Component speaker questions

[rock883]

Hey I wanted to ask those of you who have component systems or have heard them before how much better they are compared to the coaxial type. I found a place that had some little adapter plates to put 5.25 inch or 6.5 in speakers in the 5x7 spot so I could put the woofer on there, and I know where I would want to put the tweeters at in the front. And I am pretty sure I could put the crossover somewhere on the door. Also, when they price the compnent systems, is it, say the price is $250, for two woofers, two tweeters, and two crossovers?? If so, I would love to get it if it is also much better than the pioneer 3-ways I have now. Thanks for the help

 

[bstjnky]

Component systems will just about always sound better than coaxials. They handle a lot more power and give you the option of deciding where the tweeter gets mounted. I have a set of Infinity Reference components that I got from crutchfield for $130(2 midwoofers, 2 tweets, 2 crossovers and all mounting hardware.) goto www.crutchfield.com If you decide on a component set, it is wise to drive them with an amp rather than your head unit. Not enough power can blow a speaker just as fast as too much. I have a Pioneer premier on my highs, and they sound great. Hope this helps.

 

[Skippman]

Component vs. Coaxial

Great question. Heres the skinny. Coaxial speakers are oval shaped and as such the cone does not travel evenly. This causes the frequency of the music to be shifted, in addition the woofer cone is not a "compleat" cone as the mid and tweater ususally protroude from the center of the speaker. What does all this mean? It means that a component speaker is ALOT less likely to distort the music than a component. A component speaker is circular, displacing the power evenly across it's surface. This means there are no irregularitys in the "wave-form". In other words, it's TRUE reproduction. Also, component speakers will typically take ALOT more power than you would ever dream of throwing at a composit (read coaxial). In addition, high frequency sound does not travel very far as it does not take a lot of power to produce an audible signal. That means that when you place the composit speakers in the door you are cutting out all the benifit you get by having tweeters. Tweeters should be placed at approx ear level to deliver the best sound.

I had 4 Alpine 6x9's in my Jeep Wrangler and when I replaced them with component speakers, even cheap ones, the diffrence was immesurable. I am currently running Boston Accoustics Pro Series 5 1/4" Components in the front of my Navajo. I put the crossovers in the dash and the tweeters are mounted on the posts (the bar that connects the dash to the roof) facing the windshield. I did this for better imaging (where you hear the sound "Comming From") and to increase audiablity when the windows are down. I chose Bostons for thier sound quality and power. I'm running 4 Boston Components and even with my sub turned off I can get 120dB easy with only a 200x4 Amp.

Hope this answers your questions. Dead Link Removed

Justin "Skipp" Hoyer

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93' Mazda Navajo
BF-Goodrich Trail T/A's

 

[JTang]

Hi Rock,

Yeah, that price would be for the whole deal. Like Skipp, you'll probably have to mount the crossover somewhere else other than the door. This is because there will already be wire coming in to the door jam holes to reach the crossover. Then you'll have to put wire going back the other way (trying to smash more wire in those tiny holes) back out of the door to the pillars. It would be better to mount them in the dash or something so that from the crossover you only have one set of wires going through the door jam holes to the midrange, and the other wires going directly to the tweeters.
You might even be able to just mount them behind the side kick panels, I think.

Good luck and have fun!

Skipp, where exactly did you mount the crossovers, underneath or did you actually open the dash and put them there? Someone else on this board actually opened up the dash and mounted the tweeters there, but they said the job took a lot of time.

 

[Skippman]

JTang,

I actually opened up the dash an placed them inside. I would be cautious when doing this as it's easy to crack the gauge frame (it's one piece). I had a hell of a time getting it over the emegency flasher's switch. In installing my system I have a lot invested in it and wanted to be as stealth as possible. I would advise agains mounting the TWEETERs in the dash as that would require ALOT to do it correct.

My system thus far looks like this
Sony CDX-4240 Head Unit
Rockford Fosgate 200a4 Amp
Crossfire 200x2 Amp
2 Boston Accoustics Pro Series 5 1/4" Components w/ Crossover
2 Boston Accoustics Rally Series 5 1/4"
MTX Blue Thunder Sealed Enclosure made for the Explorer

Sounds like alot but it's not. Future Upgrades planed are:
Alpine CVA-1005 Head Unit
Alpine CDA-5755G CD Slave Unit

I'm going to install the CD Slave Unit in the area where the ashtray. I'm going to remove the ashtray and dremil out the hole to accomidate it. I'm not going to get the DVD player because it will not play burnt CD's.

Justin "Skipp" Hoyer

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93' Mazda Navajo
BF-Goodrich Trail T/A's

 

[rock883]

Hey I was going to go get some, but decided not to. I might later, but I am going to be selling my explorer sometime soon and I didn't want to cut holes to put the tweeters in and all. So I just decided to get a better sub. I got this polk sub:
Dead Link Removed

To demonstrate how well this sub can perofrm and how long it's gonna last, the salesman, punched the thing right in the middle and it wasn't a little sissy tap, he PUNCHED the thing and nothing happened to it at all. I might need to go return it though and get it from crutchfield(they have a 4-ohm version of it), cause it's an 8 ohm speaker and I beleive the amp's sub impedance is 4. Is it ok to run it? Hopefully it will.

[This message has been edited by rock883 (edited 05-29-2000).]