SSA Evil 6.5 Opinions & Info

[ATX.WeenR 5]

Hi forum folk, I'm here tonight to ask about a topic I've never discussed before. Only because I had never seen them before I came to SSA and now that I've seen them once I've seen them a thousand times! The topic of the SSA Evil 6.5(sp?) Is one that I see on this forum with a turn off every "page" and it seems like many of you SSA-ers have gone to some lengths to assure you were among this elite crew of car audio enthusiasts.

So what is it about these speakers that is so awesome that you're willing to wait out their build and restock? Granted they are inexpensive mid-range drivers in a sea of likely overpriced mid-range speakers but I want to know what sets them apart! And I'm asking because I really genuinely want to know! I too need a pair of good speakers that can fill in that midbass range where I know there is some "ass end" yet the speakers I have are only giving me a taste of mid-range presence. Hurting for this frequency I have gone on some impulsive spending sprees and come up far from empty handed yet unfulfilled. I've got two pairs of different Fosgate 5.25" coax and full range speakers, a pair of Pioneer 4" speakers that have about as much depth as either of the RF speakers and finally I've got an older discontinued pair of infinity components that are about as close to what I want than any other set I've found. My current issue is financial and it's going to be a minute before I can feel justified again buying any extravagant audio gifts for my car. 

I didn't say that I would be stopping my quest for a good high quality midbass driver at an entry level price just that I'm tired of throwing good money after... Good (I work too hard for too little, all money is good money) on speakers that I spend hours carefully prepping and mounting and then amplifying and tuning just to be disappointed... It's an embarrassing ordeal for me and the last thing I would do is yank them out and take them back because I was the one to make the impulsive decision to buy them rather than do something like, oh say... Ask a forum if like minded individual's their opinion. 

 

So long story even longer! I just want honest opinion of these Evil 6.5's... has anyone put them in a box? Sealed? Ported? Foam baffle enclosure in your door or back deck?  Anyone??? Anyone??  Beuller?

Do they BUMP out that midbass or is it thin and tinny sounding? Somewhere in between?

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

I am biased and behind those speakers, so my vote doesn't count haha.

[///M5 2,833]

Installation is the most critical factor in any install.  Would like to understand what your overall plans are to make sure they are a match.

As for what makes them special?  They were designed and built to fit a niche in the car audio market.  Most other drivers are shoe-horned compromises that don't fill that spot.  Spending more than on the Evil's is somewhat of a case of diminishing returns, but none of us will carte blanche recommend them to you until we know how you will utilize them.

[S.DeYoung 968]

Having spent ALOT of time testing these drivers in quite a few different  installations (in door-stock locations, in car kick panels sealed, home audio sealed, home audio ported, home audio open baffle) I will say they are the best set of speakers I have dealt with especially for the money. SSA actually took the time to design their speakers and improve them through the design process whereas most manufacturers will just push out less then satisfactory speakers for most installations. That being said install and processing capabilities is key with any install. If you can provide more details on your install, the forum can help you achieve the results you are looking for.

[nem 2,019]

Some of the R&D was done in my basement.

I run them in my 4runner and built garage speakers with them.

[j-roadtatts 1,129]

 I have a set I have been enjoying in ported boxes, playing down to about 45hz. Hopefully will have a set installed in some kick panels in the near future. 

 To answer your question about the midbass, IMO these fall right in the middle. They are not absolute midbass monsters, but are not weak either. That’s running them side-by-side next to quite a few other 6 1/2 I have laying around. The modeling program says about the same. 

 What makes them or any good speaker better than average.  It’s all in the motor design. That’s where the magic happens. The rest is just parts.

 As stated above these were designed for a special niche. I think where they really shine is they cover a broad spectrum of that niche. They are VERY flexible. They’re just as at home in an SPL rig with the sub covering a little more ground, as they are in an SQ vehicle with the gains dialed back and the crossovers set lower.  Same goes for the top end. they have decent reach that could be used to your advantage in an SPL vehicle to save the tweeters. 

Why the Evil’s? Anyone that knows Aaron and Mark knows their heart and souls go into their products. They would rather make one good product that they are pleased to hand to their friends, then have a slew of mediocre models just to make a profit. The Evil’s are a premium driver, at a working man’s price. These guys take care of people. That’s why.

Beyond that simple physics apply. A speaker with a heavier cone should have better midbass, IF the motor design can maintain motor force throughout the majority of the cones travel. That and sound displacement....Surface area x Xmas. Surface area and the weight of that larger cone being what you are lacking.

 If you have any tuning capability you should be able to at least get what you have sounding good. You won’t have the midbass output of a 6 1/2, but you should be able to get things to sound right. 

 

[ATX.WeenR 5]

8 hours ago, j-roadtatts said:

 I have a set I have been enjoying in ported boxes, playing down to about 45hz. Hopefully will have a set installed in some kick panels in the near future. 

 To answer your question about the midbass, IMO these fall right in the middle. They are not absolute midbass monsters, but are not weak either. That’s running them side-by-side next to quite a few other 6 1/2 I have laying around. The modeling program says about the same. 

 What makes them or any good speaker better than average.  It’s all in the motor design. That’s where the magic happens. The rest is just parts.

 As stated above these were designed for a special niche. I think where they really shine is they cover a broad spectrum of that niche. They are VERY flexible. They’re just as at home in an SPL rig with the sub covering a little more ground, as they are in an SQ vehicle with the gains dialed back and the crossovers set lower.  Same goes for the top end. they have decent reach that could be used to your advantage in an SPL vehicle to save the tweeters. 

Why the Evil’s? Anyone that knows Aaron and Mark knows their heart and souls go into their products. They would rather make one good product that they are pleased to hand to their friends, then have a slew of mediocre models just to make a profit. The Evil’s are a premium driver, at a working man’s price. These guys take care of people. That’s why.

Beyond that simple physics apply. A speaker with a heavier cone should have better midbass, IF the motor design can maintain motor force throughout the majority of the cones travel. That and sound displacement....Surface area x Xmas. Surface area and the weight of that larger cone being what you are lacking.

 If you have any tuning capability you should be able to at least get what you have sounding good. You won’t have the midbass output of a 6 1/2, but you should be able to get things to sound right. 

 

I appreciate the help very much. I appreciate you taking the time to explain your take on the specific product I came here asking about. 

As for my intention for use with this or any other speaker (or anything else in life I purchase) is to get the most out of it and enjoy it to the extent of it's engineered capabilities. I like my music as well rounded as anyone with a somewhat tuned ear and I am not someone with deep pockets to be able to shop for boutique speakers or anything else for that matter. 

Just like when buying my newest guitar setup last year I took some time and looked at the brands and models less recognized by the common Guitar Center aficionado. Sure Orange makes a good amp but they tend to fit a smaller niche (to reuse a word I've noticed here a few times) and my niche and someone else's might overlap somewhere but I have a broad enough style that I don't want a one truck pony. Long story probably longer I ended up with a name brand amp but that's beside the point it was the most versatile and the best sounding amp I could get for the few hundred bucks I was willing to spend on a practice amp. So now I own a hybrid Vox amp that is as good at playing a clean tone as it is to cranking out a thick bluesy overdrive and everything in between.

So I understand your call for asking me what respect I intend to use these but trust me they are going to be used and likely pushed fairly hard at times but never overpowered and I tune all my amps to their specs as best I can with a meter and I even set them according to their tested voltage (cranked and running if specs say anything above 12.5 volts and most definitely when they call for 14.4 volts to match a birth wattage reading) all that aside I listen to a variety of music and that should have really no bearing on it because I'm likely not using any frequency range that is not being used by anyone else here so if that was intended in surveying of my use of the speakers I find it a futile point at best.

But yeah, I'll likely be pushing them hard on occasion. As cleanly as possible and as of right now I've got a single Sundown SD-3 12 in a custom vented enclosure in the trunk of my "classic" Lexus currently on around 500 watts but soon to be a bit more when my VFL Comp 2K gets here (thank you SSA). SO I'm currently looking for something that will handle the honest to God midbass situation because I would like to get a driving low end that happens to like outside of the 200 hz "sub bass" spectrum. I mean if 'A' above middle 'C' is 440 hz that is the open second string on a standard four string bass guitar tuned to a standard universal tuning that leaves roughly almost 60 more "true" notes on the fretboard not to mention semitones and harmonics both natural and artificial blah blah blah... All the way up to the last note on said instrument which is actually way into the mid-range band. But at least 2/3 of the notes on the fretboard of a bass guitar are capable of producing more than just the thin tonal response many speakers on the market are willing to call adequate. To me adequate just isn't getting the job done.

I want a midrange speaker that has balls as much as it's cousin in the trunk. I know that I don't have to spend $5000 for a set of Focal Utopia 3-way components to get a good sounding setup, and I'm willing to spend some money on what I need but I'm just asking about the Evil 6.5 because it seems to be a speaker popular with other people on this board. Maybe I should just ask the board what niche they all fit in so as to keep from typing so damn much next time. 

If I were to be an Evil 6.5 owner what would I look like and what would I be listening to? What would my goals and aspirations be and what niche in society am I filling? I obviously have been going about my mobile audio purchases all wrong!! LMAO

Note: im not busting anybody's balls but I ask the same respect in return.

Good to meet you all. If you're ever in Red Texas in Blue Austin give my 'neutral gray'& ass a shout! I love meeting new people...

Thanks again guys! 

[///M5 2,833]

Perhaps the installation and overall plans question wasn't specific enough.

What processing, mounting locations, and potentially other drivers would you like to use with them?  In general these are beasts in their category, but the question is does that category fill your need?

[RJJ 0]

On 10/9/2018 at 6:20 AM, ///M5 said:

Perhaps the installation and overall plans question wasn't specific enough.

What processing, mounting locations, and potentially other drivers would you like to use with them?  In general these are beasts in their category, but the question is does that category fill your need?

 

On 10/7/2018 at 11:26 PM, ATX.WeenR said:

Hi forum folk, I'm here tonight to ask about a topic I've never discussed before. Only because I had never seen them before I came to SSA and now that I've seen them once I've seen them a thousand times! The topic of the SSA Evil 6.5(sp?) Is one that I see on this forum with a turn off every "page" and it seems like many of you SSA-ers have gone to some lengths to assure you were among this elite crew of car audio enthusiasts.

So what is it about these speakers that is so awesome that you're willing to wait out their build and restock? Granted they are inexpensive mid-range drivers in a sea of likely overpriced mid-range speakers but I want to know what sets them apart! And I'm asking because I really genuinely want to know! I too need a pair of good speakers that can fill in that midbass range where I know there is some "ass end" yet the speakers I have are only giving me a taste of mid-range presence. Hurting for this frequency I have gone on some impulsive spending sprees and come up far from empty handed yet unfulfilled. I've got two pairs of different Fosgate 5.25" coax and full range speakers, a pair of Pioneer 4" speakers that have about as much depth as either of the RF speakers and finally I've got an older discontinued pair of infinity components that are about as close to what I want than any other set I've found. My current issue is financial and it's going to be a minute before I can feel justified again buying any extravagant audio gifts for my car. 

I didn't say that I would be stopping my quest for a good high quality midbass driver at an entry level price just that I'm tired of throwing good money after... Good (I work too hard for too little, all money is good money) on speakers that I spend hours carefully prepping and mounting and then amplifying and tuning just to be disappointed... It's an embarrassing ordeal for me and the last thing I would do is yank them out and take them back because I was the one to make the impulsive decision to buy them rather than do something like, oh say... Ask a forum if like minded individual's their opinion. 

 

So long story even longer! I just want honest opinion of these Evil 6.5's... has anyone put them in a box? Sealed? Ported? Foam baffle enclosure in your door or back deck?  Anyone??? Anyone??  Beuller?

Do they BUMP out that midbass or is it thin and tinny sounding? Somewhere in between?

I'm running old school PPI PC 2150 and PC 275, and 2 12'' older Rockford fosgate P1 subs in sealed boxes, the ones with the big plastic cover over the maget. They have awsome sound quauity, the PPI PC class amps are top notch amps. I'm running them at 60hrz sound quality is amazing, 60hrz on these amps gives you a wide band width. these amps are so powerful that the gains are off on both the PC2150 and th PC 275. The amps barley get warm. I listen to pop music on the radio, the new POP music pumps out some serious bass.  I'm running a Tsanmi 40 farid cap, my deck is an old school Alpine CDA 7965 2001 sund quality deck, has no deck power, need amps. have a old school Aduio Control 3 way crass over  EQ and line driver all in one, great little unit. Front mids are Alpine 6 1/2'' and Tweeters are Soundstream ring radiator. I think your going way to over kill on the mids, my system has amazing thundering quailty  and bass, I'm getting full blend of mid bass through my subs because my amp is set at 60hrz.  My car is a 2006 Toyota Matrix hatch back, my 2 12'' subs sound like 4 12's. I've been told my system sounds like a concert.  Go figure that both those PPI PC Class apms are still running strong, were talking 1997 folks, both amps have the original void stickers still in tacked. Were going on 22 years, I've been running these amps for a year and a half without any issues. Just wanted to say that it really makes a really big difference in what amp your using and what your cross overs are set at. Old school made in the USA is the way to go.