ESB Audio 5.6K3U — 5000 Series 3-Way Speaker System with UMA (no crossover)

ESB Audio 5.6K3U — 5000 Series 3-Way Speaker System with UMA (5.165 + 5.UMA)

The 5.6K3U is the ESB 5000 Series three-way driver set built around the co-located mid-high unit: a pair of 5.165 6.5-inch mid-woofers and a pair of 5.UMA units, each carrying a 50 mm soft dome midrange and a 28 mm soft dome tweeter on one machined flange.

The passive crossover is not included. This set runs actively from a DSP. The 5.6K3UX is the same drivers with the 5.6K3 CX network in the box.

Three Drivers, Two Mounting Locations

This is a full three-way system — three drivers per side, three amplifier channels, three filtered bands — that installs in two positions instead of three.

The UMA holds the midrange and tweeter at a fixed distance and angle set at the factory, on a CNC-machined billet aluminium flange. That removes the hardest variable in a three-way installation: in a conventional build those two drivers sit in different panels at different distances from the listener, and the difference has to be corrected with delay before the crossover between them behaves.

Here they arrive together because they are in the same place. Both drivers are screw-mounted rather than bonded, so either can be replaced individually — which matters on a unit built into a fabricated pillar.

What Running Active Requires

Three amplifier channels per side — six in total — with a processor providing at least six outputs. The UMA is not a single-input speaker: its midrange and tweeter are independent 4-ohm drivers with their own connections and no internal network.

Run four conductors to each UMA, not two.

The 5.165 is a 3-ohm driver. Confirm the amplifier is comfortable at 3 ohms on the woofer channels.

What the Active Filters Buy

ESB's published bandwidth widens with filter steepness:

• 5.165: 50 Hz – 4 kHz at 48 dB/oct, against 80 Hz at 12 dB/oct
• UMA midrange: 600 Hz – 5 kHz at 48 dB/oct, against 800 Hz at 12 dB/oct
• UMA tweeter: 1.2 – 25 kHz at 48 dB/oct, against 2 kHz at 12 dB/oct

The 600 Hz midrange crossover is the one that matters. It moves more of the vocal range off a woofer working in a door and onto a dome mounted near ear height — the largest single improvement available in a car front stage, and only safe behind a steep filter.

Delay between the woofer and the mid-high unit remains useful. Delay between the midrange and tweeter is largely handled by the flange.

The Drivers

5.165 mid-woofer: 3Ω, 160 W continuous / 320 W peak, carbon fibre reinforced composite exponential cone at 12.1 g moving mass, FEA-optimized Y35 ferrite motor with a pure copper ring, TSW rubber surround, 25 mm CCAW double-layer voice coil.

5.UMA midrange section: 4Ω, 120 W continuous / 240 W peak, 50 mm carbon fibre reinforced composite dome, oversized neodymium motor, Fs 630 Hz.

5.UMA tweeter section: 4Ω, 110 W continuous / 220 W peak, 28 mm composite dome, neodymium motor, 28 mm voice coil on an aluminium former, Fs 710 Hz.

Both dome drivers share CNC-machined 7000 aluminium and brass bodies, dB Cloth under-dome damping, and vented motors with calibrated-hole filters.

System Application

A build with a six-channel DSP amplifier in a vehicle that offers one good mid-high position per side rather than two. A-pillar and sail panel locations suit the UMA particularly well.

It also suits an installation that should stay reversible, or one where fabricating three separate positions per side is not practical.

The 5.6K3 is the alternative — the same midrange and tweeter as separate drivers, each positioned and aimed independently. More control, more fabrication, and a hard requirement for delay to realize it.

A subwoofer is required. The 5.165 reaches 50 Hz at best.

Installation Considerations

Where the UMA goes is where the entire midrange and treble of the system will appear to come from, because the two drivers move together. Choose the location for that, then aim the unit as a whole — the factory alignment holds the drivers correct relative to each other, not relative to the listener.

Test angles before finishing the pods.

Check the 5.165's 68–76 mm mounting depth against the door, and treat the doors.

Six channels means six filters. Set each against the slope table above before playing the system at volume.

Specifications

• Configuration: 3-way component system with co-located mid-high unit, sold as a pair
• Mid-woofer: 5.165 · 6.5"/165 mm · 3Ω · 160W continuous / 320W peak
• Mid-high: 5.UMA · 2"/50 mm dome midrange + 1.1"/28 mm dome tweeter, both 4Ω
• UMA flange: CNC-machined billet aluminium, both drivers replaceable
• Crossover: not included — 5.6K3 CX sold separately
• Amplifier channels required: 3 per side (6 total)
• Sensitivity: 92 dB (woofer) · 91 dB (midrange and tweeter) @ 1W/1m

HF Audio Perspective

This is the configuration we would point most active three-way builds toward, and the reason is that it removes the failure mode without giving up the gain.

An active three-way's advantage is the 600 Hz midrange crossover. Its difficulty is reconciling three arrival times, and the hardest pair to get right is the midrange and tweeter — close in frequency, overlapping at the crossover, and mounted wherever two different panels allowed. Small errors there are audible.

The UMA makes that pair a solved problem before the vehicle is touched. The processor still handles the woofer-to-mid-high relationship, which is the easier correction, and the crossover point that mattered is still available.

What is given up is independent aiming of the midrange and tweeter. In a car with two genuinely good and well-separated mid-high locations, and an installer who will fabricate and measure properly, the separate 5.6K3 has the higher ceiling. In most vehicles, with most installations, this reaches a better result more reliably.