Boston Acoustics 6.5 System 6.5" Car Component System

As a huge car audio enthusiast, it is hard not to fall right in love with this flagship 3 way Boston system. I'm going out on a limb enough to say that most anyone who experiences these speakers will certainly get very interested once you hear them. just looking at the drivers carefully will show you that these are of the highest quality speakers around. There are a few different aspects to consider however before taking the plunge, this is a serious investment for people serious about their car audio systems.

Installation: For me, I completely enjoy installing my equipment, and I actually am too skeptical to allow a shop to do it, unless it is a top custom shop. Nevertheless, it is alot to install, and for a great deal of the cars out there, it is alot to figure out in terms of making it fit (you see those magents?) therefore you should contact your shop to see how reasonable it is. If it's do-able, then don't hesitate, buy 'em up and decide who is going to put it in. If you are not extremely knowledge, but DO CARE how well it comes out, I would suggest you leave it to the pros. If you are an expert and you want the optimal job, then grab a beer, sandwich and toolbox and get moving.

Performance: This system will provide an optimal soundstage. However it is incumbent on you to make sure the all the drivers are very close in proximity, or at least that is my experience. Obviously alot hinges upon the accoustics of your car. I tried mine with the tweets in multiple positions, and ultimately got the best results with all three drivers installed in a custom door pod which I constructed out of some trick materials. All three drivers are angled such that the path of sound meets right in between the driver and passengers ears, approximately 1.5 feet ahead of the console. The staging is excellent, the overall response is fantastic. The steep crossover points allow as close to flat response as is reasonably possible, and the ability to cut tweet level is a nice feature which you'll certainly find useful.

Price: Performance isn't cheap. This is the case here all the way. For the money you pay however, to put together a set of 2-way separates and then add mid-basses and a crossever, you are saving money. Not to mention, the frustration of integrating mid-basses to existing seperates more then warrants the expenditure if you are serious about sound. If done this, and obviously you see that I ended up in this boat. There are deals to be had if you have a relationship with your dealer, so don't be afraid to bargain -- this is a niche system but you might just get a good deal if you try.

Overall: Bi-amping capabilities is a nice feature here, especially if you like to power them with independant amps (which I prefer since the mid-basses can handle the power) I do recomend sealing the enclosure if possible for the midbasses, since they technically are built like subwoofers, actually they ARE technically subs. This system will IMPRESS - well worth the money, but plan to spend a good amount of time planning the install and devising a strategy to test positioning. Good luck

Performance Once Installed: Unbelieveable - it's tough to swallow that a car's interior can be made to sound this great - truly the driver's appearance can serve both as proof of how well they're constructed AND how much care and thought went into the design - the mid-basses THUMP out accurate and deep tones right down to 55 hz with a very smooth roll-off downward, not to mention an almost seemless transition into the midrange driver, which belts out mids loud and clear- female vocals were impeccable, I can blast diana krall and still hear breath marks, just the same the speakers are incredible for rock and progerssive-fusion, transients are CLEAR and CONVINCING - finally the tweet is melded in perfectly, although actually I sometimes believe I would be better off incorporating the Rally tweet INSTEAD of the pro tweet- (rally is synthetic-composite driver, the pro is titanium) the tweets CAN sound very harsh BUT that's why boston makes the crossover unit with TWO position switches for the tweets dB reduction ( -3 dB AND -6 dB ) 6 is usually too much, 3 is perfect - no need to dig out Rally tweets after all! And overall sound is very warm and round - truly a great car speaker which rivals most enthusiast-grade home speakers (we won't get into audiophile grade here, since a car's environment is inherently at a BIG disadvantage).

A few final thoughts - I cannot stress enough that proper installation is CRITICAL here - and keeping the drivers ni the same proximity is ALSO CRITICAL - If you dash-mount the tweet (as described in the boston manual) you can easily run into phase problems because the distance the sound has to travel AND the medium it needs to travel through. FInally, UTILIZE THE BI-AMPING FEATURE *(which allows you to drive the mid-bass on one input AND the mid/tweet and a seperate input from each individual crossover) as opposed to using just one input for all drivers -- Remember, Boston's "mid-bass" 6 1/2 driver is in reality a SUBWOOFER- just a mini-sized one. Ergo, it can take all the power you can throw at it, AND if you want it to play well down into the 60-50 Hz range, you NEED extra power. As a reference, I use an a/d/s/ 6 channel power plate which makes 72 watts per channel, 169 watts bridged - I use channels 1/2 for the mid ranges on left/right respectively (so each mid/tweet gets 72 watts each). THEN channels 3/4 bridge to become 169 watts to the left mid-bass ALONE and 5/6 bridge to the right mid bass. 170 clean powerful watts to the midbasses is NOT too much, they sound perfect and they pound. Having such powerful midbass in the front actually inhances the soundstage because it makes your ears think a substantial portion of the bass is coming from the front, so you start to believe your ears telling you the actual subwoofer (in my car a boston pro 12 driven by 450 watts) is in FRONT (instead of the trunk, BEHIND YOU, where it really is). It is for this reason that soundstage is so realistic and perfect - I can't recomend these speakers enough, they are GOLD!