Speaker Review - Audiopipe APHE-6
July
6,
2005
By: Paul Sonoda
Audiopipe is a relative new comer to the world of car audio. Based in Miami, Florida, Audiopipe offers a full line of speakers, amplifiers, subwoofers and accessories. The Audiopipe APHE-6 is on of the new component speakers systems to be introduced by Audiopipe. How good does it perform? Let’s find out.
First Look
The Audiopipe is a 6-1/2 inch two-way component system. With the supplied hardware, the 1 inch titanium tweeter can be configured for surface, flush or coaxial mounting. When the tweeter is mounted separately, a supplied bullet shaped phase plug takes the place of the tweeter. The 6-1/2 rubber surround polypropylene midrange is mounted in a stamped basket that includes mounting holes for most factory location installs. The back plate of the Audiopipe APHE-6 is polished chrome that looks sharp. The speaker grilles incorporate a 4 pole design that looks like four pipes that intersect at the tweeter mount.
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topCloser Look
The titanium tweeter’s integration as a coaxial mount is well done. When used with the midrange grille, it is difficult to determine where the midrange grille ends and where the tweeter grille begins. The tweeter includes a dispersion ring to control the dispersion and smooth the frequency response. The Audiopipe APHE-6 comes configured in the coaxial mode. The tweeter output wires are come out through the pole plate of the midrange. The midrange has typical spade terminal connectors located on the basket.
The APHE-6 crossover is a 12 dB per octave design housed in a curved top black ABS plastic housing. The crossover contains no internal adjustments like tweeter level. The look of the crossover carries over the “Pipe” theme of these Audiopipe speakers. The connections of the crossover are made via gold plate terminal strips. A special feature of the crossover is the protection circuits. The Audiopipe APHE-6 includes two optical protection circuits for per crossover unit. Optimal protection circuits are DC light bulbs that are placed in series between the amplifier output and the speakers. When the amplifier is overdriven (clipped) the clipped output is absorbed by the light bulbs and converted into light and heat. Based on the layout of the crossover, it appears that this circuit is used for both the tweeter and the midrange. Using it on the midrange is a little unusual but does the ability of the Audiopipe APHE-6 to deal with overdriven amplifiers.
Installation
The installation of the Audiopipe APHE-6 is very straight forward. The APHE-6 is supplied with all the mounting wire and speaker cable necessary to complete the installation. The midrange has a mounting depth of 2.25” which will fit most factory locations. Removing the midrange grille reveals multiple OEM mounting holes that should make using the factory mounting holes not problem. The APHE-6 comes configured in the coaxial mode. You can also mount the tweeter separately with either the supplied flush mount or surface mount mounting brackets. The Audiopipe APHE-6 includes all the mounting hardware and wiring necessary to install the speakers in most situations. A nice touch.
Manuals/Web Support
Due to the newness of this product no installation manual was available. On the website, http://www.audiopipe.com, the 2005 catalog is available for download. In this catalog was information of the Audiopipe APHE-6. To be fair, the crossover is well marked and is easy to install. Due to the lack of installation instructions, it is strongly recommended to have any authorized
Sound Q & Performance
I installed the speakers configured in the coaxial mode in the rear deck of my test vehicle. The speakers were powered with an amplifier delivering 45 watts per channel into 4 ohms. The APHE-6 achieved serious midbass output which is typical of most rear deck installations. The frequency response varies plus or minus 5dB from 200Hz up to 20 kHz. Except for a few variances, the overall response of the APHE-6 fits within a plus or minus 6dB window. There was a peak at 4 kHz. This was most likely caused by the interaction between the coaxial mounted tweeter and the midrange. Most likely, mounting the tweeter with the supplied surface or flush mount would smooth this response problem. The power handling of the speakers is quite good. The power handling of 200 watts per channel seems realistic. At no time did the speakers appear stressed or pushed beyond their limits. Overall, the sound quality of the Audiopipe APHE-6 was acceptable given the price point.
Summary
The Audiopipe APHE-6 combines cool looks, flexible installation and built-in driver protection into a modestly priced component system. The strong midbass output and flexibility makes these speakers a good candidate for an entry to mid-price system. If you are searching for a speaker system with installation flexibility and power handling, the Audiopipe APHE-6 deserves a closer look.
4
out of 5
3
out of 5
1
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