SB Acoustics SB17NRXC35-4, 6.5" Woofer

'I have 2 of these SB Acoustics SB17NRXC35-4 wired in series for the mid bass in a 2-way center channel speaker. The cabinet was an old dbx dual 6.5" subwoofer setup that I converted. The AVR is set to high pass at 100hz and the 12db/octave crossover is at 2000hz. There is no zobel or notch filter or any type of compensation circuit used. The inside cabinet walls have damping material attached with adhesive, there is no polyfill, the cabinet is sealed. I am very impressed with quality of sound these have in the 100-2000 Hz range. The transition is smooth to the dual Vifa 3/4" tweeters, which are wired in series with reverse polarity. The main reason for this purchase was to get clarity in the vocals for Dolby digital surround sound and these deliver. There is no upper midrange harshness. This also means that they sound great for music, played in 5.1 channel stereo. Having no test equipment except my ears, these sound very good in the room environment. The center channel is placed above a Samsung 40" LCD and powered by a Denon AVR-990. This puts the position of these speakers slightly above ear level when seated, but there seems to be no off axis dips or peaks when moving left to right across the center channel for the main listening positions. This is the first SB Acoustics product I have used and am impressed with the build quality and the sound quality. A very easy speaker to listen for extended periods of time this driver makes for an exceptional center channel. With the pair wired in series, the Denon has no problem in delivering clean power at loud levels. I have not used them in full range, but from 100-2000 Hz they work. Immediately after installation, I ran a program that cycles sound tones and set it at 80-4500 Hz and let it run for 2 hours at a low volume level. It would begin the cycle at 80 Hz and end at 4500 Hz, the cycle lasts 30 seconds. It ran many cycles for its "burn-in", and the response was smooth throughout the range. You could definitely tell when the speaker reached the crossover points. So that is why I did not install any "unnecessary" filters; response was smooth and crossover points were accurate. I am sure that delicate test instruments could find flaws, but for "ear tests" in a normal room environment these speakers fit the job requirements very well, and cost under $100 each. Thank You Madisound for having these available, your packing was fine; the speakers arrived in good condition.' Review by Robert Friedrichsen. Posted by Madisound.