# HAT Imagine I61-2 Review



## IceWaLL (May 30, 2005)

This is all an opinion and should be taken lightly!!! I'm not the best at writing a review and I tend to ramble on but maybe this helps some people get an idea what they sound like.


Setup: 

2007 Toyota Tacoma access cab

Alpine iva-w404
Alpine mrv-f345 (using 2 channels)
2 audioque 1200d's strapped (i just leave the gain knob down, I already owned them so I used them)
JL 13W6v2 (firing into the driver seat, just for those days that I want to feel the kick drum)
HAT imagine I61-2

First off let me say what I had previously. I had Scan-speak 15s 8ohm versions installed in my doors and I had made pods that faced me housed with sb acoustics ring radiator tweeters. I learned after that install not to seperate the tweeters from the woofer so much and not to have one set of speakers off axis with another on axis; even though I had the gains at VERY different levels from woofer to tweeter. STILL even with that in mind I also had placed the tweeter by the woofer, in the kicks, and up high on the doors; so it's not to say I didnt try different configurations.

In my tacoma I have had a big problem with resonance or 'echo' in the lower vocal range (very annoying when it hits that region). The revelators are extremely bass heavy drivers - not so much in the higher bass range but they had the ability to get very very low for a 5.5" woofer. These drivers just didn't work very well in my doors but I bet they would have been killer in a 3 way setup. I then decided to take out the revelators after I had ordered the hat imagines and I temporarily installed some el' crapo rockford fosgate power coax speakers just so I had something in there. The rockfords didn't have as much resonance but that I believe is just due to how flat and weak they are.

Lets skip forward to today where I received my HAT imagine 6.5" set. First thing I noticed was how heavy the drivers were, suuuure weight has nothing to do with sound but it was just the first thing I noticed. I wanted to try them out in coax in my doors as that would be an easy test and give me the best balance of output from woofer to tweeter. I immediately knew that these were VERY well thought out designs. They were installed in suspended plywood 1/2" birch baffles. I was surprised how high the sound stage was but I was used to tweeters up a little higher. I moved the tweeters into the stock location by fabricating some plywood mounts and then installing them flush mount.

BTW the HAT's had almost no resonance from my doors... why? I have no clue at all, just happy that they don't.

anyway... on to how they sound:

if there was one phrase to describe these it would be: "the BEST component set I have ever heard regardless of price" ( I can see why many uprgrade to the clarus, because the first thing I thought was this is their "entry level" ??!?!?!)

and that says a lot as I'm extremely picky to the point that I would go broke just trying everything until I am satisfied, including install. The only other company that I heard a liked was Hertz but I only heard a line years ago that was over $400. If I had the money and HAT wasn't around I would probably be running Hertz.

The bass on these woofers are very quick and powerful, so strong that you would think that they were being pushed too hard but clearly they could have taken even more. (didn't get anywhere near as low as the revelators but plenty low for a 6.5") what I like most about these woofers is that they seem to have that perfect balance of not too flat/boring and not too in your face. I think that may be partly due to the paper cone that was chosen. I also found it interesting that these have a reasonably strong suspension, nothing I have used in the past designed for IB was this stiff.

The tweeters are nice looking and very small. Nothing much to say about the tweeters as they are simply fantastic, period. they are as close to 'bright' as you can get without ever being harsh.

MY two favorite things about this set:

1 convertible to coax or component
2 You just plug them in and go, no crossovers to adjust or set... just SWEET SWEET sound.

I could see some people not thinking these are anything special as they have their own unique sound. some people love focal others dynaudio... each has their own unique sound. IMO The HAT sound as if they are perfectly in between everything - not muddy - not bright - not flat - not too harsh... just riiight in-between. BALANCED.

Songs I tried:

various dubstep mostly Benga (it was already playing before the install began)
Infected Mushroom - Avartz
Diana Krall - Boulevard of broken dreams
36 Crazyfists - The all night lights

If you are thinking about trying Hybrid Audio drivers, my suggestion is to have a little faith in a company that obviously has put some serious thought into their products.


I really don't like pushing any one product but when you combine scott's customer service, the build quality, the buy back upgrade program, and the cost... how could you not recommend them?


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## lirik (Jan 31, 2011)

An extremely efficient driver in regard to design, power, cost; a very streamlined, straightforward speaker. I like that there is not one superfluous bit that comprises these.

If you dig dubstep I would recommend checkin out Matta, Skism, Antiserum, and Broken Note (who are hard as hell but still quality) if you dont know these names already. Infected Mush kick ass as well, saw em when they toured last year actually.


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## trojan fan (Nov 4, 2007)

Nice review on a underrated and overachieving set of speakers. IMO they sound best when ran as a coaxial or with the tweeter mounted very close to the midbass driver....Don't be afraid to use an L pad to tame the tweeters when they are installed up high


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## IceWaLL (May 30, 2005)

lirik said:


> An extremely efficient driver in regard to design, power, cost; a very streamlined, straightforward speaker. I like that there is not one superfluous bit that comprises these.
> 
> If you dig dubstep I would recommend checkin out Matta, Skism, Antiserum, and Broken Note (who are hard as hell but still quality) if you dont know these names already. Infected Mush kick ass as well, saw em when they toured last year actually.


I agree and I will have to check out those artists. I have skism and antiserum but haven't heard of the other two.


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## IceWaLL (May 30, 2005)

trojan fan said:


> Nice review on a underrated and overachieving set of speakers. IMO they sound best when ran as a coaxial or with the tweeter mounted very close to the midbass driver....Don't be afraid to use an L pad to tame the tweeters when they are installed up high


Would you or anyone know what L-pad to get? I've never purchased one, only seen them in a pre-built home audio tower and would like to get the proper one.

I was able to tame them up high by knocking them down at 12.5 khz by -2db but would rather use an L-pad.


FYI- I tried them both coax and component style and yes I would agree that they do work best when the speakers are close to each other and had the best depth/width and was VERY surprised at how well they sounded as a coax set so low and behind plastic door panels, but I wanted to raise the sound just a little bit. I bet if it was possible having the tweeters about knee level would be absolutely perfect but that simply isn't possible or feasible in a car


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## Scott Buwalda (Apr 7, 2006)

Thank you!! I truly appreciate your review and kind comments!


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## Arclight (Apr 29, 2011)

Nice write up... I may need to investigate the HAT mids a bit further in place of the Revelators I was planning on getting.


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## IceWaLL (May 30, 2005)

Arclight said:


> Nice write up... I may need to investigate the HAT mids a bit further in place of the Revelators I was planning on getting.


Both are very nice woofers but IMO when you place speakers in your door your best way to achieve depth/width or whatever you want to call it is to have a woofer that can be crossed very high or have a dedicated midrange that can play high.

the revelator's from what I can tell are really best up to around 1khz to maybe 2khz with the right crossover but that leaves you trying to bring a tweeter down into parts of the vocal range, which imo is not ideal.

it could have been my install but there was a review I think for the clarus set and that person said, " *Most drivers I’ve put there that had good, strong bass output tended to get sort of shrill and annoying in the upper vocals. Conversely, the drivers that had nice, smooth vocals tended to not have any balls on the low side.* " And I had the first problem with the revelators, plus for some reason they seemed really flat or muffled sounding... perhaps it was due to having a low crossover point and being so low in the door but i didnt care for them free air either. it was hard for me to complain about the revs as they are so highly regarded but they just didn't have anywhere near the sound I was looking for, that's all.

For me the HAT's simply perform well and they don't have me constantly thinking which speaker the voices are coming from. I have found them a joy to listen to and if I could I would sit in my car and listen to them all day but that's not practical, plus just having my car in the 'on' position drops my voltage from 12.6 to 12.3! I guess my three amps have a strong idle current.


I found a great review of the clarus set here: Buwalda Hybrids International Bulletin Board • View topic - CLARUS REVIEW!

It's not the same set but after reading it, it seems the imagines and clarus share some similarities. it's a good read 


o and btw - I have these running off of a 'possible' 75 watts per side and think you would have to be partially deaf to say these don't get loud enough. they stay VERY composed at high volume.

I took a chance without hearing them but I feel that as long as hybrid audio is making great speakers I won't be buying anything else.


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## Arclight (Apr 29, 2011)

Thanks for the follow up. I will check out those links later in the day. 

My plan is to use ADS PX tweets (and possibly PX crossovers as well) along with a 6.5 - 7" mid driver of some sort or another. The HAT mids look like winners... I may run them active also...still in the planning/gathering stage as I've been out of car audio for about 5 years.


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## IceWaLL (May 30, 2005)

YouTube - ‪Hybrid Audio Imagine + jl13w6v2 (read the Description!)‬‏

Just a fun video, gives a very rough idea how they sound.


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