Full Range System Roundup, Jl Audio C5-650x, Kenwood Excelon KFC-X1710 more - Review Speakers

  Points Possible Realm LS6cx Sound Quality 5 3.5 Treble 5 3 Midrange 5 3 Bass 5 4 Value 5 4

Average" is half points possibleAdditional sizes: None

JL Audio C5-650xMSRP: $549.95I must admit, I took a liking to the JL Audio C5-650x even before I opened the packing box. The graphics sheathing the cube-like container are correspondingly sporty and elegant, something I would imagine BMW would do if they packaged cars. Extracting the products from the foam casing, I noticed another similarity between the companies-build quality. Like most of the Bavarian automaker's products, the C5 lineup is built by German hands. And, as one would expect, each of the components making up the set exudes great craftsmanship, and assembly of the parts is impeccable.

A silver powdercoated cast-aluminum basket featuring JL Audio's patented elevated frame cooling sets off each of the drivers. The woofers use a curvilinear, mineral-filled polypropylene cone with a seemingly large surface area and butyl-rubber surround. Motivation happens via a 1-inch (25mm) voice coil submerged in a superbly finished motor using a ferrite magnet. While finely detailed, be aware that the drivers are 165mm (6.5 inches) even though the packing box says 160mm. That means you might be in for some enhancements to make them fit if your automobile hails from Asia.

Realm LS6cxMSRP: $199The new kids on the block are at it again, this time with a coaxial driver designed to fit applications ranging from 6 to 6.75 inches. The drivers in Realm's LS6cx are good looking, each with a 20mm titanium-dome tweeter offset by a Nomex-impregnated paper cone for the woofer. The latter's composite material and curvilinear shape make it desirably stiff and apparently well damped. However, the drivers use a universal-mount, stamped-steel basket that cuts down the cone's diameter, making it closer to a 5.25-inch driver than a 6.5 inch. We'll find out whether or not that makes a difference.

The basket is of a decent gauge, yet most of its strength comes from various bends in the metal. Small perforations under the spider land enable it to breathe, thereby cooling the voice coil, but the small rear openings behind the cone could be a bit constricting. Mounted to the frame just above the cool-looking motor boot is a C-shaped casing. Inside is the crossover, featuring a 12dB filter for the tweeter and 6dB for the woofer, along with a tweeter protection circuit and a switch to select the tweeter level between 0 and -3dB, which I later found perfect for off- and on-axis listening, respectively. The components are befitting a unit in this price range, which includes a less desirable electrolytic capacitor (the manual claims a Mylar cap).

High frequencies are fulfilled by a dynamic duo comprised of a titanium-dome tweeter and a super tweeter. While the website calls them 1 3/8 inches and 5/8 inch, respectively, I measured them with my calipers only to find they were closer to 7/8 inch and 3/8 inch. Both sit beneath a textured chrome grille/mount over the cone.

Again, I found the installation instructions illustrated on the backside of the packing box, which also includes perforations with the speaker cutout dimensions. A one-year warranty and registration card is located inside along with mounting supplies and speaker wire.

The tweeter resides in the center upon a stand-off stemming from within the woofer's 1-inch voice coil. It sports a phase dispersion plug out front that should help its off-axis response while enhancing its frequency range and output.

Realm includes a pair of grilles, some installation goodies and manual. The manual provides just the basics, which should be enough for most. The warranty is one year or three years when installed by an authorized dealer.

ListeningAfter settling in with the tweeter level set to -3dB and the LS6cx skewed slightly toward the center, I found myself rewarded with a nice-sounding set of speakers. Raul Midon's "Everybody" was borderline superb. His vocals were well focused and open but I detected a slight harshness to his center vocal range. The boundaries set by the frets of his guitar reflecting off the recording studio were nearly as good as I've heard.

Moving on to Phil Collins, his vocals were distressed to a small extent as with Midon, but further plagued by a slight bit of added sibilance in his upper range, keeping his voice from flowing freely. I didn't find retribution with the New Radicals in the same regards (it was just barely detectable), but listening to the intro of "Technicolor Lover" had me forgetting about that. The bass response of the Realms was quite good, keeping the big kick drum sharp yet with a deep tone that made the smallish drivers sound larger than its physical size would conclude. Output was also surprisingly decent, enabling the system to gobble up power while returning good volume levels with little breakup along the way. Overall, a good effort by Realm and one that should gain the company some respect amongst their peers.