Choosing speakers

I have searched and read some threads but am still having trouble. I have a DDX-516 that I'm going to install in my 2nd gen double cab this weekend if I have time. I would like to also upgrade my speakers soon. I want to spend about $300-$400 on some quality speakers that I can power off the headunit for now, and maybe upgrade to an amplifier in the future. I'm looking at 6.5 components for the front and 6.5 2-ways for the rear.

I don't have much knowledge about car audio but I'm sick of my distorted paper cones, so let me know what you have and what is good.

I'm looking at these right now
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500SPS600C/Alpine-SPS-600C.html?tp=105

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500SPS600/Alpine-SPS-600.html?tp=94

 

I bought Boston Acoustic SR95 6x9's for the front. And Boston Acoustic SR65 6.5's for the back

 

Check out MB Quart had them in my F150 and they were amazing

 

i personally like Polk audio. they make good stuff n its durable cuz they have "all-weather" marine use -type speakers

 

I have a 1st gen, but speaker setup is somewhat similar. Went with Kicker 6x8 components up front (

Kicker 07DS6802 6" X 8" Component System with 20mm Tweeter (Pair)

http://www.amazon.com/Kicker-07DS68...5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1288921055&sr=8-5) and 6.5 kicker subwoofers in the rear doors (http://www.amazon.com/Kicker-CompVT...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1288921815&sr=1-1). I have a JVC 810 XR810 head unit and with proper "tuning", it sounds pretty darn good with power coming only from the HU. And I do plan to power all speakers via amplifier in the near future. Just need for my money tree to take root.

 

if i was buying speakers right now i would go with the alpine type R they are the shit!

 

Thanks for the replies. I can't afford an audiophile system, I'm just looking for a cleaner sound that is easy to install and budget friendly.

I've heard Boston Acoustic is good. Does anyone know if the S60 component set fits well in the front doors? I'm thinking SC65 2 ways for the rear doors.

 

I had infinity speakers and wow! Super quality, super clean sound. Im not sure on there prices but its worth every penny.

 

Yes they will fit. You will need a speaker adapter. I honestly have always gotten all my audio off e bay. And never had any problems. I paid 160.00 for the SR95's which in the stores are 299.00 and I paid 141.00 for the SR65's which in the stores are 275.00. Go with the Boston's you will love them.

 

JL Audio C2's

 

I'll say it again, use a thread like this to get ideas of what to look at but don't make a decision on it using the opinions of others alone.

Go to a shop and listen to a bunch of stuff. LEAVE the first time and don't buy anything. Think it over.

Case in point, I went to a Car Toys to listen one day about 4 years ago. I heard a wide range of stuff. Two I heard in particular were the Focal 165K2P and the Focal 165V1 sets. The K2P's were way more expensive and although they sounded a little more detailed I couldn't even consider buying them. There was a certain warmness about the V1 set that was ultimately pleasing to me. Even if they had been the same price I still wanted the V1 set.

I went home, found them online for $188, lived happily ever after.

THE END

 

BA's are nice

Nice choice

Very good and sound, no pun intended, advise.

I installed a set of BA Pro 60's in my AC cab and do not need speakers in the back. Shop on line for decent prices.

 

i agree with going to hear them.

i didn't, but i'm still happy with my polk db6501 now that i have added the sub. they don't do a good job on the lower sounds.

 

I like how everyone tosses out speaker model suggestions and says deez rawk, but nobody gives specifics on why. I'm not saying don't buy any of these, I'm just saying you should know why you are buying what you decide on. Choosing audio gear shouldn't be akin to throwing a dart at pictures of products and going with what you hit.

If you have not heard the speakers you are considering, you are purchasing them on faith. Faith in the brand, faith in the numbers they present in the specifications, faith on the recommendations of others. You also have to consider your application and listening habits. Often what you want to go with doesn't reconcile with the demands of the system you have or plan to have eventually. Too often people choose audio equipment with cost as their primary consideration, resulting in mediocre satisfaction in the end result and possibly costing more in the long term due to re-replacement in an effort to more closely meet original expectations.

You are better off slowly building your sound system than running out and buying what you can afford right now. The only exception would be if you are an experienced builder and can rely on your familiarity of components and installation criteria. Basically, don't go full retard unless you know what you are getting into.

Okay, that said, I can tell you about things I consider and look for when deciding on replacement sound system equipment.

First I decide on how full retard I want to get with the system I am building. Am I eventually going to replace everything? If so, you should decide how loud you will want your sound system to be. This will determine how much power you will need and how much power handling you will require in your speakers. What kind of sound quality am I looking for? Generally the more sick nasty you want to go, the more separate components you will need (2 way? 3 way? 1 sub? 2 subs? spaztastic 4 subs?). Then you have to reconcile this with your budget and start compromising. If you refuse to compromise and are on a limited budget then it will just take you longer to finish the sound system.

Good, Fast, Cheap - Pick two. This is generally true.

Head Units - Mostly what I look for here is features. If you plan to amplify your system the power output on your head unit is irrelevant. What you are looking for here is signal to noise on your inputs. CD signal to noise under 100dB sucks in my opinion. All things being equal you should pick the 100dB+ s/n head unit over one that has 90dB s/n. Line out voltage is important to some people, I say it's a factor but it really depends on the amplifier you choose. My HU puts out 2V on the line outs, which is fine with me because I bought a super quiet and very powerful amplifier. So I made a compromise on this one stat in the head unit, but made it up in the amp. Something else I consider heavily is THD%. The lower this number is the better. I like to see this number under .1% and I prefer that it be under .05%.

Amps - A lot of the same numbers apply here. You want a high signal to noise and a low THD%. This is where you decide how loud your system will be kind of. Good clean 50W per channel is adequate for a lot of car systems but that doesn't leave a lot of head room either. If you listen to music that is very dynamic you will want a lot of head room.

Let's say you want to be able to hit 100dB spl, which is a pretty reasonable number and you buy an amp that gets you there somewhat comfortably, but you listen to this really obscure ambient tribal shit that has wispy crap in the background and fairy footsteps in the leaves, then pounds out some kind of ritual drum beat dance climactic thing, you'll want to hear the full range of that quiet to loud which spans let's say 40dB to 100dB at your capable volume level. Well, a car is a loud ass piece of equipment when you are driving it. I bet at highway speed you're hitting at least 70dB worth of road noise. What's that mean? It means all that quiet fairy footstep shit is getting drowned out by your vehicle. So you turn it up to hear that stuff and it gets loud when the dynamic stuff picks up and then you have a distorted fart because you've reached the limits of your amp and your speakers are flopping around like an NHL goalie that doesn't know where the puck is.

This is why I like good solid power in an amp and not just enough to get the job done. Currently my system is running a solid 100W of amplification for the door speakers.

Speakers - Okay this is where a lot of people put the cart before the horse. You run out and buy speakers and they are rated for 2-60W (like the Alpines you linked to), then you get an amp because you want it loud as shit, that will do 100W+ per channel. Suddenly you don't have enough speaker for the amp you have, and you've wasted money on power you can't use.

Now this isn't necessarily a huge mistake as long as a few things are understood. One is that speakers can typically handle peaks of power greater than their rated handling, and you will be more likely to blow a speaker by driving an amp too hard if it is underpowered because amps can typically produce more than their rated power (up to double) if you run them into clipping for more than a very short time.

Just like amps however, if you can, you'll want to build a little head room into the system. If you never clip your amp and you are running 50W and you buy a 60W speaker then you will be perfectly fine. You will want to get the most out of those watts however so generally you want to buy a more efficient speaker. Anything 90dB+ SPL is pretty good. The higher this number, the more SPL you can get out of your speakers at lower power.

Frequency response is another consideration. The human ear is capable of hearing tones from 20Hz to 20kHz. Your door speakers won't be able to do this, which is why people add subwoofers. You want to plan an efficient transition between these frequencies though, and keep in mind that when a manufacturer says a speaker does 50Hz to 22kHz, that's usually not a flat response, meaning there is a point at which certain frequency ranges become diminished. I like to think that speaker is probably fairly flat between 80Hz and 20kHz and the low frequency rolls off somewhat down to 50Hz and then it takes a nose dive. Plan to add a subwoofer that will cover the roll off if you want to have low bass, and try to relieve the burden of reproducing those lower frequencies in the door speaker so it can concentrate on what it's good at by using the appropriate crossover settings (something you will need to look for in either your head unit or amplifier settings).

Okay I know this was a bit long but it should give you a decent idea of what shopping for a sound system for your car entails. Try to look at the larger scope and how the pieces will fit together as you make your selections, and the end result will surely not be disappointing.

Good luck!

 

All of the above post was good advice. But the below excerpt is by far the best bit...

 

Damn dolbytone, I read every bit of that and really appreciate the advice. Now I understand what I am looking at. Thanks!

Right now I'm checking out specs on a bunch of speakers and will go listen to them in a store before I buy like somebody said.

 

I haven't upgraded the speakers on my Tacoma yet (can't justify the money for car speakers when I just bought Sennheiser HD-650's and a wonderful tube amp and DAC - talk about unbelievable sound!), but when I upgraded the speakers in my old Accord a couple years back, I chose Infinity Reference 6x9" 3-way speakers for the back and 5.25" shallow 2-way for the front...and man were they good. Very very clean sound powered from nothing but a Pioneer head unit. Great and clean bass extension with gorgeous midtones and crisp, clean highs. VERY balanced sound. And those were just the Reference series...I bet the Kappa is even more impressive. I wish I could have used them with a proper separate amplifier, but they sounded great even just powered from the Pioneer. When I get new speakers for my Tacoma, I'm getting Infinity.

Another thing to keep in mind is getting a subwoofer. Even if it's a small, powered 6" sub it will really relieve the main drivers so they can produce exceptionally clean mid tones without having to put forth so much effort and electrical energy in bass reproduction.