# Seas Neo metal dome tweeters (25TAFNC/D)



## FoxPro5 (Feb 14, 2006)

I purchased these from Madisound in July. They came nicely packaged a few days later. Overall, dealing with Madisound was a positive experience.


















I mentioned in another review thread that I had to return one due to a "manufacturers defect." Well, to be honest, it was as much my defect as it was Seas. I accidently broke one the tinsel leads on one of the tweeters when installing it. And, unfortunately...without knowing it, I ended up breaking one of the leads on the other tweeter as well. Madisound was very helpful and offered to replace the first one. But, they were not so willing to help with the second one. I convinced them to send me a second replacement if I paid for the shipping. So hats off to them for excellent customer care.

So upon receiving my replacements, I immediately filled the gaps with hot glue and soldered pig tails to the terminals. Problem solved. They have worked great ever since. 









Build quality
Aside from the way they are designed, they are built nicely. They feel nice and heavy in your hand and the plasic used on the difussior/grill is strong. They didn't come with any mounting hardware, but I found a standard size amplifer screw to fit the mounting hole perfectly.

Sound
At first they sounded 'tiny' and very metallic. I wasn't too happy. But I thought I'd give them a chance to settle in. After everday listening at lower/moderate volume they started to warm up.

I would discribe the sound as accurate and airy. I found them to be a good match to my articulate Lotus Ref midbass and Usher 9845 mids. There really is no harshness, but they can be a little bright. With high quality disks, they can really shine. In fact they are great in this department. Put in an MP3 and forget about it...cold, hissy and yucky! 

At high volume, there is some sibilance...especially with female vocals. Go figure. My test for this is some selected tracks off the Celtic Women CD. Lots of chances for ringing, harshness, and 'shhhh' and 'sssss' sounds. Overall they did quite well, but not perfect. They are metal domes, put it that way.

Install
I had them mounted in the factory sail panel location firing up and back toward me...basically just underneat the rearview mirror. I used the HP on my Eclipse HU to cross them over. I tried many points and slopes and kept coming back to 3.15kHz at 12 dB/oct. To me that was their sweet spot in my car in concert with the other drivers playing. I sould mention that they were part of a 4 way active system consisting of the Usher 9845M dome midrange mounded off axis in the kicks, Seas Lotus Ref midbass mounted IB in the doors and a Boston Pro 12.5LF in the hatch. They were powered by the front channels of a Kicker SX700.4 which puts out 87.5 watts RMS at 4 ohms (14.4v).

Pros
Price!! I paid just shy of $65 shipped for the pair.
Off axis response is great
High sensitivity
Accuracy and detail
Can be crossed over fairly low (according to Zaph Audio)
Great product support if you purchase through Madisound

Cons
Not very forgiving on poorly recorded music
Poorly thought out design..especially for press fitting and for car audio applications
Can be bright like many metal domes

Summary
The Seas Neo metal dome should be a strong consideration for someone who wants a great sounding metal dome tweeter for a great price. Tell your friends you paid $300 each for them and they won't know the difference. 

Similar products used
Just as a comparison, I've used the following metal dome tweeters in my car:
MB Quart PTE 25
Rainbow Cal25 Alk
Boston Z


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## ArcL100 (Jun 17, 2005)

Lol, thanks for the review - I'm glad someone else finally had some of the same (negative) findings I had .

-aaron


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## dBassHz (Nov 2, 2005)

Yeah, thanks for the indepth review. Your opinion is pretty much the same as mine, in regards to these tweeters... Any one in the market for a set? PM me, I think I am going to be selling mine. But it's not because I don't like them (I do like them). I am just going in a totally different direction (waveguides).


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## Guest (Nov 1, 2006)

omarmipi said:


> I am just going in a totally different direction (waveguides).


A waveguide in a car? Where?
This I would like to see.

cheers,

AJ


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## Mless5 (Aug 21, 2006)

Thanks for an honest and discriptive review. One more off my list. :blush:


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## niceguy (Mar 12, 2006)

Haha, me too......that's $65 I know I won't be wasting...then again, next set I try may be a waste after all...

Thanks for the review...my up firing dash does not jive with anything that even thinks about getting sibilant (Peerless RDC2ks RIP {Rot In PooP}  

Jeremy


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## FoxPro5 (Feb 14, 2006)

Wow...did my review really seem that slanted??


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## yermolovd (Oct 10, 2005)

I thought about swapping these for LPGs, but I'm not sure now. But what the hell, I might give them a go.
How are they behaving when pushed hard? To me, my silk LPGs kind of "fall apart". If you had a chance to hear the LPGs, maybe you can compare the two?
I'm noticing I want a brighter sound from the tweets, so I guess going to metals might satisfy my urge for brightness. Plus I can't stand LPGs crossed below 5k, so 3.15 at 12 seems like a good thing to have, if that works out in my setup.

and omarmipi, ygpm.


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## FoxPro5 (Feb 14, 2006)

Loud!! They are loud when you push them hard.  Point them directly at your face and you will most likey bleed from the ears as you would with any metal dome up high. I liked the dispersion on these. Off axis compensation is good. Not very picky with aiming. 

These are tweeters that I'm keeping for a rainy day because to me they are a real bargain.


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## dawgdan (Aug 10, 2006)

Nice review! 

I love my Seas Neos. They can be a bit harsh - I have them toned down a little with my wimpy EQ in my stock HU. But it's a crisp, detailed sound that I really crave. Mine is ~80 degrees off axis on the driver's side and 45 degrees on the passenger's side. 

They are crossed passively at 2800 Hz with a sharp 24 db/octave slope.

Worst part is the stupid tinsel lead thing . One of mine broke last weekend. I didn't want to bother sending it back to Madisound, so I just soldered it back on. 5 days and still rockin'.

Great bargain tweeter. Not for everyone, but works for me!


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

omarmipi said:


> Yeah, thanks for the indepth review. Your opinion is pretty much the same as mine, in regards to these tweeters... Any one in the market for a set? PM me, I think I am going to be selling mine. But it's not because I don't like them (I do like them). I am just going in a totally different direction (waveguides).



I'm looking for a pair!

Chad


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## FoxPro5 (Feb 14, 2006)

6 months later and these are still going strong. I have them about 60* off axis about 6" up in the A pillar. Due to them being so close, I have them about 3dB down on the HU. I also cut 16 and 20kHz by about 3dB to help tone down the spike in that area. 

I would say that without and EQ and a dash mat, an A pillar install with these would be pretty bold. They could wear you out up that high. But if you work with them, they are VERY nice for $28. Great sparkle and detail without the typical harshness on a lot of metal domes.


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## npdang (Jul 29, 2005)

Mine popped into the factory locations as if they were made for them. First time for me lol. I have them up front in the dash, flush mounted with no grille or recess. They sound buttery smooth, not harsh or strident at all and I'd suspect the install is mostly why. You'd be very, very hard pressed to tell that they were metal domes. Effortless, low coloration, no sibilance or hiss at all. Cymbals and bells have that nice shine and shimmer to them.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Dammit guys..... You are going to make me order a pair!

From what B-Squad said they may be the OPPOSITE of my Morels!

The morel's bite lower and I actually have to put sizzle into them via EQ, but the ampunt of and placement of EQ correlates EXACTLY to what I imagined by looking at the off-axis response.

Chad


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## FoxPro5 (Feb 14, 2006)

Well like I said, you better play high quality, uncompressed music because they can make bad music sound worse....especially if you have them up high. With the left tweeter 30" from my left ear, I guess I can't complain for a metal dome. I have not tried them down low though.


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## agentk98 (Oct 31, 2006)

Oops! Time to hot glue my silk domes before they break on me.


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

chad said:


> Dammit guys..... You are going to make me order a pair!
> 
> From what B-Squad said they may be the OPPOSITE of my Morels!
> 
> ...


same with my morels. i have to kick 16khz up about +3 to add that sparkle and air. but these are the smoothest tweeters i've ever heard.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

npdang said:


> Mine popped into the factory locations as if they were made for them. First time for me lol. I have them up front in the dash, flush mounted with no grille or recess. They sound buttery smooth, not harsh or strident at all and I'd suspect the install is mostly why. You'd be very, very hard pressed to tell that they were metal domes. Effortless, low coloration, no sibilance or hiss at all. Cymbals and bells have that nice shine and shimmer to them.


Is this on an accord, if so do you think they will sound good on a model like this also, mounted in the far corners the same way. Did you angle them at all because they seem pretty close to the glass where it meets the dash.


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## alphakenny1 (Dec 21, 2005)

anyone thinks that these could do well in the kicks, pretty much 60 degrees off axis specifically?


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## jearhart (Jul 28, 2006)

alphakenny1 said:


> anyone thinks that these could do well in the kicks, pretty much 60 degrees off axis specifically?


they do great off axis, 60deg will be pushing it but i dont know of anything that will do as good unless you spend a lot more money. that far off axis you wont have to worry about the harshness that others have described, even though i thought they sounded great.


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## FoxPro5 (Feb 14, 2006)

jearhart said:


> that far off axis you wont have to worry about the harshness that others have described





> Great sparkle and detail *without the typical harshness* on a lot of metal domes.





> They sound buttery smooth, _*not harsh*_ or strident at all and I'd suspect the install is mostly why.


 

If you'd like to try them Pete, let me know.


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## alphakenny1 (Dec 21, 2005)

john, ygpm


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