Speaker Review - Renaissance SR6.2s
August 2, 2005
By Paul Sonoda
MSRP: $648
Déjà vu. That’s what the Morel Acoustics USA Renaissance SR-6.2s speakers do for me. Probably because we recently tested another set of two-way speakers from the other Morel company. Now I know what you are thinking, two Morels? Yep. I don’t know which came first or why there are two to begin in the first place. I do know they both offer high-end component systems. How does the Renaissance SR-6.2s stack up? Read on.
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topFirst Look
The Renaissance SR-6.2s is a two-way component system consisting of a 6.5 inch midrange and a 1.1 inch dome tweeter. The WR-6 midrange is a shallow mount design needing only 2.3 inches of clearance. The midrange uses a double stack magnet inside of a huge 3 inch voice coil. The CR-103 tweeter is smaller than other tweeters offered and is designed to be mounted either flush mount or surface mount with the supplied tweeter housing. The grille of the CR-103 is oval in shape and has a foot print bigger than the actual tweeter. Despite not being larger than typical tweeters, the CR-103 is designed to handle 200 watts with transient power handling of 1000 watts in short 10 millisecond bursts. The XR2.2 passive crossover uses a typical 12 dB per octave configuration. There are not any adjustable features of the passive crossover.
Closer Look
The specially treated 28 millimeter (1.1 inch) silk dome tweeter uses a hexagonal shaped aluminum wire and Ferro fluid cooling to enable high power handling. This is especially impressive given the extremely low resonant frequency of 870 Hz. (Typical tweeters range between 2,500 Hz to 5,000Hz) This lower resonant frequency translates in to ultra-smooth performance of the passive crossover at 3,200 Hz.
The WR-6 midrange is a very high-performance unit. Even though the woofer uses a stamped frame, the features on this midrange are usually reserved for subwoofers not midrange. The large 3 inch voice coil is crafted using aluminum wire in a hexagonal pattern. The hexagonal pattern is designed to pack the voice coil as tightly as possible in the speaker’s magnetic gap. This improves the efficiency of the speaker. Cooling is provided to the speaker via a vent that is damped using resistive open cell foam.
The XR 2.2 passive crossover uses gold plated terminal for the best connections. Inside the crossover, the XR 2.2 uses Mylar capacitors and an air core inductor on the tweeter and an iron core inductor on the woofer. What is striking about the design is its simplicity. Only speaker with a very smooth response can work well. Having the tweeter’s resonance so far out of the crossover region makes this not only possible but deliver excellent performance. According to Renaissance the SR-6.2s can have the tweeter swapped out for the CR-101se tweeter. These tweeter are quite larger but are supposed to offer superior performance. Due to my installation constraints, I decided to stick with the much smaller CR-103.
Installation
The installation of the Renaissance SR-6.2s went without any problems. The protective grille for the midrange is very good. In my situation, I mounted the speakers in the factory locations in the door panel. The metal rim on the midrange needs to be modified for a back loading installation. Fortunately, this was not difficult. The locations of the mounting holes for the woofer matched perfectly my factory location. I was able to fit the CR-103 tweeter of the Renaissance SR-6.2s into my factory location by removing not only the grille but also the oval trim ring. Special care must be taken in this situation not to damage the exposed tweeter wires. Once this hardware was removed, it was easy to fit with the OEM mounting hardware. The Renaissance SR-6.2s included the necessary screws and mounting hardware except for the speaker wire. The mounting of the crossover is strait forward with the inputs and outputs well marked and easy to install.
Manuals/Web Support
The information provided with the Renaissance SR-6.2s lists all the specs and information needed. While installation was not given on the Renaissance SR-6.2s, the system is self explanatory enough to be installed. On Renaissance website, http://www.renaudio.com/, I was able to easily find information about the Renaissance SR-6.2s. There I was able to down load PDFs of the specs not only for the system, but also the individual components including the passive crossover. Due to the high-performance nature of the Renaissance SR-6.2s, and that there is not a detailed installation manual to optimize the performance, it is recommend to have your authorized Acoustics USA dealer perform the installation.
Sound Q & Performance
In spite of the simplicity and lack of adjustments of the passive crossover, the performance of the Renaissance SR-6.2s was fantastic. With a few adjustments on my source unit (ok a lot of adjustments), I was able to smooth the tonal balance to an impressive result. Even in the factory locations, the overall tonal balance of the Renaissance SR-6.2s sounded sweet. When I placed it on the TerraSonde RTA, the measurements verified my observations. From 50 Hz up, I was able to get the frequency response of the Renaissance SR-6.2s to fit within a plus or minus 2dB window. That is amazing results for a system installed without an equalizer. Over the full bandwidth, the Renaissance SR-6.2s fit in a very good plus or minus 4 dB window.
The most interesting thing about these speakers is their indifference to the type of music played. Many speakers system prefer one type of music like Rap, R & B, Country, Classical. Not so with the Renaissance SR-6.2s. No matter whether I played Nelly or Michael Ruff, the Renaissance SR-6.2s delivered great sound. No fuss, no muss. Bottom line, these speakers are smooth. These speakers are enjoyable. Even though there was a slight hollowness to the upper midrange, the only real complaint is I had to stop listening to these speakers to write the review.
Summary
The Renaissance SR-6.2s are a impressive speaker system. By focusing on the driver quality and limiting the systems features, the guys at Renaissance are able to deliver this system at a relative bargain of 648 dollars. I say relative because that still is some serious money. However, the sound quality more than justifies the price. If you are looking high-end system, the Renaissance SR-6.2s deserves a serious audition. You will not regret it.
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