Price & Performance Winner
Written: Jan 01 '03
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Pros: Very clear, uncolored sound for the money.
Cons: Odd universal mounting bracket.
The Bottom Line: These are very clear sounding, effecient speakers for the money. They will make a simple cost effective improvement in your car audio system.
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| benshockley's Full Review: Infinity Reference 652i Car Component System |
THE BASICS
Infinity now offers more of it's high end audio technology in it's lower end speakers. Todays 70$ coaxial speakers are actually richer sounding and offer more clarity than the 250$ component speakers of just a few years ago. These gems from Infinity are a true testimate that you get more for your money than ever. Now that's not to say that todays 250$ and 300$ component systems arn't breathtaking, but if you yourself arn't an audiophile, or don't need the hassle of a complex instalation, or are simply lacking the economic means to obtain true "audiophile" speakers for your car, these speakers are a great solution.
BUILD QUALITY
These speakers were well packaged and I liked the fact that each of the two speakers had thier individual serial numbers on the exterior of the box. Both speakers were well packed and came with thier universal adapter ring to allow for simplified instalation (more on that later), strips of self adheasive foam to help seal the speakers for enhanched bass response, and enough hardware to see the instalation well. Upon removal I was more than impressed with what I saw. I have been farmiliar with a veriety of speakers for automotive aplications, and all too often car speakers lack the quality found on home audio speakers. Also, many manufactures incorporate gimicks to offer their product a more flashy aperance, and all to often these gimicks can hurt audio quality. (Sony "Explods" are a prime example of this.) There's nothing cheesy about these Infinities. Durable ABS plastics, a non resonant basket, and I liked the fact that the wires to the tweeter run up the center of what would be the magnet's pole piece, rather than having tinsle leads coming through the low freaquencey driver's cone, free to break during long cone excursion. When I pushed on the edge of the cone near the surround with my finger, the whole cone moved- it was very ridged. That meant that these speakers would stand up to some serious bass, and maintain the intelagability of the midrange even at amazing volume. The surround was made of a very high quality rubber and looked to last for years. The tweeter was a real, honest to god silk dome tweeter. The tweeter is actually suspended on it's edge, and that's the diference between a decent tweeter, and one of the plastic ones you find in a pair of Sony's. Edge suspension allows for faster transients, and overall better sound. The tweeter in these speakers is comparable to the tweeters in high end home speakers costing many times as much. All and all the costruction quality of these speakers is unsurpassed considering the generally low cost of these speakers, and should be commended.
INSTALATION
O.k. my only real qualm with these speakers is that the speaker basket it self only has four holes as the standard 4 hole insert patern for mounting hardware. (4 holes evenly spaced across from each other) Now for some aplications that's great, why have more than you need. But my plan was a simple "drop in instalation". I didn't want to modify anything in my vehicle. Now Infinity's solution was to provide an external trim ring made out of cheap pot metal, and have you bolt this ring to the odd insert pattern in your vehicle, and use the stadard 4 hole pattern on the speaker basket to bolt the speaker to the trim ring. I know this is all seems a bit complex, and to be honest, it really is for the installer as well. While the sytem is a refreshing departure from the norm, it doesn't offer any real advantage. I managed to mount the ring in the openings in my vehicle even though it didn't have the exact three hole pattern Ford and Mazda seem to love so much. However the ring added enough mounting depth to push the tweeter into the factory grill once installed. "Oh well," I told myself. I should have drilled the holes and done it right, but I intended to reinstall the factory speakers and wanted to modify as little as possible. These speakers would eventually find thier way into a conversion van (a tacky place to put Infinity speakers, I'm well aware) where they just dropped in the factory openings, so the adapter ring is really just for those who really need it. I seriously doubt any profesional installer would bother with such an odd mounting system, so it may not be a problem for some of you. I like the swiveling tweeter, I donno' how much of an difference it has on the sound, but it all depends on the vehicle I would immagine. I also like the fact that the swiveling tweeter clicks into set positions so it does't move on it's own. This keeps the harsh ride of certain vehicles from knocking the position of the tweeter around. The instalation of these speakers is really what you make of it, and doesn't effect the value of your listening experience.
THE SOUND
The first thing that stunned me was the clarity of these speakers. I decided to break these speakers in on my home stereo before instalation, and what better way to really listen to them then at home. I placed them in small home made free air enclosures that would simulate the crude enclosure they would have in a car. The tweeter and woofer flowed together better than the simple single capacitor 6 db/ octive crossover on the tweeter would have had be believe. Immaging was excelent for the price range, as was intelagibility and overall clarity. I never thought the day would come where I would hear speakers of this cost allow me to hear as many of musics subtle details, but the day has come. These speakers are one of the best ways to "expirience" music in your car without spending a fortune. I would also like to mention the smoothness of the tweeter. The highs arn't over exagerated to the point where they are harsh to listen to, or unrealistic. I have always perfered the sweet, accurate sound of silk tweeters over metalic ones. I thinks that's why I opted for the Reference series over Infinity's higher end Kappa series. They arn't quite as detailed, but quite a bit more "sweet" sounding and pleasnt to listen to. They are also MUCH more efficinet. If you are simply driving speakers with your head unit the Refrence series is a better choice than the Kappa's due to being 2-3 db more efficient at one watt. This is thanks to the "Plus One" cone design that simply means the driver have about 30% more surface area than a typical driver of the same size. The more area on the driver the more air it can move, and the more sound it will make. My olny real qualm is with the intelagibility of the bass responce. While this speaker does produce a great deal of bass, it's the qality, not the quantity. True, audiophile speakers offer a more balanced vocal low end. But, for the money spent on these speakers, one simply can't comlpain about extreemly mundain details. It may not even be something the average listener can hear, but the season ear may be more aprecialtive up the Kappa line of speaker. Or more expensive MB Quart or Eclipse models. But for the average car audio enthusiast who simply needs clean, punchy, loud sound with minimal investment, the are the ticket. All and all these speakers sound phanominal for the money, and should be worth a listen if your in the price range.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 100
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Epinions.com ID:
benshockley
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Member: Ben Shockley
Location: Des Moines, Iowa, USA
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
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