# Dayton RS225 First impressions :D



## demon2091tb (May 30, 2005)

Well most of you know that PE had a sale over the weekend on the RS225-8ohm, so i decided to pick up a pair, total was $70 ~ $83 shipped to me.

*First impressions:*

DAG, these things are beefy as hell, and damn pretty, the metal cone and phase plug are sexy as hell. Straight up boner driver here people  Just rudementary playing with the driver, and equal pressure on the cone to see the available excursion, these things have got some mad excursion potential.

I plan on mating them with an already ordered pair of WR125S's and my HT LPG 26nafm's that i already own (FM for flush mount flange, around 1" wider than car version). Still waiting an email from Dan at Adire for quote on having xovers built, or i may build my own if time allows, and i learn how 


*Power/Box/Xover:*

I know it sounds really ghetto, but i broke out a rather sturdy cardboard box, and ghetto rigged a little listening test, hooked up to my home reciever. The cardboard box measures in at .58cf, a bit on the small side, but my only other box was the PE cardboard box they came in, it was exactly 1cf, but i didn't want to butcher it if i needed to send them back for some reason or another. So into the .58cf box 1 went. PE recommends .8 sealed for an f3 of 58hz, and 1.5cf ported for an f3 of 35hz. Power off of my Reciever is around IIRC [email protected] in stereo mode ( only L & R, in surround mode its [email protected]). No xover was used in this test, it was played just as it came out of the box, just for ****s and giggles 

*Results:*

As far as i can tell these drivers are really detailed, and the response is very nice and extended for an 8" driver. Recommended playing range was up to about 2k, and this seems pretty right on. I just listened to a bit of radio, flipping through different stations to see how it handled differnt types of music and all, and i was very pleased. The actual FR shows a lack of any info b/w 2-4k, and some cone breakup issues from 5k up. and from listening briefly in the too too small ghetto box, in some ways this is right, but i've never really heard cone breakup, so it may have been my inexperience in picking it out. The vocals coming out of this 8" are a beauty, upper female vocals seemed to lack though because of the 8-10db drop from 2-4k, and it seemed rather right on, which is why the upper female vocals seemed to lack. Off axis response seems amazing for this size driver, dosent seem like it starts to lack till up around 2k where the response starts to suffer.

As far as midbass goes, it seems like it has the potential to have a nice bit of output, which was limited at the time from a sealed enclosure too too small, PE recommends a .8 for a f3 of 58, and even a 1.5cf for an f3 of 35 hz, and i can beleive it. As far as cone movement in this .58cf enclosure, nearly non-existant, but it was still very nice and firm in the range it played. I definently think if i could get it in a larger sealed or ported enclsosure this thing would shine in the midbass region, I couldn't even see the cone moving at all, and it still did really well with some output levels, granted it couldn't drop as low as needed because of the small box.



All i can really say is i can't wait to get it in an appropriately dampened ported enclosure and let it wang bigtime.

These drivers are awesome. I should have more uneducated reviews in a few days or a week on the WR125S's that belong with them, i'll give a little review like this one as soon as i get them in the mail.

Dang i know you've wanted more people to review things so i decided i'd throw some out for ya 

Hope this is appropriate and shows my lack of knowledge 

Stay tuned for the WR125's later this week or early next week.


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## cotdt (Oct 3, 2005)

thanks for the nice review. the RS225 is a steal. it's my favorite midbass at any price: it's warm, detailed, spacious, and smooth. bass output is also very nice, but not as crazy as the higher-excursion 8"s. these are only good up to 1.2kHz btw, above that they lose definition. Even the RS180 loses definition above 1.4kHz. in a 3-way like yours, 2nd order at 400-600Hz looks nice for the RS225.

don't go ported btw. ported sucks IMHO. it's great for subless 7's but 8's don't need it. bass sounds looser, sorta like it just lingers there. sealed sounds way snappier.

let us know how your project goes. sounds like it'll be a kickass speaker


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## Finleyville (Jun 17, 2005)

Thanks for the review Demon! As you probably saw I too picked up a pair at PE for the same price. After my car gets the install I will be pairing these up with the RS28A-4's for a killer two-way bookshelf in one of PE's enclosures. I cannot wait!


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## Derek (Jun 4, 2005)

if dan can get you a solid design on the bandpassing of the wr's.....you should be able to use pretty much textbook on the dayton and the lpg's....since you are passing those lpg's pretty high....might even wanna try just a 2nd order at like 12k...


dan's designed a few for me just with me giving him cabinet dimensions and drivers....he's measured the tweeter i use before though....but even his eyeball designs have been right on the mark so far  next week i start on my new center channel with 2 extremii and morel mdt22....very excited


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## demon2091tb (May 30, 2005)

Thanks for the reply guys, Derek i'm still waiting on a PM back from Dan, buisy guy, and i'm really in no rush lol.

cotdt, they do loose a little definention, but playing by themselves its not toooooooo noticable, with a relaly detailed tweet, i'm sure it would though.

I do beleive i may be able to design the xovers my self, but i don't really think i'll be able to use any EQing with the design, but level matching yes. I would need a xover point at 6-7k, as well as another down near ~300hz. I'm very excited as well about this project, I plan on a black piano type finish.

I've been reading a few different guides on xover designs and such, but the only thing i lack is modeling software and a mic. I don't know if its even worth it to bite the bullet and order some software cause i don't build setups that often, if i'm VERY happy with this one it could be my last for along while.

And i'd love to save my money where i can, and not spend ~250 just on xovers, thats almost more than all my drivers combined.

But the tweets would need padding down a few db (~5db) to mate well with the WR's and the daytons 1-2db. Should be a very fun project, i think with a xover point high enough these LPG's are gonna sing REALLY nice.

BTW thanks all for reading


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## mtnickel (Mar 15, 2005)

if you are mounting them away from the wall, or further than a foot or so, then you may want to consider Baffle step compensation. That way you wouldn't have to pad the woofer...simply incorperate it's extra efficiency into the design. anyways, good luck with the build. the drivers show much promise for an excellent sounding 3 way.

I've got a pair of RS225's i may mate to my Tang band 2" in a budget 2 way. Probably cross at 1khz with a 3 or 4th crossover.

Good luck.

Mark


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