Hellion Symphony 3.0

Hellion Symphony 3.0 is positioned as an off-the-shelf solution that should solve the midrange and treble problem. You can even leave the standard mid-bass speakers in the doors, but add these small cabinets to the panel and theoretically get the same result as with a 3-way system.

And with 3-way, you not only have to buy the midrange and tweeters themselves (which is already more expensive), but you also have to rebuild the stands for them - the total cost is much higher. Here, all you have to do is stretch the wires, no cutting. And minus two channels of amplification - another savings.

FIRST RECORDING, DESIGN FEATURES

The design consists of cylindrical metal enclosures (nice dark titanium finish, by the way) with a diameter of 6 cm and a length of about 6 cm.

The kit includes these plastic pedestals with pre-applied 2-sided adhesive tape - you can quickly attach them to the panel. On racks is also a good place, but you may need to think about the mounting: the cases are not the lightest.

The ends of the wires are wrapped in "snake skin" and secured with heat shrink. The cross section is quite sufficient. Everything is Feng Shui.

The wires are terminated with detachable connectors; mating connectors are also included in the kit.

The grids are not removable, it is impossible to take them out without damaging them. But the description says that there are titanium diffusers hidden underneath. I'll take their word for it.

But on the back - the most interesting thing - passive radiators. In international terminology - passive radiators. For those who don't know, it's roughly like speakers without magnetic systems - in this case, they're made like metal washers on suspensions.

The essence of how passive radiators work is roughly the same as how a bass reflex works. The only difference is that the air mass inside the port works there, and here there is a suspended diffuser. In FI, the port is adjusted by selecting the length and cross section (to obtain the desired resonance of the air mass), and here - by the mass of the diffuser and the stiffness / elasticity / viscosity of the suspension.

Of course, this explanation is very simplified, but the general goal is the same - to expand the frequency range down.

MEASURING PARAMETERS AND ANALYZING PERFORMANCE

First of all, I remove the dependency of the impedance on the frequency and... the textbook "double-humped" picture does not work. The parameters of the passive radiator are such that at a small signal (and this is how the impedance characteristic is measured using the Audiomatica Clio complex) the system behaves closer to the ground cell. However, as the signal level increases, the radiator begins to participate more actively, and this becomes more visible.

Since we don't have a separate loudspeaker here, but a complete system, there's no point in evaluating the Thiel-Small parameters, so let's move on to the other characteristics.

For the sake of accuracy, the frequency response was recorded separately for the main speaker and the passive radiator. And now the contribution of the PI is more noticeable, although it does not try to match the radiation intensity of the main speaker. It is rigid for a reason, its job is to "support" the main radiator at the lower end of the range, so to speak, to keep it from loosening up at near-resonant frequencies, but not to "pull the blanket" over itself.

However, the main emitter also produces a bump at the lower end of its range, with a sharp drop off below it. This is a clear sign of a high resulting quality factor due to the "tightness" of the speaker with a tight cabinet.

Surprisingly, at higher frequencies everything looks pretty decent - the radiator tries to play high frequencies, but no significant resonances appear. Even though the diffusers are made of titanium, they do not have the characteristic "ringing" sound (by the way, everything is correct to the ear).

Now for the distortion. There is no clearly defined limit below which the speakers start to "go wild". So there is a certain amount of freedom in adjusting the connection of the bands to the midrange. Some concrete conclusions were then drawn by ear.

Well, one characteristic that could not be ignored in this case is the impulse response. In fact, it's quite decent for an inexpensive broadband system.

TESTS IN WORK, SOUND, EXPERIMENTS

What if we put them in a full strip? Obviously, evaluating 2-inch "wides" (even in their own cases) in a full strip is not a good idea. In any case, it is necessary to cut them from the bottom according to the frequency. However, I couldn't resist and, for the sake of experimentation, turned them on "full width" first.

Surprisingly, for such kids, they held up quite well without overloading to a very decent volume (relative to their size, of course). Apparently, the "tightness" of the speaker in the cabinet does not allow it to exceed the stroke too early - this is what saves it. Moreover, they even try to "hit" in the lower midrange.

So is it possible to use them in a full strip? Of course not, the sound in the mid and high frequencies will be highly compressed and become like that of cheap computer speakers - working in the resonance range with a high quality factor adds a sea of unnecessary transient processes that "smear" the sound even higher in frequency. Once again, it is imperative to cut from the bottom up.

How to configure? By chance, I had one of the processor amplifiers in my hands and used it. I connected the Hellion to one pair of channels, and to the other pair I simply selected the LF/MF speakers that worked well in the midrange. I experimented with the strip section.

The conclusion is this: you can cut these "widths" quite low for your caliber. If typical 2-inch speakers start to work normally when cut at 600-800 Hz, here they can start at 350-400 Hz.

Note that this setting eliminates the bump at the lower end of the range. And that, let me remind you, is caused by resonance vibrations due to the high quality factor of the system (in fact, this amplification occurs precisely due to the "extra" vibrations of the diffuser).

If we do not allow the speakers to operate at near-resonant frequencies, there is a noticeable improvement in midrange and treble intelligibility - the acoustics are much easier to "breathe". You can cut higher, but then there is no point in using a passive radiator design.

In short, 350 Hz is the minimum high-pass filter cutoff frequency at which the Hellion begins to show its sound, but I wouldn't raise it above 500 Hz.

All that remains is to connect the mid-bass section to the Symphony 3.0 and to use the equalizer to tidy up the 4 kHz frequency a bit (just a bit, no more than 3 dB, because strong equalization can kill intelligibility in this range).

Where to send? For the sake of experimentation, I took Hellion into my car and tried it out in my system (fortunately, the racks with the mid/high frequency link were in use, and it was not difficult to get to the connections. And here are the conclusions.

First. For single processor systems. Personally, I liked the asymmetrical arrangement with the speakers facing the listener (so that the speakers are visible at an angle of no more than 10-15 degrees). This makes the tweeter sound clearer and lighter. If we reduce the level of the near channel by 1.5-2 dB and introduce a delay to it in relation to the far channel, the sound begins to fill the sound stage evenly in width, without being bound to the near side.

Second. If you have a non-processor system and the GU does not have a delay function, the "direct" direction may not be the most optimal: the sound is tied to the nearest emitter. In most cases, a symmetrical arrangement with a direction somewhere in the center of the booth will be optimal, so that the near emitter is visible at a slightly larger angle than the far emitter.

Third. Don't try to push the Hellion as far under the windshield as possible. The wedge formed by the glass and the panel will act as a megaphone, and an unpleasant volume will appear in the sound. Yes, and the passive radiator on the back of such an installation can make noise, but do we need it? Try to find a compromise - don't push the cabinets all the way to the front edge of the panel, but don't push them too far either.

What is the character of the sound? The Hellion can really be compared to a traditional mid/high unit. And not even with 2" "widths", but with larger midrange drivers.

If you don't screw up the installation and the settings (and I think I have tried to point out the most critical "pitfalls"), you can achieve a smooth and fairly balanced sound, without loudness and protrusion of individual sounds.

It is almost impossible to tell immediately that the diffusers are titanium - the tops are without metallic ringing and stiffness, they are comfortable. They don't give you that direct "air", but the informative range is fully conveyed.

BRIEFLY ABOUT THE CASE. FOR WHICH TASKS SHOULD I CHOOSE?

At first I assumed that the Hellion was simply a more advanced alternative for those who add tweeters to a standard system to make the sound lighter and airier. But no, this is a slightly different level.

Symphony 3.0 is logical to consider if you have a GU with a processor (even a regular 1DIN, even on Android - there are enough options today) and even more so if you have a cheap "processor" or even a separate processor. In this case, you can even leave the standard mid-bass speakers, but add Hellion "widths", configure their connection with the processor and get the result as with a full-fledged (though not the most expensive), but still 3-way speaker. Only, as you can see, with a lot less effort.