RSD65 @ 200w??

[maka78]

I see that they support 65w RMS x 2 at most. My question is, can you hook up a x200.4 to them and power them with 200w RMS x 2? That's more than 3 times the recommended power. How do they sound? I know the TI6 Elites start sounding bad when you push 400w RMS x 2 to them, even though they are rated at 300w x 2.

Also, would it sound bad if I had TI6 Elite set up front and RSD65 set in rear, powered by a x200.4?

[maka78]

I have two TI6 Elite mids with two cheap Kenwood tweets I just dropped in there right now. I'm pretty sure the kenwood tweets are now blown cause I was pushing 200w to them through the elite passive x-over.

If there's a better option, what would you recommend? Maybe not to go with any tweets at all in the back and power the mids straight from the amp? Would that sound bad?

It's really hard to go back there and move speakers around, so I'd rather have a set plan than trial/error.

[maka78]

sorry, last thing posted by me in a row... I've also noticed, by specifications, that these appear to be the worst of the past couple of series...

1. TI Elite
2. Xenon
3. Tantrum
4. RSD

Is this right, by anyone that has experience with them? This is strictly talking about the 6.5 component sets.

[stipud]

They are rated for 120W, where did you get 65?

They sound fantastic on 200W.

I do not recommend running tweeters anywhere but the very front of the car. Rear fill is only necessary for any back seat passengers to hear music, but otherwise it screws up your imaging and soundstage up front. I always power rear fill off of the headunit, because it offers more than enough power... then I fade it out completely when there's nobody in the back.

Tweeters are the easiest to locate with the ear, so they do the most damage to your soundstage. Also, treble frequencies bounce around the car quite a bit, so you generally do not need any more in the back seat. On the other hand, midrange is easily absorbed by your front seats. You can typically get away with running midrange in the rear, without making it obvious up front.

[thedeal7235]

i have ti 6.5 upfront( 2nd set are fresh in the closet-came back from pg under warranty), in the meantime, i run the rsd 6.5 in the rear @150by2, no problem; as long as no distortion, most speakers will handle any power you throw at 'em, obviously there are some exceptions to the rule; my oem stock audi tweets, i threw 75 by 2 at em(ti500.4), and after 10 minutes they were done at 1/2-3/4 volume-but, in an old passat i had in 99, i ran the rear of zx450 to the factory rear speakers for rear-fill, they lasted for 2.5 years, gain set to zero,

[finkle636]

You have to remember that although its 200w, unless its running flat out, its unlikley the speakers will ever see that power as surely you'd turn it down when you hear them struggling to play at VERY high volumes?

[fuzzysnuggleduck]

You have to remember that although its 200w, unless its running flat out, its unlikley the speakers will ever see that power as surely you'd turn it down when you hear them struggling to play at VERY high volumes?

Yes!

We always talk about Y Watts to speaker X in reference to our systems, but the reality is that music is very dynamic and the speaker never sees your total maximum power unless you're at full volume and the peaks are hitting.

I suppose it's just semantics, though. It would be more complicated to say: "I've tuned my system to produce Y wattage with 0db test tones and the proper gain setting technique". Using the amp rating to state your power to a speaker is just easier, however inadequate that statement might be at describing the full definition.

[maka78]

Wow, thanks for all the replies!

They are rated for 120W, where did you get 65?

Saw it on e-bay, they said 60w RMS/120 Peak. Then I looked at the manual, and saw 120w RMS and I figured it's 120w per pair.

I do not recommend running tweeters anywhere but the very front of the car. Rear fill is only necessary for any back seat passengers to hear music, but otherwise it screws up your imaging and soundstage up front. I always power rear fill off of the headunit, because it offers more than enough power... then I fade it out completely when there's nobody in the back.

Tweeters are the easiest to locate with the ear, so they do the most damage to your soundstage. Also, treble frequencies bounce around the car quite a bit, so you generally do not need any more in the back seat. On the other hand, midrange is easily absorbed by your front seats. You can typically get away with running midrange in the rear, without making it obvious up front.

I've run with tweets in the back, and I notice that if the front stage is overpowering the rear stage, then you don't notice the tweets in the rear. The people in the back will notice there are no highs coming for them so the sound's gonna sound kinda bad. This is the only reason I would like tweets in the back.

You have to remember that although its 200w, unless its running flat out, its unlikley the speakers will ever see that power as surely you'd turn it down when you hear them struggling to play at VERY high volumes?

In theory, I would def. turn it down if I hear them struggling to play at very high volumes, but in reality, I've noticed that if you have a powerful front stage and some crazy powerful subs, you won't hear much of your rear stage struggling when playing at high volumes. You'll only hear it when you play at low volumes and notice a crackle, and it's too late then.

I personally like to have a rear stage (slightly less powerful than the front stage) because it fills up the entire car. I've heard how it sounds with just a front stage, and I really don't like it. It sounds like everything is in front of you, not all around you.

Bottom line:
Option A: Stick with TI6 Elite Mids powered at 200w/mid
Option B: Go with RSD component 6.5 at 200w/component set
Option C: Go with RSD 6.5 coax at 200w/coax
??

Based on what everyone said, I think option C is the best, and save my mids just in case for the front stage. Just a little worried they won't handle the power. If you say yes, then I guess it'll work.

[stipud]

I personally like to have a rear stage (slightly less powerful than the front stage) because it fills up the entire car. I've heard how it sounds with just a front stage, and I really don't like it. It sounds like everything is in front of you, not all around you.

When you go to a concert, do you face away from the stage? Do they have speakers behind you? Of course not. Sound is supposed to come from the front

Besides, you have two ears, so you should ideally have two sources for sound. One left, and one right. Of course no speakers play 20Hz-20kHz ruler flat in a car, so we do things like messing around with subwoofers in order to get that full range.

What happened to your Elite tweeters that you can't run them off the passive in the rear?

[maka78]

You have the acoustics in a concert which make it seem like it's coming from all sides. I agree with you that it should come from the front, but you should have a bit of an "all-around" feeling to make the sound much fuller.

I burnt the elite tweeters in the back a long time ago when I didn't know how to set gains. It was a bad idea buying an expensive set of speakers as first time speakers.

[smgreen20]

I like to use that analogy to, the concert one, but run into the same things, ...

The reverbs are what make it sound as if there's something from behind. The pillars, walls, what ever is around that is solid will reflect the sound.

But on another note, that's what DSPs are for. I have a clarion DPH9300 that would do just that for when I listened to live CDs and w/that set up, needed full range in the rear.

It's one of those subjective things. I rarely listen to live recordings anymore as I'm more SQ oriented now. Don't know why, but I love the sound of a live concert. Metallicas Live shit binge and purge is one of the best. The Eagles, Hell freezes over is another, but I've never seen them in concert, Metallica I have 3X.