i was there" smooth and clear, but smooth and clear non the less. Saxiphones are somewhat life like, This is really the Gener it's lacking in realness. With some EQing and a raised sound stage im sure you could get it acceptible to even some not-so-anal SQueers.

Overall: Great Value, Great driver. If it was a more popular brand im sure some people wouldnt hesitate to spend over $80-$100 for these. Excelent drivers, worthy of a Type-R stand in.

Edited April 15, 2006 by CBFryman

[Adrian_D 520]

wicked one kicks a$$

[Eldorado 0]

At least they work.

I was talking to jeremy about HWS stuff, seems a bit gimmicky but the build quality is definetly good.

[CBFryman 2]

Assasin 10's

Also got them installed in the car yesterday. These things are great. Exceed RE's by a long shot, and cost less.

I Got the assasin because I had already had experence with their former biggest and baddest the avalanche 18. I had spoken with chad on a number of occasions and Ascendant's whole persona is sound quality, and nothing more. Sure they are loud, but they do it sounding good. The Assasin had all the features to make a kick assed entry level driver, and that is just what i needed to match up with a kick assed entry level Co-Ax.

My initial impression when i oppened the box was "Damn." Nothing more, nothing less. The driver was beefy beyond beleife. That sexy Laminated back plate and double stacked magnet motor structure. The Logoless boob dust cap, stiff pulp paper cone. This driver is THE entry level driver.

Ill follow the same format as above.

Driver: Ascendant Audio Assain 10" Woofer

Vehicle: 1989 4dr Toyota Camry

Location: Trunk, seats up, box pushed to the back of the trunk, opened facing to the back of the car.

Enclosure: 24"x36" Wicked One built to spec

Amp: Hifonics ZX4400

Estimated Power: 55w per sub

Amp Settings: Low Passed ~ 100Hz, 3dB Bass Boost, Gain turned down to compensate Bass Boost (some reason there was a dip in the responce at around 45Hz)

Accompany Mids/Highs: Hollywood Sound Drivers 6.5" Co-Axil

Speaker Location: Kick Panels

Listening Level: Maybe 115-120dB spikes

Gener-Rap: Good street beaters. Granted you could get louder for the money but not osunding near as good. Im not all too impressed with the wicked one fore Rap. Low low stuff is awsome. High rap beats, eh mediocure. Of course they are only getting 55w tops....and the trunk lid rattles enough to become annoying on the interior. Sound deadening-next on the list of to-do's. Songs like Blueberry Yum Yum and Touch It Remix with lots of low bass sound awsome, too much for the girl though. However...Pull My Hair's lowest beat was outside of that peak... Which is why i love my Avalanche on that song. Im going to throw togather a Ported enclosure sometime and see how they do. Im also going to give her a componet amp i have lying around to take over Componet duty and dedicate the ZX4400 to the subs giving them 220w each... hello 6 more dB's.

Gener-R&B: Quick beats, soft beats, low beats, high beats. It was catching every one with perfect clarity. One thing the wicked one does have to offer is no messed up transient responce. Nohting more to say here since rap and R&B Beats are very similar.

Gener-Heavy Metal: What can i say? Kick drums are tight and bass guitar lines are smooth and clear (assuming no distortion is used). Not really kick in the chest loud with the seats up, but good. I felt the vibration in the seat.

Gener-Rock: Same as above.

Gener-Pop: See above.

Gener-Jazz: Low piano notes is about all that was in the sample we played, and since piano notes (along with most instraments used in jazz) are undistorted harmonics. So yeah, it was takeing care of it's part.

Overall: Great Value, Great driver. Chad has done it agian. Loud, Clear, Undistorted. And all at a great value, show me another driver that preforms as well for twice the price or less and that driver is one heck of a deal. I would reccomend this driver to anyone looking at entrylevel/tight budget stuff. would also make a good addition to a small HT.

[flakko 1]

woot! im glad you i dunno what you think of the hollywoods haha, but yea im glad you "like" them?