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Hertz Mille (MLK165) Component set review.

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So the package arrived at the shop and I could barely restrain my excitement. I had been reading a lot about the Hertz Mille set and found a brand new set for a real steal. The MLK165 set uses the ML165 mid driver, the ML28 tweeter, and the MLCX 20 crossover, which is amazingly HUGE! The mid is really a piece of art, very well constructed with an oddly shaped “V-cone” for better off axis dispersion. The tweeter comes with 2 “chambers” which seem to act as aperiodic membranes, altering FS from 1200Hz with the small to 920Hz with the large chamber. Hertz recommends the large chamber for best sound, and I agree that lowering FS is beneficial here as well, so I went with the large chamber. Unfortunately, almost none of the tweeter mounts will work with the large chamber, aside from flush mounting it, so don’t count on using this with a surface mount or with the angled tweeter pods that come with the unit… this design flaw is terribly disheartening I must say, but it didn’t affect my install, so… The Crossover is really obnoxiously HUGE, but pretty nicely featured. They use “easy jumpers”, which are pretty large, nicely handled couplers that are easier to use then most tiny jumpers we see in crossovers. They also allow for bi-amping the system, or running a single amp if you so choose.

Click here to view the MLK165 PDF file.

HU source is a Pioneer Premier FH-P800BT. Front stage amplifier is a Butler Tube Driver Blue 475 which is bridged for 2X200@4ohms, properly set up with an O-scope for no clipping. The front stage is crossed at 80Hz. The substage consists of a Cadence ZRS6000D which is ~650@2ohms, and 2 Adire Koda 10” subs in a midsized (1.2 per sub) sealed arrangement, also crossed at 80Hz and run in reverse polarity. The mids are in the stock location in the lower front of the doors, decoupled from the sheet metal, spaced out with MDF, in a well damped door in an IB alignment. The tweets are well angled in the kicks, with a desired soundstage in the center of the windshield. Some modification was made on the kicks to change the angle, as the silks are more directional then the aluminum tweets they replaced.

At the start of the testing I had the EQ dead flat; as this worked best for me with the CDT PSS-0626i set I removed from the system. In playing with this set I realized that I could not leave it flat as the bottom ½ octave or so seemed weak, so I boosted the mids at 125Hz, and reset the amplifier to compensate. I found that the substage being crossed at 80 and the mids crossed at the same point gave me a slightly artificial boost at 80, and the system remained relatively flat thanks to the mid’s rolloff, albeit slightly exaggerated at 80Hz, which livened up kick drums nicely. The crossovers of this set allow for tweeter attenuation, but I opted to leave the crossover set at 0dB. I also elected to use the HFC or “high frequency contour” option in the crossovers which compensates for speaker distance issues relative to the driver in the car, and it seemed to open the soundstage up on the driver’s side, where a silk dome might seem closed off in most other cases.

Overall the set has a nice sound to it. The mid seems rather forward in the midrange, and is weak on the bottom end, which surprised me. I like my mid to be fairly fat down low and I really like a low crossover point, which I was not able to achieve with this set. In looking at the specs it appeared like it might be a bit soft on the bottom compared to the ES-06, yet I expected it to be punchier, more aggressive. Needless to say I was surprised and disappointed at the bottom end, I expected it to be a little fuller, but I was pleased that it was punchier, although not as much as I expected, and it still remains easy on the ears. It is not overly aggressive or fatiguing, and yet well defined. A really happy medium, which I cannot say is a function of the driver, or the tubes that drive it. Even though it is a bit heavy in the midrange, the vocals seem very natural, and instrumentation is very clean and nicely detailed. Female vocals are very real, and open.

The crossover point is seamless, as expected from such a high end set. Though the crossover is so huge as to render it nearly impossible to hide, it is extremely well featured, and well designed, crossing at 2.5kHz.

The tweeters are a soft dome 1 1/8 inch compact design, with apeariodic chambers for the rear of the unit. According to Hertz, these are an open backed design that allows is to use various aperiodic modules to attach to the rear and alter the resonant frequency, and thus the behavior of the tweeter. While I did not play with the various modules, sticking with the largest module with the lowest overall system FS of 920Hz, I can guess it is a cool feature. The tweeters are delicate, yet pretty well detailed. Far and away one of the finer compacts I have heard. Unlike many soft domes this tweeter is energetic, and although the dispersion is more narrow then my old DRT26A aluminum domes, it is still pretty broad for a soft dome. They are very open and airy, lively and not fatiguing in any way.

The soundstage and image are pretty strong. While I have managed a better stage width in the car it is arguably more a function of the dome material then the driver’s incompetence. As I stated before, metal domes do offer better dispersion which I attribute to a broader soundstage. These definitely offer an extremely broad stage for soft domes. Image depth is impressive, with very realistic placement of musicians in test CDs and live acoustic performances… I love live acoustic sets as they tend to offer fixed placement of the musicians and a very real soundstage.

Musically these are pretty decent for most tastes. I did find some older midrange heavy 80’s metal to be a bit fatiguing though, due to the forward midrange I mentioned earlier. Female vocals are beautiful with this set, Sarah McLachlan and Norah Jones sound amazing. Norah’s breathless voice rings through very real and clear just floating in the center of the soundstage. Sarah’s amazing voice seems to fill the stage, and the differences between her grand piano, and Norah’s smaller piano are evidenced by this set. The grand just feels far more tonal and heavy then the smaller piano… you can almost feel the resonance of the large panels of the grand in the car. I love to use Dave Matthews for complex riffs and the huge array of instrumentation he likes to use. His nasal voice rings through as irritating as ever, and maybe a tad more nasal then I am used to. The background musicians really take off, and the lively midrange propels them to the forefront. Strings really ring true, with a nice and realistic decay, where some high strings that may get annoying with lively midranges seem to stay laid back and controlled, not what I might expect in listening to old school metal. I liked the way that Alice in Chains’ Unplugged album uses a kickdrum that is blocked by a plastic panel so as not to overpower the band, really seems like something is in the way of the kick. The placement of the musicians, which I know very well as I like to watch their Unplugged DVD, is extremely accurate, not overly separated like some sets that make it feel almost artificial, yet realistic enough in their placement that you know where they are sitting. You can tell Scottie Olsen is sitting right behind Mike Inez. I did a lot of other listening, but wanted to keep this segment brief… or at least as brief as my rambling can get, anyways .

To summarize, I like the set well enough, but it does suffer some shortcomings that I would not expect from a set costing a cool grand. I really expect a set this high end to have better bottom end. With 6MM of XMAX and a fairly low FS, this set should be solid to cross at 65hz, but it just starts to struggle at 80Hz. But with that weakness comes a great midrange, with some interesting qualities, a solid crossover that is well featured, well thought out, simple to adjust and set up with great jumpers, and a very, very nice tweeter. While the only audible complaint I have is the lack of deep down guttural midbass, the set does suffer some physical shortcomings as well. While it includes several tweeter mount options, you can’t use the best aperiodic module on any of them… rending the vast array of options completely useless if SQ is your focus. Also, the crossover… Guys, I can’t tell you enough how obnoxiously large this thing is.

If I had a thousand bucks to drop on a set, I think I would pass this set up for a few others. For what I paid for it, it is pretty decent, although in a similar price range I have owned better… But the midrange is intoxicating and the tweeter is very, very nice. If you have an opportunity to listen to the set, I suggest it. With all my complaining, it really does have some very strong audible qualities that have to be heard to be believed… oh yeah, and the mid is just absolutely a sexy unit, a real piece of art.

Mid in door:

smDSCF0458.jpg

Comp set:

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Tweets and aperiodic membrane:

smDSCF0447.jpg

Crossover topless:

smDSCF0449.jpg

Mid from the front:

smDSCF0450.jpg

Mid from behind:

smDSCF0451.jpg

Tweeter:

smDSCF0452.jpg

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Great review!

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