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Discovery D 160 SQ
Single Test
ETON D 160 SQ – with Hexacone-Bass and Transmission Line tweeter at the top
High technology with emotion
With the Discovery system ETON offers a highend loudspeaker system with the finest ingredients. The loudspeaker set was submitted to the editorial staff for testing. Read the detailed report:
When we unpacked the system, we found an absolutely noble 16er woofer / midrange speaker, with a solid and at the same time attractive diecast basket which made an excellent impression. A row of ventilation openings is molded into the basket to allow sufficient cavity below the spider to guarantee less compression at maximum excursion of the diaphragm. The spider itself is installed in a high position and is provided with a generous glue area. Trademark of the noble ETON midrange speaker is the patented Hexacone diaphragm, a sandwich construction of Kevlar/Nomex fibres with honey cone structure. The astonishingly stiff material allows an extremely flat construction of the cone enabling a relatively flat basket which promotes a minimum installation depth. The loudspeaker is strongly driven by a 102 mm ferrit. Our own measurements confirm that the speaker with 5.81 Tm is a strongly driven product. On the inner side of the pole piece the well rounded pole piece drilling is a good solution minimizing air current losses.
Tweeter
The tweeter implements a technique used for the first time by ETON: It uses the reverse cone sound. In the woofer technique this transmission line principle has been applied for a longer period of time, but for the tweeters it is an absolute novelty. The sound guidance is arranged by a drilled magnet plate behind chamber on the reverse side of the chassis. From here 8 slots lead to the front and concentrate around the cone. These openings, essential to the functioning of the tweeter, are the reason for the relatively wide construction form of the chassis. The purpose of this technique is to improve the transmission behavior of the chassis and to maintain a linear frequency response.
Crossover
With a very high construction level the crossover matches perfectly with the ETON chassis. It functions with first class filters. This is possible since the chassis are originally constructed with suitably sloped flanks in the sound pressure development. Only first quality components from Mundorf are implemented. The woofer segment is managed by a foil wound coil that distinguishes itself by extremely low distortion through vibrations (microphones). The tweeter cap is in no way inferior to this, it is implemented with a tin foil capacitor. Strange is the size of the current separator, very high resistor values (of course the high value MOX types) limit this tweeter to just about 70 dB. This is only appropriate for ear close installation (for example in the A-column). Missing in this crossover is a biamping function that otherwise excels by a very thick copper coating including a tinning of the PCB.
Every second segment of the deepened ring is open to the interior. These openings allow the usage of the reverse sound portion.
Sound
In the acoustic test ETON proves to be a reserved system that requires some degree of patience by the listener until all nuances of the music have been established. It is some fun to enjoy this adjustment phase since the reproduction of the instruments is accomplished naturally and makes a direct impression without disturbing haze. The tweeter accomplishes its task excellently, Without being the least bit noisy it reproduces the finest details. Due to the quiet tweeter level the total sound is very “British” and soft. With one exception: Modern rock music is reproduced with a spectacular kick bass. Also in the depth of the bass range ETON plays precisely and very deep.
The crossover is equipped with highest value components. Also the details are convincing, as in the massive cable bridge with gold plated contacts. |
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Summary:
The Discovery is a very precise and rich in detail sounding system for demanding listeners. The customer receives chassis and crossovers that need not fear any comparison in the high end range. The price is justified by the high technology used in this system and its absolutely high grade workmanship.
Test report Weighting
Sound 50% 1,4
Bass range 10% 1,0
Neutrality 10% 2,0
Transparency 10% 1,0
Depth 10% 1,5
Dynamic 10% 1,5
Lab 30% 2,2
Frequency Response 10% 3,0
Maximum Level 10% 2.0
Distortions 10% 1,5
Usage 20% 1,0
Crossover 15% 1,0
Workmanship 5% 1,0
Lab Report
The sound pressure development shows well working chassis, the tweeter of which is exceptionally low levelled. This is contrary to the common habit of preferring a rather loud tweeter.
Technical Data:
Technical Data:
|
Basket Woofer |
165,0 |
mm |
| Cone Surface |
132,7 |
cm² |
| Installation diameter |
142,0 |
mm |
| Resonance frequency |
65,8 |
Hz |
| Installation depth |
50,0 |
mm |
| Mechanical Q factor Qms |
3,12 |
|
| Diameter of magnet |
102,0 |
mm |
| Electrical Q factor Qes |
0,62 |
|
| Cone tweeter |
28,0 |
mm |
| Total Q factor Qts |
0,51 |
|
| Cabinet tweeter |
55,0 |
mm |
| Equivalent air volume of suspension Vas |
8,5 |
l |
| Slope woofer/tweeter |
6/6 |
dB |
| Tweeter protection |
- |
|
| Total moving mass Mms |
16,5 |
g |
| Level decrease tweeter 0,2+2, |
+4,0 |
dB |
| Mechanical resistance Rms |
2,37 |
kg/s |
| Grille |
- |
|
| Suspension compliance Cms |
0,36 |
mm/N |
| Cable |
- |
|
| Force factor B x l |
5,81 |
Tm |
| Nominal impedance |
4,0 |
Ohm |
| Sound pressure 1 W, 1 m |
85,0 |
dB |
| DC resistance |
3,35 |
Ohm |
| Rated Power |
75-150 W |
| Voice coil inductance |
0,31 |
mH |
| Installation recommendation |
Door |
|
| Voice coil diameter |
33,0 |
mm |
Rating
Sound 50% 1,4
Lab 30% 2,2
Usage 20% 1,0
Car & Hifi Issue number 5/2002
ETON D 160 SQ
Reference Class 1,6
Price/Performance: Very good |
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ETON PRO 160 X
Little “fiddlesticks”, discrete appearance and good workmanship in detail, these are the characteristics of a first class compo system. Eton presents their favorably priced Pro 160 X exactly in this manner;here we have high value materials for surround and
spider and precisely glued components instead of colorful logos on the dustcap. The last mentioned component in the Eton 6 ½ “is made of soft synthetic material, and is not intended to increase the cone surface, but much more to soften the resonance and to enable the chassis to achieve an optimal transmission behavior. There are also nice details on the paper cone woofer, such as the soft glue vibration softening feeders to the terminal. Also the 19-mm tweeters leaves a very positive impression, the grille is purposely wide-meshed to offer the sound little “resistance”.
ETON Crossover
The ETON crossover is built with few, but high quality components. The level adjustment is achieved completely without switches or jumpers by different connections to the crossover.
ETON PA 4105
Test report
The exterior appearance of the PA 4105 is quite dainty. With its 432x211x62 mm the PA 4105 belongs to the smaller representitives of this testing field. A special feature of this new amplifier series made by ETON is the exchangeable trim plate on the upper side of the amplifier. ETON also gives you the opportunity to adapt the look of the amplifier to you car, you can choose among carbon fibre trim
plate or fine wood trim plates.
In the measuring lab the ETON amplifier was quite rebellious, but the two 30 ampere fuse did not survive the two-ohm power measuremts. This won´t happen in your car as the music signals only use a 30 % of the power, which is needed for the RMS-measuremt. Moreover it is a good characteristic that the fuse begins to melt before the amplifier does.
Because of the wide range crossover it is recommandable to use the PA 4105 without passive network. The amp achieves maximum values with the interchannel cross talk, while the multi channel amplifier lies only in the standard range. In the range of audibility the values are below 80 dB.
Acoustic test
ETON shows us in a powerful way, that a lower power amp does not mean little bass response. With only 125 watt at the terminals the woofer begins to “dance” with the track “Voyage” of the CAR&HIFI CD. Honestly, we have not expected such a high level. For the testing of the audiophile qualities with put in the reference CD tuner the musical “Les Miserables”. Lights off, spot on. The ETON PA 4105 is able to draw a three-dimensional stage. Voices from the background really appear in the back. If the singing has to be heard from the left side the PA 4105 puts the actors just right there. At the same time ETON did not lose the sense for the details. The pizzicato guitars literally fly through the studio.
ETON Test Report
DVD 200
The Eton DVD makes his entry in simple black. Regarding its measurements it fits in a DIN shaft, but it does not provide of a built-in frame or an aperture. For the cabling of the player, it provides on the back side of a A/V in, a S-Video out and an A/V out terminal. The digital sound comes out by an digital coaxial output.
If you wish to connect a game console or other additional units, the DVD 200 provides of two 3,5 mm jack.
Handling / operation:
Due to the compact construction and the arrangements of the buttons it takes some time until you can handle the remote control blindly. The DVD player reacts on commands of the remote control, depending on the medium it has to play, sometimes a little bit slow. Reading processes can take about 15 sec. You will obtain information about the introduced DVD or CD by pressing the display button. On the front side of the DVD you will find also Play, Stop, Forward and Rewind – buttons for easy handling directly at the DVD.
Equipment:
The ETON DVD plays all common formats apart from MP3-DVDs, DVD+R and DVD+RW. With copy protected CD the drive assembly needs some time to accept them. On introducing a Kodak picture CD the player begins automatically to show the pictures like in a slide show.
Picture and sound:
The high sharpness of the DVD 200 is excellent. Each part of the picture, also if it is very small, can be seen clearly without having the impression of being over focused. The colours a very bright and brilliant. Pictures need some time until they can be seen, but once they can be seen, then in a excellent quality. Concerning the sound the Eton is dynamic and clear.
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In the sound test ETON’s loudspeaker system achieves undivided applause.
The Thiele-Small parameters of the 6 ½ “chassis promise quite a bit of depth in the bass area. The ETON System is the most impressive in the test range, also the precision in bass range should not be taken for granted in this price class. But not only the bass range is convincing. The live version of Bryan Adams’ “Summer of 69” is realistically reproduced and also the stage version is flawless. The tweeter is not the most brilliant in the test range, but does its job very well and reproduces naturally voice and instruments. In summary the Pro 160 X can only be recommended, it provides at a reasonable price exquisite sound characteristics that make it interesting for not only beginners.
Measuring Results
The woofer shows especially out of axes a smooth frequency response in an exemplary manner.
The small dip at 1.2 kHz does not negatively impact the performance. Almost “ETON typical”: the quiet tweeter.
ETON Adventure A1-160
Test report
ETON Adventure - does this mean that it will be an adventure to install the Adventure or is it a description which reflects the exciting sound pattern. Due to its extreme flat mounting height of 50 mm the A1-160 is absolutely easy to mount and fits nearly with every bracket. The woofer also attracts attention because of its optical appearance. With its yellow, stable sandwich cone and the black, inverse dust cap it is a pity to cover the A1-160 on installing. The solid terminals and the venting holes rounds the good quality impression off. The 28 mm soft dome tweeter is more complicated to build in. Due to its big voice coil it is quite wide, but very flat. These components will be connected with an uncompromising crossover, which only consists of two filters of first range for the tweeter and woofer range. The linked black lack voice coil and the high quality tin foil capacitor from Mundorf guarantee a pure signal remittance. The tweeter level adoption is due to the high quality resistors. Laudable is also the thickness of the printed wiring board of 0,7 mm.
Sound check
High quality crossover components and a solid workmanship of the components give the ETON system all preconditions for a good sound. This confirms the sound check.
The 16cm speaker convinces through a nearly unbelievable bass and a fine middle tone presence. Due to the good coupling of the tweeter we did not found any faintness with the ETON system. Resolution, transparency and the reproduction are worth of reference class. Also with rock music the system brails through the spectacular kick-bass. Print this | | |
last edit: mon-27-2004 / 15:52 h.
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