speakers, advise Options

[monky32]

Hi, guys!!!

i am gonna buy and install myself new speakers in my celica 98. well i know you can give me a good advise on what brands to buy or not. i've been researching about and i found couple of brands but i don't know if they are good. for example JBL, JL and others like pioneer(common), sony(heard no good) and alpine(my head unit). so any comment would be very apreciated.


thanks guys and merry christmas and happy new year.


El monky.

[Anub1s]

For speakers my friends have gone Rockford Fosgate all the way, and I will be doing the same here next month. They sound unbelievable and I absolutely love their speakers.

[shid]

Alpines are high quality, JLs make decent quality. JBLs ask coomer for his opinion, I think he just got his up and running.

Whats your price arena?

[mikew04]

I have an MB Quart component set in my car, and they sound amazing (but they are amped.) What price range are you looking at? I got mine on sale as they were last years model for 150.

[Nemises]

are you going for sound quality or something that can just loud.

[DamDirtyApes]

JL audio are awsome quality. i have an alpine head unit with jl audio speakers. it sounds great. very clear crisp sound

[Scarrell]

so you are looking for new speakers? well how much do you want to spend and what kind of quality do you want? personally id prefer Infinity, MB Quart, Focal, Rainbow, or CDT. each brand has speakers that will sound great un-amped. but you are better off running a 4 channel amp to your speakers for better perfonmance and sound. other brands to look at are RF, Kicker, Alpine, JL, Memphis. you wont get too much midbass from speakers even if they are amped. but if you do not want to amp any of these speakers then you will still be fine but you wont get as good as quality from them powered off the HU. you can get the JBL 80.4 for about $130 i think. that amp will power them speakers fine and you will notice a big difference when your speakers are amped. you could also look into component sets. all of the brands mentioned have component sets(i dont think Memphis does though). i have heard component sets from all of these and Focal, Rainbow and MB Quart and CDT are the better of them all, the MB Quart Reference series is awesome for the price, and CDT has some good prices also. Infinity isnt far behind, then the other brands are after in no order. getting component sets will bring your music more life and more mids and highs. but its up to you in the end. my next set up will be with speakers/components in the front and just a couple of midbass drivers in the back.. you could also go that setup, ofcourse the midbass drivers will be amped and the speakers amped also and i might have some more speakers powered from the HU. hmm this is getting long. oh and JBL makes good amps. their speakers and subs arent bad but there is better for the money. LaTeR

EDIT: oh yeah and i Definately cannot forget Adire Audio and Resonant Engineering components, id rather have Adire components than any of the above mentioned.

This post has been edited by Scarrell: Dec 22, 2004 - 10:29 PM

[monky32]

thanks guys for your responses!!!!

i think i forgot to mention my budget is around 200 bucks. maybe i can go up to 240. so any advises?

what should i get for front and rear?

This post has been edited by monky32: Dec 23, 2004 - 2:51 AM

[FreddyTheOthaMea...]

I got to hear some AVI Tristars this morning in my friends ride, prolly the best speakers ive heard... bad part is they run 1500 for a 3 way component system. I spent 150 on my infinity seperates and love em. keep in mind clearances on the back end of your driver so it doesnt funk with the window or anything. Mmmm beer

[Scarrell]

never heard of AVI Tristar. link me to their site or somethin... and as he said "i spent $150".... you dont have to spend a ton to get great results.....you can get some Adire Components and RE Components for your range if im not mistaken.... www.reaudio.com and www.adireaudio.com , also you can get components from most of the brands i mentioned... eh....looking at your post again.... you are probably wanting speakers.....the brands i mentioned have speakers for that price range also....im currently looking at the Infinity 62.5i's... but leaning towards some CDT speakers.... up to you in the end... www.thezeb.com has CDT stuff for cheap. wont be disapointed either way, plus im told CDT has some pretty decent midbass response with their speakers.

[FreddyTheOthaMea...]

avisound.com

[monky32]

ok guys!! here is where we are> best brands so far alpine(shid), Mb quart(mike),Jl(dam), CDT or RE(scarell). give me price ranges so i can start looking for them.

by the way what kind of wires i need to buy to install the speakers or can i use the oem ones.

This post has been edited by monky32: Dec 23, 2004 - 4:44 PM

[exxtractor]

AVI is a speaker co. out of Vancouver, BC. Excellent speakers, but difficult to find a dealer since they don't advertise. They will do a direct mail order to you, which is often cheaper than a dealer.
AVI Sound

[shid]

MB Quarts or Focals are your best bet. But costly

[Scarrell]

personally id go with RE or Adire components over any of them, but Focal and MB Quarts are Excellent choices also. dont forget to look at Rainbow components, either way you wont go wrong.

[exxtractor]

$200 for 1 pair, or $200 for 2 pairs?

If that's your budget and you already have a decent deck... how are you planning to power it, the deck, or an amp? Also as many will suggest, sometimes if you upgrade your speakers you can loose bass that the stock speaker could produce, and then require a sub+amp. Did you damge the stock speakers? I have these currently (170R front 160R rears) and they sound excellent for their price: Pioneer REV TS-D170R, them from sounddomain.com which was way cheaper than any local store. I have them powered off an amp (with a JL 10" sub with its own amp), but many reviewers on sounddomain have them powered from the deck and are pretty happy. If you want to stay within your budget this could be your answer... considering that many of the brands others are talking about you'd be lucky if you could find a single pair for $200.

This post has been edited by exxtractor: Dec 24, 2004 - 3:39 PM

[Scarrell]

ok is this guy wanting speakers or component sets now? for SPEAKERS.... id go with Infinity or as Exxtractor said, the REV series from Pioneer(yellow ones)...i was also looking into them speakers.. pretty cheap over at SoundDomain...

[monky32]

well guys for now i am gonna power the speakers from HU, maybe later i'll get an amp. my budget for 4 speakers is 200 bucks.
i am going to go to circuit city to see what they have there and check prices so i can have an idea and then i will check the internet for prices. by the way i thought pioneer didn't make great speakers but i'll take a look at them.

[Scarrell]

ah ok, Circuit City has Infinity, really the only speakers id get from there, Pioneers speakers from Wal Mart are crap...basically the ones that are blue arent too good, the REV series(yellow ones) are their top of the line speakers. also look at Alpine if they have it at yours.... www.etronics.com > go to car electronics > then speakers. they have Awesome deals there. www.thezeb.com . www.carstereomall.com . www.woofersetc.com , www.partsexpress.com . just to name a few other places, and ofcourse www.soundomain.com, OOH AND..... Crutchfield is having good deals on Infinity i think buy one and half off on the other man definately look there and sign up for their free mag.(usually same stuff, but its car audio ) www.crutchfield.com

This post has been edited by Scarrell: Dec 25, 2004 - 1:19 AM

[monky32]

i found these speakers so far at soundomain:
infinity 7" 3 ways 61.79 2 ways
pioneer 7" rev 79.95-15% discount 2 ways
phonenix gold (good review thru soundomain) 69.95

all of them free shipping.

what do you think? could i get a better deal some place else?

This post has been edited by monky32: Dec 25, 2004 - 3:01 AM

[Scarrell]

well first of all what size speaker holes are in your car? i doubt you have 7" speakers in your car, if you dont, and you buy them Infinity's you will have do some cutting or baffle making.. if i remember right the Infinity 6 1/2"s are the same price as the 7" ones, id go with the Infinity's out of them all, then the Pioneers. but anyway, you can go through Crutchfield and get the size speakers you have, their site will tell you.

[exxtractor]

I've purchased from sounddamin/cardomain and feel they are quite reliable. If you read reviews of etronics from pricegrabber.com that should scare you awayfrom shopping with them. I'd never buy from etronics, always skeptical of electronic places located in Brooklyn, NY. That's my opinion. A note on crutchfiled.com, they would state my vehilce uses a 6.5" speaker size up front, but the grill opening and mounting points are for an 8" mount. That's my vehicle, others on the site will have only room for a 6.5" or 6.75" mount. If you do a search on the website for speaker size, you'll find this variation.

In regards to the speakers, my celica will fit an 8" speaker (if I could easily find one) and 6.5 or 6.75" in the rear. No cutting or fitting is needed for the rear. For my vehicle I needed to use an adapter ring (custom made) to mount the speaker to the 8" opening. You can make the adapter rings from ABS plastic, or plywood, if no skills they can be made or bought for your from a local stereo shop. Just remember the Pioneer 160R are 6.5" and the 170R is supposedly "7"" but as the website states it will fit easily in a 6.5" or 6.75" One guy I think here cut out the old factory speaker from it metal mount and used it as a mounting ring for his new speakers.

Actually owning the pioneer speakers there is a slight size difference, so you may not feel it is worthwhile to pay and extra $10.

This post has been edited by exxtractor: Dec 25, 2004 - 5:29 PM

[monky32]

well the soundomain website shows that i can fit 4", 6.5" and 7" in my celica 98 i don't know if that is right but i guess i have to take my door panels off and check my speakers(shouldn't they be 6 3/4" speakers though).

guys, should i rewire the speakers as well? would this make a difference?

monky

[Scarrell]

yeah, sorry.. its really up to you if you want 7" if it doesnt fit too well, just do some sanding down and make it fit.... or make a baffle. anyway. replacing the factory speaker wire will not make a noticeable difference, but i always do this just to do it... remember to make sure you have them wired up right, an easy way to tell if they arent is if one side is louder than the other (fade left to right with reasonable volume levels.) do this before you install it all. hmm what else... oh and for speaker size. id go with 6 1/2" i wouldnt use 4" speakers, they wouldnt have very good bass response at all. 5 1/2" and 6 1/2" is all i would use for speakers (i go with 6 1/2"). they will have better bass response than 4", never used a 7". probably wont be any difference. anyway im here to help so ask any questions you got, i hope i helped you out. let us know!

[monky32]

hey guys!!! after researching and with your help i decided going with infinity kappa 62.1.5 6 3/4" speakers. so i've been looking for a place to buy them and so far EBay is the best deal i can find but i have to say that most of the warranties offered by those guys at ebay don't give me confidence (15 to 30 days warranty) but the price is really good say 90 dollars for a pair shipping included. in the other hand i have sounddomain 119 dollars a pair but 3 years warranty so what would you do?

[Scarrell]

id go the Sounddomain way, with a 3 year warranty you cant beat that.. i dont Ebay and never will so i cant really say much on that part. since no one seems to trust Etronics(bought from there and so have alot of my friends), i cant really suggest any other places.... try www.thezeb.com , www.carstereomall.com www.ikesounds.com (or ikesound, i dont remember) , www.partsexpress.com www.woofersect.com ..... Best Buy and Circuit City might have some good deals.....

[D4W5]

i love my jbl set up in my other car,recomended,i can get a set of pineer 8" for my doors 3 way coax instead of fittin 8 " subs,should sound groovy