ive never actually heard these things before but i have heard that they are easily on par, if not better than Focal's Utopia series...i was told this by several people but the one that struck me the most weird was coming from a dealer that sells Focal Utopias and does not carry DLS at all... http://dls-america.com/ultimate1.htm the 8.3 series is 8" mid bass, 3" mid range, and a 28mm tweeter(2.54cm=1in...i dont want to do the math) it sucks that the DLS site doesnt have any more information about them...not even what they retail at... what do you guys think about them or has anyone heard about them before from a reliable source? what would one expect to pay for a set of these? -Cody
Reliable source, "Got Wake?" Over at the www.Protege5.com audio section... an ex-spl guy turned SQ dude, who's actually a JUDGE. He actually claimed that midbass is better on the 6.3 that the 8" isn't really necessary unless you're trying to ditch your sub or something alltogether. He's turned into a DLS pimp. I'll ask what he thinks compared to utopias, but I'm prettysure he's claimed that they're prettymuch just plain superior.. the cheezy basketball-esque grilles are his only gripe.
hmmm...if the midbass on the 6.3 is better than the 8.3...i can save my self some money and effort and get this 6.3s.... -Cody
Not alot of info really. I did notice they made mention of a couple things of the design that are very interesting though... Non-pressed paper cones, and copper foil inductors. I have read that non-pressed paper cones tend to be more natural sounding. Some high end speaker builders are opting to use them in their designs... I am not talking high end like Paradigm, or B&W... I am talking about Tidal high end... you know, $60K dollar speakers :blink: Copper foils really are the cream of the crop in inductors. However, I really wonder if one can discern the differance in copper wire or copper foil inductors in an in car set up. There are too many outside noises and stage/image anomolies to deal with in a car to really make them audible IMO... Do they really make a differance, or have they just gone beyond the point of diminishing returns? I don't know, but I would be interested to find out.
I looked around their site and I saw the Pros prices were cheapest, the referance series were: 10-25405 DLS UR5, 2-way system, 5,25" 675 10-25406 DLS UR6, 2-way system, 6,5" 675 10-25405S DLS UR5S, 2-way system, 5,25" 713 10-25406S DLS UR6S, 2-way system, 6,5" 728 10-25435S DLS UR35S, 3-way system 5,25" 950 10-25436S DLS UR36S, 3-way system 6,5" 975 10-25401 DLS UR1, 28 mm tweeter 199 9-25402 DLS UR2,5, 2,5" midrange 220 and if we look at the flow of the webpage we should expect the Iridiums to be about 40% higher than the referance.
I have heard the DLS in quite a few cars. 2 people who I know that use them religiously is Scott Buwalda and Jaime Edmundson. Both are sponsered so you can take their statements with a grain of salt. I personally have the Utops and am trying to get a 3" Irdium mid by itself for a a/b comparison. I will agree the 4" Focal mid will be all around better but the advantage the DLS has is that its a closed back speaker that uses a dome rather than a cone. Easier to find places to mount and when aiming you dont need a baffle and a towel to help. The disadvantage is that it wont play down as low as a cone will without breakup. The 3" has an Fs of 280hz and the 2.5 has 450Hz iirc. Personally I would go with the Utops if you have the room to put in the 4" mid but if you are looking for something dash or apillar style for good stage height then the 3" is your bet. As for using the 6 vs the 8 it all comes down to pure SQ in having alot of your bass up front and letting the sub handle the real low sub bass. If you want more info go to DLS's main site http://www.dls.se/english/index.htm
thanks for the link MDX, that gives all the information... if you go to speakers on the left hand side, then go to ultimate 3-ways at the top, scroll down and there they are Scott Buwalda said that he likes the 6.3s better than the 8.3s for SQ i emailed him yesterday to ask why and ill post up when he emails me back as to why he thinks so im not extremely great at reading specs...so can someone tell me what they think after looking at the specs? thanks again -Cody
http://www.carsound.com/cgi-bin/UBB_CGI/ul...ic;f=4;t=005212 if i get the 8, this is what ill do more than likely, and put the 3" high on the door or in the a-pillar if i get the 6.3, ill put the 6.5" in the stock location, the 3" where the stock tweeter is, and the tweet in the a-pillar or the sail panel -Cody
Scott replied to my question: Hello: Yes, I like the musicality of the 6 1/2" midbass more than the 8" midbass. Oh, and you can take my advice with a grain of salt...I don't care much about brand names, or who I tick off for telling everyone which I think is the best (referencing the post on the forum you mentioned). The 6 1/2" is a very fast, tight, transient midbass. I play mine down to 31 Hz. Yes, the 8" will product more low end repsonse, but its musicality suffers hugely above 80 or 100 Hz. In fact, even DLS recognizes this, and they are building a new 8" woofer to go with that set. It seems it might be a yellow sandwich cone 8" midbass, similar to the 6.5" midbass in the Ultimate Reference set. If you wanted a set of these midbass, I have a set. You could purchase the entire 8.3 set, minus the passive crossovers, with the upgraded midbass through me for $850.00. Scott im going to go with the 6.3s, cheaper, less custom work, better sq...all this at the expense of low end...which im sure with 2000+ watts of brahmas i wont have a problem... my next question is about setting them up i was thinking about the mid bass in the stock door location, the tweeter in the a-pillar, and the midrange in the kick panels facing towards the dome light how do you guys think thatll sound? obviously ill be experiementing with different places, but is that a good place to start? -Cody
PalkMM as much as I really like the DLS set i find the midranges to be a bit nasaly. This can be fixed by eq or placement but a 4" coned driver I think will be more up your alley. If you are looking at SQ with the 6.5, since you stated you are putting them in the stock location you might (depending on where that is in the door) get a pull down of the lower range and a widening of your center stage. The 3" does work well off-axis so no worries there but you may try to keep all drivers as much on axis as you can. You will find if you go active with the set that your vocals will wander a bit. My best recommendation to you is the 2way set with passives. You will have less phase issues and time alignment is alot easier with 4 speakers than 6. If you do get the 3way set remember the 3" dont play down too low. You would best let them hit around 400-500Hz with a 24db slope if not higher with a 12db slope. Again just my opinion. I hope you get all the sonic bliss you are looking for
on axis is pretty much impossible i was either thinking about putting the midrange in the kicks or in the a-pillars with the tweeter -Cody
the apillars i wouldnt recommend if its for a daily driver as the left speak will need some major TA. Kicks of course are nice for pathlength issues but can bring in other things like reflections off the below dash. Trade off no matter what you do so go with what sounds the best
it wont be facing towards me, it will be parallel with the windshield ive been in a truck like mine with it like that and it sounded fantastic but of course right now...all this is kind of a place to start...the only thing that is set is the 6.5"...everything else is subjective, i wont know until i get the speakers in the truck and see how they perform in different places -Cody
