I had the first generation Evo 40's, not the Evo 2 40's. The drivers had stamped baskets, not that impressive to look at from the back but they sounded fantastic and I should have kept them. The drivers in the 9.6 are cast framed instead of stamped as the original Evo's were ,but don't let this stop you. I think the 40's sounded better but not having them side by side makes it harder to state this as fact.