# A short take: Seas RW220 + RT27F



## Rbsarve (Aug 26, 2005)

Hi thought I'd share some thoughts on a system I set up yesterday.
Very early yet since the system has only been playing for a few hours and these do need a little breaking in.

The system is:
Alpine IVA310+H701
3 sinfoni amps. Two bridged on each 8", loads of power.
And the seas kit. That's it.

The speakers are mounted straight into the kickpanels, playing IB out in the fender.

Crossover frequency is 1.6k 24 dB.

Brought out my rta. Loudest frequency is 28 Hz! These are badass mids for sure.

Amazed that the tweets can play this low and still sound unstrained! The customer plays loud!  

Un-eq'd:
Overall a very resolved sound, no steep peaks or dip in the frequency responce, but lower midrange is rather colored and the voices felt as they where inside a small box.

Using the P-eq
The 8 is putting out way to much energy 120-250 Hz. A big cut around 160 Hz helped loads.
A little cut was needed at 800 Hz to clean up things more.
Then some shine. A couple of dB's extra at 2 k. (Again, impressed on the tweeters ability to handle this).
And due to the location at the ankles, a few dB's at 14 k too.
finally a little boost at 45 Hz so that the customer feels more in a car, sub bass was a little dry.

End result.
+ Really musical, relaxed with a true hi-fi feel to the sound. Coherent.
- Soundstage a bit low (about 5" over the dash) and narrow, still lacking high frequency sparkle.

Overall I'm impressed. The speakers are highly recommended. 

I'll probably be adding a pair of "supertweeters" on top of the dash to add some ambience.


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## hc_TK (Jan 18, 2006)

Rbsarve said:


> Hi thought I'd share some thoughts on a system I set up yesterday.
> Very early yet since the system has only been playing for a few hours and these do need a little breaking in.
> 
> The system is:
> ...


Youst boost the tweeters a few db at 16-20khz and that will solve much of the top end spark. Mine sound incredible!


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## Rbsarve (Aug 26, 2005)

Yeah, but yours are on top of the dash. The location of these cuts almost anything above 15 kHz away. So I had to fake it using 14 kHz.


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## dBassHz (Nov 2, 2005)

pictures please


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## iyamwutiam (Nov 20, 2006)

Sounds great - wondering why not a another set of tweeters up top. 

While we are at it - I forgot the guys name - but I know DIY members have an elephantine memory - there was a discussion on ELCA - about a guy who does lot of hi-end cars (ferraris etc) car audio- and in the discussion - he mentioned putting tweeters in the rearview mirrors!! - Yes there - and having them bounce of the windshield to heighten stage - sort of liek a hidden CDT upstage kit. I wonder - does a second set of tweets really hep that much - espeically if they are like the seas - and can xover so low.


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## newtitan (Mar 7, 2005)

so how is the low end (50hz to 150hz) on these since the Q is so low ?

I had the older version, and those things slapped so quick and fast it was amazing, I loved the top end op to about 1500 or so, but I never got em to go deep kick you in the chest midbass for some reason

I was limiting mine with I think 150W or so, and man they ate it up like it was nothing

was the motor improved, or any other empirical differences with this new 07 version?

might want to try em one day

I dream of these mated to that genesis 4" mid/tweeter but my pockets are emptier than the height of my dreams some times lol


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## Rbsarve (Aug 26, 2005)

Well a short follow up is needed. Me and the customer was competing this weekend (different classes) and they where literally breaking in during the competetions. The setup sounded ok in the morning but awful at mid day!  I have never heard such a difference on before and after! Complete re-tweak is needed! 

But the soundstage has now risened and widened! Have to get back on this after I had some more time on the drivers.

Newtitan:
Bass range is simply great. The car doesn't have subs and I doubt anyone would miss them. That togheter with the amazing SEAS tactility is just so sweet... I have actually been thinking of using these together with the Scan 12M in my car.


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## Rbsarve (Aug 26, 2005)

Ok time for part 3.

Speakers has now got a couple of more hours on them, so the customer came by today for a tweak session. 

The result was nothing but impressive. 

In the end I settled for this crossover setup: 
No HP on the mids. LP at 1.2 kHz, 12 dB/Oct 
Tweeters coming in at 1.6 kHz, 24 dB/Oct.

These where choosen since it gave the best transition in the midrange and kept well off the 8's cone break up.

After liberal use of the H701's graphic eq, especially around the 200 Hz range this is simply one of the best car audio system's I've heard. Weaknesses is mainly a bit fuzzy focus and still sligthly narrow soundstage. But the rest...
Wow! 
Lovely ambience, rooms are really well reproduced within the stage, both male and female voices aswell as guitars, oboes, flutes, pianos sounds pretty real. 

I've played a lot of music on the system now, classical, dire straits, yello, ac/dc, tlc... and you just want to play louder!

Since this two way system is powered by 160 W RMS per tweeter and 320 W RMS per midbass you only stop turning up when power compression sets in, and then you do play loud! 

A note on one of the tracks, Dire Straits - Money For Nothing. After a little more then a minute into this track, a fat guitar line kicks in. There is something in this track that you have to have a VERY good system to hear.
The guitar is not one fat one, it is two overlayed ones.
I had never heard it in a car before tonight... 

Some possible improvements would be a little more damping of the kickpanels are needed to kill some wave resonances and output still drops heavily above 15 kHz, so a ribbon tweet will probably be added on the dash to make up for this.

Still amazed how this plays. A two way system in the kicks and 3 two channel amps! Re-affirmation of KISS!


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## DonovanM (Nov 1, 2006)

That's great to hear. KISS indeed - I love it!


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## kskywr (Oct 2, 2006)

Rbsarve said:


> - Soundstage a bit low (about 5" over the dash) and narrow, still lacking high frequency sparkle.


 5" over the dash sounds pretty good to me. How high would you consider to be ideal? Also, what model car is it? It must have huge kicks!


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## rutger j (Aug 1, 2005)

the car is a Merc 560 coupe.

And as Rbsarve says, the car did change its "sound apperance" quite dramaticly.
I listened to it on friday evening and it sounded pretty decent (the EMMA Sweden final was held friday-saturday) and judged it on saturday afternoon.
When I judged it, it sounded...well...not that good at all.
There were a lot of problems with the soundstage and the tonality wasn´t that good either, surprisingly I have to say because it sounded pretty good the evening before...

I haven´t listened to it since the final (late october) so I have to rely on mr Rbsarve´s word on how it sounds now.
But that´s not a problem, I trust in him wholeheartedly.

Sincerely
Rutger


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## Rbsarve (Aug 26, 2005)

Awww shucks! :blush:

Anyway I found out that the owner has some pics on the "old sledge" on the net. Nothing on the speakers yet what I could see though...

Here it is: http://www.garaget.org/?car=52124


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