MTX T56S : Thunder 5000 Separates
by Carlos Villafañe 
| PRO’S | CON’S |
| Shallow mounting depth | Amp necessary |
| High Power Handling | Hard to find |
| Very accurate | |
| Inexpensive |
Features:
The T56S components consist of a 6 1/2" midbass woofer, a 1" neodymium Ferrofluid cooled soft dome tweeter -unlike the Titanium ear bleeders found in other products- a two way crossover with 18db/octave HP and 6db/octave LP slopes, and MTX’s PTC tweeter protection technology, swivel mount tweeters.
Installation:
The MTX’s were installed for testing in my own 1988 Honda Accord. The locations used were the factory door panel locations. Power was provided by:
The doors have been deadened with a coat of black Rustoleum Paint, ¼" of McGuires Undercoating & Stinger Roadkill yellow. Even given the very shallow mounting depth of 2.5" for the woofer, custom baffles were necessary to mount the speakers on the doors of my Honda. In addition to utilizing the swiveling feature included with the tweeter mounting hardware, three quarter inch MDF was used to create angled baffles (MDF was sanded from ¾" thickness on one side to a ¼" thickness on the other) to better aim the components across the car to the listening positions. RF sound deadener was attached to the back of the baffle, dense weather strip tape was attached, around the edge of the baffle and since this was not to be a permanent installation, the baffles were attached to the car using sheet metal screws.
Testing methodology
The music used to test was the following:
Pink Floyd - "The Wall": Disk 1. (Just about everything)
Blue’s Traveler - "Four": Runaround, Hook
Don McLean - "Greatest Hits": Vincent, American Pie (both original & re-mastered version)
"Lost Boys Movie Soundtrack" – People are Strange, Cry Little Sister
WCBS FM Oldies - "25th Anniversary": Johnny B. Goode
1) Powering the T56S components directly from the Denon DCT-950R resulted in less than desirable results. The midbass was detectable but weak -response was somewhere around 120 HZ- and the highs sounded shrill and slightly tinny. Due to their approx 85db sensitivity, the T56S's also required the volume knob to be turned to approximately 3/4 power in order to extract any decent output volume. Frankly speaking, if you're in the market for a pair of components to power off of your head units internal power amplifier, look elsewhere, these are not the speakers for you. You will seriously underpower these speakers, and as the urge to crank it up increases and the head units distortion kicks in, nothing but bad things are bound to happen.
I then connected a borrowed MTX RTX03A crossover to my system (my Kenwood has a non-adjustable high pass frequency @ 100 HZ) and began testing the components as follows:
2) Using two channels of my Rockford Fosgate 4.6
x rated at 30 w/ch, I listened to the above tracks. The MTX RTX03A was used to adjust the high pass frequency, to determine the lowest frequency the components would play at in the car. After I was satisfied that I found the lowest playable frequency (approx. 75 HZ), I sat and auditioned all the tracks listed above.3) The amp was then bridged to 2-channel operation and RCAs were reconfigured to provide stereo output (see example below). In bridged mode, the RF 4.6
x is rated for 120w x 2. The exact same procedure was conducted as in 2 above. This time the lowest playable frequency dropped to about 70-65 HZ.Example: Bridge channels 1/2 & 3/4, now feed the right signal to channels 1/2 and left signal to channels 3/4 and Viola! stereo output in bridged mode. Aren’t four channel amps great?
All the above tests were conducted without the subwoofers connected, and only after the tracks were listened through completely with the T56S’s as the sole active speakers in the vehicle, were the subs reconnected.
So how did they sound?
The addition of a real amplifier to provide the juice made all the difference. Suddenly, the music came alive and the helicopter from Pink Floyd threatened to decapitate me. Don McLean’s "Vincent" felt as if I was standing beside him with my hand on his shoulder and a surrealistic, chamber-hallish, tingle my spine, make-the-hairs-on-the-back-of-my-neck-stand-on-end feeling engulfed me when "People are Strange" graced the voice coils of the T56S’s.
The drum hits in Hook & Runaround where tight, the highs were clear and smooth and voice tonality across all the tracks sounded natural.
The ability of these components to go low really made the music come alive when the subs where reconnected and so much bass was evident up-front. ( I normally have a hole between 72-100hz. )
Conclusion:
"Ear candy" is the only way I could accurately describe the amazing job MTX has done with this set of, suprisingly, affordable (approx. $185 - $200) components.
The T56S components are truly meant for use with an amplifier, using anything less would be "uncivilized". When it comes to performance -in true MTX tradition- the more clean power you give them, the better they perform. The components took all the power fed them during my tests including the 120 'Rockford' watts with no problem, and even managed to use that power to go lower.
MTX's slogan says they're "serious about sound", with this set of car audio components, not only do they add an exclamation mark to that slogan, they etch it in stone.
If you’re in the market for a set of 6.5" components, prior to plopping down $300- $700 on a pair, give this set a listen, you may be pleasantly surprised.
Note:
The only thing you may have to do that may give you grief is trying to find a shop that carries the brand. MTX is not a brand that seems to have an overabundance of authorized dealers. I have found two in my neighborhood in NY. Circuit City: which does not carry them and a smaller shop --whose owner I was lucky enough to make an acquaintance with- which allowed me to test this pair.
Manufacturer info: