1st Gen speaker recommendations- please

I have replaced the HU (Kenwood double DIN) and have an Alpine amp and need speaker recommendations please. What I have in there now sound terrible (Infinity tweeters, I forget what else)- they are hooty and I can’t EQ them to sound decent.

What about Rockford-Fosgate?

 

Hooty? Any door treatment, mounting brackets or weatherstripping used?

 

Iconfess I’ve been lazy. I’ll have to get in there and check.

I have 2nd Gen Taco and the sound is night and day better. But I had it done in Atlanta and I know it has a lot of dynamat in there.

I know from home audio that poor stereo components set up well generally sound better than a great one set up poorly. So I’ll check and revert back. Thanks.

 

Your factory spots are 5x7 plus a tweeter in the door, so there's that. You might need to make some adapters & use round drivers to widen the pool of what can fit. I wound up going with 6" Seas Prestige in treated doors and Stereo Integrity M25 (gen 1) in the stock tweeter locations, active through a Pioneer 80 PRS, and swap the sub now and again. The whole truck is properly deadened & feels like a luxury vehicle. It was a ton of work, but does not feel like a 20 year old truck.

 

Thx. Maybe a stupid question but if the openings are 5x7 why did you go with 6’s (6.5” or 6”?)?

 

Selection

 

Yeah, there isn't much out there in the 5x7 form factor - especially nicer stuff. You'll find a WAY larger selection with round drivers.

And 6" - not 6.5. Sizes are always nominal anyway - you need to check fit. I don't think I can make most decent 6.5" drivers fit in these doors without cutting stuff, and even though the truck's 20 years old, I still can't bring myself to cut it up. Maybe one of these days

6" is not a 'standard' size, but it fit my application.

Here's what I wound up putting in there. They also use a poly cone - which is better for doors. Phase plug also helps a little with off-axis beaming.

 

have you seen the prices of 80prs' lately?!?
$400-800 now... i'm kicking myself for not getting a few spares when they were 'cheap'!

 

Yeah, they're absolutely nuts. I picked up 2 more once I heard they were being discontinued. I have a brand new one here that could probably buy me a nice vacation, lol. I picked up an almost new P99 with BT for less than a nice 80 PRS is going for - they've actually come down a little.

 

The wave form across an oblong speaker is notably different than from a round speaker. It takes a large air chamber for an oval speaker to sound decent, and it's easier to get the bassier stuff from a sub than getting your lows and mids from a door speaker. You'll notice OEM folks do the oval speakers to cover more audio range, and high end systems use more components to get tunable output for a better total experience.

It's not a stupid question at all.

 

I installed Rockford Fosgate 5.25" and tweeters in the doors and RF 5x7 in the rear (replacing old MB Quarts) and copious amounts of Amazon brand sound deadener. Added to the already installed Pioneer HU, Kicker Hideaway sub and Alpine 4 channel amp, the sound was transformed in just about every possible way. Run flat (no EQ or bass boost) it sounds quite good, if not reference quality. In short, a much needed and worthwhile upgrade.

 

I might mirror your setup, as that sounds like the ideal setup I want for my 04 stereo upgrade. Would you mind sharing the Pioneer HU you're using and what the Kicker hideaway sub looks like in your truck? I wasn't thinking about getting a sub since I need space in the back for the dog.

 

Any suggestions for the rear speakers in the extend cab? There's times I take my sub out for trips and would like a bit of rear fill / bass. I know it's not going to be as good as a sub . I've ee. Looking at component 6x9's but open to any and all suggestions. I have rf 5.25's components in the front. I have a 4 channel amp. will be running the rears off the back channel of the and and a second amp for the sub.
Thanks for sharing!!

 

Newb questions: did you need a specific bracket for the 6” seas prestige woofers? Did you need to buy crossovers?

 

i believe you can use an adapter similar to this

$17 Door Speaker Adapter Spacer 5x7 or 6x8 to 6.5" Fit for Mazda 2 3 6 CX-7 BT-50 Tribute CX-9 W/O CX-50/CX50 Front Rear Door Speaker Spacers Bracket

https://www.amazon.com/Speaker-Adapter-Tribute-Spacers-Bracket/dp/B0CZMF4ZR5

though he specifically made his own adapters. some guy's like to use dollar store cutting boards, i've used MDF for my speaker adapters. it all depends on what you have and the materials you're comfortable working with.

many local car audio stores will also whip up some custom adapters as well if asked.



as far as the crossover-- you do need a crossover in the connections. he and i are both using the pioneer 80-prs head unit, which has crossovers built into it's outputs. but that head unit was discontinued about 15 years ago, so availability and pricing is quite wonky now.

 

Active, so no passive crossovers.

I made brackets from HDPE cutting boards. Can't find the pics from the Seas for some reason, but here's what I did for the SI TM65s.

Started tracing out the pattern of the stock speaker





Then cut out the inner diameter of the TM65



Side view - to give you an idea of baffle thickness.

 

Used a cutting board? Clever!

You did a very smooth clean cut….by using a dremel?

btw, how was the sound of your seas prestige + stereo integrity, generally speaking? I’m guessing it punches a lot of bass? Usually I see a midrange and tweeter combo, not tweeter/woofer that you had installed.

 

I’ve read your other posts about being open to buying sounds from parts express, Ali express, and other inexpensive products from Chinese sites. Assuming you’ve had good experience with them, which component or set do you currently recommend for front driver/passenger speakers? I really don’t care about brand, it’s the experience for me that matters more, and I’d like to experiment with them since they’re inexpensive.

 

Used a jigsaw for the cuts - then sanded. That stuff is really easy to work with. Works best with a fine pitch blade and going slow. Get the blade moving fast and it will melt the plastic.

Actually never installed the SIs. Made the adapters and threw them in the closet once I realized I had to cut my door card. Been using the Seas for 6 years or so and love them. I have them crossed pretty high, so not a ton of bass from them - playing my sub a little high to compensate. I was getting some coloration in the midrange with them crossed lower.

 

a lot of it comes down to defining the tone desired from any speakers, and attempting to select speakers that cater to those qualities.

i don't personally believe that anything from any specific brand or location is any better/worse quality than anywhere else, but each part that's built into any given brand/speaker does effect it's tone, which effects what i want out of it.

generally stuff from places like parts express, madisound, misco, q components, solen electronique, or css are all designed to a high enough standard that you're going to get something decent, with the differences being how each specific variation shapes the tone of the output.

aliexpress is a much more mixed bag, as the chinese manufactuerers are amazing at getting the physical appearance of products correct, while cutting major costs on the hidden parts behind the appearance. there's really no great way to know what works until it shows up on the doorstep. some stuff works good/great, other stuff just looks good.

i've haven't ran full component sets in a very long time, so can't really recommend any with any confidence