Boston Acoustics S85 5"x7" 2-way car speakers

[roverz]

Has anybody put in the BA x85 to replace the factory door speakers in the explorer?

Any opinion or reviews I am thinking about these or the Kicker K series?

 

[Mumbles]

Hi
I have just recently installed four of the SC85 5x7 speakers in my 2000 Explorer love the sound of them
I am just running them of a Alpine CDE 103bt Head Unit i personally think they need a bit more power than that so i'm going to put in a Rockford Fosgate 4 channel amp pretty soon it should drive the bottom end a lot better
Highs and Mids are perfect

Cheers Steve

 

[roverz]

Thanks Mumbles, I have the low end covered under 100Hz with a bridged fosgate and some subwoofers but the mid and high's for me are lack luster with the 10 year old Boss system so i replaced the head unit with a Sony but now one of the door speakers is getting a little distorted on the low end mid range so i want to replace at least the front speakers for now.

 

[PandorasCustoms]

Are you going to be running them off the head unit?
If so, I would recommend these then. Most Sony HU only have an RMS power rating at about 15watts per channel. This is not ideal for any form of component set. If you were going to be running a small stereo or four channel amp, I would have recommended something along the lines of...
Rockford Fosgate Punch P1682S

They are not much more expensive, and have great reviews due to the dual tweeter makeup. They give you a lot of chance to really fill in the sound throughout the car.

But, staying on subject, I doubt you will have any complaints from anything that Boston Acoustics provides. They are an excellent High-End product manufacturer, and try to carry that down to their low-end proucts. Yes, the quality is less, but you have to expect that when they have to cut costs to design the cheaper product.

 

[celly]

I have the BA SX85 (rears) and SL80 (fronts). I love them both. I wanted simple 5X7/6X8 replacements without having to resort to separates and I feel these are the best option out there. Not sure how the S85 varies from the SX85, but BA makes good stuff. Always have.

Click the links above for my impressions of both speakers.

 

[PandorasCustoms]

It looks like Boston no longer makes the SX85.
I think they replaced the line with the SC models.
The SC85 can be found here

Same thing goes for the SL80.
The SR80 can be found here)

But, yeah, they look pretty slick. Good reviews from what I can read. As I said above, I have yet to install a set of BA speakers that I have been unhappy with.

 

[roverz]

Ok I bought the S85 for the front door off of amazon for $64.00 for a pair and installed them this last weekend and they sound great Good front spacial fill for mid range and highs and now they balance out my 2x12 Fosgates in the rear.

Next up thou i am going to cut my box in the back in half and just go with 1x12 Fosgate and sell the otherone just too much low end for the music i listen to.

 

[PandorasCustoms]

Glad to hear you enjoy the S85, I think I am actually going to run with those for my fronts. Mine was are just a little bland from getting beat up and I don't feel like investing in another set of components.

Either doing that, or I will get something new for my rears and moving the 07DS680.2 up front.

What kind of Rockford?

 

[roverz]

Actually not sure I think they are fosgate punch 12" or such. They sound great but 2 of htem is a little too much bass i have my head unit turned down to -9 on the sub out for most of my music. Also now that i have added the S85's up front i have had to turn the highs down to like -6 because they carry so much louder then the stock speakers did.

 

[PandorasCustoms]

Unless you really want to conserve the space, I would say just turn the gain down on the amplifier. It will help reduce the Bump, and then you can always turn it up on the head unit when you want to.

What I try to do when I tune the subwoofer..

• Set the volume of the head unit to your normal listening volume
• Turn the subwoofer control for the head unit all the way down
• Continue to turn the gain down on the amplifier until it is the quietest you would want to have it while listening to music at normal volume.
• Once you find a setting you like, begin to turn the subwoofer control up until you reach the "0" setting.
  • This should be your average listening volume for your subwoofer

Basically, this method will allow you to have more control over the speakers at higher volume, and still give you the option really crank it to +6 and BUMP when you are just in that king of mood.

Another thing, you want to try is avoid the "Bass Boost" option on an amplifier, unless you are incredibly lacking in the 38-42 hz area. These really only increase the bass frequency at 40 hz and is generally done on a +/- 24db slope. So, by the time you get to 35 or 45hz your boost is already almost gone. It really isn't worth it, as it takes a lot of your flat response out and makes the wubwoofer seem incredible peaky in that range. I have found that this is really only versatile when using ported style enclosures, as they will drop pretty steep in that range if tuned too high. For a sealed enclosure, this makes it just a little less controlable for normal listening.

 

[gmanpaint]

Any problems with the depth (2 3/8") on the SR80?