component comparison

[harold 0]

Nick/anyone who has heard SI components please tell me how they compare (SQ) to other high end component sets like the focal utopia, k2p, cdt, etc.

[JMigs 0]

Well, I'm sure Nick will chime in....but I do know of a person whom Nick sold the 307's after their success in my car that dropped his focals for them.

I believe they were Utopias if I'm not mistaken.

josh

[Electrodynamic 2]

Yep, it was MSchmidt on here. I haven't seen him around recently, but he replaced his Focals (I think they were the Utoipa's) with 307's and hasn't looked back. Heck, he even bought a pair to put in his girlfriends car.

[harold 0]

VERY VERY interresting. i might need to take out these utopias and maybe go for a pair of SI. Nick which set would work the best for me, i have 170 x 2 @ 4 ohms to work with and i NEED to have some midbass? the focals just aren't cutting it in that department like i thought they would. i would like to keep the same sound quality that the utopia's have but with more midbass basically.

[cjj2d 0]

I too need Midbass!! so I am keeping my fingers crossed on the idea of a SI 8" driver. Other than that, how do the 307's sound as far as the midbass? strong, average? I know the SQ of the components will be extremely good just wondering about the midbass as well.

[Electrodynamic 2]

As Jacob will say, the 307's have better midrange, but the 302's have better midbass and were designed for off-axis listening only. If you have kick pannels, I suggest going the 307 route and adding midbass drivers in your doors if possible. The 307's don't have a total lack of midbass, it's just that they are a 5" driver, and it just can't displace the amount of air necessary to keep up with subwoofers. Midbass is there with the 307's, but it's not phenomenal. The 302's, on the other hand, blend better with big subwoofers because of their midbass abilities...largely due to the fact that it is a 7" driver vs. a 5" on the 307's.

Harold, do you have your components in kicks or in the doors and can you add midbass drivers? If you are limited to a 5" driver and NEED midbass, then you have run into a serious wall. Without being able to add or upgrade to a larger driver for midbass duty you're pretty much screwed. Our 307's should have better midbass than the Focal's, but fidelity-wise I won't say one way or the other.

[harold 0]

i have my utopias (5.25'') in the doors but i'm not sure if i can add midbass drivers. how do i find that out? i'm not limited to a 5'' driver, i mean the depth of the utopia's required a spacer but it still fit. i'm not sure how i would go about fixing this problem, perhaps i need a set of 6.5s or something along those lines. or maybe i just need a quality 8'' for midbass. as long as the depth isn't too steep i should be fine.

someone please explain the difference between midbass and midrange i always thought they were the same. thanks for the help.

[Electrodynamic 2]

Well a midrange usually won't play down past 200 Hz or so very well, and especially below 100/90 Hz. A midrange does go up higher (into the 2-4k Hz range) also. A midbass doesn't extend into the upper frequency range as well as a midrange does. Most midbasses only last 'til 1k or so at best. Midbass's are best suited for 600 Hz or so on down. Midbass's usually also go down to 40-50 Hz without any problem. They are usually larger in size than midranges.

Now, to get technical, there are dedicated midrange speakers which operate in a very narrow bandwidth and need to be crossed over at 200-400 Hz or so, but they extend into the upper frequency realm better than most "midranges". These are extremely rare in car audio - I honestly can't think of any besides 4" component speakers in 3 way systems. Most 5.25 and 6.5 "midranges" are actually called mid/woofers because they can play down into/below the 100 Hz area.

Here is an example of a dedicated midrange: http://www.seas.no/seas_line/midrange/H422.PDF

Here is an example of a mid/woofer or midbass driver: http://www.seas.no/seas_line/woofers/H1217.pdf

Notice how steep the roll off is on the midrange and also how well it does in the upper frequencies? Also take note of the much more gradual roll offon the mid/woofer. However, most mid/woofers of that size don't exend that far in the upper frequencies at all...kind of a bad example, but you get the idea.