id go with focal 165, because i know how they sound and it producec great quality, i havent heard the other two brand but you can give them a try, i heard good things about them too
Nice to see folks enyoy swedish Speakers i have a couple of Iridium 3" mids if someone needs they are by far the best choice for mid applications Lots of competition winners here in sweden/europe use them!.. Will trade for a old school Zapco amp if anyone have one lying around? Excuse my bad english!.. Im swedish you know !! ; ))
There's two things to note. DLS has never "designed" their own products. Their amps were built by Genesis. DLS had them reverse-engineered and sent to the Far East. Their comps were built by Morel. Again, they were reverse engineered and brought East. This still holds true today, amp designs and speakers are as they were before.
On most DLS boxes, you'll find a nice little sticker that says "Made in Taiwan." I highly doubt you'll find a "Made in Sweden" sticker anywhere near their boxes. They can say "Designed in Sweden" if they want (although I don't think that holds much truth at all with other companies designing their products), however "Made in Sweden" does not apply. All that applies is that they are a Swedish owned company, headquartered in Sweden.
The only speakers (that I know of) currently produced by a Swedish buildhouse are CDT. CDT is headquartered in Buellton, CA....but the owner (Kenneth Persson) and the employees are all Swedish. Call CDT and check out the accents in the voices when they pick up if you don't believe me
There's not too many companies that produce the high-end products in their European or American buildhouses anymore. Here's just a few, there's plenty more we could talk about though.
Coming out of the same buildhouse in Taiwan:
JL Audio Rainbow Audio Arc Audio Zapco
Other products made in Taiwan: Rockford (and all its brands) Nakamichi Zed Audio
Korea: All Zenon-built amplifiers: RD Audio, Sundown Audio, etc.
I could go on and on....but the point here is very simple. There's a few people out there who buy speakers because a company tries to use their name and country connection to sell them. This is notable with DLS, among others (US Amps-->China, etc). In my opinion, this is a pretty misleading advertising attempt. For all that anybody knows, DLS is from Sweden....but once you check that amp box...it's built right in Taiwan.
To be fair and fully honest (this is not a "CDT is great" thread, afterall)...CDT's EF, HD, and ES lines are built in Sweden. The CL line is built in China.
Everything is not as it seems in the audio world these days. There's a LOT of bullsh!t that you have to read though to get anywhere.
And you are wrong about the amps true earlier we had Genesis to build the amps.The cheaper Classic series and Reference series are Asian massprodukts designed in asia the A-series are Designed in sweden and built in Taiwan and are NOT a Genesis construktion. Sure they look alike on the outside but open one up and its clear. I have a Genesis Fourchannel amp in my car and they sound better than any of DLS amps PS:excuce my bad English im swedish you know
I'm still digging around, I've been quite intrigued by this topic. However, one thing has become very clear. Nobody really has a clue what they're talking about anymore, my sources included I believe. The only pages I will continue to trust are the actual buildhouse's websites which list what manufacturers they build for.
So for that, I will not make any more statements here as they could easily be pure speculation. What I am certain of is this:
CDT's EF, HD, and ES lines are built in Sweden. JL's lines are built in Taiwan/China. DLS's lines are built in Taiwan/China. Mmats and Audiopulse/TC Sounds are built in the US. Zed is built in the US. All Zenon-built amps are from Korea. McIntosh is made in the US. Tru's Billet series is made in the US. Sinfoni and Audison are built in Italy. Helix and Brax are built in Germany. Arc is built in Taiwan.
All of CDT's drivers are produced by Vifa of Denmark and modified (silkscreened dustcaps and stickers placed on magnets) in Sweden. If this means made in Sweden to you then go with it.
The basket used on the HD-6 midrange and ES-6 midrange are a Vifa basket that's been in use for years. The rest of the driver is CDT's. Find me an ES-02, ES-06+, ES-06 or any other driver in Vifa's lineup. You won't find it cause it's not built by them. The former ES-01 was a direct copy of a Vifa tweeter.
The frame used on the two mids mentioned and the ES-01 are the only connections to Vifa.
I stated the basket was a Vifa basket. The basket on the speaker you've presented isn't even the same one as CDT. Notice the jointed spokes. CDT's basket uses straight spokes.
Specs on the driver you've presented: Sensitivity: 87.5 dB Qms: 6.70 Qes: .39 Qts: .37 Fs: 35hZ Vas: 28.5 L Moving Mass: 17.5g Bl: 7.5
ES-6 Sensitivity: 89 dB Qms: 2.89 Qes: .472 Qts: .406 Fs: 52hZ Vas: 16.02 L Moving Mass: 13.3g Bl: 5.54
HD-6 Sensitivity: 93.1 dB Qms: 2.68 Qes: .56 Qts: .46 Fs: 78.5hZ Vas: 11.79 L Moving Mass: 9.11g Bl: 5.03
The driver you've presented is not a CDT driver at all.
My challenge still exists since you believe all CDT drivers are rebadged Vifa drivers. Find me a driver from Vifa that shares any similarities with the ES-06, ES-06+, ES-02.
I'm not here to hide anything. I'm completely open about the fact the ES-01 was a copy of a Vifa tweeter. It's an extremely popular tweeter today. M&K is one other manufacturer that has also used that tweeter. I have openly stated that the basket used on the HD and ES mid is a Vifa basket. But if you're gonna spread myths about the brand, I'll be happy to defend what is true. So far all that you've done is present a picture of a driver and make claims. The picture you've presented as evidence doesn't even match up to a CDT driver. You have absolutely no facts to back anything up of what you're saying. Present some facts and I'm happy to talk about it. Prove me wrong. Prove to me that CDT has been hiding info about the drivers from me all these years and I've believed every word of it. I can swallow my pride if need be. But so far you haven't put anything on the table yet.
Hey Dag, Check out the Zapco Forum for sale area. Usually a few there too. Interesting thread guys. Morel seems to supplie a few drivers to a few diffrent companies then? PG TI has them.
