# H-Audio Soul Midrange and x2 Wideband Tweeter Review



## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

As I'm sure you guys know by now, Mark Brooks has started up H-Audio out of his hometown of Miami (well, close...). Mark has been a great asset to this forum and many others. He and I started chatting earlier this year when I was seeking some install fabrication work. Throughout the period of a couple months he and I talked pretty regularly. He started telling me about some awesome drivers he had been testing. Then out of nowhere it seemed, he decided he was going to do something about getting some solid drivers over here in the US for a good price. His passion really shone through in our conversations and the man knows what he's talking about. 
He signed up to be a sponsor of the next Alabama BBQ on October 17th, 2009. His gift to us was a set of Soul midranges and x2 wideband tweeters. Mark asked nothing of me by giving these to me to giveaway. 
When I got them in last week I was really impressed. Especially with the little x2 driver. 
I did take pictures myself, but they can be found here so I'll not worry about putting them up right now. 
Specs on the drivers can be found here:
x2 wideband tweeter
Soul Midrange


*Test Parameters:*
This test was done using my audison bitone for processing but ONLY used with x-over points. NO time alignment, phase, or EQ changes or anything. Only the x-overs were used.
A calibrated behringer ecm8000 microphone, along with an m-audio mobile pre were used with my dell laptop to run these tests. Software used was TrueRTA. Sine sweeps were performed. No long term pink noise testing. No gated measurements, either. A quick sine full range sine chirp was used and that's it.

Each measurement is taken parallel to the driver’s middle in terms of height. The only position changes were that the mic stays a constant 32 inches from the driver while traveling around the measured driver at the below mentioned intervals. 32 inches was measured from the tip of the microphone to the center of the driver.

*Note, I do not live in an anechonic chamber! These results are purely for those who may be curious and you will need to draw your own conclusions from the data taken. 
I make no claims to it's accuracy, but do claim that for the simple test I did, I tried to make everything as accurate (within reason) as I could. What do you _really_ expect out of a 20 minute setup rig and 15 minute test? 

At the end of the day, I would use this data simply as comparison information. I would use it to note how a more on-axis installation could benefit you in certain areas if you plan to use this as a wideband driver sans tweeters.

The x2 is crossed at 500hz w/24dB slope for safety, but enough to tell where natural roll off on low end is. In actuality, I probably could have ran these lower for this test, but at the end of the day, I wouldn't recommend it anyway. So, because of that, I don't intend to re-run the test to view response lower than 500hz. 

Soul is crossed at 45hz @ 24dB to 20khz @ 24dB. 
In the pictures attached the following colors represent the degree off axis mounting:

Pictures of the setup:
































*x2 wideband tweeter response:*

90deg = Green 
60deg = Purple
45deg = Yellow
30deg = Orange
0deg = Blue

1/3 Octave Resolution:










1/24th Octave Resolution:














*Soul midrange response:*

90deg = Blue
60deg = Purple
45deg = Yellow
30deg = Orange
0deg = Teal

1/3 Resolution:











1/24 Resolution:











Yes, the 90deg response of the Soul is correct. Unlike the other measured responses, it does not have a peak at 400hz. I measured it twice (once at the beginning and then again at the end) to make sure and got the exact same response.


That's all for now.
I will post more reviews later. At this time I have not intently sat down with these and listened with my test discs as I would need to do before giving a 'hearing report'. Frankly, it's easier and quicker for me to take measurements than to listen critically and be responsible for what I say I hear. Plus, it's hard to come up with the generic audiophile terms when describing hearing tests.  


To be continued...


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## MachRc (Sep 29, 2009)

damn thats a pretty sick test bed setup! wow!


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

Nice, not bad at all. Great job Erin.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Thanks.
Was going to send you a text to let you know I did the testing last night, but guess I don't need to now.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

I'm not great with words describing how things sound. Typically I either like it or I don't. So, let that be a warning...

Sitting about 4ft away from the test setup with both baffles standing approximately 6' apart. Listening volume is on the heavy side. I'm reviewing these speakers based on a volume at which I would typically listen to which is not moderate and rarely ever is. 
Powered via a Denon avr-587 receiver which gives approximately 75x7 @ 8ohms. Figure for 4 ohms you have 150w. So, that's the capability of the system I'm testing with.

This will be broken down bullet style per my thoughts as I sit here and tune right now. This review is being written in real time. No hearing memory involved.

Test music consisted of:
Incubus - Echo
Janet Jackson - Escapade
Michael Jackson - Leave Me Alone
Eric Clapton - My Father's Eyes
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
10,000 Maniacs - Because the Night
Stevie Wonder - Superstion
Rage Against the Machine - Take the Power Back

*Listening Tests:*

First off the x2 tweeter:
Toying around with x-overs from 800hz to 10khz. 2750hz seems to be the best choice for lower crossing. That's the lowest I'd take them. I got up and walked around and no matter where I stood they had too much sharpness in the 1.5k-2khz range. I verified with EQ and knocked it down some. 
3000hz seems to me to be the best crossover point. Still good up top response and no peakiness on the lower end due to higher crossover. 
- There's also some slight sibilance but nothing compared to what I expected with a metal dome driver. EQ about -2dB at both 6.3khz and 8khz took care of this. 
- Top end is the same no matter how low I cross them. BUT, the difference is that (for instance) cymbals don't have the same exactness to them when crossed low. The top end level is there but the detail goes away and it gets a sloppy sound to it. 
- Also, anything below 2khz and the shoutiness takes over and draws attention away from the music and onto the driver. 
- Power wise, I'd be careful. At 3khz they did well off the power I was giving them, but combined with the shoutiness when crossed lower, I'm thinking they're going to get much worse with much more power. 
- Even at moderate volumes the 1k-2khz was painful to my ears. The use of an EQ would take care of this right away, but if you have no eq you need to be thinking about this. 


For the soul driver, I didn't really evaluate the low end as my setup is not adequate to do so. So, I set the HP at 110hz @ 24dB and continued on.
- While I found that I can extend this driver up to as high as 5khz on axis, it suffers from major lack of dynamics up past 3khz anyway. 
- They got shouty past 2500hz so I stopped there. 
- Even at 90* off axis they seemed to do good up until 1.2khz before they started losing detail so that's pretty nice. 90* off axis is pretty dang major. 
- Vocals sounded very smooth. No coloration at all. Some may like this. Some may not. I think it sounds very nice, though. Michael Jackson's sounds tonally good. Natalie Merchant's voice is tonally appealing (in sooooo many ways, lol). 
- Bass guitar (RATM music kills for this) was very nice. When Morello is slapping the bass it has a nice punch to it. When you mute the tweeters you can still feel it. A lot of the 'feel' of music comes from the top end, so to say that the mid has such a presence here is saying something, IMHO.





*Bottom Line:*
I found that they paired really well with the x2 @ 3000hz and the Soul @ 2500hz. If I were to try to come into that gap between I got problems very fast, though. 
If I had these in my car I could definately live with them. I think I'd go for an on-axis response for the x2's so I could get the top end out of them that I wanted, but truthfully, the top end seemed to be pretty decent out to 60* off axis. They'd probably do pretty well in the pillars but I wouldn't look to aim them too far off axis unless you cut them a bit higher. The low end raspiness will get to you and your ears will hurt (mine literally hurt when I had them down to 1600hz at about 45* off axis).
The soul would probably do well in the door. I can't speak on lower midbass performance, but the definition from a kick drum seems to be there. Paired with a nice sub, I think they'd do a great job at anchoring your soundstage.
The female vocals on these are great. No warmth or added color. My scans add some warmth to male and female vocals in the 200-300hz range. I like this, though. The problem is that in my car they add too much due to the midrange enclosure which requires some cutting. The souls' midrange is very natural. I wasn't a fan at first but it grew on me. I think I'd want to tailor them a bit to what I like more, but for a purist I think they'd be just fine. 



If you have any questions, ask. Truthfully it's hard for me to describe setups, but it's easier for me to answer specific questions.


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## unpredictableacts (Aug 16, 2006)

Interesting on the points where you felt they needed cut back at, those are similar areas where chris had his cut.....Maybe we can get him to post up a pick of his EQ curve.


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

unpredictableacts said:


> Interesting on the points where you felt they needed cut back at, those are similar areas where chris had his cut.....Maybe we can get him to post up a pick of his EQ curve.


I had actually considered that. Will do left and right as well.


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

So this listening test was done open baffle? 

The reason I ask is; the problems below 2.5khz with the X2, I have not heard. But all my testing was done in a sealed enclosure with a volume of .25 - .5 liter in the house and in the car in sealed kicks with about the about .8 liter. So the IB and OB mounting my have bit to do with this as the suspension is not being loaded. Hmmmm I will have to try it. I don't like them to low because it seems to thin the midrange and I like a bit of weight in the midrange area so it sound real.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Yes, open baffle. 
I was going to put them in the car this weekend, sort of arbitrarily (ie: not mounted) and toy around with things.

The problems seemed to exist in any angle off-axis of the tweeter, too. 

I'm open to suggestions. Like I said, my test isn't scientific. It's pretty arbitrary.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

One thing I will say is that I put the mids at 40hz temporarily at moderate volume and they seemed to do fine. They never bottomed out which to me was friggin’ amazing. They barely moved at all. The punch of the low end was there and they were a bit snappy. Made me wonder how’d they do in a sealed up door with some more volume. I’d say 80hz is a given out of these, and possibly lower depending on the ‘enclosure’ and volume knob. But, again, at moderate volume open baffle at 40hz the driver wasn’t getting sloppy at all. Pretty sick.
I noticed this when I was taking the setup down and had switched my bitone back to my settings for my “training” setting (ie: not how I typically listen to music and the HPF on the midbasses was much lower than I typically have it).


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

bikinpunk said:


> Yes, open baffle.
> I was going to put them in the car this weekend, sort of arbitrarily (ie: not mounted) and toy around with things.
> 
> The problems seemed to exist in any angle off-axis of the tweeter, too.
> ...


Well you know, how I feel about wide-band drivers and off-axis mounting.

It did perform a little different in car then it did in the house for me. As I guess the cabinet of the car with some reflection help things. As all H-Audio drivers when designed are real world tested (in the car), and this is what I like about the designer/builder of the drivers; he understand the difference and know it has to be test real world, not just on the bench. Hell he is a lot like me. Not a big spec guy, sound and performance is want matters. Given the slogan "It's All About What Sounds" 

They do have a home audio kind of design, but are tweaked to excel a little better in performance in the mobile environment. All the wide-band driver are design to work in a seal enclosure, but work fine IB, just requires a little more work to get to the same point. As I have noticed with most drivers to are kind of home audio in designed, but crossed over to car use.


Here is the thing, I like using the X2 at higher crossover points, It does amazing job as a tweeter, a lot better then even I thought it would do before I got it and tested it. As it description says "wideband tweeter"; 700 - 800hz was my low-end max for it in the seal enclosure. I also like it better up high match with the Soul, as the Soul add that full bodied sound that is need to make things sound real and life sized.

It goes back to what Hillibilly has said and I totally agree with him, if you have a larger driver that can play that same range as good or better, why try to use that small driver to do it. Its only limit by your desired install/mounting locations. But with a 6.5 like the Soul and a driver as small as the X2, it shouldn't be much of a problem.

As for the testing, as I said it was more for my info so I can test it myself verse the seal enclosure. This is great data to have and will help people set their system up correctly.


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

I can't stress enough how important properly breaking in these drivers is. After a few weeks of use this set has smoothed out quite a bit. The x2 is smooth from 1000hz and up with no harsh sounds. Really you should send moderate power to these drivers, stick them in a closet under some old clothes to muffle the sound and forget about them for about a week. Once they level out it should be a really sweet set.


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## Agramerus (Sep 10, 2008)

Hi!
How many hours they need to break in?
X2 finally arrived so... 
Thanks


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

Agramerus said:


> Hi!
> How many hours they need to break in?
> X2 finally arrived so...
> Thanks


Wow, it sure took a long time for them to get to you.

I would recommend as much time as you can. The designer/builder so 100 hours for total break in on all H-Audio metal cone drivers. I can believe it as the Trinity just gets better with time. And as you can see so those the X2. I recommend around 30 hours before doing any real listening.


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## Agramerus (Sep 10, 2008)

Thanks Mark! 
Too long  but they finally arrived 
How much power can the soul withstand in the doors if the HPF is set at 63Hz (18dB/o)?
Thanks!


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

Agramerus said:


> Thanks Mark!
> Too long  but they finally arrived
> How much power can the soul withstand in the doors if the HPF is set at 63Hz (18dB/o)?
> Thanks!


If you're gonna wank on it I'd say about 80 watts. I've got 126 to each of mine and they're crossed at 100hz. They take it fine but at 63hz I'm sure they'd start to lose linearity. Realistically I'd do 80hz because truthfully no 6.5" driver should be crossed lower than that if in a 2-way. As for breaking the drivers in, I'd cross the mids at 50hz and x2's at 200hz with moderate power for about a week straight. The x2 WILL get ugly if you don't give it a proper break-in and so will the Soul. Once broken in they're smooth as a babies butt.


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## Agramerus (Sep 10, 2008)

Thanks 
I`ll be patient.
Can I break the X2 drivers in with 6dB/o HPF at 630 Hz? Thanks!
Cheers


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

Agramerus said:


> Thanks
> I`ll be patient.
> Can I break the X2 drivers in with 6dB/o HPF at 630 Hz? Thanks!
> Cheers


Yes sir


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## Agramerus (Sep 10, 2008)

Thanks!
You`ll know the results.
Cheers


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## monkeybutt (Oct 1, 2005)

I finally got around to switching in the Soul midbasses today. I had actually started to do this once before, but stopped due to the hassle of cutting/mounting new spacer rings and the likely prospect that these were going to be a step down from the 7" Peerless Exclusives that were already in there. 

However, curiosity got the better of me and the preliminary listening is very promising. As stated in this and other threads, these drivers give a great amount of detail, but I have to disagree with some descriptions of being sterile or cold sounding. Perhaps it is a synergy w/ the Alto Mobile amp which tends to be on the warm yet quite detailed side, but the detail of the Soul midrange seems to make the system sound lively and full. I have these HP at 100hz and the midbass amount and quality is outstanding. It is clearly better in this area than any of the 7 or so midbasses I have tried in this car. Though I'm not going to do any focused tuning until these drivers are broken in I did have to flatten a touch of midbass boost I used w/ the Exclusives.

The reports of the revealing nature of these drivers making them unforgiving of poor recordings are true. I have heard some grunge/hash on Cds that were never ever apparent before - kinda weird actually. However, when I've had "unforgiving" speakers/systems before it was always associated being obviously overly bright and grating. The Souls seem to give the detail without over delivering on harshness. In fact I was able to eliminate the cuts at 5 and 6.3 khz that were needed to tame the upper response of the Exclusives. Anxiously waiting for these babies to break in so I can give the system a tune. Great resolution, midbass kick and potential smoothness to boot! Thankyou H-Audio. Its hard to imagine that these have been discontinued and now an improved version is on the way. May have to see if Mark is blowing out any OS.


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

monkeybutt said:


> I finally got around to switching in the Soul midbasses today. I had actually started to do this once before, but stopped due to the hassle of cutting/mounting new spacer rings and the likely prospect that these were going to be a step down from the 7" Peerless Exclusives that were already in there.
> 
> However, curiosity got the better of me and the preliminary listening is very promising. As stated in this and other threads, these drivers give a great amount of detail, but I have to disagree with some descriptions of being sterile or cold sounding. Perhaps it is a synergy w/ the Alto Mobile amp which tends to be on the warm yet quite detailed side, but the detail of the Soul midrange seems to make the system sound lively and full. I have these HP at 100hz and the midbass amount and quality is outstanding. It is clearly better in this area than any of the 7 or so midbasses I have tried in this car. Though I'm not going to do any focused tuning until these drivers are broken in I did have to flatten a touch of midbass boost I used w/ the Exclusives.
> 
> The reports of the revealing nature of these drivers making them unforgiving of poor recordings are true. I have heard some grunge/hash on Cds that were never ever apparent before - kinda weird actually. However, when I've had "unforgiving" speakers/systems before it was always associated being obviously overly bright and grating. The Souls seem to give the detail without over delivering on harshness. In fact I was able to eliminate the cuts at 5 and 6.3 khz that were needed to tame the upper response of the Exclusives. Anxiously waiting for these babies to break in so I can give the system a tune. Great resolution, midbass kick and potential smoothness to boot! Thankyou H-Audio. Its hard to imagine that these have been discontinued and now an improved version is on the way. May have to see if Mark is blowing out any OS.


Great opening pre-review, it's needs its own thread! I truly glad your happy with the drivers.

You know it's funny that you wrote this review about the Alto - Soul match. I was thinking about this exact same combo last week. Because of the X-Soul2 2-way arrangement revealing nature, i was like man the Alto mobiles should be an amazing match for them or any other amp that has the warm, class A and/or tube type sound. The added warmth of this type of amp should make for a amazing sounding combo. Also the Soul makes one h*ll of a dedicated midrange with a mid-bass.

Believe me sir, it was a very hard thing for me to do in discontinuing the X-Series, but the New Reference Series is the next level of what the X Series does, but adds a little more warmth or smoothness out the box, but still improves on the detail and revealing nature of the X-Series.

I do how ever have about 5 sets of Soul left in stock. All X2's are gone. I can truly say I think the X-Soul2 arrangement were an amazing steal at the price they were, even at the MSRP.

Edit:

What tweeters to you have them matched with at the moment and are running active and if so what your crossover points and slopes at the moment between the Tweeter and Soul.


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## ibanzil (Jun 29, 2008)

Thanks for the review. I like the way these were tested. I wish all manufacturers posted more data like this. This is way closer to what I should expect when I use them.


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## monkeybutt (Oct 1, 2005)

H-Audio - AKA - Here-I-Come said:


> Great opening pre-review, it's needs its own thread! I truly glad your happy with the drivers.
> 
> You know it's funny that you wrote this review about the Alto - Soul match. I was thinking about this exact same combo last week. Because of the X-Soul2 2-way arrangement revealing nature, i was like man the Alto mobiles should be an amazing match for them or any other amp that has the warm, class A and/or tube type sound. The added warmth of this type of amp should make for a amazing sounding combo. Also the Soul makes one h*ll of a dedicated midrange with a mid-bass.
> 
> ...


Hey Mark, these midbasses are really surprising not only me, but my wife took this car today and unprompted said that it sounded 'clearer and more powerful'. The Souls are presently crossed over where I had the Exclusives so 4khz LP @24 db/oct and highpassed at 4khz @24 to Focal TN-45. The focal titanium tweets are detailed as expected, but really need to be matched well to an amp to avoid tendency for brightness/harshness. So far only the Altos and Xtant have really made this tweeter musical.

Dang man, I thought I was done,done,and done w/ my other car, but it looks as if I may have found a relatively easy upgrade path by switching out the polykevlar midbasses for another set of Souls. "Just when I thought I was out they drag me back in."  I'm a bit reluctant to try the X2s as my systems are presently pretty stealthy, but if the sound is noticeably better, I know I'm going to have to make them fit.

And for those of you who are looking to upgrade your front stage speakers, arguably the most affecting piece of the sound reproduction chain yada yada, you owe it to yourselves to check out this H-Audio gear. The stuff seems uniquely well thought out and executed to sound right. For instance, in the Soul's case I figure the full midbass in the IB door install is helped by the Qts of .52 so good target engineering. But what happened to expected harshness of the metal cone breakup at the top of its operating band? I guess it must be there, but I mean these are LP at 4khz and the EQ is now flat from top to bottom and...it sounds nice. I just can't figure how?


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

monkeybutt said:


> Hey Mark, these midbasses are really surprising not only me, but my wife took this car today and unprompted said that it sounded 'clearer and more powerful'. The Souls are presently crossed over where I had the Exclusives so 4khz LP @24 db/oct and highpassed at 4khz @24 to Focal TN-45. The focal titanium tweets are detailed as expected, but really need to be matched well to an amp to avoid tendency for brightness/harshness. So far only the Altos and Xtant have really made this tweeter musical.
> 
> Dang man, I thought I was done,done,and done w/ my other car, but it looks as if I may have found a relatively easy upgrade path by switching out the polykevlar midbasses for another set of Souls. "Just when I thought I was out they drag me back in."  I'm a bit reluctant to try the X2s as my systems are presently pretty stealthy, but if the sound is noticeably better, I know I'm going to have to make them fit.
> 
> And for those of you who are looking to upgrade your front stage speakers, arguably the most affecting piece of the sound reproduction chain yada yada, you owe it to yourselves to check out this H-Audio gear. The stuff seems uniquely well thought out and executed to sound right. For instance, in the Soul's case I figure the full midbass in the IB door install is helped by the Qts of .52 so good target engineering. *But what happened to expected harshness of the metal cone breakup at the top of its operating band? I guess it must be there, but I mean these are LP at 4khz and the EQ is now flat from top to bottom and...it sounds nice. I just can't figure how?*


Nice when others you don't expect to notice the difference notices the difference.:thumbsup:

One thing to helps is the Blended Alloy. As for the statement in Bold. The Aluminum is blend with poly, to added some smoothness to the sound. I would have to say it around a 75/25 Aluminum/Ploy blend, give or take a little.

As for the X2 and the TN45, what the X2 will give you is more dynamics in the same area of use because of the cone area of the X2, while retaining the same detail. May sound like more detail, because of the add dynamics, if that makes sense. Going off memory here been a minute since I used the TN-45, but the X2 also may be a bit smoother; surpising so because of its cone alloy.


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

Nice review. 

Mark when it comes closer to time for the next Bikinique I have an idea. It would involve everyone that cares to listen to my truck twice though. Since I have a really quick way of dailing in my system it shouldn't be any trouble at all.


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## monkeybutt (Oct 1, 2005)

Alright I'm still breaking in the Souls, but I'm repeatedly impressed and surprised by the combination of detail and the unexpected smoothness of the Souls. Okay I get that these are a metal/poly blend, but still where is the cone breakup? Even the poly, paper, fiberglass, or paper midranges I've used in car or home have some frequency bumps at the top of their ranges that have to be notched out/down. There have been a few drivers that I've used recently that needed very little EQing of brightness/harshness, but they sounded relatively dull/lacking resolution, dynamics and just boring to my ears. 

So what gives with the Souls? I was looking for the specs on the H-Audio site and found this pdf of the frequency response graph. http://www.haudioincus.com/documents/Ebony-and-Soul.pdf
I found it kind of suspect at first as it seems to be one graph for both the Ebony and the Souls. Odd. And looking at the graph and the remarkable smoothness of the graph had me thinking 'yeah right BS!' Except for the fact that the Souls sound just that smooth and yet very dynamic. The midbass is not just big, but forceful and w/ remarkable delineation of timbre. There is improved microresolution of detail that makes the sound more involving. I can see the argument for the converse of those who want their music/systems to tend toward soothing, laidback and bit more in the background of consciousness. But I am really enjoying that these drivers have the ability to really make me pay attention at times.

I was gonna take Mark's cue and wait for the improved Reference drivers, but I'm so pleased w/ the Souls that I got scared they would go bye-bye. Anyway, being me I have another set on the way.


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

monkeybutt said:


> Alright I'm still breaking in the Souls, but I'm repeatedly impressed and surprised by the combination of detail and the unexpected smoothness of the Souls. Okay I get that these are a metal/poly blend, but still where is the cone breakup? Even the poly, paper, fiberglass, or paper midranges I've used in car or home have some frequency bumps at the top of their ranges that have to be notched out/down. There have been a few drivers that I've used recently that needed very little EQing of brightness/harshness, but they sounded relatively dull/lacking resolution, dynamics and just boring to my ears.
> 
> So what gives with the Souls? I was looking for the specs on the H-Audio site and found this pdf of the frequency response graph. http://www.haudioincus.com/documents/Ebony-and-Soul.pdf
> I found it kind of suspect at first as it seems to be one graph for both the Ebony and the Souls. Odd. And looking at the graph and the remarkable smoothness of the graph had me thinking 'yeah right BS!' Except for the fact that the Souls sound just that smooth and yet very dynamic. The midbass is not just big, but forceful and w/ remarkable delineation of timbre. There is improved microresolution of detail that makes the sound more involving. I can see the argument for the converse of those who want their music/systems to tend toward soothing, laidback and bit more in the background of consciousness. But I am really enjoying that these drivers have the ability to really make me pay attention at times.
> ...


It's funny you say that sir, because everyone was saying the same thing about the Graph: "How can both drivers with different cones have the same response?" But, they do, but sound quite different then one another. The people who have test both the Ebony and Soul know the response is so close to being the same that only one graph is needed. 

The warm nature, but detailed amps are a outstanding match for the X-Soul2 2-way arrangement. You have to try the X2 sir.

I truly happy to see you are seeing what the Soul had to offer. It is a outstanding driver.


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

Agree about trying the x2. To me they have more life and realism than most traditional dome tweeters. With them being a true cone driver they're also a lot less strained. When a driver is strained you lose dynamics and realism. I'm also waiting on the Reference drivers. It seems like all the nitpicky stuff I mentioned about the x series has been taken care of with the Reference series. Picky as I am the x series is honestly the best frontstage I've used to date. They just have the detailed sound that forces you to hear those small details you never knew existed in music. Being a retired percussionist if a driver can't deliver accurately it isn't worth my time. The Soul and x2 flat out deliver and then some!


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## monkeybutt (Oct 1, 2005)

"The warm nature, but detailed amps are a outstanding match for the X-Soul2 2-way arrangement. You have to try the X2 sir."




Hillbilly SQ said:


> Agree about trying the x2. To me they have more life and realism than most traditional dome tweeters. With them being a true cone driver they're also a lot less strained. When a driver is strained you lose dynamics and realism. I'm also waiting on the Reference drivers. It seems like all the nitpicky stuff I mentioned about the x series has been taken care of with the Reference series. Picky as I am the x series is honestly the best frontstage I've used to date. They just have the detailed sound that forces you to hear those small details you never knew existed in music. Being a retired percussionist if a driver can't deliver accurately it isn't worth my time. The Soul and x2 flat out deliver and then some!


CURSES, what you think I don't have a JOB? and there was a family around here somewhere. Okay, okay, but do the X2s need to be quite on axis? My present systems have the tweeters in the sails angled mildly from straight across. Thinking of PVC mountings w/ some stuffing and a hole? Maybe not needed for basically tweeter duty.


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

No they really don't need to be on axis because they have a rise in the response starting at like 14k. Gives them "phantom" off axis response. Mine are severely off axis with no shortage of top end at all.
http://www.haudioincus.com/documents/x2-x3.pdf


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

monkeybutt said:


> "The warm nature, but detailed amps are a outstanding match for the X-Soul2 2-way arrangement. You have to try the X2 sir."
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Not really, Hillbilly has his at about 90 degrees off-axis in top of his dash facing up into the window.


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## monkeybutt (Oct 1, 2005)

Okay thanks, off axis would be more than a bit easier to mount. Now what about having to enclose the back of the X2s if I'm going to run them anywhere from about 3khz and up?


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

I'd at least have some form of attentuation going on there unless it's back behind a panel. Don't want the back fighting with the front.


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## Melodic Acoustic (Oct 10, 2005)

monkeybutt said:


> Okay thanks, off axis would be more than a bit easier to mount. Now what about having to enclose the back of the X2s if I'm going to run them anywhere from about 3khz and up?


Well if you mean IB your fine. Don't really need an enclosure playing that high. But I would play with some treatment behind the driver to control or kill/diffuse the rear waves a bit if the rear is mounted close to a hard surface.


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

H-Audio - AKA - Here-I-Come said:


> Well if you mean IB your fine. Don't really need an enclosure playing that high. But I would play with some treatment behind the driver to control or kill/diffuse the rear waves a bit it if is close to a hard surface.


I just did and it worked wonders killing a phasing issue when I tried to cross them somewhat low. If the sound coming from the back of the cone interferes at all bad things happen:blush:


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