SPEAKERS! need suggestions

SPEAKERS! need suggestions

hey guys...i sortof need your help. my stock speakers are finally getting fuzzy after nearly 4 years of use(2 in my possession, so i KNOW they were abused). i'm looking to replace all 4 with either a component system or a basic set of 4 speakers.

i know nothing about speakers, and i have a limited budget...if it helps, i've got an Alpine head unit and a sub/dedicated amp.


so, sound gurus, fire away.

Do you have an amp to power your interior speakers? What's your budget like?

Depends on your budget, relatively cheap are the Rockford Fosgate Components for the doors (can't think of size off hand) but they do sound quite good, I'll be picking a set up once I fix my corolla.

Oh, and for the rears (6 1/2 I think it was) the Alpines sound f'n great.

just run a front amped component setup with no backfill to save money and get the best sound.
I'd recommend: Boston Acoustics, JL Audio XR Series, MB Quarts, Dyna Audio, Diamond, Alpine

Then get a single sub for lows

JaJae - my head unit has an internal amp. i can't afford a secondary amp(would i need it? lol...NO clue).

Starion - RF speakers are poopy now i did have alpines in my old corolla(they were in the front, with i THINK Bazookas in the rear) so i know those are decent...i'm looking more for specific model numbers of what people have and like, rather than just the brand.

jspex - i might just replace my front speakers for now. i HAVE a sub, like i said, so that's unnecessary...it's just that my fronts are starting to fuzz on me.


SO i went shopping on Crutchfield.com's site, and found some component sets for fairly cheap...then again, i was looking in the 0-$170 range.

i found these sets:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-FDm5Z7...fo&i=500SPR136A

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-FDm5Z7...10&I=113KFCP605

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-FDm5Z7...10&I=113KFCP505

any opinions on those? i'm also looking elsewhere, but i'm just trying to get an idea of what's good and what's not, anymore..

laura what size speakers do you have?

Stock is 4" front and 5.25 / 6.5 rear right? I had Alpine SPS-1029S front and some kind of pioneers in the rear. Replacing the fronts really didnt seem to make a big difference, probably because they're so small and the location is horrible.

As far as speakers, Alpines are better than Kenwood IMO. Infinity also makes great stuff.

well...while i like alpine speakers a LOT, they didn't have alpines in my price range

Infinity Kappa 5.25" Components for the front (5.25" should fit fine), they sound great... and if you have a sub hooked up, no real need for rear speakers

stock.

Don't run components off your deck.. not enough power. Get a good two-way speaker instead.

^^ is correct, most hu only put out 25-50Watts peak, not RMS. Get a JBL 180.2 (or a 4way) amp for about 100 off ebay and you'll be able to run around 90W RMS each channel. Most component sets could handle 60W+ RMS.

My own JL XR setup handles about 80W RMS, I'm powering it with a JBL 150X2 amp, entire setup with wiring costed me less than 3bills.

ermm...

jspex - you got WAY too technical there. i don't understand about 90% of what you said. i'm not a speaker person...all i know is i have an amp that i got cheap(1000W Kenwood) and a sub(12" audiobahn) that i got for a decent price.

Well falnfenix...

RMS stands for Root Means Square, and all it really means is that it is the power output that an amp can continually provide, the peak rating is what the amp can push at its peak power (but it cannot do that for long period, hence why it is the peak power). When buying an amp, you should always go by the RMS rating, and not the peak, since the RMS is what it will be pushing out 90% + of the time.

Now, for impedance (or ohms), that is the resistance that the speakers have. Think of it as the different between walking on land, and trying to walk under water (it is alot harder to walk under water than on land, which means that there is more resistance, and less power is going towards forward movement, because you are wasting alot of power just trying to move before you actually move)... its the same thing with speakers... subs... etc. The higher the ohms rating, the more resistance it has, hence the less power will actually get to the speaker to power it. Most speakers are 4 ohms. Ideally you would want a 4 channel amp (1 channel for each speaker) that can push the RMS rating of the speakers (every speaker has an RMS and a peak rating) at the appropriate ohms (4 ohms in most cases).

So, say you have 4 speakers, and all of of them are 4 ohms of resistance, and they are all rated at 100 watts RMS and say 250 watts peak... you will want to find an amp that pushes 100 watts (or near that, even slightly above is fine) x 4 (4 speakers, so 4 channels) and that pushes 100 watts RMS per channel...

Maybe this is more confusing than anything else, if you want some clarification on anything, let me know...

Your amp is dedicated to your sub. You'd need another amp if you wanted to send more than head unit power to your interior speakers. Unfortunately your head unit power isn't enough to properly power component speakers and you're better off going with some nice 2-way speakers.

all i was saying is the amp in your HU would only utilize about 25% of the maximum capabilities of you new component set.

Say you own a normal HU with a internal amp rated at 50WX4 (this means the internal amp puts out 50W peak power into 4 channels (ie speakers)).
In reality the internal amp would only put out 22WX4 RMS (22W of Continuous Power Output per channel)

Now thats all in good for stock speakers because they were built to handle around 15W. But with aftermarket component sets, they could handle 60W+RMS (per channel), (my own handles 80W RMS).

To sum up, you would have a head unit that puts out 22W RMS power and your componet speakers can handle about 80W RMS power.. and thats why you should get a amp.