PowerBass 3XL-6C
A two-way component speaker system with separate tweeter units, midbass drivers and passive crossovers. Complete with a mounting kit to fit the tweeters in more than one application, template and screws and fixings. The tweeters are a balanced silk dome and the passives have attractive cases with 12dB per octave slope components within them. The cones of the midbass drivers are a mixture of paper, Kevlar and fibreglass, so save the cost of pure use of the expensive materials yet keep some of their performance characteristics.
The grilles are a four pronged protective spike design and the domes of the midbasses as well as the passives’ casings bear the PowerBass logo. The system is set to offer up an impedance of one whole Ohm less than normal at 3 Ohms, so as to suck more watts from any given amplifier than it would do if it were the more normal 4 Ohm design. This is in common with the set from Kicker as well. The mids’ pressed steel chassis even have the logo cut into their shape, so PowerBass are good at branding up their product.
– Power Handling 110w RMS
– Sensitivity 92dB 1w/1M
– Own Pink noise test figure 112.9dB (Vol @20 @ trk 9 dB Drag Vol III)
– Passband 53Hz to 21kHz
– Tweeter diameter 35mm
– Tweeter Mounting Depth 25mm
– Midbass Mounting Depth 63mm
– Cone: Kevlar and fibreglass and paper pulp
– Tweeter: Balanced silk dome
– Crossover slope & point: 12dB per octave, point not quoted
– Chassis: chromed pressed steel with logo cut into the shape
– Complete with: template, fixings, wires
– Three Ohm load rather than a 4 Ohm so goes louder on any given amp than a 4 Ohm set
Review by Adam Rayner
PowerBass are a band relatively new to the UK yet they have a range that goes from sensible all the way up to three kilowatt SPL contest amps (I’ve got one here to give a pull-through). Their component speakers go up to the three-X set we have here yet are not in the mad end of the price range of these things. Very good looking, one really clever thing they do is to supply the system with a 3 Ohm impedance which means that this set will go louder on any given normal amplifier than a similarly priced set. That said, they were not fabulously efficient, scoring a mediumly low 112.9dB on my jury-rigged test with the AudioControl meter.
For all their lowish cost they use some exotic materials in their cones and the result is big and brash. A wonderful street boomer product these have decent bass in their guts. I did miss the refinement to the mids and high frequencies that came with the big ticket sets in this huge group but they do, as my notes say, ‘bloody spank!’ and take the power well.
Another good set for a front sound stage of a raving bass lunatic, they can get a little harsh and tiring when driven very hard but will cut through hubbub at shows for the show-off a treat. Inexpensive street weaponry and such great VFM.
Overall 8.6
Sound Quality 7
Build Quality 8
Power Handling 10
Efficiency 8
Value For Money 10