# Hybrid Imagines vs Cadence CWM6 components



## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

After two years of no stereo in the car, I decided to throw something together. Car is an 05 accord, with a loc going off of the factory deck and a powerbass 4.600 powering the speakers and a JL 12W0v2 sub in a ported box tuned to 28Hz. The car has about 40 square ft of damplifier pro in each door, holes sealed with two layers of aluminum flashing and dpro. Baffles are decoupled with clay, and sealed as well (see my old unofficial build log for details). Mids in the door, tweets in the factory location on the dash.

I started out with the cadence speakers, as the initial goal was cheap, simple, and just have some damn music in the car again. 

Initial thoughts were they sounded decent, esp for the money. They had surprising midbass, stage height was nice as well. However the tweeters sucked. As a disclaimer, the first tweeter i ever heard that I was happy with out of the box was a DLS IR1. However, imaging was very weak, and they were very harsh, which is my biggest peeve. I tried to chalk up my dissatisfaction to being used to my dyns and hearing other competitor's cars with Morel, scan, etc, but still couldn't get used to ignoring the sound to the point I was immediately looking for some kind of eq I could add to fix the issues. So I decided to spring for the hybrids, due to price and simplicity of the crossover network, as well as reviews of people that I talked to.

I got the hybrids in a half hour ago, and was literally blown away. I believe the first thing i said was "these things are no joke". I expected much better than the cadence, simply from going from a $60 set of comps to a $200 set of comps from a sq oriented company, but wasnt expecting them to sound as good as I did. Even while installing them, I remembered thinking that they wouldn't sound 3x as good, even though the price Delta between the sets was more than that.

Midbass is much more clear and accurate, and while it seems to have less than the cadence, distortion also sounds louder, so I'm taking that into consideration. Regardless, there was enough for me to not think it was weak by any means. I bumped the bass to +1 on the factory deck and was fine.

Overall stage height was slightly lower, which I attribute to the mid playing up to 6k, where the tweeter kicks in. However, it didn't rainbow and was still several inches above the dash.

Midrange detail was much more accurate, to the point of me noticing and picking up info in the tracks that wasnt there earlier today with the cadence.

Tweeters are great. With no eq, there is already a much more focused image, a lot more detail, and no harshness or sibilance at all. I don't know how much these would be if sold as a separate set, but they're easily my new favorite cheap tweeter. I kept the cadence at -2 or -3 to kill the sibilance, and it was still there. These sit on 0 and are perfect.

I skipped through tracks on guns n roses' greatest hits, and was loving how good these sounded out of the box. Within a few minutes, I was literally grinning from ear to ear, and couldn't stop. My initial goal for this project was to have radio again, and while my wife commented that the cadence set were better than the monsoon system in her VW bug, these blow thouse out of the water. I listened to the others for prolly two weeks, and never even smiled at how they sounded. They were always just good for the money, and better than I was expecting. However, these hybrids really impressed me. It's been a while since i heard alpine's new spx line a couple years ago, but I don't remember anything standing out about them like these did.

Obviously, the hybrids were going to soud better, but it was a significant leap. I really wish i had saved the money and gotten them first, which I was initially considering.

All in all a great set of comps, and very much so worth the money. Scott did a really great job with this set.)

I have an RF 3sixty.2 en route, and almost wish I had gotten these in first, bc I may have not ordered it, but it'll be fun dialing these in some more.

I'll probably put a build log up for this, but I've been fabbing a dock for my Droid incredible, and have figured out how to stream Pandora and play mp3's from it through the usb out while allowing it to charge through the usb at the same time


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Thanks for the review, J!

You're back in the game! Woot!

Take care, dude.

- Erin


EDIT:
Wife?! Congrats!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Haha yeah, this project has already gotten way bigger than intended. What started off as comp amd sub with one amp on the sub box is now an active setup with another sub, second amp, and most likely an all out rack, since I'm having trouble figuring out where to aesthetically put the amps. This dock project is going to be the death of me. Way more sanding and custom fabricating than i have the patience for. 

And thx on the wife, been married since Dec. She was with me at finals, and wants to compete next season. We'll see what happens, have to buy a house first.


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## omegaslast (Nov 4, 2010)

I made a similar jump tonight, from MB Quart Formula FSA216 ($55) to the imagines. 
1999 mustang gt
tweeter mounted on the panel for side view mirrors
some CLD tiles
pioneer 8200BT auto EQed (tried with and without, not sure which one i like)
dayton HO 10" sealed in trunk

Had the mb quarts for 4 months, the tweeter was always very congested. Had the hat imagines in for 2 hours, listened a bit, definitely a lot less congested sounding, and unlike the mb quart you cant tell when theres a bunch of sound coming from the tweeter. I cant say whether or not this is because the mb quarts had crossover at 2.8khz (iirc) and the fact that the HAT imagines run the tweeter only from like 4.5khz and above, OR because the imagine 1" silk dome tweter. I want to say its because of both. 

Im not completely sold on having 100hz-5000hz play out of a 6.5" woofer, im a home audio guy and that is simply unheard of. 6.5" beam and have insane breakup nodes at that point. Ill have to measure my system with my REW setup and see what kind of response im actually getting... should be interesting.

That being said they do sound good, definitely an upgrade. Is it a $55 to $188 upgrade? not sure


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## IceWaLL (May 30, 2005)

great review. I had similar thoughts when I installed my imagines.

Omega - From what I understand the mids play that high so the tweeters are out of the vocal range. This is important in a car and not something you would do in home audio. Then again, in home audio you aren't about a foot or so from a tweeter. I'm sure that the paper cone helps with break-up but even if it isn't perfect it does other things so well in its design that I can't see a better way to do it without going 3-way.


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## extremepaint (Apr 23, 2011)

How are u setting up the dock to play music through the usb. If i can eliminate a wire id be a happy man!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

extremepaint said:


> How are u setting up the dock to play music through the usb. If i can eliminate a wire id be a happy man!


This only works with the incredible, but purchase a tv-out cable, made specifically for it, and make a muting plug and attach to the video out. This shorts the signal and makes the phone think it is connected to a tv and will send all multimedia signals through it. The cable has another mini usb input on it for power.

I modded a car charger to tap into the wires powering the accessory plug, so it'll charge behind the dash without using my free plug.

Go to WWW.proclip.com and look up a dock for your incredible. They have some with chargers already built in, but i got a standard one with a swivel mount, and am fabbing a mount for the usb to the bottom. The dock tabs that hold the phone in stop right by the usb input on the phone, so attaching the usb dock hasnt been too bad. The dock will mount to the lower dash kit on my accord. I filled in the pocket with ABS and mounted the dock there.

I've grabbed a couple pics along the way and will post them once it's done.


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## extremepaint (Apr 23, 2011)

ahh damn i just have a droid x. but good info and a tricky setup too!!


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

Side note, I'm using a PAC adapter to run aux in through my factory deck.

Also, Google navigation outputs through it, as well as phone calls. So when I'm listening to music on my phone with the nav going, the music stops for it to tell me directions, and also mutes when the phone rings. I'm still trying to figure a good handsfree solution, but for now it's just plugging in a headset.

I'm really pleased with the phone and it's operation for this purpose. I've configured the car dock app for how i want it, and it's all worked flawlessly.


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## Scott Buwalda (Apr 7, 2006)

Thanks very much Thumper!!! 

And Omegaslast, naturally, each and every midrange/midbass will have some cone break-up mode. The break-up mode on the I6 midbass is at about 7,000 Hz, and is noted at 0 degrees, on-axis. Even the slightest bit of off-axis aiming, as would be expected when installing a 6.5" midbass, will tame, if not completely remove any break-up mode. In fact, the affect of a slight bit of off-axis aiming with the lively mode at 7,000 Hz really,r eally works in a car. And IcewaLL is right, the goal was the get the tweeters out of the vocal range - the key to our deisgn philosophy across the board, from the future Mirus line (to become our try entry-level offering starting in July), all the way up to Legatia SE.


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