Sr6500?

BigSim

Hi everybody,
I'm currently in the process of putting together my first system for my car. I've been doing a fair bit of research, and have decided on a Pioneer Premier p880prs HU, a JL Audio 12W6 sub, not sure on the amps yet (probably JL also) and now I'm trying to decide on components.

I know the SR6500 are great speakers, I've not read a bad review on them on the internet, but my problem is, whether they're suited for my application. I'm not going to be doing the install myself, I'll just buy the stuff and take it to my local car audio place to do it. I listen to whatever, mainly rock/punk rock, but I listen to a lot of different genres.

My major issue is, the more I read, the more I'm hearing that install is one of the key factors, if not THE key factor, to making or breaking a system. I don't want to fork out the money on the SR6500's if they won't perform in a sub-par installation (I don't know if the guys I take it to will do a sub-par installation neccessarily, but I wouldn't hold my breath) and was looking for some input; whether I should follow through with the SR's, or whether that would be wasting my money, and I would get the same (or similar) results in my application from maybe a MMC component set or even something from another brand (DLS Iridium 6.2s? I'm not sure).

I know there's a lot of threads like this one, so I'm sorry for another 'which speaker' thread, but I looked through them and didn't think my concerns were covered in any of the other ones.

Any input at all would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks guys

Peter J

The SR kit will outrun the DLS Iridium kit i many ways, a specially in the highest freq. and in the bass section.

It doesent matter what brand or speaker setup you buy, put a little extra effort in the install and every speacker becomes closer to its potensial.

If you buy the SR kit you wont be sorry but it needs to be brake in for almost 100hours.
Good luck!

MacLeod

The speakers are the most important part of your system so you should get the best speakers that you can. And since youre running high end gear like a W6 and such, skimping on the speakers is not the way to go.

It is true that installation is very important to SQ but you still want the best performing equipment you can get.

KevinLWhitaker

Although I do not own the SR6500 speakers (yet, maybe I will soon) one of the stated design objectives was ease of installation. Another major objective was ruler flat response in a mobile environment. With that said each vehicle is different and the speaker sound will need different tuning to sound pleasant to you. I would strongly encourage you to speak with the installers you plan to use before purchasing any speakers. I would question them on any previous installations they have done, on any experience with your vehicle they may have, and any issues they have with different speakers in your vehicle. A reputable shop that does good business should be happy to escort you into their shop and let you look some installations in progress. Also, they should be happy to let you listen to a installation that they have done.

Another alternative you have, if you are willing, is to install yourself. This can be a great learning experience and will really be rewarding. I do all my installs myself (nobody is touching my truck!) and it is much easier than you believe (although at times very frustrating). You will learn more about car stereo than you wanted. If you have any questions, you can post here. Try asking "has anyone ever installed SR6500s in a Ford/Dodge/Chevy/Toyota" before you install to get input / ideas / help. You can do the same for your head unit, amps, and sub. Don't be afraid to ask, there are allot of people who have been down this road before. Also, you can check out the sound domain forums (and many others) for installation advice.

Kevin

BigSim

I'm a bit paranoid about doing the install myself is all, I don't wanna have good equipment and then wreck it coz it's not installed properly.

I'll speak to the people that will be doing the install like you suggested, and take it from there. I'll probably get the SR's, I've read a lot of good things, like I said, and have the word of a lot of trustworthy people from other forums/places that they're great, just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be wasting them.

Thanks for all your replies.

KevinLWhitaker

Also I would add, having only read the literature on these (and not owning them), you should be more likely to get good sound out the SR6500s than most other speakers. They were designed with "ruler flat" frequency response which will help eliminate much of the tuning (and location dependencies) needed for many speakers.

In addition, they were designed to be easy to install, which may mitigate any self installation concerns you have or any concerns about your chosen installers capabilities.

Kevin

bstall

i recently installed these speakers mounted coax in the doors of my g35 and i must say they are by far the best sounding speakers i have ever heard. I was skeptical about the sound i would get from stock door locations but a friend of mine with experience with these drivers told me not to worry and i am glad i listened. They are installed on the supplied adaptor plates with a layer of dynamat on the door as well. The midbass out of these speakers is amazing. i have them running off the front channels of a kicker sx700.4 with a line out converter running off the stock bose deck and they still sound great. Just these speakers sound better and have more bass output than the entire Bose system had before, that included 6 1/2's in all for doors and an 8" sub in the rear deck. I am using the supplied passives and have the kicker highpass set at 40hz. I can not wait to get my sub installed to see how great a simple 5 speaker setup can sound. The angled tweeter mount that they give you for coax mount is great. I have a great center image and the sound is easlily at eye level. even better than i had with kicks in my old car running kicker ss componenets. If you have any other questions about the speakers let me know.

spwuinmk67

Might as well throw my $.2 in here too. They were really made to compete with speakers well above them as far as price goes. I own the MB Q's, which is one of those. Anyone who went to Polkfest last year got to hear them side by side, as well a few others. And Polk hit it dead on with these. I got quite a few comments and reactions from the people in my group, cause they all knew which I owned. Definately a tough call between them. The SR's are outstanding. The HU your looking at is awesome too, I just picked it up myself.

BigSim

"The midbass out of these speakers is amazing."

That's reassuring; not being in a position to demo them before I buy, this was one of the main concerns I had about this set (and all of the higher-end, more 'neutral' speakers), having never really heard a set of high-end speakers before

"The HU you're looking at is awesome too."

I was originally looking at the p780mp, which I thought was nicer looking at the time. I couldn't go past the Auto-EQ and TA of the p880prs, in the end, and the more I look at it, the more the looks are growing on me

Thanks again for your posts

KevinLWhitaker

Hey BigSim,
If you end up getting these I would be interested in reading about your thoughts on them. Not only the sound but also installation, imaging, and break in. As I mentioned I am considering them also but am unable to audition them anywhere nearby which makes me hesitant to purchase. If I do purchase soon I will let you know how they work out.
Kevin

BigSim

I'm getting closer and closer to making a purchase, and I'll be sure to tell you how they go if/when I do Kevin

My next question: where's a good place to have the tweeters installed? Will they be too big for opposite my electric mirrors?

Greg Peters

BigSim wrote:

My next question: where's a good place to have the tweeters installed? Will they be too big for opposite my electric mirrors?

It would depend on what car you are putting them in. The sr tweeters are too big for the sail panels in my own car (leading me to Plan .

You'll need a spot 1 3/4 " around for the oval-shaped angle mount tweeter cups (with 5/8" clearance for depth), or a spot 2" round (with 1" clearance for depth) if you want to use the flush mount cups for the tweeters.

If you have that much room on your sail panels for either option, you're set.

BigSim

That measurement's diameter, right? Just confirming.

Greg Peters

BigSim wrote:

That measurement's diameter, right? Just confirming.

The measurements are indeed diameter. All the specs can be found here-

http://www.polkaudio.com/downloads/manuals/car/SR6500Manual.pdf
SR6500 manual - pdf

The tweeter cups for angle mount are oval, angle the tweeters approx. 10 degrees. The widest part of the oval cup runs 1 3/4" along the plane where the tweeter is angled.

Flush mount cup diameter is 2".

If you've got room in the intended mounting area for either of those options you're all set.

BigSim

Hello again
I'm still yet to buy speakers, but I have my HU and my sub, so I'm getting there slowly

I've never had components before, so excuse my ignorance, but I've got just one more question about the tweeter mounting. If the tweeters are flush mounted in my sail panels, does that mean they actually extend into the sail panels? How about if they're angle mounted?

Thanks again

Greg Peters

BigSim wrote:

If the tweeters are flush mounted in my sail panels, does that mean they actually extend into the sail panels? How about if they're angle mounted?

The tweeters actually do extend below the mounting surface, whether you use the flush mount or angle mount cups.

Polk specs say they have a mounting depth of 1" with the flush cup and 5/8" with the angle mount cup.

I went to listen to the SRs a few months back, and eyed up the mounting options with respect to my own car. It seemed that no matter what, I would be doing some modification to the vehicle to accomodate these in my doors. I picked up a pair today, and should have them installed by the end of the week.

Vestax

I'm sorry but I'm in a different boat. The top end in the Sound Reference is, I agree, a winner with top end extension but the low end is almost non-existent. Sounds a lot like most of the rebadged Vifa driver sets out there. Tonality wise, it plays well with the tweeter, but dont' expect any mind numbing midbass. I'd say if you have a good sub bass driver to compliment your front stage, go for it, otherwise, it's a stretch to say it has a "great" midbass. Morel Elates or Seas Lotus Reference has better midbass IMO.

MacLeod

That is the ONLY complaint I have with the SR's. They should have come with a surface mounting option. Not everybody wants to cut 2" holes in their $30,000 leased vehicle.

exalted512

Vestax wrote:

I'm sorry but I'm in a different boat. The top end in the Sound Reference is, I agree, a winner with top end extension but the low end is almost non-existent. Sounds a lot like most of the rebadged Vifa driver sets out there. Tonality wise, it plays well with the tweeter, but dont' expect any mind numbing midbass. I'd say if you have a good sub bass driver to compliment your front stage, go for it, otherwise, it's a stretch to say it has a "great" midbass. Morel Elates or Seas Lotus Reference has better midbass IMO.

the tweeters are made by vifa, the midbass driver is not. The SRs dont have a whole lot of midbass, but they produce about the norm for that size.
-Cody

1996blackmax

Vestax wrote:

I'm sorry but I'm in a different boat. The top end in the Sound Reference is, I agree, a winner with top end extension but the low end is almost non-existent. Sounds a lot like most of the rebadged Vifa driver sets out there. Tonality wise, it plays well with the tweeter, but dont' expect any mind numbing midbass. I'd say if you have a good sub bass driver to compliment your front stage, go for it, otherwise, it's a stretch to say it has a "great" midbass. Morel Elates or Seas Lotus Reference has better midbass IMO.

I read a thread on another forum where one of the guys mentioned close to the same thing. He ended up taking the SR's out. I forgot which set he actually went with.

Thom

That's funny, because we hear from lots of people who say the SR6500 has too much midbass. We kept it in the ballpark of Quart and Focal, but didn't want to end up with another MM465. We were thinking of making a midbass driver based on the SR6500 but three way sales are pretty light, so who knows if it'll happen.

What crossover point/ slope are you using? Where's the mid mounted?

Thom

Vestax wrote:

I'm sorry but I'm in a different boat. The top end in the Sound Reference is, I agree, a winner with top end extension but the low end is almost non-existent. Sounds a lot like most of the rebadged Vifa driver sets out there. Tonality wise, it plays well with the tweeter, but dont' expect any mind numbing midbass. I'd say if you have a good sub bass driver to compliment your front stage, go for it, otherwise, it's a stretch to say it has a "great" midbass. Morel Elates or Seas Lotus Reference has better midbass IMO.

Did you hear them in a demo room or a car? Most people who say they have no bottom end at all have only heard them in a Tweeter (or HiFi Buys, etc.) demo room. They have absolutely no mid bass in those boards...

MacLeod

Vestax wrote:

I'm sorry but I'm in a different boat. The top end in the Sound Reference is, I agree, a winner with top end extension but the low end is almost non-existent. Sounds a lot like most of the rebadged Vifa driver sets out there. Tonality wise, it plays well with the tweeter, but dont' expect any mind numbing midbass. I'd say if you have a good sub bass driver to compliment your front stage, go for it, otherwise, it's a stretch to say it has a "great" midbass. Morel Elates or Seas Lotus Reference has better midbass IMO.

First off, its SIGNATURE Reference.

Second, you mustve been listening to them either improperly installed, tuned or broken in. These things have mucho plenty of midbass. One thing it kinda lacks is punch and maybe people are confusing the kick with midbass but Im here to tell you that these things will play, with authority, down to 40 Hz.

I have mine crossed over at 65 Hz and my sub at 40 Hz. I had to leave the gap in there because the SR's were actually putting out TOO MUCH midbass. And leaving that gap with an 18 db/oct slope smoothed it out but even with an 18 db slope it still playes 40-65 Hz fine.

Ill put my SR's up against any speaker out there for midbass and while some may have more it wont be much more. Midbass is the one thing I almost never get dinged on in competitions and Ive beaten several people with dedicated midbass speakers!

Vestax

Sorry about that, I could've sworn the box said Sound Reference on it . .. I had the set for a brief moment and installed them IB'ed in glassed pods that I fabricated in my deaden doors. When tuning or crossing 6 1/2" drivers, I usually have a start off point at around 80hz with a really shallow slope, then work my way down with steeper slope. I had a 100 watts to give it from my Tru Technology amp T4.100 v2 with burr brown upgrade with a 9833 and H700, so I think I have enough processor to play with it. Trust me, comparing the SR6500 to drivers like Scanspeak Revelators, Seas Lotus Performance or Reference, or Rainbow Pros (which were in the car before I used these), they seem to bottom out easily, even at moderate volumes. As a stand alone set, I think you're better off crossing them higher than most drivers. If I see a midbass driver start bottoming out 70hz... I'm not going to risk running them lower just to see if the coils will get misaligned or jump out of the basket. I'm not expecting boomy bass 6 1/2 subs like the ED EU700's, just something that won't leave a gap between 60hz and 100hz for my front stage. And I'm not going to enclose drivers that are meant to IB'ed as well, just so I can get low end.

I'm sorry but I don't have special software or an RTA to give you distortion graphs or Klippel measurements, this is just one man's opinion in comparison with other high end drivers. If you can get the set for under $400, it's well worth the price. But at the MSRP that it's at, there are plenty of drivers out there that will be better for the money.

Vestax

Thom wrote:

Did you hear them in a demo room or a car? Most people who say they have no bottom end at all have only heard them in a Tweeter (or HiFi Buys, etc.) demo room. They have absolutely no mid bass in those boards...

Agreed, the FR is way different once you place drivers in a car, especially when you have a weak baffle running them off an internal amp of a HU.

Vestax

1996blackmax wrote:

I read a thread on another forum where one of the guys mentioned close to the same thing. He ended up taking the SR's out. I forgot which set he actually went with.

Could it be a Neodymium magnet or puny voice coil? Nah...

Of course, I would never predict a driver based on T/S parameters, it should be the overall performance, which is what I based it on: the end result.

I think the price is big deterrent for me.

Thom

But at $750 sell price in Tweeter they're quite a bit cheaper than the Quart QSD's. And the other speakers that have big distribution and sell for more money give no more performance. And Car Audio gave them a near identical rating to the Seas Reference. Since Seas have no big distribution it's rare to come across anyone whose heard both sets. But any of the guys affiliated with Seas will tell you that they're the best thing out there. What do the Seas retail for? We could buy a set and Kilppel them here (as we did with the other speakers) but who knows where to buy them. And if the SRs measure better then we'd hear "well they may measure better but measurements aren't everything" like the Buwalda Hybrid fans say. You can't please everyone with one set of speakers.

Maybe your problem was the Tru amp. I've never heard one because the only car I was in had a hidden amp since the Tru always had problems. But I don't go around bashing Tru every time I see them mentioned. I figure just because I've run across a limited amount of product that sucked from one company that not everything they make sucks...

Thom

Vestax wrote:

Agreed, the FR is way different once you place drivers in a car, especially when you have a weak baffle running them off an internal amp of a HU.

But who would spend $750 on components and then run them off deck power?

Thom

And Vestax- I'm not trying to change your mind, I know you guys love Seas over on ECA.

Thom

Especially when it seemed that your feelings were hurt that the Polks got such a good review next to your precious Seas:

http://forum.elitecaraudio.com/showthread.php?threadid=123396

Vestax

Thom wrote:

But who would spend $750 on components and then run them off deck power?

I meant in regards to the demo board.