WOW! Hold off buying those tower setups!

[guinsha54]

Thanks for the update Phil. I am VERY interested in this setup. I’ve got the Mako 4 speaker light bar combo and the new kicker KM6500.2 would be a great upgrade to add some HLCD’s. I saw a few online dealers are showing them retailing for 600 for the set. Anyone that gets an early demo let us know how they sound.

Also phil do the HLCD have grilles on them or only the mids have the grilles?

[Razzman]

They are out for pre-order, found them for $500 in two locations so far, $100 off msrp;

HiFiSoundconnection

Crutchfield
and the mid-range drivers for $229

[philwsailz]

Thanks for the update Phil. I am VERY interested in this setup. I’ve got the Mako 4 speaker light bar combo and the new kicker KM6500.2 would be a great upgrade to add some HLCD’s. I saw a few online dealers are showing them retailing for 600 for the set. Anyone that gets an early demo let us know how they sound.

Also phil do the HLCD have grilles on them or only the mids have the grilles?

The mids have grills, the horns do not.

The reason is that Kicker took the sonic high-road with these and did everything to maximize efficiency while also maximizing sound quality. A grill over the front of a horn could inadvertantly create standing waves at certain frequencies. Standing waves are a primary cause of the bad sound we often characterize as that "horn sound" so the horn is at its best performance-wise without a grill.

Stay tuned, they will be out there soon...

Phil
Kicker

[Razzman]

The mids have grills, the horns do not.

The reason is that Kicker took the sonic high-road with these and did everything to maximize efficiency while also maximizing sound quality. A grill over the front of a horn could inadvertantly create standing waves at certain frequencies. Standing waves are a primary cause of the bad sound we often characterize as that "horn sound" so the horn is at its best performance-wise without a grill.

Stay tuned, they will be out there soon...

Phil
Kicker

So Phil does apply to all speakers / subs or just certain freqs on this type of setup?

[philwsailz]

So Phil does apply to all speakers / subs or just certain freqs on this type of setup?

Any reflective surface you put in front of a speaker will cause reflections, some will end up going back to the speaker cone and then bouncing off. This colors sound, a little, and it affects higher frequencies to a greater degree. High frequencies have shorter wavelengths and the higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelength.

Thee fact that you can put your hand over a small coax tweeter and block all the sound has a lot to do with the very short wavelength. While putting a board over the front of a woofer basically does not block the sound at all, it only changes it. a 10-kilohertz tone has a wavelength of roughly an inch and a half, a 60 Hz tone has a wavelength of almost 19 feet.

You can block the sound from a coax tweeter, but you can also create standing waves. Put your hand over a tweeter so it totally blocks the sound. Now pull your hand off, at just a little distance. Now, slowly move your hand out and you will hear "noise" slowly lowering in pitch. That noise is a resonant spike, created by standing waves around a frequency that has a wavelength equal to the distance between your hand and the tweeter, or harmonic multiples of the same. As you move your hand away, you are increasing the distance between your hand ands the tweeter, causing the resonant spike to shift down in frequency; the distance between your hand and the tweeter is increasing, and therefore so is the wavelength of any potential reqonant frequency. The noise slowly gets lower in pitch as your hand moves further away.


The horn plays the high stuff that is easy to block or reflect, so we left the grill off...

[philwsailz]

Similarly, for a straight tube, you can set up a resonant frequency at a specific frequency. When we look at a trumpet or other brass instrument, the note it plays is a function of the length of a tube. That is why a trombone lowers pitch when you push the slide out; the tube is getting longer, so the wavelength of a frequency that can stand in ths tube gets longer, and the pitch gets lower. That standing resonance is desirable for a musical instrument; you need it to play one note... But, standing resonance is bad in a sound reproduction device; we do not want to emphasize any resonant frequency, or its harmonic multiple...

The Kicker horn has a constantly changing geometry or "flare", with very little means of propagating a standing wave or standing waves. This prevents the distortion caused by a standing waves, specifically a peak, or several peaks at harmonic multiples of the fundamental frequency's wavelength.

[cab13367]

Hi Phil,

So what is the total impedance per side (one mid range driver and one tweeter)? Which Kicker amp to you recommend to drive one pair of these speakers (two mids and two tweets)?

Thanks,

Al

[philwsailz]

Hi Phil,

So what is the total impedance per side (one mid range driver and one tweeter)? Which Kicker amp to you recommend to drive one pair of these speakers (two mids and two tweets)?

Thanks,

Al

Al-

The total impedance of the set is 4-ohms per side. Exactly 4-ohms... We did this for a reason: When you add the optional extra mids, (the KM6500) you get exactly 2-ohms, and no lower. That way a stereo amp will run the basic set, and a guy can add a pair of mids later and not have to swap out for a larger amp or a 4-channel amp.

We recommend using the Kicker ZXM450.2 for the KM6500.2's. That will get you 150 watts RMS into each side, (one mid and one tweet/horn per side) for the regular pair, (2 mids and 2 tweeters/hons).

With that amp, when you add the extra mids to the system, (6 cans, with 4 mids and two tweets/horns) the power goes up to 225 watts per side.

The 6 can system, (2 mids per side, with one horn per side) can handle a TON of power... A good stereo amp with 300 watts RMS per side into 2-ohms would be a nice amp to drive a 6-can setup with.

Many people don't realize this but the KICKER ZX300.1 mono amp is a full range amp, delivering 300 watts into 2-ohms. You can take a pair of the ZX300.1's with an outboard crossover, (like the Kicker KX2) connected on the front end and put 600 watts up there on the tower...

Hope that helps!

Phil
Kicker

[viking]

OOOOHHHH ........... I might have to swap out my cans with these next year

[cmathis]

Phil,
Are the new speakers a direct replacement for the KMT6 setup I already have on our Supra? The cones are dry rotted and cracked from the sun. What would you recommend to replace them?