Koda 6.1’s opinions

Well I have a lot of experience with these speakers and think VERY highly of them.  I wrote a review of them a year ago when I got them and thought I would share.  Here it is:

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Every experience I have ever had with metal tweeters has been a bad one. They are always too bright for me. I really like the soft dome on my a/d/s/ components as they are very smooth and natural. Metal resonates at higher frequencies which means that it will color the sound. Although many SQ competitions have been won with MB Quart speakers who are notorious for their use of metal, I have always felt their speakers follow my pre-concieved ideas. This includes the $1000 components I heard in a display. The best way to describe them was VERY bright.

I have quite a bit of experience with Adire's equipment. They have always proven to make high quality, incredible sounding equipment at a fraction of the cost of comparible brands. Their philosophy has always been to provide the best quality of sound at the very best price. But they never sacrificed sonic purity. So when this very familiar set of engineers chose to use metal for the tweeter in their components, I was shocked. Is this going to be the first Adire Audio let down? Did these said engineers create something that stands out as unique with this materials use? Are my ears going to have to sustain the abuse of shreaking metal resonating along with the music?

Before I answer those questions, I will start with the cosmetics of the equipment. Adire's car audio equipment usually is very plain looking. Adire equipment definitely isn't for those who like chrome everywhere. They prefer performance over eye candy. And it seems that the Koda components go both directions. The woofer isn't the best looking out there. It isn't bad, but the former cap almost makes me think of a wart on a witches nose. So you might want to hide them away. The magnest on them are huge. In fact, because of the magnet's size, I had to do some modifying to my doors to fit this "standard 6.5" speaker in my doors. But for the performance, it is worth it. You can find my review of these mids on Adire's web site. I recomend these mids to any audiophile, and to anyone who wants huge midbass. They rock. I think at triple the price, they still would be a bargain. The crossovers are somewhat plain, but still look good. I really like the use of only high end components throughout. This shows the quality and care Adire put into this speaker system. The tweeters look really sweet. They are a good size, but not too big. These are the first speakers Adire Audio makes that I can actually say look stylish.

The mids are mounted in the stock location in my 90 Integra, while the tweeter is mounted on the factory grill. This will be until I make my kick pannels. But at least I will be able to hear them in their designed location. With no digital delay at all, it seemed that the singer was where my steering wheel was, but more toward the hood of the car. The right side stage was spread throughout the rest of the dash, while the left side was clumped together. The frequency response was nice, which is how Dan designed it. In fact, it was VERY close to my a/d/s/ componets. That is saying a lot since the a/d/s/'s cost almost twice as much. As said in my other review, the Koda's make up for the lacking midbass of the a/d/s/ components.

I set up my digital processor a long time ago for my a/d/s/ components to delay out the drivers side speakers, so the imaging will provide a perfect soundstage. I changed it t the proper setting for the rest of my auditioning. Now I have always felt that the a/d/s/ tweeter is very smooth and natural. But while it is a metal speaker, the Koda's really did impress me. It is more crisp than the soft dome I'm use to, but after hearing the Koda's for a while, I realized that the a/d/s/ tweeters rolled off early on really high frequencies. The Koda's got that back, but not too much like what I was expecting. In fact, it was just right (maybe perfect speakers for Goldilocks?). Now I don't know if that was the reason, but I noticed that higher octave instruments seemed to have more ambiance around them. The a/d/s/ tweeters were good at giving a definite image, but the Koda's take it a step further and add some space around the instrument. Maybe it is because of added higher harmonics that the a/d/s/'s rolloff lost. I did notice on Autosound 2000's My Disk, that the songs were way too bright (track 5 and 6). But then those songs were the only time I felt that the a/d/s/ tweeters sounded a little high. I've never been a fan of that disk because of this. But all my other listening experiences with these tweeters hasn't copied this experience.

I have been listening to quite a few selections of music, hoping to describe a difference from my a/d/s/ components. These albums include, Lord of the Rings soundtrack, The Fifth Element soundtrack, Mickey Hart Planet Drum, Independance Day soundtrack, Iona Woven Cord, Moby Songs, and Paul Oakenfold. But aside from the differences previously mentioned, the music sounds as perfect as it used to. These speakers sound a lot like speakers costing almost twice as much, but make up for a couple minor problems. So it seems to me that Adire Audio lived up to providing very high quality stereo equipment at a fraction of the cost of the competitors. Oh, and my ears came out of this experience more than surviving, they are actually better off. That will teach me for holding Adire Audio to pre-concieved notions. They delivered a winner again. So if you are looking for a really high end speaker, here is one at a bargain price."

Oh, and some other things. 

First of all I am an Adire dealer, but sell locally.  Check out www.sound-foundations.us to buy online as he is a friend of mine and will take care of you.  If you have a local dealer, then I suggest buying there.  You can check to see this on Adire's dealers page.  And if you are ever in Seattle, Adire is a great place to stop by.  Dan is a gracious host and LOVES to teach those about audio.  You will get to audition some great equipment as well.  Just give them a call first just to be sure Dan will be there.  Also check out my other thread in this forum if you haven't already to see one incredible item Adire is releasing at CES next week.  It will knock your socks off.

And just an update on my thoughts on these speakers as that review was written a year ago.  What really stands out with them is the mid.  I don't use a high pass filter with these speakers since they don't need one.  Every other speaker I have played with needed one or at decent output levels the mids would start bottoming out.  But these don't.  I have a way of switching off my sub and just playing the components.  Their midbass is VERY impressive.  They can almost match a 6X9's extention. 

This set is designed for stock locations (off axis).  When putting them more on axis, they get bright.  So if you are planning on doing kick pannels, you may need to do some EQ'ing.