I Need Advice on Speakers

I figured I would get more responses if I posted in here. I'm making out my Christmas list and am putting down some new speakers for the Jeep. I have a vast music collection and alot of it is listened to in the XJ, since I spend most of my time in it. Unfortunately, my knowledge of audio is almost non-existent. I want the music to sound the best it possibly can... I want to hear everything. I listen to alot of genres, but rock and metal most of the time. I need to be able to hear those high high's and low low's if that makes any sense. I'll add a sub on down the road, but I would like the speakers to have a decent amount of bass.

I love my Infinity Kappa Perfects in my truck (took the stereo out of the jeep). They sound great, but I do not think you will be satisfied with the bass from any 6.5" or smaller speaker. I also have a single kappa perfect 10, and it sounds great with any type of music, not too loud, but you know its there.

I have a AudioBahn component syspem, nice speakers not to expensive and My red jeep runs Polks all around, great sound

I went with Infinity all the way around too. Also a Infinity 10" sub with a JBL amp. I have had my system a few years now and it sounds awesome with do distortion unless you crank past where it hurts to listen to. It has never gave me a problem either.
I got all my equipment from E-bay , except the amp(pawn shop). I have less then $400 into it. Brand new JVC 180 watt MP3/Wav head unit too.

A good sounding stereo system is a matter of opinion. The quality starts with the head unit. look for a head unit that has built in crossovers, high sound to noise ratio and a high RMS watt rating. For speakers you cant go wrong with most any big brand Coaxial or separates. MB Quart, Diamond Audio and Boston Acoustics are what I run and have been very pleased with them, even the low end from these companies is very good from my experiance.

my system consists of a alpine headunit with tweeters. 41/2 and 6x9 speakers then pioneer p2 subs.. its all about gettin seperate sound waves to the size speakers.. you want all you highs goin to bigger speakers while your lows go to the bigger ones etc.. 6x9's or subs.. to do this you need crossovers for your speakers.. you can get speakers with them pre installed which are enpensive or you can buy them for relativly cheep.. or if you have electronics knowledge build them.. like i did.. but i agree with all the guys that already posted.. infinity is a good all around brand but its also preference... i knwo i have about $800 in my system and it pumps about 2000 watts... when i ran it at a car show it pumped about 132 decibles which is good consisder around 180 can break you ear drum:gee:

infinitys are great

i have used many differnt brands over the years, but my favorite two by far have been cdt and focal. im currently runnig 6.5 focal vII comps up front and the cv 5.25's in the rear.

i have Kickers all around and ill never buy anyother brand. ive had many other brands in previous vehicles and the Kickers are the only ones that have held up to my abuse. i run them at full blast everywhere i go.

arsonlvr said:

i have used many differnt brands over the years, but my favorite two by far have been cdt and focal. im currently runnig 6.5 focal vII comps up front and the cv 5.25's in the rear.

Click to expand...

Focal is the best that I've ever had...

I've got the 6.5 Kevlar components in the front, the poly 6X9s in the rear, alpine deck, alpine 4channel amp, and a 10 inch infinity Kappa woofer. It sounds amazing. really amazing.

IMO if you want to invest any money in a system and expect bass, get a good set of speakers, an amp, and a sub. Filter the bass out of the small speakers and send it all to the sub. THat's what it's for.

dont listen to anybody. you need to get a 4 channel amp from JL audio and get some rockford 6x9 all the way around. you will have to cut to make them fit because we have 5.25s in the jeep but you will be hapy whe you get them in and tuned. ohh and for the subs get a fosgate 12 with a jl or fosgate amp. listen to me and you will be happy

The bigger the speaker the better. That way if you get it "bumpin" just right you won't even feel the speed bumps at the mall.

I worked in Car Audio for a little over 12 years

If you want the best sounding system in your jeep go ahead and buy the McIntosh deck, McIntosh amps, an Audio control line driver, an Audio control DQXS, B & W or Focal mids and highs and JL or Rockford subs. Also plan on shelling out about $10,000 retail or if your lucky you can pick them up on the e-bay for around $5,000 and install them yourself

Or take a step down from that for about $3,000 with good deals
Deck
Eclipse top end lines
Alpine top end lines
Sony ES
Clarion

Amp
JL
DEI
Rockford
Hifonics
Orion
PPI (maybe quality has taken a hit in the last 5 years)

Speakers still running separates front and coaxial rear
JL
Diamond Audio
Eclipse
Boston Acoustics
MB Quart
RF
Infinity
most if not all of the speakers above will need to be ran of an amp to be powered correctly

but is you want to stay reasonable just pick a good quality name brand Deck (stay away from all entry level decks from any brand), and set of good Coaxial speakers and start your sytem from that. Then build as you can afford, add an Amp and subs, then another amp and better front speakers

Under 500.00 and self install

I suggest for a deck
Mid level
Eclipse
Alpine
Sony
kenwood
even some JVC and Poineer decks are pretty good.

For speakers if you are going to run off deck power you will need a more effcient speaker, which normally means a lower power handling speaker,
Alpine
Sony
Kenwood
infinity
Pioneer
all make good speakers for this choice.

One thing that I didn't see touched upon is since you have a variety of taste (I do too, listen to house music, rap, metal classic rock) then you will not want to go with anything bigger than a 12" sub(s) in the future. Anything bigger than 12" will sound muddy. I don't care how much power you have to it, it's simply to big and pushes air to slowly and too much of it to get a "tight" hard hitting bass response (like a kickdrum of a drummer) to sound good. 15's and the like are suited for rap and other musci like that. Believe me if you want to sound like you are at a concert get 12's and 1- 12 sub will be sufficient. Get a high powered sub and get an amp that is about 10% higer in wattage output than that and that will drive that sub that way it's supposed to be driven and produce great sound. Make sure the enclosure is sealed. 3-4 GENERAL numbers to look at when getting a quality sub(s)

QTS - between .30 to .90. These speakers offer good control, low Distortion and high power handling

Qtc of .7 has smoothest response and the lowest resonant frequency response. A Qtc of above 1.1 should only be used by those who prefer a "boomy" response.

RMS - continuous wattage it can handle. Don't look at Peak wattage, this is the maximum wattage it will give you on a surge or just before it fails.

Db - sensitivity....basically how loud it produces sound and how efficiently


I have one sub in the back of my cherokee and I built it using a sealed box with 1.15 cu ft enclosure volume. Here is the sub I used.

http://www.mainstreet-audio.com/Mer...=PROD&Product_Code=29025&Category_Code=ADSSUB

It is an awesome sub driven by a ppi amp 500Watt amp here:

http://www.mainstreet-audio.com/Mer...n=PROD&Product_Code=48300&Category_Code=PPAMP

The sound from the one 12" sub is amazing, it hit hard, where you can feel it in your chest in the front seat. Great combo with the sealed enclouse volume I built. It sounds LOUDER and cleaner than some other guys I kow with 2 subs running 1000 watts.

In general though great brands as mentioned in this thread that you can't go wrong with are JL audio, Rockford Fosgate and I still like Kickers (although I think they are suited for more hardcore bassheads). Also, mine A/D/S, are very good quality. They were always known for professional home audio and started making car audio as well.

Not ment to confuse you, figured you will need to look into this when ready to add a sub so was giving you a heads up.

2001XJ said:

One thing that I didn't see touched upon is since you have a variety of taste (I do too, listen to house music, rap, metal classic rock) then you will not want to go with anything bigger than a 12" sub(s) in the future. Anything bigger than 12" will sound muddy. I don't care how much power you have to it, it's simply to big and pushes air to slowly and too much of it to get a "tight" hard hitting bass response (like a kickdrum of a drummer) to sound good. 15's and the like are suited for rap and other musci like that. Believe me if you want to sound like you are at a concert get 12's and 1- 12 sub will be sufficient. Get a high powered sub and get an amp that is about 10% higer in wattage output than that and that will drive that sub that way it's supposed to be driven and produce great sound. Make sure the enclosure is sealed. 3-4 GENERAL numbers to look at when getting a quality sub(s)

Click to expand...

This is not true...I have had many audio set ups in my cars and right now is the best...I have a the new Alpine Ipod Deck (9856), Kicker L7 15", Kicker KX 1000x1 Amp, and JL XR Component speaker all around ....I listen to mostly metal, punk, alt and some underground hip hop and for whatever genre its great..the 15 hits beautifully not "muddy" and the JL XRs hit highs perfect...

I recommend the JL XRs and JL VRs to anbody looking for an awesome component speaker (also available coaxial) they are incredible alone and outstanding ampd!

Andrew

My pioneer speakers are good if you looking in the low range with money and everything. One was submerged the other day while it was still going, and it still works.

I'm running JL VR components front and rear, JL 10W0 subs, Orion amps,Audiocontrol EQX, and a Kenwood Excelon head unit.I love the JL audio speakers- very clean sound with just about any genre of music.

Thanks for all the posts guys! 2001XJ thanks for the input about the sub because I just happen to be a drummer of 10 years. I do want the sub to sound like a kickdrum haha. Most of the drummers in metal use 2 kick drums and I want that to shine through the most.

Hahahaha.. I also listen for drums to evaluate a system. But instead of the Kick I listen for the Tom, a nice loud crisp tom snap in a system always brings a smile to my face.

Although a good sharp kick drum sounds good as well.

For Highs I listens to strings, an acoustic guitar really shines with a good set up.

I listen to metal, industrial and techno and I love my Focal poly-kevlars. Pricey, but totally worth it. I am only running the front components and an Eclipse 10". I've got 125W RMS to each component and 250W RMS to the sub. For me it's perfect. The high highs are great because the Focal tweeters rock, and the low lows come through just fine, even without the sub.