HCCA is the top of the line for Orion. Be it amps, subwoofers, or speakers, HCCA means two things... high quality and high price! The HCCA 5S component system lives up to both. At a suggested retail of over $400, they are quite pricey, but; Mr. Owl, do they live up to the quality claim? Lets find out...

A One... (Visual Impressions)

The HCCA 5s components came in a HUGE box, I mean huge. This thing is 2 feet long, 1 foot wide, and 8 inches deep. All this for a little set of 5.25" mids and 1" tweeters? Well, the box also contains ONE huge crossover, its actually two, but they are built into one chassis. It's about the size of your average brick, and it weighs just about as much. One look at the crossover and I was sure that the HCCA components would live up to the quality expectations.

The crossover circuitry is contained inside a metal case with a thick glass top. You can tell it is a quality piece just from holding it and looking at it. There is an option for Bi-Wiring or Bi-amping wherein you can use a separate amplifier channel for each of the four speakers... all through one crossover! The only drawback is that you have to actually cut a wire on the circuit board to bi-amp, if you decide to go back, you'll have to solder it. The crossover tweeter attenuation switch has three different levels. +3, 0, -3 dB. The crossover is the most impressive piece of the system.

The "woofers" (I call them midranges, the book says woofer) don't strike me with awe the way the crossover did. I was suprised to find out that the baskets were made of plastic. The cone and surrounds are high quality polypropelene, and the fit and finish is nice. The magnets are really big for a 5 1/4" speaker and the input terminals and wires are very heavy guage. I had no doubt that these speakers can take their rated power just by looking at them. They really are pretty impressive when you inspect them closely.

The tweeters are just ugly. The just look weird. They look like black pimples on my doors... you know, the gradual bulge with a "head" in the middle! (sorry for the gross analogy). I've never seen a tweeter that had a grill that perfectly matched it's contours, but that is what Orion did. I'd prefer a smooth top, but that would make it more difficult to flush mount them. The tweeters are the only part of the system that I wasn't to pleased about on sight.

A Two (Installation)
There are only two real installation issues, one is where to put the huge freakin crossover and the other is deciding which way to mount the tweeters. They can be mounted 3 different ways, surface, flush, and angled flush. They aren't adjustable so you had better get them where you want them! Surface mount only requirs you to mount the installation cups via two screws, but the flush mount options will require a 1 7/8" hole to be drilled! I already had holes in my door panels so I chose angled flush. The tweeters look much nicer when they are finally mounted.

The woofers don't require anything special (unless you are mounting them somewhere that didn't have speakers before). I mounted mine in the factory locations in my 1991 Civic Si (note, the 5s components fit my 6.5" openings perfectly! That's how large they are!) I didn't get to use the very nice quality grills that come with the midranges, I have the factory speaker grills over it... stealth!

The crossover can be mounted just about anywhere, in any position. You might want to make sure that you locate it so that you can access it to change the tweeter cut off. Simply connect the output from the amp (I used 12ga) to the crossover inputs and then the output from each mid/tweeter channel to it's speaker (again 12ga). The wire terminals are the screw type and accept at least 12ga wire with no problems. That's it, the hardest part of the installation was getting the speaker wire through the small opening that goes from my cab to the door!

A Three (Sound)
Who cares is the tweeters aren't pretty. We want to hear them right! I was absolutely amazed at the sound quality of this system! I've had component systems in the past that couldn't even come close to these. The definition and clarity of the HCCA 5s is the best I've ever had! Each channel receives 100 watts from my Autotek SX-5750 amplifier and they don't distort at all. The 5.25" mids have trouble with frequencies below 100hz, but as long as they are crossed above that I have no worries about blowing them at all. The tweeters are crisp and clear, they can be overpowering though, that's why I have them attenuated at -3dB. Now they blend nicely with the rest of the system, keep in mind that location is vital when it comes to tweeters mine are mounted high in the doors so that's why they can pierce your ears for you! If you have them mounted on the dash, you may well have the attenuation switch set to the +3 side.

A Three (Final impression)
I love the HCCA 5s component system. One you get it adjusted to your listening preferences, you'll never have to touch them again. If you are looking for something to upgrade your current coaxial or component system, these are definately worth a look. Keep in mind that the set is 2ohms and make sure your amp can handle that impedence. Assuming you have a good amp (and you must, who would put HCCA components on a Jensen amp?) you will love the sound of the HCCAs!

P.S. Pardon the obvious rip off of the 80's tootsie roll commercial!

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 190