# TBI review from an Italian...



## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

When I fount out that I'd be receiving a set of these I decided it was time I start an active system. I decided on the following equipment...

-Alpine 9887
-Focal Utopia 6w4311
-ED NINe.5
-Tang Band 6.5" subs (4)

My adjustment was a little rough seeing as how it was the first time I'd had a setup like this. Tunning and setting it all up was a nightmare. To be honest, I'm still getting acquainted with all of it. Some of you know I have been having a little bit of amp trouble and that's one of the reasons it's taken me this long to write anything up. 



*TBI Review*
Ok....enough jibba jabba....how do they sound right?

First thing I noticed was that they sounded much more detailed than my Focal tweeters that were in my 165V1 set. Very accurate and crisp. They are installed in the sail panels in my IS300. I've got the TBI tweeters crossed down at 2.5khz and it sounds great. With the tweeters playing that low it really brings the stage up. 

I've got a low level high pitched noise coming through the tweeters that I believe is coming from the amp. It's tolerable for the time being but I'm going to get that situated soon. 

To tune I used my highest quality material; _The Sheffield Jazz Experience_. Very high recording quality on this disc and it shows coming through these tweeters. I'm picking out sounds that I've never heard before. The dark side of this story is that the new tweeters and active system really let a good recording shine to it's full potential....leaving MP3's sounding dull and lifeless. I don't think I've lost any fidelity while playing MP3's on the new setup. I think it's just the contrast of a good recording and then going back to MP3's. 


*The Bottom Line*
Would I pay the list price ($200) for these tweeters? No. 
Are they an outstanding set of drivers that will stay in my car? Yes


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

Good simple review. I'll be testing out a set in my truck pretty soon and will give them a good torture test.


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## mvw2 (Oct 2, 2005)

Yep, the $200 price tag is a kicking point. It simply isn't _competitive_, despite being quite good in its own right. I would personally consider $150 the upper edge, $120 sounds right to my wallet. There are just simply too many good tweeters out there for far, far, far less. The Seas is only $70 for a pair. Many of the Vifa based ones are less. The Alpine wholesale products for their Type-X sets only come out to around $40 for a pair. Even the Scanspeak based ones were only $120 for the pair through wholesale suppliers(shows the massive markup of retail, even online at Madisound). The TBI tweeter is quite good no doubt, but it will sell much easier at a better price. Suppy and demand is the driver of capitalism. TBI should investigate where they should be in price to optimize this. $200 isn't horrid comparatively to buying a $300-$400 set of Scanspeak tweeters off Madisound, but there is always that "why would I buy TBI's tweeters for $200 over brand/model X or Y for $45 or $60?" If I was going to toss down $200 on a pair of tweeters, a set of Hiquphons would be sitting in my car. That's all there is to it. It's just that the tweeter market is very broad and very competitive in terms of products.


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## ANT (Oct 15, 2005)

You guys konw that Jan is giving 50% off for diyma members right now?

Click on the TBI banner at the top of the page (when you see it)

ANT


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

Bump from a fellow Italian.


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