Hybrid Audio Technologies Unity User Manual

Unity-Series Component Systems

Installation & Reference Manual

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Contents

Welcome & Introduction

01 02

Pages 4-5

Component Specic Information

Pages 6-17 Midbass, Tweeter, & Crossover

Attributes, Specications, Parameters,

and Mechanical Drawings

Getting Started

Pages 18-23 Basic System Installation

Moving Forward

Pages 24-31 Advanced System Installation,

Lessons Learned, Mounting Bafe

Considerations, and Acoustic Treatment

Warranty

Page 32-33

Congratulations

Welcome and Introduction

by Scott Buwalda - Founder

on your Unity

Component System purchase,

and welcome

to the world of

Hybrid Audio Technologies!

We realize that you have a choice in loudspeakers, and are thrilled that you have chosen the Unity series component systems. For more information about Hybrid Audio Technologies, our philosophies regarding high-end mobile audio, to learn more about our lifetime guaranteed value program, and for information about our other products, please visit us at: hybrid-audio.com

Speaker development is our passion! When installed and set-up properly, the Unity Component System you have purchased will make a remarkable improvement in the sound quality of virtually any mobile audio sound system and give years of superior performance.

With the publication of this manual, it is our goal to assist the “do it yourself” enthusiast and professional installer alike in getting the highest level of performance out of Unity Component Systems using straight-forward installation advice.

Thank you, and happy listening!

Unity Component Systems

Your Unity system contains speaker drivers and passive crossover networks that were developed and assembled with a signicant eort in research and

Midbass Attributes

Unity U5 & U6

Frame

Cast ABS plastic. The basket is a high-quality cast ABS design, which plays a critical role in aligning the voice coil in the magnetic circuit. Additionally, the cast ABS frame allows for better clamping strength verses typical stamped steel frames, and ensures that the voice coil remains centered in the former. The frame is a shared technology with the Imagine series coaxial and convertible component sets, and allow for immediate upgrade potential due to identical size footprint, mounting depth, bolt circle diameter, and motor diameter as the Imagine convertible coaxial systems.

only high-performance water proof paper cone car audio speaker systems on the market. The treatment protects the cone from periodic drips (such as inside a door panel), as well as accidental splashes to the front of the cone. Likewise, the paper dustcap is also treated for water resistance. The cone is a shared technology with the Imagine series coaxial and convertible component sets. On the hybrid-audio.com website, we have hosted a video of an actual water-proof demonstration of the Imagine I61-2, which uses the same cone as the Unity series, where we pour two liters of water over the driver, and then connect it to a musical source. That video may be viewed at: http://hybrid-audio.

com/imagine/

Surround

Spider

Phenolic fabric and tinned tinsel leads. The spider is the brownish/yellow corrugated (rippled) fabric that attaches the cone and voice coil. The spider for the Unity designs was the subject of a considerable amount of our research and development. The spider is a phenolic symmetrically-rolled fabric which provides excellent restorative force during excursion. The spider is vented courteous of the speaker frame; a design element not typically found in this price range of speaker system. The spider venting increases the thermal power handling of the Unity midbass driver. The tinsel leads are connected to real epoxy PCB, not imsy cardboard. The spider, tinsel leads, and terminals are shared technologies with the Imagine series coaxial and convertible component sets.

development, materials science engineering, an exhaustive level of sampling and prototyping, real-world testing, and obsessive attention to detail. The specications and parameters of your Unity component system is detailed on these pages.

Cone and Dust Cap

Pressed paper with water proof treatment. It is widely acknowledged that pressed paper cones are the best marriage of lightness, stiness, and ability of the cone to damp unwanted cone and edge modes and resonances (read: distortion). The paper cone, known for its excellent sonic attributes, is water proof, thanks to a polymer developed exclusive and proprietarily by Hybrid Audio Technologies. The treatment does not change the look and parameters of the driver like old-fashioned “glossy” polymers which added an appreciable amount of moving mass and signicantly colored the sound. No, the Unity cones look like any “normal” paper cone, but in reality are likely the

Inverted high-loss rubber surround. The inverted high-loss rubber surround (in concert with the spider, detailed below), helps to provide the compliance and “restorative force” needed for the Unity drivers to play eectively into the lower midbass, and even upper subbass frequencies (depending on in-car cabin gain and other factors). You’ll also know a Hybrid Audio midrange and midbass design by its inverted surround; this design feature allows for the use of a smaller height grille, better clearance with OEM panels, and more exibility in mounting options. The surround is a shared technology with the Imagine series coaxial and convertible component sets.

Voice Coil and Motor System

The voice coil used in the Unity midbass is a 2-layer aluminized copper wire coils on a round former. An “overhung” voice coil was selected to improve sensitivity while still keeping distortion to a minimum. The voice coil and motor system are shared technologies with the Imagine series coaxial and convertible component sets.

Continued on following page...

Unity Component Systems

Your Unity system contains speaker drivers and passive crossover networks that were developed and assembled with a signicant eort in research and development, materials science engineering, an exhaustive level of sampling and prototyping, real-world testing, and obsessive attention to detail. The specications and parameters of your Unity component system is detailed on these pages.

Tweeter Attributes

Unity U1

Dome

Small diameter impregnated silk textile dome with high-loss rubber suspension. The U1 is a shared technology with the high-end Clarus C1 tweeter, boasting has an impregnated ne cloth silk dome diaphragm for a linear, smooth sound, with a high-loss rubber suspension to damp edge modes and resonances. The dome is of extremely low mass and is much less susceptible to mechanical deformation than other designs, and yet yields a smooth response over the extent of its range. At Hybrid Audio Technologies, we feel larger diaphragm tweeters sound heavy and unremarkable, lack detail in the upper treble frequencies, have undesirable polar response, and are dicult to install. Additionally, we nd metal dome tweeters to be harsh, brittle, and sound unrealistic. As a small diameter, soft-dome tweeter, the U1 is the antithesis of large diaphragm and metal-dome tweeters, for the eective and convincing reproduction of treble frequencies.

Voice Coil and Motor System

ensure a small footprint size and shallow depth. A perforated grille protects the dome. The voice coil is ferrouid cooled and damped, and the tweeter housing consists of extruded plastic with three dierent mounting options in component set mode, giving the end-user exibility in not only placement of the U1 but also in physical installation.

Crossover Attributes

Unity U2x

Alignment

Second order L/R (12 dB/octave) lters for low pass (U5 or U6) and high pass (U1). The U51-2 2-way passive crossover network includes a unity low pass and high pass crossover frequency of 5,700 Hz at 12 dB/octave. The U61-2 2-way passive crossover network includes a unity low pass and high pass crossover frequency of 5,200 Hz at 12 dB/octave. The use of 12 dB/octave lters on both low pass and high pass, often not found in speakers in this price range, minimizes phase-related distortion typical of crossovers with mismatched orders, and ensures phase-coherent imaging and staging. The alignment topology is a shared technology to the high-end Clarus C2x

Network Components

Audiophile grade. The U51-2 and U61-2 passive crossover networks incorporate a super high quality and low tolerance metalized polypropylene lm capacitor for highpass, and a low-tolerance quality metalized electrolytic capacitor for low pass, in concert with air-core inductors, and low tolerance non-inductive resistors. No output level switches were used in the passive crossover design because switches add a resistive eect and are typically of extremely low quality. Additionally, “jumper pins” add an unnecessary pair of splices in the signal path to the tweeter, and were not included in our design either. Rather, all tweeter level adjustments are done on the board level with dedicated non-inductive resistors; tweeter attenuation is accomplished by selecting the appropriate output (-3 dB, 0 dB, or +3 dB) on the passive crossover circuit board. The components selected are complimentary and ensure no notable signal degradation between the input and output side of the crossovers. The network componentry, design, circuitry, and polyethylene case with transparent cover are shared technologies to the Clarus series, and the Clarus C2x crossover design.

20mm complimentary design. The motor assembly is “conventional dynamic”, with a compact neodymium magnet structure to

crossover design and features asymmetricallyaligned network components.

Unity Component Systems

Specications & Parameters

Overall Diameter Φ150 mm Φ165 mm

Mounting Depth 68 mm 68.8 mm

Bolt Circle Diameter Φ139 mm Φ156 mm

Mounting Hole Φ 123 mm Φ140 mm

Recommended Minimum Highpass Crossover Frequency (fourth order)

Continuous Power Handling (Pnom Rated Power Input • No crossover)

Peak Power Handling (Pmax Rated Power Input • No Crossover)

Recommended Power Range 20-150 watts 20-150 watts

Frequency Response (+/- 3dB) 55 Hz - 22 kHz 50 Hz - 22 kHz 60 Hz - 8 kHz 55 Hz - 6.5 kHz

Eciency 2.83V/1 meter 91.8 dB 93.2 dB

Mms 9.48 g 10.5 g

Cms 416 μM/N 403 μM/N

BL (T*m) 5.5 5.5

Voice Coil Diameter 25.5 mm 25.5 mm

Nominal Impedance 4 Ω 4 Ω

DC Resistance 3.4 Ω 3.4 Ω

Fs (Free Air) 80 Hz 75 Hz

Qms 3.227 4.506

Qes 0.553 0.679

Qts 0.472 0.59

Xmax (Two Way) 10mm 12mm

Vas 5.2 L 8.1 L

Sd 9.331 mm

U51-2

System

100 watts 100 watts (25 watts) (40 watts)

230 watts 230 watts (50 watts) (80 watts)

U61-2

System

Midbass

65 Hz 60 Hz

Midbass

11.882 mm

† Typically, in-car response including vehicular “cabin gain”, or the gain expected with midbass installed in the vehicle, will result in an extended midbass and upper subbass response. This is a result of these frequencies being below the lowest resonance in the vehicle (typically around 50-125 Hz in most vehicles, described in more detail on page 23). In more practical terms, install the Unity midbass into your vehicle and you will see a dramatic improvement in midbass and upper subbass output, much more so than just simply listening to the Unity in a large room, or worse yet, “free air” (we don’t recommend even trying the Unity speakers in “free air” without some form of enclosure or innite bae for the midbass).

Thiele/Small Parameter Discussion for Unity Midbass

Speakers

The mechanical and electrical parameters of the Unity midbass speakers are amenable to a variety of different installations and speaker locations. The high Qms (Q factor of mechanical system) and Qts (Q factor of total system), coupled with the driver’s Fs (resonance frequency) allow it to be used in an “innite bafe” conguration. In more practical terms, install the Unity midbass such that the front and back waves don’t “meet” (as detailed in Section I – Getting Started - Basic System Installation), including in a door or kick panel, or in the case of a motorcycle, in the fairing (using only the airspace behind the speaker as a pseudo enclosure), with no need for a real enclosure or “box.” The design goes hand in hand with fool-proof, high-end sound quality with minimal work. For more advanced users, please reference the Thiele/Small Parameters for the Unity-series midbass drivers.

+ 12 hidden pages

Hybrid Audio Technologies Unity User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual