# Seas 27TAFNC (H1397) "Seas Neo Aluminum"



## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Well this review could go on for a while because they are freshly installed, so I'll keep updating 

A little history... These tweets replaced my Morel MDT-12's Much research went into the purchase of the Morel's. Determining factors were price, ease of factory location mounting, and a predictable and smooth off-axis roll-off that can be corrected with simple, strategic EQ. I have had the Morel's now for a year and a half and really liked them. 

Now before you all get erections over the Morel tweets I must add that they can be bad boys and a bit misbehaved. They are not for everyone. They NEED EQ to bring out the top end off axis. I went for a predictable curve off-axis over extension off axis because I knew where they would be located. They will tear your eyes out of the socket when asked to. They also have a bit of a "bark" to them that I found to subside after proper (believe it or not) time alignment and sheer listening time (beatings) I don't believe in breaking in speakers, but, I honestly believe that the Morel tweets mellowed out a bit after a good 50 hours of "rough play"

Good points of the Morel tweets: They will do anything you ask them to, there is no cliché to describe their sound, they are just speakers, they do their job and do it well, play heinously loud, and have wonderful reproduction. Not exciting, not lackluster, they just seem to go away and mate VERY well with the CA18RNX, like.... seamless. They are perfect for what I do with them in the winter months, listen, and I need near clinical reproduction as my car is the first thing I hear on the drive to work in the morning after doing mastering projects. They let you hear everything and have a very "studio monitor" sound but a bit more aggressive than many monitors. If you like the Alesis and Event monitors then chances are, you won't like my Urei's, the Morel's sounded like the top end of my Urei's, fully capable and ready to break your eye if you want them to but reserved when you need them to be. Because of their ability to get at it they also translate nicely to the live sound work I do involving horn loaded rigs, which is another reason I work with Urei monitors. Translation across my little corner of the industry is key to my sanity  

Thursday I ordered the Seas tweets after doing no research, just reading reviews. I looked at NO response graphs, no FS measurements, nothing. I just read reviews and knew that they could be crossed low (I like to cross lower than some) I had an extra set of sail panels (gotta love ricers that strip the interior out of their car to make it lighter) so I could swap tweeters freely in their body panel, totally plug it in, click it in the car, and play. I was looking for a more "fun tweet" for summer driving.

I mounted up the Seas tweets after a bit of dremel and hot-glue work. I defeated any EQ that would affect the tweet (the correction for off-axis on the Morels) left gain, TA, and everything else the same and let-er rip.

And here's what I came up with thus far...... (a little over 2 hours on them now)

Everyone was right, they sound great! Their off-axis reproduction is very nice and no EQ has been implemented yet to correct for any downfalls. If you were building a set of DIY passive components I would use these because out of the hole they sound wonderful. Many have said and I will reiterate this, they don't sound like traditional metal dome tweets! They seem to take the good attributes of the metal dome like top end annunciation and ability and use it but leave the typical ringing and harshness behind. Do not be afraid of them... or the LPG metals for that matter. Very similar in attributes but the Seas plays lower. They DID remind me a bit of the LPG's but it's been years since I've heard them so that's not a direct comparison. They would make many folks happy.

But as we all know I can be a picky sumbitch so I have found some things to ***** about. Don't let this keep you from trying them out! Remember I said I liked them, I'm just looking for a reason to whine a bit.

They mated to my sail panels wonderfully! From the edge in about 1/4" they look great! Then they turn ugly as sin, the diffuser design could have been the symbol for the next gay pride day publications. On top of that they are not available in mirror image sets, so on one side you get a swirly "I'm gay" design pointing in one direction and on the other side the other direction... yeah just wonderful....And ugly! Bad choice of design, stick to something traditional Seas (like straight lines, novel!) or make them mirror image for those of us who are anal about symmetrics! The Morel's, albeit the frame was modified, were black and attracted no attention, these.. well.. you can see 'em, there will be pics at the end  The fabric neos would look much better in my install.

Sound-wise my complaints are as follows: The top end is nice and not harsh but I find them to not be as accurate. Cymbals don't have as much of a "brassy" or true brass tone but just seem to convey the "top layer" of what's coming off. You could damn near tell what brand of cymbal the drummer was using with the Morel's, these aren't like that. It could be the abundance of top end though. They also annunciate any clipping in the original recording rather well (kudos from me on this one) If the mic pre was pushed a bit too hard they will let you now. Along these lines, nasty compression (as in MP3) is more noticeable too, again it could be due to the top end being "more there" and me hearing the swish on the top end. Horns don't sound quite right, especially tenor sax and some trumpet sounds. A bit hyped and not real. They DO have a bit of a bite to them and I have to find it, this could maybe be tamed down with EQ but I know it's a narrow bite and I don't think my Alpine's EQ will get clinical (or gunsu) enough to do it. I may just do what I did witth he Morel's and beat them into submission and see what they do, remember I said the Morels DID tame down. The bite is higher in freq than the Morel's. BUT Rhoads piano and electric organ sounded nice, a Rhoads will let you know what's up because they naturally "bark," the bark was well controlled with the seas tweets, very cool for the average listener. The mentioned downfalls also could be due to TA, they stick out a bit farther than their predecessors, I may need to back them back a bit in the time domain and this could cure some things... maybe even my next complaint....... The Morel's blended very nicely, you could not tell there were two speakers playing per side, it was VERY coherent, almost spooky! Although I don't feel that my image height has suffered I can now tell there is a woofer and a tweeter in that door, maybe not where they are at but I know there are 2 speakers in there. Again, I have a reason for this, TA as mentioned and the fact that they MAY be too loud. They may snap right in there by pulling the gain back a dB or two. They ARE 4 ohm and replacing 8 ohm drivers. I just wanted to get a good comparison before I messed with them.

So, complaints aside, they are great! they should certainly be considered! I hope in a week I can get them dialed in and settled into the rig. I don't find my self LISTENING to music as much now as enjoying it. This could be good or bad. But I have 2 sets of tweets and more memory slots left in the 9855 

Pics in the next post.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Old Vs New:










Old:



















New:




























Both Done:










Chad


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## durwood (Mar 7, 2007)

Dammit! I feel like I missed out. I really wanted to audition them and now it looks like I just have to order a pair to try out. Although, most of my music is mp3, so I think they wouldn't work well for that.

Why don't you wrap them in grill cloth so you can keep them in the closet?


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

durwood said:


> Dammit! I feel like I missed out. I really wanted to audition them and now it looks like I just have to order a pair to try out. Although, most of my music is mp3, so I think they wouldn't work well for that.
> 
> Why don't you wrap them in grill cloth so you can keep them in the closet?


Well, I listen to a lot of MP3 but use higher bitrates, it's not that bad, it's just when you listen to a song "your buddy gave you".

I don't think a wrap would look good. I suck at it and I know there will be obvious signs due to pleating that I wrapped them.

Chad


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## fej (Feb 8, 2006)

Nice review bro .. I have a set showing up in 2 days to a/b vs the 720prs tweets in kicks in the truck. I have them down 5db right now and they are still a bit bright and won't let me play them quite low enough. Looking forward to playing with these this week so I can get the new rig dialed in for the bbq.


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## durwood (Mar 7, 2007)

chad said:


> Well, I listen to a lot of MP3 but use higher bitrates, it's not that bad, it's just when you listen to a song "your buddy gave you".


Mmmm, good point. I don't really have a problem with my own mp3's, it's the "others" that sound bad.



> I don't think a wrap would look good. I suck at it and I know there will be obvious signs due to pleating that I wrapped them.


What if you wrapped the whole sail? I wonder if the cloth would dimple in towards the tweeter or the emblem would show through anyway? Otherwise they suit you well  .... lol


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Yeah, I think I'm just gonna rock-em ala Ghey. I may get used to them


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## low (Jun 2, 2005)

awesome review, thanks chad!


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## dBassHz (Nov 2, 2005)

chad said:


> gotta love ricers that strip the interior out of their car to make it lighter


I always thought ricers like to add tons of non-functional crap to their cars. Thanks for the tweeter comparison. I was interested in getting some of those morel tweeters.


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## MiniVanMan (Jun 28, 2005)

I will still say I loved my MDT38s. When I first installed them they were paired up with CA18s as well. The Morel/Seas combo worked out great. The MDT12 is just a lot cheaper, so if you can fit them, it's a very nice budget option. 

To Chad, it's always hard to get used to a new speaker, especially when it replaces only one component of an already good system. Give it time, you'll probably like them much more in the end.

It's a great review. I love reviews that look at both good and bad. Nothing is perfect, and rarely is something absolutely horrific. Great job being objective.


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## FoxPro5 (Feb 14, 2006)

chad said:


> Well, I listen to a lot of MP3 but use higher bitrates, it's not that bad, it's just when you listen to a song "your buddy gave you".


Exactly how I felt about them as well. Compressed music is washed out and nasty. But other than that, they are gems.

Nice thoughts on the set though. Maybe you can put some cute little rainbow stickers on the sails above them to express yourself more?


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## MidnightCE (Mar 5, 2007)

Sweet. I was looking forward to your review.


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## Aaron Clinton (Oct 17, 2006)

*Nice reivew, I just recieved my textile dome version of those. *


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

denim said:


> *Nice reivew, I just recieved my textile dome version of those. *


Cool, let us know!

I turned them down last night about 1.5-2dB and they seem to blend a bit better but I'm still noticing maybye a bit too much tippy top. It was a short tuning session, i needed a break from the bench, the repair I was doing was driving me batty!


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## DeLander (Feb 23, 2006)

Hey chad, any further impressions/opinions after listening to these tweets for a week now? You're still running them with the CA18RNXs right?


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## legend94 (Mar 15, 2006)

1. what is the mounting depth?
2. what size hole does it require?
3. are you selling the morel tweets?


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## SQdude (Mar 29, 2007)

chad said:


> ... tippy top.


What does that mean exactly?


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## 300Z (Mar 20, 2005)

SQdude said:


> What does that mean exactly?


The very high top end...


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

DeLander said:


> Hey chad, any further impressions/opinions after listening to these tweets for a week now? You're still running them with the CA18RNXs right?


Yes, I'm running them with the CA18RNX.... I'm a little late posting but this gives them more time. They HAVE opened up a tad down around where they are crossed which is great, they mesh better. But, I'm still finding the top end (cymbals especially) to be a bit "fakey" I have yet to do any notching up there. I'm off for the weekend after today so I'd like to take a parametric in the car, sit it on my lap and try to find out what's going on. They sound like Tweeters to me, they have yet to get rid of that kinda "car tweeter sound" and I doubt that they will, it's not shrill or painful and many will like it. I like a more realistic sound, I don't think it has anything to do with the metal dome, I have heard many textile domes do this too.



legend94 said:


> 1. what is the mounting depth?
> 2. what size hole does it require?
> 3. are you selling the morel tweets?


1 Dunno
2 Dunno, about the size of my stock honda hole, exactly the size after around 2 minutes with a dremel and a sanding drum 
3 Not at this time and if I do it will be rather car specific. They are pretty well mated, as in with a ****-ton of glue to the sail panel. I am still thinking about re-installing them in the winter. especially if I can't get the top end dialed in. I would, however, consider donating my spare Morel to the tweeter testing group so others can bash my decision after it rips their head off 



SQdude said:


> What does that mean exactly?


The way top end, from, say, 10-12K on up.

Chad


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## SQdude (Mar 29, 2007)

Hmm, shouldn't firing them off axis help roll of the top end thereby resolve the issue?


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

SQdude said:


> Hmm, shouldn't firing them off axis help roll of the top end thereby resolve the issue?


Seems not, but here could be a weird off-axis peak, Note from the first post, I have not seen a polar plot or any response graphs.


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## DeLander (Feb 23, 2006)

Thanks chad. It's really helpful to us with little experience to read actual install opinions like these. I'm still trying to decide on tweets and this review makes me think that these may not be for me (sail panel mounted, about 30* off-axis).


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

DeLander said:


> Thanks chad. It's really helpful to us with little experience to read actual install opinions like these. I'm still trying to decide on tweets and this review makes me think that these may not be for me (sail panel mounted, about 30* off-axis).


Keep in mind, I can be reeeaaallllyy picky about top end at times. They do sound great, you may really like them and I still find them a hell of a bargain at 56 dollars!


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## DeLander (Feb 23, 2006)

True. I guess you really can't beat the price - even if it's just to try them out and see how they perform. Thanks again for the insight.


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## Locke (May 29, 2007)

DeLander said:


> True. I guess you really can't beat the price - even if it's just to try them out and see how they perform. Thanks again for the insight.


hey I am getting a pair to play with, I am just in New Smyrna beach if you wan to hear them, but with the price of gas you could damn near buy them, but I do go to Deland a lot


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## Radik (Jan 15, 2006)

I'm in a new tweeter hunt and i'm considering this tweeter, my other choices is the LPG26NAFM or CDT ES-02. However can this the SEAS take a true 100 Rms as it says and be used active? Also what's the lowest it can safely play on the rated rms?


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## POLKAT (Jan 10, 2007)

Radik said:


> I'm in a new tweeter hunt and i'm considering this tweeter, my other choices is the LPG26NAFM or CDT ES-02. However can this the SEAS take a true 100 Rms as it says and be used active? Also what's the lowest it can safely play on the rated rms?


The Seas will cross lower than both of those tweeters. As far as how low, I will leave that question for someone else to answer.

As far as "safely", with 100 watts RMS on any tweeter, your ears will melt. 30 or so watts is plenty for 99.9% of tweeters, and even then you can easily go deaf. Remember, you are in a car and your tweeters will not be more than a couple feet away from you. My tweeter amp went kaput so I have my Blaupunkt running my tweeters now at 120 x2. I have the gain almost all the way down and even then my Cal 25's are attenuated -2db on my hu.


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## Radik (Jan 15, 2006)

Ok...In terms of how low, i would like it to play down to let's say 1.5 - 2 Khz so it can mate nicely with my B&C 8NDL51. These 8"s take alot of power and get really loud, hence why im keen on knowing how much power it can safely take. I just want them to match up to each oher, however from what im seeing i doubt i'll need 100Rms to it. Forgive me tho, all my life I've utilized Caoxials, prosound drivers and straight out the box Comps, this is my first DIY Active setup....


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## dBassHz (Nov 2, 2005)

Radik said:


> Ok...In terms of how low, i would like it to play down to let's say 1.5 - 2 Khz


2,000Hz with a high order crossover (24dB +). You should really try out the Peerless HDS.


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## DeLander (Feb 23, 2006)

omarmipi said:


> 2,000Hz with a high order crossover (24dB +). You should really try out the Peerless HDS.


 I personally would like to, but it's a large format and I just don't have room for it without some major install fabrication or fairly low door mounting.


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## Locke (May 29, 2007)

Radik said:


> Ok...In terms of how low, i would like it to play down to let's say 1.5 - 2 KHz so it can mate nicely with my B&C 8NDL51. These 8"s take a lot of power and get really loud, hence why im keen on knowing how much power it can safely take. I just want them to match up to each other, however from what im seeing i doubt I'll need 100Rms to it. Forgive me tho, all my life I've utilized Coaxials, pro sound drivers and straight out the box Comps, this is my first DIY Active setup....



some morel tweeters play pretty low, and I just saw a set of Image dynamics tweets that the recommended cross is 1600-2400 another forum member found pointed them out
link
http://www.cardomain.com/item/IDSNX30


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## DeLander (Feb 23, 2006)

Hey Locke, Thanks for the invite to listen to your Neos. We may just have to get together. When are you supposed to get them ?


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## Radik (Jan 15, 2006)

I checked out the Peerless HDS, heard mixed reivews. I see by it's specs that it can go very low, however past and present users of it i know say they find it isn't very crisp and sharp, and dats what i'm looking for so i kinda ruled it out.....


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## Locke (May 29, 2007)

DeLander said:


> Hey Locke, Thanks for the invite to listen to your Neos. We may just have to get together. When are you supposed to get them ?


I have them, I go to my uncles over in Deland all the time, we could hook up any weekend. All though I currently am running Cal 26 titan's, it would be an easy swap.


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## unpredictableacts (Aug 16, 2006)

Hey Chad....still have the morels? i would like to try them out....or take them off of your hands.


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