# SEAS Lotus Reference (Hard dome tweeter) "Initial Review"



## evangelos K (Aug 27, 2005)

This is a copy/paste from a thread I started at my car's forum, so forgive the way it is presented since I have "stiched" several of my posts together:

Seas Lotus Reference (RW165 & RT25A)

Finally, The SEAS Lotus Reference went in yesterday. I will give a VERY short review (more like initial impressions). Well, straight to the point: Are they better than the Focal Utopias? YES. 

My review at this point is WOW. Sound was improved in every aspect, mailny in top highs extension, and amazing neutral mids. Bass is Deeper, lower, a little more "snapiness" than the Utopias. The SEAS are known for reproducing uncolored sound (nothing wrong w/ the "warm" mid sound of the Utopias), and as not forgiving bad recordings. I have only played great SQ CDs, and I was blown away. The drop in x-over point (at 2000Hz now as opposed to 3150Hz w/ the Utopias) brought everything up and upfront. I might play w/ 1.5Khz since the SEAS tweeter plays down to 850Hz, and the factory x-over point for the set (if you get the passives) is at 1700Hz. 

Voices are perfectly natural, bass deep and very controlled, and the hard dome tweeters shine all the way up (the Utopias are great revealing details below 7KHz, but lack top extension. 

*After listening more to it, it is amazing how much better the sound stage is. For some reson, w/ the listening position on left (driver, the Pioneer asks you to select a listening position 1st making auto adjustments and THEN you can fine adjust distance in TA mode) I did not like the Utopias, so I had them w/o Time Allignment. W/ the SEAS, just setting the listenning position on left brings everything in front of you. I reason it is b/c of the 2KHz x-over point as opposed to 3.15Khz. 


My story for tonight is that my battery died. I was ready to listen to my new setup (car off), and the Midbass would cut off while tweets and sub would play (bi-amping, each component on its own amp). I thought there was a short somwhere in the doors, so I took everything out AGAIN! Then I did what I should have done 1st, I took a MM and saw something like 9V going to the amps, which resulted to the JL 300/2 (for the midbass) to turn off. Jumped the car, charged the battery, and I was in heaven 

I am very confident the sound will improve further when I put my new JL e2150 tweeter amp and give the tweeters a little more juice since they are 6 Ohms, and the Zapco is only 2x37 @ 4 Ohms, and of course after they brake in. 

My only complain is that the holes for the tweeters are too big for the new SEAS tweeters... looks ugly (black foam around inner rim of tweeter to make it stay in place). Need to work something out.


----------



## 10K2HVN (Mar 8, 2005)

Nice NICE Review!

- _Cap'em, we need more power" - Scottie_

I wanna run all SEAS again.. Im getting kinda sick of car audio and will probably be moving my LCY's to home.... :T


----------



## 95Legend (Jun 24, 2005)

evangelos K said:


> I might play w/ 1.5Khz since the SEAS tweeter plays down to 850Hz, and the factory x-over point for the set (if you get the passives) is at 1700Hz.



Ehh..the seas do not play down to 850hz, unless you like to strangle your ears. 

THe lowest you should keep it is around 1.5khz, and thats with a steep (~24db+) slope. Otherwise your ears will fatigue quickly.


----------



## evangelos K (Aug 27, 2005)

95Legend said:


> Ehh..the seas do not play down to 850hz, unless you like to strangle your ears.
> 
> THe lowest you should keep it is around 1.5khz, and thats with a steep (~24db+) slope. Otherwise your ears will fatigue quickly.


Yeah, that's what I said I might try, 1.5KHz.


----------



## af22 (Sep 22, 2005)

you've convinced me, i just ordered them. no more 3500 crossover point on my tn52s!


----------



## evangelos K (Aug 27, 2005)

Update:


Well, It seems I will be staying w/ the Zapco 150 for the tweeters. The JL e2150 (The "cheap" e series not the slush), although 2x75 does not compare to the 2x37 Zapco. Not Powerwise but SQ wise. The highs are so much better w/ the Zapco. The JL sounded way to "silky," literally, like the tweeters were behind a silk screen. The high details w/ the e2150 were nowhere to be found (compared to the Zapco).

I had no complains w/ the sound as it was, but I thought a little more power to the tweeters will make things better, thats why the e2150 "expirement." Since the SEAS tweeters are 6 Ohms, the Zapco puts out ~2x27W, and the e2150 ~ 2x55W (estimated values). Apparently, the better amp is more important than Wattage 

Here are some pics of the speakers/install:






































And here is one showing my previous setup, the Focal Utopia. Yeah, the Utopias look sexier  This time I painted the MDF spacers so they wont rot (reason I got the SEAS, if it were to make new spacers, might as well get and try new speakers! I was happy w/ the Utopias and never thought of getting something else. I am glad I did now.


----------



## evangelos K (Aug 27, 2005)

af22 said:


> you've convinced me, i just ordered them. no more 3500 crossover point on my tn52s!


How do you like the SW300? Thinking of getting one. Can you compare it with what you have had in the past?


----------



## 95Legend (Jun 24, 2005)

evangelos K said:


> How do you like the SW300? Thinking of getting one. Can you compare it with what you have had in the past?



I can attest to the SW300


To me, they sounded better than the IDMAX (i had idmax in IB, ported, and sealed).


----------



## af22 (Sep 22, 2005)

evangelos K said:


> How do you like the SW300? Thinking of getting one. Can you compare it with what you have had in the past?


you've inspired me to write a mini review in the review section now....

but in a nutshell, i wasn't satisfied with it until i put 600 watts on a class A/B amp from my D7152. I originally had 200 watts from my D7056 channel 5/6 bridged, and that just wasn't enough power to make it drop deep enough. It blends into the nextels perfectly without equalization or T/A, but with that said it's not a very beefy sub. My old infinity perfect played deeper and hit harder at 200 watts, but the seas is a true SQ sub for the hardcore SQ people. It is vastly faster then my old perfect and very accurate. when listening to hotel california, or jazz it sounds amazing (also excellent for trance and house due to the speed and smoothness). when listening to g-unit, you'll be much happier with another sub (it just doesn't have the deepness and omph). the sub just blends very well into the mid bass and is very fluid and smooth and fast (which is good for high quality music). But not good for hip/hop, rap, radio, mp3's.

overall, i find it to be an awsome sub, it's just not gonna work well for everyone depending on the music they like to listen too.

other subs on my list that i were gonna buy over the seas were the diamond D9, and infinity VQ. other subs that i've had in my car were the diamond mac daddy and the infinity perfect 12 running 350 watts of PG class D amp. If you want a good overall sub on all types of music, i'd recommend getting a diamond D9 or TDX and put 600 watts on it. Or one of the other DIY brands, but i haven't heard many of them in person. But if you want the best sound quality, smoothness, speed, blending into the front stage, the seas sub is probably the best one you can buy.


----------



## 10K2HVN (Mar 8, 2005)

thats funny af22, I pretty much feel the same exact way about that sub and I drive an IS300 too! 

although it does hit pretty hard and gets pretty loud, it is kinda missing some sort of umph that other subs have - maybe its just a bit too smooth.. maybe we should try it ported!? 

Great sounding damn sub!


----------



## af22 (Sep 22, 2005)

10K2HVN said:


> thats funny af22, I pretty much feel the same exact way about that sub and I drive an IS300 too!
> 
> although it does hit pretty hard and gets pretty loud, it is kinda missing some sort of umph that other subs have - maybe its just a bit too smooth.. maybe we should try it ported!?
> 
> Great sounding damn sub!



i found this place through your my.is profile 

i was thinking about getting a 2nd sub, but considering how i have 0 trunk space left... i'm gonna work on mounting my amps pretty on the wall over christmas and free up half my trunk again.

but if you look at the physical sub, it looks like a normal 6.5" speaker that's 12" big. compared to the DIYMA sub, that thing looks like godzilla compared to our little sea lotus. haha. so i really dont expect it to provide the omph. But putting 600 watts made a big diffrence, oh BTW i'm using a 1' cu foot box filled with 16 ounc of polyfill lined with dynaxorb.


----------



## 10K2HVN (Mar 8, 2005)

cool cool!! 

yeah..it is kinda small compared to some super subs.. but compared to other subs in its class.










http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/12/web/384000-384999/384774_201_full.jpg

This think hits just as good as a JLW6 which is more then enough bumps for any SQ individual.


----------



## dual700 (Mar 6, 2005)

Glad to hear you guys like the Lotus!
If you guys don't mind, could you please put your review to our site?
http://www.mobilesq.com/store/product_reviews.php?products_id=29
When we migrated from Yahoo to new isp, our review db got wiped out   

Thank you much!!


----------

