In car speakers: what's good?

Zapho

I'm a car audio newbie to say the least. The speaker on my driver door stopped
working the other day so I took it off to find the the cone is bent, so I'll need
a new one. I have no idea what to buy!

I've been looking around and I've found speakers on the likes of ebay or
maplin that boast 250-400w yet only cost like €30. How do I know that these
are any good? I don't have a lot of money to spend but I would like to get
decent sound for my money.

5500

There not good,maplin sell woefull car speakers.

Without getting complicated all that matters are the RMS values of the speakers,they may say 300w but there the max figures that the speaker may only hit for a second if even that,there rms is probably about 30W.

Whats your budget like?Are you running off a stock Headunit or amplifier?

drdre

I bought Vibe speakers from ebay with around 45o Rms for less than 90 euro and the sound was amazing.Great sound and i was happy with it

byte

You might also need to consider the depth of the new speakers. If the new speakers are deeper than the originals, they may not fit into the door recess again properly.

kinkstr

www.incarexpress.co.uk are pretty good, got my headunit off them.

projectgtr

like the guys said check your size in your manual or online,

my personal perfrence would be a set of JBL speakers, they give a crisp sound with great bass (brand used in allot of cinema)pretty much any speaker i buy (home cinema etc) for the money i dont see any better speaker

but id also give the thumbs up to a good set of vibe as drdre said, i have one of there subs and its great quality for the price.


just my 2cents

(motors flame suit on);)

Zapho

Thanks for the replies.
And yes I'll be running them off a headunit not an amplifier.
I know what you mean about the RMS values. Snag is, the don't tend
to say if it is RMS or PMPO, which is very annoying!

I'll check out those vibe speakers, they sound like a good deal.
Are theseany good?

OKenora

In my opinion there are 2 types of car speakers, those that sound good for the money and those that simply sound good.

When buying a speaker you need to decide which is most important, volume, clarity or both. Volume can easily be achieved from a cheap set of speakers but usually will be a pretty nasty siound. Most cheap speakers sacrifice bass end response. Clarity is also possible from a cheap set of speakers, but usually only at lower volumes, Again due to the naff bass response and the bad power handling of the speaker. A speaker I have had in this bracket was a set of 6x9 tri-axial Pioneers, cost about €50, which sound amazing at low volumes but do not like being pushed much louder than granny would have the radio, can't remember the model number.

Finally the volume and clarity speaker. I find it's really only possible to achieve this well with a decent branded (read more expensive) set of speakers. The cheaper speakers simply do not have the large magnets, large voice coils and proper cones and cone suspension materials that the dearer ones have.

Speakers I have had and can 100% recommend are JBL, Infinitys and Focals. None really cheap (but not quite mortgage territory) but both sound excellent at all volumes within their rating.

Bottom line, you pays your money and makes your choice. It's not often something follows this rule 100% but for speakers it is pretty close. If you can, budget for a powered sub, no door or shelf speaker will complain about some extra help at the bottom end from a sub.

3ps

Pioneer Accelerate range. Buy them online.

Caliden

Sorry to hijack this thread but I'm sort of in a similar situation but I'm wondering how I would go about removing my door panel to get at the speakers.
I've a 99 mitsubishi colt and as far as I can tell I have to pull out the compartment part near the base of the door but I 've given that a go and so far it looks like once I get it off it wont be able go back on (the 'plugs' connecting the compartment to the rest of the door don't come out easily and break when they do come out).

Is there any easier way of getting to the speakers?