# New Boston Acoustics SPZ info and pics ... For Werewolf



## JAG (May 6, 2006)

Here's a first look at what BA is up to. These should be released by mid Jan ... Enjoy !


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2006)

thanks dude!

Interesting basket ... i think 

I'll be interested to read the first review, and hear them when i get a chance.

As I've said before, I've read the Boston patent on the AMD (Ampltiude Modulation Device) bridge covering the tweet. The little holes provide small cavity resonators, designed to help manage high frequency resonances from the dome/diaphragm.

And kudos to Boston for at least attempting to "optimize" a tweet without a 4" faceplate for car audio


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## 3.5max6spd (Jun 29, 2005)

Interesting indeed. I wonder how that tweeter plate affects the sound of the woofer.


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## 02bluesuperroo (Oct 31, 2006)

3.5max6spd said:


> Interesting indeed. I wonder how that tweeter plate affects the sound of the woofer.


I was wondering this as well.


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## JAG (May 6, 2006)

werewolf said:


> thanks dude!
> 
> Interesting basket ... i think
> 
> ...


When I took the factory tour at Boston , they did an amazing demonstration on how that AMD device worked. It was literally mind blowing.


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## JAG (May 6, 2006)

3.5max6spd said:


> Interesting indeed. I wonder how that tweeter plate affects the sound of the woofer.


Boston claims that tweeter plate is accounted for in the design process , and that it is acoustically transparent in front of the mid-bass driver. I dunno ... Sounds like an awfully difficult thing to achieve.


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## ocuriel (Oct 7, 2005)

Interesting driver indeed.


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2006)

To first order (that's a popular engineering phrase, ya know), the dimensions of the "obstruction" in front of the woofer should be compared to the acoustic _wavelength_ of the highest frequency the woofer is asked to reproduce ... rather than any physical dimension of the woofer itself.


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## mikechec9 (Dec 1, 2006)

Not a fan of the previous Pro's design. 
Sort of difficult to optimize the build quality with the awkward plastic housing of the tweeter just waiting to be kicked in. All of the _Tweeters/Hi Fi Buys_ *cringe* I visited after they picked up Boston had a broken tweeter mount.

This model seems even more gaudy...and not so functional. 
Which would make it all the more interesting if it actually sounds good...and doesn't break.


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## JAG (May 6, 2006)

mikechec9 said:


> Not a fan of the previous Pro's design.
> Sort of difficult to optimize the build quality with the awkward plastic housing of the tweeter just waiting to be kicked in. All of the _Tweeters/Hi Fi Buys_ *cringe* I visited after they picked up Boston had a broken tweeter mount.
> 
> This model seems even more gaudy...and not so functional.
> Which would make it all the more interesting if it actually sounds good...and doesn't break.


The SPZ tweeter housing is CNC aluminum


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## mikechec9 (Dec 1, 2006)

AVI said:


> The SPZ tweeter housing is CNC aluminum


 
Must have been the joint (still seemed flimsy though).
And correction: it was the Z with which I wasn't so impressed, not the Pros.


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## Guest (Dec 9, 2006)

I thought the tweeter mount in the Z-Series is aluminum too ...


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## JAG (May 6, 2006)

werewolf said:


> I thought the tweeter mount in the Z-Series is aluminum too ...


It is indeed .... It's the Pro Series that is plastic , and from installing over 100 sets last year , i've never seen one break


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## mikechec9 (Dec 1, 2006)

I'm just a fan of neat presentation and sound construction. 
While I doubt one would be damaged too frequently during a competent pro install, I still think the design places too much stress on the joint in the event of collision. That's undoubtedly the case in the sets I saw. 

But that was years ago during their inception...right after they were awarded _for_ their design. 
But I still don't care for them. award or no.

But like I said, it would make it all the more interesting if the SPZ actually sounds good..._and_ doesn't break.


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## zfactor (Oct 19, 2005)

so how do we think these will sound??? any thoughts from anyone??


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## JAG (May 6, 2006)

mikechec9 said:


> I'm just a fan of neat presentation and sound construction.
> While I doubt one would be damaged too frequently during a competent pro install, I still think the design places too much stress on the joint in the event of collision. That's undoubtedly the case in the sets I saw.
> 
> But that was years ago during their inception...right after they were awarded _for_ their design.
> ...


Uh ... Seriously dude ....
Do you REALLY think one of the parameters designed into speakers by manufacturers is "collision worthiness" ?? LOL


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## JAG (May 6, 2006)

zfactor said:


> so how do we think these will sound??? any thoughts from anyone??


Well ... I wouldn't know. But I'm really hoping BA improves their tweeter's sound with this new speaker. I don't think anyone can argue their ability to get the mid-range right .... and they REALLY do know what they're doing , and have one of the most impressive design, engineering and manufacturing factories in the world. I was sooooooo damn impressed with my two hour tour for dealers. these guys are truly fanatics , which just vexes me considering they just do NOT make a tweeter that sounds like real music !
I went out on a limb and called them down about it , and in front of 25 other dealers on that tour. They him-hawed around and tried to tell me they were ruler flat , and provided proof even .... But I still insisted they should get the tweets right. With some of the things they said to me I think they know they need to improve in that area. 
I can tell you that Leif ________ I forget his last name right now ... But he's the engineer that designed the original ADS 330 series speakers , and also the MB Quart Q Series .... He's their head engineer. The Z-Series is not his design , but the new Pro Series is ..... and in my opinion , the new Pro Series sounds better than the Z-Series does all day long !
On to the mid-bass driver.... I personally think that Boston has had the VEY BEST sounding subs consistently , since the introduction of their old Pro LF subs. They may not have ever been SPL worthy , but musical accuracy they always were ! Their new SPG-555 sub is without any doubt THE BEST sounding sub i have ever heard. It is simply amazing beyond belief.
Considering this , I feel their new 6.5" mid-bass with 1" excursion should be SICK !! They told us it would hit as hard as any 8" driver anywhere , and I hesitate to doubt their claims after hearing their subs.
Keep in mind their Z-Series has been out for a LOT of years , and has truly been passed by with more modern offerings , so this new SPZ is being built to re-gain the top of the totem pole .... Only time will tell.
Hope this lengthy post helps ....


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## mikechec9 (Dec 1, 2006)

AVI said:


> Uh ... Seriously dude ....
> Do you REALLY think one of the parameters designed into speakers by manufacturers is "collision worthiness" ?? LOL


Indeed, "seriously"...how many manufacturers of speaker sets do you know that design a coax with a 4-5" tweeter housing extending an inch from the mid-cone, suspended by a joint 1in in diameter? 

Your point is the same as mine: I _don't_ think that "collision worthiness" was a parameter taken into consideration. 
But I do believe it should have been 

It's not really all _that_ serious to me. Just an observation and preference is all.


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## JAG (May 6, 2006)

mikechec9 said:


> Indeed, "seriously"...how many manufacturers of speaker sets do you know that design a coax with a 4-5" tweeter housing extending an inch from the mid-cone, suspended by a joint 1in in diameter?
> 
> Your point is the same as mine: I _don't_ think that "collision worthiness" was a parameter taken into consideration.
> But I do believe it should have been


Ah yes .... Why do you think that design is called a " throwing star " ... JJ


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## mikechec9 (Dec 1, 2006)

AVI said:


> Ah yes .... Why do you think that design is called a " throwing star " ... JJ


...Should have been called "a mistake," lol


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## zfactor (Oct 19, 2005)

so did lief design this new set of z's??


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## JAG (May 6, 2006)

zfactor said:


> so did lief design this new set of z's??


Yes he did .... I mean is ... YES


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## ATB (Aug 30, 2005)

When are these supoosed to be out? I am planning a sysem for our new wagon and I had boston pros in my first 2 cars 13 and 11 years ago that I really liked. 

I think I learned to like the overly "detailed" tweeters  I have MBQ QSDs in my current car and I actually like the tweeters that most people cant stand.


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## JAG (May 6, 2006)

ATB said:


> When are these supoosed to be out? I am planning a sysem for our new wagon and I had boston pros in my first 2 cars 13 and 11 years ago that I really liked.
> 
> I think I learned to like the overly "detailed" tweeters  I have MBQ QSDs in my current car and I actually like the tweeters that most people cant stand.


Were you ever an artillery man in the Army ? LOL Just joking man.  
The SPZ is supposed to be out mid January.


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## zfactor (Oct 19, 2005)

when installed right i dont find anything really wrong with the qsd tweeters myself.. its a poor install that makes em sound like crap imo


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## montyburns (Jan 3, 2006)

Indeed. Most people make the mistake of installing them inside the car; I find mounting inside the trunk can attenuate the high frequencies enough to enjoy then. haha me so funny.



zfactor said:


> when installed right i dont find anything really wrong with the qsd tweeters myself.. its a poor install that makes em sound like crap imo


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## JAG (May 6, 2006)

montyburns said:


> Indeed. Most people make the mistake of installing them inside the car; I find mounting inside the trunk can attenuate the high frequencies enough to enjoy then. haha me so funny.


Ha ha ha .... AGREED Bro ! The best install in the world does NOT change the inherent characteristics of this tweeter ...


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## Guest (Feb 15, 2007)

specs and owner's manual posted on the Boston Site ... thanks again AVI !

http://www.bostonacoustics.com/car/car_product.aspx?category_id=14&family_id=136


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## Dangerranger (Apr 12, 2006)

I like the fact that Boston is focusing on making components that are tailored more to getting great performance from factory locations. It's a direction I'd like to see more manufacturers take. It's unfortunate that in order to get good performance from factory spots, it typically means that you'll be spending more money to do it due to what's required to accomplish it (higher order crossovers, better tweeters due to typically lower x-over points, so on and so forth), when it would be such a good market in the budget price range. And while performance from stock spots may not be the big concern for those like us-basically those that are willing to go the extra mile with their installation, it will still be of benefit to those that either don't want to gut their car, are dealing with wife acceptance factor, etc. 

That said, I am curious about the basket design. It seems pretty restrictive to airflow. I'm not talking from a heat management standpoint, it appears like it'd release heat just fine. Mainly just whether that basket is going to be a restriction to airflow from the rear of the cone, because it sure looks like one. I'm a fan of the cast baskets you see from those like SEAS and Scanspeak-plenty strong and well designed aerodynamically. I don't know if I'd get *too* excited about 22mm peak to peak excursion. If you like harmonic distortion, maybe a peak to peak number will do you some justice, but I wonder the linear capabilities of the driver itself. Just a point of reference, a driver from the SEAS standard lineup, the Scanspeak Revelator, Nextel Excels, all have 22mm peak-to-peak excursion. And they all are different in linear excursion, the BL curve, their midbass capabilities, so on and so forth, and we're talking companies that I feel are more fanatical and have better capabilities than BA, though BA does have some impressive production/R&D techniques themselves. But I can't see them putting out a motor that would "best" a driver like a Nextel Excel or a Revelator in driver linearity. But what I'm really saying is that even those aforementioned drivers aren't going to give you the output that a solid 8" would, especially in a car door opposed to a properly designed ported enclosure in a home or similar, and I wouldn't expect that BA driver to do it either. Of course, it will depend on the design of Boston's midbass. considering that the efficiency is on the low side (90db using 2.83V/1M for a 3 ohm driver? Which is actually about 2.67 watts? Note: I hate when car audio manufacturers use the 2.83V 8 ohm driver standard and claim it as 1W/1M). Looking at the low efficiency I'd imagine it to be a higher Qts driver, which would mean it would probably do well for output in a car door. So hey, maybe it will be a midbass monster, never know. I just wouldn't raise the bar too high just yet. You'd just be setting yourself up for a disappointment.

The tweeters could use some improvement to sound more natural. I like the AMD, that's nice, they just need to focus on distortion performance (so hard to do with a wimpy compact dome) and perhaps more consideration to materials technology, particularly energy storage performance and/or any resonance peaks that could be pushed higher or damped more effectively. Hard to find extensive tests on those tweeters, so mainly just an educated guess on what's hindering them, which is a pretty fair assumption for lackluster performance from any driver. FR is the easiest thing to correct, I'd rather see stellar energy storage performance and low distortion, and of course tonal balance in general.


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## Guest (Feb 15, 2007)

Regarding the newer Boston tweets, that AMD device ... the little bridge in front of the diaphragm ... contains little holes that are designed to be cavity resonators, whose primary job _is_ to help reduce resonant peaks in the tweeters output.


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## Dulyman (Jan 25, 2007)

have you heard the SPZ's Warewolf?
I wrote out such a nice long paragraph about boston etc and my views and my damn Browser froze!!!!! ;(]
I just ruined one of my Z6's so i must either do the scan speak route/Get a new set of Z6's or replace the Z6's with the SPZ's
I like the idea of Boston because i achived really good sound with little technical effort,i was very surprised with Such small speakers doing so well...with so little help from a setup...


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## Dangerranger (Apr 12, 2006)

werewolf said:


> Regarding the newer Boston tweets, that AMD device ... the little bridge in front of the diaphragm ... contains little holes that are designed to be cavity resonators, whose primary job _is_ to help reduce resonant peaks in the tweeters output.


True, just saying there's something I find a bit unpleasant about them, and there are others that feel the same way. Considering I haven't seen extended measurements from tweets like those, I couldn't pinpoint what the exact problem is, but just guessing at it. I'd like to see an engineering analysis of those tweets, the pros and cons, since you find limited info on the stuff.


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## JAG (May 6, 2006)

Dangerranger said:


> True, just saying there's something I find a bit unpleasant about them, and there are others that feel the same way. Considering I haven't seen extended measurements from tweets like those, I couldn't pinpoint what the exact problem is, but just guessing at it. I'd like to see an engineering analysis of those tweets, the pros and cons, since you find limited info on the stuff.


I must agree with this. I was amazed at the demonstration of the AMD device I saw when visiting the Boston plant, but I still dislike the Boston tweeters.


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## Guest (Feb 15, 2007)

nope ... have not yet heard the SPZ's 

But in my experience, Boston does have a long history of making "installer friendly" drivers ... so it's no surprise that many have found them to sound pretty darn good, "right out of the box", with little tuning. Best speakers made? Probably not. Best for the money, then? Hard to say.

Regarding the AMD on the tweets ... I've read Boston's patent, a decent source for more technical info. If anyone is interested i can dig up the patent number


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## Dulyman (Jan 25, 2007)

what if you added a scan 3004/6600 to the SPZ's???? 
Hmmmmmmm


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## cmusic (Nov 16, 2006)

As a Z6 owner I really like them. In my previous IASCA competition car I had Scan 12M mids in the kicks, 6000 tweeters in the a-pillars, and Dyn MW180 midbasses in the doors. In my current car I wanted to use the factory door locations and no kicks. I felt the midrange of the Z6s were the closest in tonality to the Scan 12Ms in my previous car for a speaker designed to be in a car door enviroment. 

When I first installed them I felt the tweeter was still a little loud even with the tweeter circuit on the passive crossover set to -4. My factory tweeter location is high and just inside of the side mirrors. My guess is Boston had designed the tweeter to be a little hot because they figured most of the installations would have the tweeter coaxially mounted with the woofer in the lower front doors. A tweeter mounted down low and off axis needs to be a little hot. Unfortunately when the speakers are listened to on axis (like on a soundboard in a shop) the tweeters will sound bad.

When I bi-amped the Z6s and removed the passive crossovers I could lower the tweeter level even more the tweeters became wonderful sounding. I have the woofer and tweeter actively crossover at 2.5 KHz, 24 dB slope and powered with a 4 channel amp tested at 169 watts per channel into 4 ohms. The tweeters are not harsh at all. The lower treble is simular to the Scan 6000 tweeter as I can remember. It has much better off-axis upper treble extension than the 6000. The only eq I am using on the set is a slight boost of 40, 50 , and 63 Hz on the woofer and a 2 dB cut at 5Khz. I'm highly happy with the Z6s and look forward to listening to the SPZs.

BTW in 1997 I used a set of Boston Pro 4.2s in the kicks of my IASCA competition car. As I have always done, I did my own installation and tuning and had the speakers hidded behind grills in the kicks. I can remember at one IASCA show I scored very high in SQ. After the show the SQ judge asked what speakers I used. I told him Boston Pro 4.2s. He said "If I had known that you probably would not have scored as good as you did. I hate Boston speakers." So don't always prejudge how a system sounds based on the brands used.


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## bassfromspace (Jun 28, 2016)

CMusic, I concur with you wholeheartedly. The Z tweet is very good although it's really install dependent. When you get it dialed in properly, it's the best combo of detail and smooth that I've ever heard.


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## Dulyman (Jan 25, 2007)

CMusic you the man...And well I'm an idiot...using an active crossover was too obvious for me to do...  i should have done that the second i saw/suspected a flaw with my Cross overs...
I also find that alot of people pre judge the Boston Speakers...There was a long post on ECA about the SPG555 and how ridiculous an oval woofer is etc...
But from what i heard theSPG isan awesome woofer too..

Apparently the SPZ's will take as much power as the Z6's do...  
So i can still use my C2k 4.0 for them...

If the Tweets are still a bit high/harsh(which i agree with)then i'll do the same and loose the crosovers and make a plan...If using the boston tweets don't do it for me still...
I'll skip to scan 6000's or 6600's but ialso like the look of the Hiquphons's too...
Then i'll have an excuse for the Full scan setup i wanted...
I just totally felt that the Z6 midbass was awesome...when i felt the cone of the Woofer i could see why...

I'm also wanting to try the Hybridaudio speakers and SO MANY more...


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## Guest (Mar 12, 2007)

Are these available yet? Certainly can now be found on boston's site, manual too 

Who's heard them?


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## Dulyman (Jan 25, 2007)

Don't think We'll hear a review soon i think...Iemailed Jeff smith and he said he's getting a set soon..well in a few weeks...and that was last week...

I'm also licking my lips....

I know i'll get a groan but i heard Indo car audio has them available...  or 

They're the only guys who would ship em to me...in south Africa.local dealers are DEATH here for Boston...

I'm still waiting to hear how good the SPG555 is forreal...i've just heard a few people say its a good sub...but nothing in the Review side..


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## hybridamp (Oct 10, 2006)

No recent news on the SPZ?


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## Dulyman (Jan 25, 2007)

last i heard Jeff smith ordered a pair a while ago...would love it if he posted his thouhts if someone here knows him.


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## 03blueSI (Feb 5, 2006)

Now I know it is 4 months since the last post, but I thought I would reply since I just got these speakers and installed them today. The sound is amazing. Right now I have them coaxially mounted in the door of my tC with no deadening. The midbass and midrange are amazing. The treble is good, but not amazing. If they are anything like the Z6 they will take some time to breakin and should sound much better then.

I just can't wait to add an amp and get my sub in and the doors deadened.


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## freeride1685 (Oct 3, 2007)

i have two sets of SPZ50s that will be installed...both the fronts and rears as component sets, with the fronts passive and the rears attempted to be used in the special surround setup that werewolf mentioned (L-R Difference, etc.) i am extremely excited, as they will be run off of Boston GT-24 amps with a Clarion DRZ9255 HU and Behringer DCX2496 processor, in conjunction with a SPG555 (also pushed by a third GT-24)


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## 00poop6x (Jan 20, 2007)

freeride1685 said:


> i have two sets of SPZ50s that will be installed...both the fronts and rears as component sets, with the fronts passive and the rears attempted to be used in the special surround setup that werewolf mentioned (L-R Difference, etc.) i am extremely excited, as they will be run off of Boston GT-24 amps with a Clarion DRZ9255 HU and Behringer DCX2496 processor, in conjunction with a SPG555 (also pushed by a third GT-24)


And how is it?


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## havok20222 (Sep 5, 2007)

C'mon man, this thread is 2 years old. Don't do that.


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## 00poop6x (Jan 20, 2007)

havok20222 said:


> C'mon man, this thread is 2 years old. Don't do that.


Follow-up not allowed. Sorry guys.


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