DamonB

Madisound has a killer price on a 5.5" Vifa component system they are blowing out. I guarantee this sounds at least as good or better than anything you've heard at $500 or less (and probably better than anything you've ever heard at any price).

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/ind...13930&pid=2129

SayNoToPistons

wow... swap out the Infinity Reference for this? hmm... maybe i should... seems like a great deal!!

RETed

40-watts RMS? O_o


-Ted

DamonB

That's plenty. If you wanted more you could high pass them at 80 hz or so and run considerably more power without problem.

compuskills

Yeah,
I guess we get so used to seeing the peak to peak rating on speakers.

RX-7racer88

Looks like a pretty good deal for what it is. Personaly for the $500 and under I would take a set of focal V2s.

Green_Streak

hmm... my bostons sound pretty darn good. you ought to show me those sound better

RETed

I have an Adcom 2 x 75W waiting to push some front stage...
I've been looking around for some front speakers, but I can't make up my mind.
I was down to...
MB Quart - economical
Diamond Audio - expensive
Dynaudio - gawd, I gotta wait for my next paycheck

Although I prefer a 6.5" anchoring the front stage, I'll give that Madisound set a try just due to the price...


-Ted

88 GTU

Good let us know how they are because i'm in the market for 6 1/2 component set for the rears

SayNoToPistons

^ theyre 5.5".

purerx7

iTrader: (61)

mmm adcom makes some sweet amps. Seems like a good deal on the vifas, personally I would run the seas lotus actively but thats just me.

DamonB

Not for $120 you're not.

purerx7

iTrader: (61)

seas lotus mids and lpg tweets will be around $200 and will sound better than the vifas.

crimmeny

How difficult would it be to put these in the doors? I have a 93 with the Bose system. I was considering a 4" component set to ease installation.

DamonB

Nope.

Here's the US distributor listed on Seas Lotus web page:

http://www.mobilesq.com/

...The price of a single Lotus woofer alone is $189. The Lotus component set costs a mere $745 Your calculator must work different than mine.

DamonB

These should fit fine. You'll still most likely have to build a simple mounting plate after you remove the Bose components though.

purerx7

iTrader: (61)

hmm true i would do the lpg tweets though. You could do the lpg tweets and the seas excel mids for around 400 or the lpg tweets and the vifa mids, im just not a big fan of the vifa tweets. But thats just me either way the vifas are a really good deal but if it was me I would pay the extra money and go the seas/lpg route. The image dynamics chameleon component set has gotten really good reviews and can be had for around $200 on ebay.

RETed

Just ordered them yesterday, so they still have them in stock.
I guess I'll drop a review on them once I get everything wired up.

Because I do live in Hawaii, UPS shipping was going to be $45, but I got a follow-up email from a CSR that told me they could do U.S. Postal for $21, although they don't list it as an option when you do check out.
For ~$130 shipped it's not a bad deal...


-Ted

driFDer

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like a great deal. Vifa is good stuff. RETed make sure you do some door deadening if you want them to sound even better.

DamonB

Just curious how many extra days it takes the postal service to get things from the continent to the islands?

RETed

Usually 2 - 3 extra days on average...


-Ted

RETed

Just came in...
Ordered on 08 / 08 and came in 08 / 15, so it was about a week total.
It came in USPS insured!

Initial observations...
Woofer - very nice - I've only messed with Vifa dome midranges before, but I was impressed for what I got for $110.
The woofer is carbon fiber cone with a cast aluminum basket.
Woofer surround looks like butyl or nitrile rubber.
The magnet is pretty hefty.
I'm sure Madisound has all the nitty gritty specs on their website / catalog.
Tweeter - looks like silk dome or some kinda soft dome.
The profile is very small.
There was an angled, surface mount housing and a swivel, adjustable, flush mount housing.
This gives you a lot of options in terms of mounting the tweeter.
Lots of hardware was included - mounting screws, gold plated connectors.
The tweeters had their own built-in grill, but the woofers came with no grill - I guess it's assumed it'll be hidden behind your stock OEM speaker grill.
It's ashame to hide those nice carbon fiber cones!
Now...about those passive crossover units...they are rebadged Nakamichi.
Peaking into the clear, removable covers, the resistors / caps / inductors are stamped "Nakamichi" all over.
Flip the cover over (there is a generic wiring schematic sticker on the cover), and it's has "Nakamichi" clearly silkscreened on it.
Passive crossover network uses some really nice components in it.
There is a selector switch for woofer(?) phase.
There is a 3-way selector switch for tweeter level: -3dB, 0, +3dB (I think).

Woofers were packed in their own cardboard "sleeve" and tightly wrapped in "Saran wrap".
There were plastic stand-off's to keep the front of the woofer from contacting the cardboard.
Tweeters were in their own foam box - no worries about getting damaged.

You guys are right - for the money, it just can't be beat.
I had a set of MB Quart ".2" components a while back, and these things blow the MB Quarts out of the water for 1 / 2 the price!
I can't wait to install them, but this might take a while to get a real good review on how they sound.
So far, just by looking at them, they are worth the money.
Madisound took care of me on this sale, and these are serious underpriced!

I can take pics if anyone wants them...

Hope this helps!


-Ted

DamonB

The woofer specs are listed on the sale page:

Vifa MG13WN01-04 Woofer Specs:

Outside diameter 140mm (5.5")
Cutout diameter 112mm (4.4")
Depth 57mm (2.25")
Magnet diameter 80mm (3.15")

Fs = 58.09 Hz
Qms = 2.372
Vas = 7.9 liters
Cms = 0.848 mm/N
Mms = 8.85 g
Xmax = 3 mm
Sd = 81 sq.cm
Qes = 0.527
Re = 3.6 ohms
Le = 0.432 mH
BL = 4.697 Tm
Pe = 40 watts
Qts = 0.431
1-W SPL = 86.67 dB
2.83-V SPL = 90.14 dB

The tweeters are Vifa D26NC05.


Madisound has been around a long time and they're great to work with. Home audio DIY'ers have been doing business with them for years.

Stuff like this typically contains recently discontinued speakers that the seller has bought a large quantity of, so the prices are a steal. On the other hand you guys don't realize the enormous markup you're paying when you buy over the counter so this price sounds much too good to be true. Very few companies actually build their own speaker drivers, they buy them from places like Vifa, Focal, Audax, Eton, Seas etc and put it in their own box with their name on it. For that you get to pay 300% more

The proof will be in the pudding. Glad to hear the equipment looks nice but how it sounds is what counts. Don't be afraid to experiment a lot with the tweeter settings.

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

how would these compare to say a Boston Acoustic setup?

I'm an audio neophyte...

DamonB

For less than $30 you can get a pair of true 5.25" coaxials with real tweeters:

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/ind....7723&pid=1927

Audax is a highly respected company that makes drivers for many high end speaker companies. Probably a limited quantity of these as well.