Speakers Made by the "Response" Speaker Company are they any good?

[John Biles]

Hello Everyone,
I have been told that "REsponse" Speakers are very average and should not be used in a good quality Speaker System, Is this true?

[Circlotron]

If you buy them at wholesale price from Electus rather than retail at Jaycar, then they are sorta okay-ish for the money. At least the carbon fibre and to a lesser extent the poly coned drivers. There are way better drivers available for *way* more money though.

I have used them in the past and I think they are ok if you are just starting out in building speakers. One thing that almost always happens though is that cheap speakers are often put in flimsy boxes and driven by crummy amplifiers etc and so they sound pretty crook. However, if you build a really stout box with thick panels and plenty of bracing, and power it with a nice amp and clean signal source, and dare I say it, a 10 band graphic equaliser (~$100) then you will possibly be surprised at just how good it can sound for not too much money.

After having played with all that kind of stuff I now have a little pair of Wharfedales that sound way better, but I still have ReSponse subs.

[John Biles]

Thanks Circlotron,
I brought a pair of the 6.5 inch woofers (Polycone) 80Watt @ $59.95 each a month ago as replacements and they don't sound to bad. I brought them at good old Jaycar, can you please tell me were is the best place in Melbourne to Buy good quality speakers at a decent price.
As for the REsponse's I will let them bed in for a few months and see how they sound then.

[PeteMcK]

I have an 8" carbon fibre cone unit, now discontinued by Jaycar,
it's a great driver (I think there's a similar poly cone unit still available);
For the $, Peerless/Vifa are probably better value though if you can get them wholesale.

[rcw]

Many of the drivers they sell under that name are Asian copies of such as Vifa and Peerless, and as such represent fairly good value.
The thing is that in a three way for instance the Responce woofer is good enough but for the best performance Vifa or Peerles should be used for midrange and tweeter.
Some of the car subwoofers also make excelent compact subwoofers with performance comparable with such as the B&W ASW500.
As another contributer , "Ciclotron" commented, if you buy some Jaycar speakers and one of their stock passive crossovers and stick then in a poorly designed box and use a crappy amplifier, and expect to get a good result, then you will be dissapointed.
Many speaker systems that are raved about in the hi fi press use components of similar quality that are put together in such a way as to get the best out of them.
In the end a well engineered system with average drivers beats a poorly engineered one with excelent ones.

[loonatron]

I bought a pair of ex-demo Jaycar JC-50 boxes, when they were discontinued, about 5 years ago. They sound good to me, I think the woofers and the tweeters are response and I think the midrange was vifa but I could be wrong.

The thing I don't like about these boxes is they are too bright, though this is not the fault of the drivers themselves.

I can tell you that these boxes are also very tough and forgiving towards abuse. (don't ask what happened!)

...Steve

[Andy G]

Originally posted by rcw
Many of the drivers they sell under that name are Asian copies of such as Vifa and Peerless

???? please show me one that is a copy of a Vifa or Peerless ???

aside from that, the 8" Carbon is a nice driver, the 12" carbon is great for low end duties too.

the problem is that as a whole the response drivers require a bit more control in the x-o area than most people give them, certainly more than Jaycar do in any of their kits (say text book yuk!!)

none of the Jaycar Response drivers are 'bad', but at the price there is always a Vifa or Peerless that is better.

try emailing WES Components to see where the Melbourne outlet might be. or maybe even deal direct with them, they are very good at deliveries !!!! my orders always arrive next day !!!

http://www.wescomponents.com/

for the Vifa etc speaker section in the catalog go to http://www.wagner.net.au/Catalogue/wagner0024.html
or there-abouts

[rcw]

The one they sell as a "high powered 10 inch" is almost identical in specs to at least 2 Peerless 10 inch designs, it even looks the same.

[Andy G]

give me catalog numbers...

[loonatron]

In reguards to my earlier post about jc50's, it is the tweeter that is vifa. (just pulled them out and checked)