# HAT L4 abuse



## tard (Jul 13, 2006)

no HAT fan boy or hate crowd views being expressed. i have no one to please, no alter ego's to appease, and need no excuses to justify the money i spent.

that out of the way, all i can say is that few more people need to mess with these drivers and see for themselves what the excitement is about. i'd have to dig deep to come up with a time that $280 was better spent in my couple decades messing with car audio.

i got these drivers to try/test/use as the mid range in a 3 way front set up. scott claims these have a great top end and can be used as a single point source driver. so i gave it a shot to see just how much wind he puffed his own sail with.

grabbed some kicks i had started for some 8's and never finished the fine work on them. made a quick baffle and mounted the L4's. power on tap is 200w x 2. ran the xover 125 hz HP 12 db slope. i didn't use full power, but i did get my foot a good ways into the throttle and pushed these up in volume to a definate "loud" level.

very much to my surprise,..... i'm having second guesses if i even need a tweeter! seriously, these things play as if i had them paired with a soft dome tweeter. i'd pit a pair of these against most run of the mill, main stream 6 1/2" component sets, and that's no joke.

for long term use heavy on volume like i was, i may worry about the coils over heating as a precaution.

i'm even having crazy thoughts of just throwing these in some ported kicks by themselves. no mid bass, no tweeters. just for fun because i know i will send everyone who auditions them into disbelief and have them searching for the other speakers they know have to be in there.

at this time i'm not going to paint this review with all kinds of fancy words of coloration. for a quick over view, they are similar to scans in sound, except with much, much more top end. tonal qualities, they sound good to me. and i consider myself picky with at least half way good ears. for the commonly raved about 4's, i've used both the seas and scan rev's. if the L4's didn't meet my liking criteria, i'd drop them in 1/2 a second to go back to the scans. but that is not the case!


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## 60ndown (Feb 8, 2007)

used as a dediacted midrange (300-4000 + or - a few) my old L3s did a great impersonation of an 8" driver. unfortunately i killed them with too much power/volume.

but it took over a year.

amazing.


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## dalucifer (Oct 8, 2007)

60ndown said:


> used as a dediacted midrange (300-4000 + or - a few) my old L3s did a great impersonation of an 8" driver. unfortunately i killed them with too much power/volume.
> 
> but it took over a year.
> 
> amazing.


how much power is "to much" power?


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## doitor (Aug 16, 2007)

Great that you liked them, tard.
I'm going to change the L3's for the L4's this weekend.

Jorge.


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## tard (Jul 13, 2006)

be sure and give them a rip without your tweeter hooked up and run those bad dogs all the way to 20K. i'd like to see if they impress you as much as they impressed me.


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## benny z (Mar 17, 2008)

hey! good deal! i know where you can buy a set on the cheap nib.


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## Boostedrex (Apr 4, 2007)

doitor said:


> Great that you liked them, tard.
> Jorge.


That just makes me laugh every time I read it.

Back on topic, I am glad to see that more reviews of these drivers are starting to surface. Now I'd just like to see some of them hit the Klippel for some testing.

Zach


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## 60ndown (Feb 8, 2007)

Boostedrex said:


> That just makes me laugh every time I read it.
> 
> Back on topic, I am glad to see that more reviews of these drivers are starting to surface. Now I'd just like to see some of them hit the Klippel for some testing.
> 
> Zach


so if multiple people like the way they sound, 

but the klippel sais theyre crap, 

will you use them?


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## beerdrnkr (Apr 18, 2007)

I'm installing mine today...woohoo!


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## Megalomaniac (Feb 12, 2007)

dalucifer said:


> how much power is "to much" power?





60ndown said:


> so if multiple people like the way they sound,
> 
> but the klippel sais theyre crap,
> 
> will you use them?


someone asked you a question(id like to hear a response to it too)? Guess this proves you dont read the thread often and just post for the sake of posting


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## Genxx (Mar 18, 2007)

Megalomaniac said:


> someone asked you a question(id like to hear a response to it too)? Guess this proves you dont read the thread often and just post for the sake of posting


He only posted the review 5hrs ago maybe he is busy.p Patience people.

I to would like to here more about the L4. I don't have mine installed yet but can't wait to check them out even more now.

Thanks for taking your time to review these.


















Time is up now Tard give us some more answers.


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## Megalomaniac (Feb 12, 2007)

Genxx said:


> He only posted the review 5hrs ago maybe he is busy.p Patience people.
> 
> I to would like to here more about the L4. I don't have mine installed yet but can't wait to check them out even more now.
> 
> ...



my post was directed at 60ndown, he spoke about power handling and what not, never specified how much is too much power


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## WaTTsLOk187 (May 1, 2007)

I've had mine sitting here for a few months. I can't wait to get them in.


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## EricP72 (Mar 23, 2008)

hey you got a PM


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## benny z (Mar 17, 2008)

manish said:


> hey you got a PM


who is "you"?


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## Genxx (Mar 18, 2007)

Megalomaniac said:


> my post was directed at 60ndown, he spoke about power handling and what not, never specified how much is too much power



I was razzing you. See the little smiley's. I was kidding around guess you didn't get it even with the smiley's.LOL I new you were getting 60ndown and I was getting you.

Appears Tard has not returned to check out all the interest in his little quick review yet.


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## kimokalihi (May 27, 2007)

You're saying these 4 inch speakers play as low as a 6.5"? Yet you crossed them at 125hz? I don't know if I believe that. My 6.5" speakers are crossed at 50hz 12db slope and they play pretty low.


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## benny z (Mar 17, 2008)

i don't see where he said that.

i see where he said he'd put them against average run of the mill 6.5" components. ...and he was likely comparing the incredible extended midrange and treble, not midbass.

these are clearly not midbass drivers!!!


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## 12v Electronics (Jun 1, 2008)

tard said:


> very much to my surprise,..... i'm having second guesses if i even need a tweeter! seriously, these things play as if i had them paired with a soft dome tweeter.


I agree with this totally. I have a set of these along with a L1 tweeter in my car. We are testing this set-up for a factory replacement in new BMW's. It will be going passive with the L1. For the last few days, the tweeter has been disconnected as we are working on the crossover. Right now the L4 is playing from 170hz on up and sounds awesome. I can't believe how good it sounds without a tweeter. We have had trouble finding the perfect passive crossover design and now I know why. 

You guys are probably thinking I am exaggerating since I am a dealer for HAT, but I can honestly say that this driver is one of the best I have ever heard. You guys that have them sitting around, get them in and post your honest opinions. I'm sure you will be as amazed as I was.


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## Megalomaniac (Feb 12, 2007)

Genxx said:


> I was razzing you. See the little smiley's. I was kidding around guess you didn't get it even with the smiley's.LOL I new you were getting 60ndown and I was getting you.
> 
> Appears Tard has not returned to check out all the interest in his little quick review yet.


my fault flew over my head big time :blush:


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## tard (Jul 13, 2006)

kimokalihi said:


> You're saying these 4 inch speakers play as low as a 6.5"? Yet you crossed them at 125hz? I don't know if I believe that. My 6.5" speakers are crossed at 50hz 12db slope and they play pretty low.


in terms of "run of the mill main stream", i wasn't referring to the better 6 1/2's that actually have decent mid bass for a full 20-20k spectral range head to head. 

further putting them to the grind stone, i ran them all the way down to 63 hz. now they aren't as effective as a good 6 1/2 that low and i definatelty was careful with the volume. but they are quite surprising how full sounding they are and how much volume they will actually take. i still stick to my notion that in little ported kick pods these would stupify people for the wide range they would play.

xover at 150hz or so (12db slope), i poured the power to them. long term thermal i don't have input on. short term they mechanically handled fine, gets very loud, and maintained their composure doing it. 

i have decided to not run a tweeter. i tried them paired with L1 pro and also LCY 108's. there's just no need.


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## EricP72 (Mar 23, 2008)

benny z said:


> who is "you"?


sorry "you" meaning Doitor...


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## EricP72 (Mar 23, 2008)

hey just wanted to know if anyone here has a L3 that they want to sell?


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## Boostedrex (Apr 4, 2007)

60ndown said:


> so if multiple people like the way they sound,
> 
> but the klippel sais theyre crap,
> 
> will you use them?


Yes, I'd still use them. The Klippel doesn't make me or keep me from buying speakers. I break it down like this:

Look at Klippel test reviews to see how close published T/S specs are and get an idea of how the driver would perform

Look at user reviews to see other's impressions given certain types of installs, X-over points, power used, etc... Then bump those reviews against the Klippel results to see if everything jives. If it doesn't then I'm actually more likely to pick up some and test them out to see why things don't line up between machine and human testing.


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## ehiunno (Feb 26, 2008)

I still want to know how much power killed those L3's...

Regardless I always wanted the L4, but the price difference used between the two isn't justifiable to me. Used L3's go for low 100's, I got mine for $125 but used L4's are still well over $200.


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## benny z (Mar 17, 2008)

ehiunno said:


> ...used L4's are still well over $200.


...or you could buy my bnib pair for $215 shipped!


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## jonnyanalog (Nov 14, 2007)

TARD nice write up for some 'primitive' speakers. LOL
(check some other thread in general discussion to see what i mean....=) )
HATs have intrigued me for quite a while now!


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## tard (Jul 13, 2006)

have a link to the one in particular you're referring to? 

is it the one about iasca and definition of SQ?


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## foosman (Oct 14, 2007)

I don't want to be one to pile on since I am part of Team Hybrids, but I can tell you I have had my Legatia 841 set in since the first of the year, so they are broken in fairly well. I have tried several settings, but for the last 2 competitions I have had the L4's playing from 100hz up to 6.3k with a -24db slope, and had to set my digital gain on the H701 down -6. Scott makes a great product, hope more people give them a shot. Anyone in the DFW area can come hear mine if they need to see for themselves. Foos


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## unpredictableacts (Aug 16, 2006)

foosman 100 said:


> I don't want to be one to pile on since I am part of Team Hybrids, but I can tell you I have had my Legatia 841 set in since the first of the year, so they are broken in fairly well. I have tried several settings, but for the last 2 competitions I have had the L4's playing from 100hz up to 6.3k with a -24db slope, and had to set my digital gain on the H701 down -6. Scott makes a great product, hope more people give them a shot. Anyone in the DFW area can come hear mine if they need to see for themselves. Foos


let me know when you are in the central AR area. Iwhat is the date of the Dallas FWT meet? I may see if I can swing a day off.


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## dejo (Jan 3, 2006)

Foosman's car is definitly worth hearing too. been in that monster 2 times now. impressed both times.


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