seeking your 6x8 speaker recommendations

jvc have gone down in quality. their becoming the same old made in china cheaply and sold at walmart speakers like most in that price range. The brands im using now include mmats,jbl,infinity,and those rockvilles. Just ordered a little something from american bass too!

 

well X-way really means how many "speakers" your speaker has. some speakers come with smaller speakers somewhere separate form the largest speaker to add mid or higher ranges of sound to be played form it. you already have tweeters, so you don't really need any of them. unless you go with 3 or 4 way for more mids. but a 6x8 in itself is already a mid range option. low ranges are actual 8"+ subs with amps.

 

also, do research on crutchfield for quality differences and referencing. it's probably the best place to do research on car audio save for audiophile forums

 

thanks guys

thanks, I was looking at their prices and thinking they looked a little too low across the board to be high quality audio in my mind, I will avoid the brand then. I noticed you made no mention of pioneer or kicker so do you think those are lower on the list when looking for "quality" speakers?

yes I understood what it meant, i was asking at what point are you getting a benefit? in other words a 2-way you get more sound and you can tell the difference, but a 3-way you get like an extra 1/2" round tweeter??? wtf does that do for you to make it sound any better then the 2-way did? then the 4-way is just a bunch of tiny little things that I cant see how they are big enough to put out any noise either so again im wondering if 3-way and 4-qway speakers are only a benefit with as big amp that can make those tiny speakers talk.

and even though I do have a door tweeter im not counting on it and may just leave it unplugged since I cant tell if it even puts out anything so im going to at least get 2-way speakers so I have better tweeters then the oem ones

 

It's been my experience that you get what you pay for. Shortly after I bought my truck I ripped out the audio system and replaced it with a "budget friendly" system. Two years later I absolutely hated it. So I went back and put a little more money into it and have a much better result. I also did simple things like I put sound deadener on the frame of the doors. I also took the door panels off and put foam around the speakers inside the door panels. Bought a roll of it from Walmart and cut it and placed it in there. What it did was bring the sound that was escaping inside of the door panel into the cab. So it was louder and seemed to have better bass response as well.

 

As far as 2 way or 3 way speakers. I bought 3 way in the past thinking it would seperate the sound and give me a better quality but it didn't. Get a good quality 2 way and you will be fine.

 

this is the kind of input I was hoping for, its hard to know when your paying for "flash" and when your paying for the sound it puts out.

I am very frugal in spending money but when it matters I pay up if I need to because as you said, you don't have to buy top of the line equipt but at the same time, it cost more to go cheaper then have to redo it all over again when you should just do it right the first time.

 

What you need to remember is that you are not going to get the best output out of any headunit, it just will not put out the amperage to drive a high quality set of aftermarket speakers. The 50x4 or 60x4 rating on your headunit is going to be a max output rating, not RMS, which will be around 15 to 20 watts a channel.

 

Absolutely. Manufacturers inflate those numbers to make the product look good. I have a kenwood head unit that is nothing fancy but it puts out good sound. I think it was rated at 22 watts rms. plenty loud enough. That puts out sound to a set of infinity seperate up front and the kicker 6 inch in the back doors. I put the kicker hide away sub in the back behind the back seat. That is plenty of bass. Altogether I spent about $500 and have a great sound system.

 

yep, im getting that part and that's why im trying to split the difference and get a top quality "brand" of speaker, and buy that brands "mid-range" quality speaker expecting it to have lower wattage needs. this way, later on, when I upgrade the stereo, I can be "in the ball park" of being able to power them adequately.

maybe I have been sounding all over the place with my questions, but that is why, because I was getting info and forming a game plan based on what I was learning from the answers I was getting. this shit used to be easy before everything needed to run off amps. 30 years ago you bought speakers and a stereo and they were always matched closely in wattages without having to think about it

 

If you plan on changing out the speakers before the head unit just keep in mind they won't sound the same as the stock speakers do.

 

I have my stock speakers here, the domes are made of cardboard. Whatever he buys, i cant imagine it being worse.

 

Unless your speakers are blown I would start with the head unit. Find you one that gives you control over the sound so you can customize it how you want it to sound. Kenwoods and Pioneers are decent units that give you good options for sound control. If you want to step up from that then you could look at something like an Alpine. Look for deals on Amazon or Sonicelectronix.com. I found my unit at a markdown price because the New Years model had just come out.

 

Yeah but sometimes you lose the bass when keeping the stock head unit and putting aftermarket speakers in. I've seen people get angry over that

 

Yep, result of not enough wattage.

To keaker, Ill get a pic of what im doing with my amp. If your concern is keeping the cabin clean, im working on a more elegant installation. I have a little Alpine amp, only 300 watts. Im using nutserts riveted into the floor under the seat to mount it.

 

I think you're putting way too much thought into your speakers if you are just an FM guy. Unless you're talking about XM or Sirius?

Between the sound deadening, the upgraded HU... if you just go research on Crutchfield.com for the cheapest 6x8 two-way speakers that fit your Tacoma, you are going to be more than satisfied.

 

well having rechecked the stereo I bought it shows these specs

• Power Output:

• Peak: 15 watts x 4 channels
• RMS: 5 watts x 4 channels

• 
  so im thinking I bought a weak ass stereo which is likely the biggest part of my problem

• 
  when I saw 60 watts 4x15 I thought that was the power output and didn't realize that's just the peak "max" power on full volume.

• 
  if I got a better stereo putting out say 200 watts 4x50 it would be more in line with any speakers I put in there

• 
  like I said, the last time I bought audio equipt was back in the 80's and you just bought a radio and speakers and nobody ever heard of watts lol

yes I would normally agree, but I just did that with the stereo I bought and now I have something that im not happy with, plus im finding such little difference in good vs no-name speakers I want to get something of quality brand if there is not much price difference.

 

ok guys, I would like to ask you again to please list "your" opinion of the top quality brands what would they be and in what order? so I can better determine if its worth paying a little more for one brand over the next.

so far only devinzz1 has answered this question

 

Edited...
$$$: Focal, DLS, Hertz, Memphis, MB Quart, PPI
$$: Alpine, JL, Kicker, Pioneer, Polk
$: Kenwood, Rockford, Pioneer

 

I'd also throw in Polk Audio for a good cheaper set of speakers.

That's what I am running in my front and rears (db651s two-way 6.5") and they sound fine. My fronts sound MUCH better than the rears because I have a small amp pushing them.

What you'll find with most speakers, especially those in the $50-100 range, is that they sound muddy and/or distorted if you don't have an amp pushing them.