New speaker recommendations. February 04, 2013, 11:54:59 PM I was planning on upgrading/replacing the 25 year old speakers in the Thunderbird come spring. I'm going to replace all of them. The car is running the factory premium sound EQ, AMP, and a modern aftermarket head unit. What brand/model of speakers would you guys recommend to replace the factory 3.5" dash, 6.5" door, and 6"X8" rear package shelf speakers? I'm looking for drop in replacements that fit under the stock speaker grills. Quote Selected
New speaker recommendations. Reply #1 – February 05, 2013, 07:44:45 AM Polk, Alpine, Kicker and Massive have been good to me. I have 3 1/2" MTX coaxial in the dash, 6 1/2" Massive in the doors and Polk 6x9's in the rear deck of my Cougar. It's been a while since I have been able to listen to it, but it sounds very good...and loud. Quote Selected
New speaker recommendations. Reply #2 – February 05, 2013, 06:01:12 PM As decent-priced drop in replacement car speakers, I recommend polk or eclipse dash and front door speakers, then something with some punch in 6x9 (I used to use bungee cords with foam to seal to the rear deck) in the back. If you like something more in your face (including the highs), Infinity's Kappas are bright. I think my favorite setup using headunit power years back and stock speaker locations was some Eclipse 3.5s in the dash, Eclipse 6.5's in the doors (cut to fit), and Infinity Reference 6x9 in the rear.Eclipse speakers lack in total bass, but they have very smooth sounding mid and upper ranges - the kind that you can blast and not get fatigued. I no longer use rear fill, but pre-subs I used the 6x9s with the headunit tweaked to provide more lows than highs in the rear. The doors I never found anything good until I started swapping out for 7" speakers and sealing the door. I think anything will do find in the door. The dash 3.5s will do most of your audible tweeter work.As for price, eBay some Eclipse for dirt-cheap speakers. Polk is a good value if you know where to buy (half price retail). The other major brands like Infinity, Kicker, Alpine, etc are on the higher price range and SOME products offer better bass, but that's about it imo. To make it worthwhile going further you have to start deadening and fabricating, install amp(s), subs, etc. As for specific models, just look for something with high efficiency/sensitivity and trust that the rating are accurate enough. The more efficient (sensitive) the speakers are, the louder they'll get for the same amount of power going into them. Eclipse and Infinity have some really sensitive speakers. There's more into it than simply numbers, but by simply comparing numbers, it's a good one to go off of for headunit power. Quote Selected
New speaker recommendations. Reply #3 – February 06, 2013, 12:04:53 PM Thanks for the advice. I'm replacing the speakers because they are old and, well, the crackle a bit at higher volumes with the "highs" which is annoying. After doing a bit of searching I'm thinking of going with these speakers:dash: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107DXI350/Polk-Audio-DXi350.html?tp=96doors: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107DXI650S/Polk-Audio-DXi-650s.htmlrear deck: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107DXI570/Polk-Audio-DXi570.htmlAny thoughts? Remember this isn't going to be a high power system. I'm just upgrading the stock speakers and keeping the factory "Premium Sound" amp. Quote Selected
New speaker recommendations. Reply #4 – February 06, 2013, 12:55:33 PM I was running pioneer 3.5's in the dash, Fusion 6.5's in the doors and Clarion 6x9's in the deck with 2 sony 10's in the trunk with a 1200 watt Magnavox amp in the bird. Sounded real good.I had pioneers all the way around in my Cougar that also sounded really good.I stepped up the game in my 92 dakota though, Kicker 5x7's in the back, Kicker 6.5's in the doors, 2 kicker comp 10's with a lanzar 1000 watt amp. That one will jam out.and the 99 dakota has fusions in the doors, factory rears and 1 12" Memphis Mallet sub. which, to my utter surprise sounds very nice.But just about anything from kicker and pioneer sound very very nice. Quote Selected
New speaker recommendations. Reply #5 – February 06, 2013, 03:04:12 PM Quote from: thunderjet302;408884Thanks for the advice. I'm replacing the speakers because they are old and, well, the crackle a bit at higher volumes with the "highs" which is annoying. After doing a bit of searching I'm thinking of going with these speakers:dash: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107DXI350/Polk-Audio-DXi350.html?tp=96doors: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107DXI650S/Polk-Audio-DXi-650s.htmlrear deck: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107DXI570/Polk-Audio-DXi570.htmlAny thoughts? Remember this isn't going to be a high power system. I'm just upgrading the stock speakers and keeping the factory "Premium Sound" amp.I'd buy from Amazon for better pricing. The DXi and DB series are basically the same thing so if going with polk, I'd go with Amazon's DB models. You can usually find DXi in store with DB mostly appearing online. Sticking with Polk, save $20 and I recommend:$55 DB651$81 DB691$40 DB351I strongly urge you to use 6x9 in the back rather than "6x8" (actual 5x7). You get close to 50% more surface area, providing good bass response down to 50Hz, instead of 70Hz of the smaller 5x7s. Don't trust the 30/50Hz lowend figures for any real output, but the 6x9 speakers will get you something that sounds like a boom, rather than a tap, for the music that has it.I use some DB651s in my daily driver and they're alright, but I've never been content with ANY product "car stereo" related. Sounding "good" is a relative term, but I think the polks are about as good as you can get without putting a TON more money and work into modifying a car for sound quality. I'm hoping that my upcoming setup and build in the Tbird will provide me enough satisfaction in sound quality. It gets expensive though - just the tweeters are $200 a piece. For that, you can build an entire setup that most people will be happy with.It's too bad Eclipse/Fujitsu Ten no longer sells speakers. I should probably grab used sets whenever they pop up on eBay. They completely lack in bass compared to everyone else, but they always sounded much more smooth and laid back. You used to be able to get sets for $20-30 a piece and can still find them for that occasionally, and other than for lower frequencies (with a sub this isn't much an issue), they were always my favorite "car audio" speaker brand. Quote Selected
New speaker recommendations. Reply #6 – February 06, 2013, 11:14:56 PM Thanks for the heads up on the Polk speakers. It will save me some money :). I'd like to run 6"x9" speakers in the rear but I'd like a more permanent way to mount them. They have to fit under the factory grills and up under the large removable "package tray shield" in the trunk. Any thought on how to do this? I want none of the speaker mods to be visible so they fit under the stock speaker grills. Quote Selected
New speaker recommendations. Reply #7 – February 07, 2013, 04:14:31 PM Attach foam weatherstripping from the hardware store to the underside of the rear tray, or the frame of the speaker - this will provide a seal between the speaker and the rear deck, improving bass response and lowering the chance of rattling of the rear tray.If you look in the trunk, the stock speakers are "mounted" by a giant "rubber band" that hooks into two spots on either side of the speaker. The bungee cord thing worked for me for years, but not with the stock rubber as the magnet and overall frame was much larger on 6x9s, and many 5x7s. This also means that many aftermarket 5x7s may not mount with the factory hardware. For a more permanent fix, you'd want to pull the cover on the tear tray, drill some holes, and mount the speaker with bolts and nuts. This will still require the speaker to be under the rear tray as this is the only chance you have to prevent the woofer from hitting anything as it moves. Mounted to the top with the stock speaker grills, and cutout to fix the large speaker frame, it will hit the grill. Underneath, you can get the clearance from using the foam since it acts like a thin spacer.I don't think you'll have any issues with the 3.5 or 6.5" speakers, although the factory cutouts in the door are a better fit for aftermarket 6" speakers than 6.5". I had to cut it out to fit some 6.5's, then even further when I installed 7" up front. I believe up to a 4" will fit, maybe with slight tpuppies if any, in the dash locations. Quote Selected
New speaker recommendations. Reply #8 – February 08, 2013, 12:08:26 AM Thanks for the tip. I'll have to try that. I think I'm going to pick up some 6"x9"s for the rear deck. I'll take pictures of my solution to getting them in the car. In regards to the weather stripping foam do I want the incompressible foam or the open cell compressible foam weather strip? I'm thinking the incompressible stuff would work better but I could be wrong.I just remembered that the Mark VII uses 6"x9" rear speakers stock. I'll have to look at how they're mounted. Perhaps I can modify the set up to fit the Thunderbird? Quote Selected
New speaker recommendations. Reply #9 – February 08, 2013, 01:23:56 PM Quote from: thunderjet302;408930Thanks for the tip. I'll have to try that. I think I'm going to pick up some 6"x9"s for the rear deck. I'll take pictures of my solution to getting them in the car. In regards to the weather stripping foam do I want the incompressible foam or the open cell compressible foam weather strip? I'm thinking the incompressible stuff would work better but I could be wrong.I just remembered that the Mark VII uses 6"x9" rear speakers stock. I'll have to look at how they're mounted. Perhaps I can modify the set up to fit the Thunderbird?I've no clue how the Mark VII mounts - quite possible from the top. I don't think the stuff I used was gray open cell - uncompressed it was 3/4-1" thick and compressed maybe 1/4". You just want a seal and a small amount of clearance. I have some thinner stuff that compresses much less that is black and around 1/4" normally. Any of it will work. I may have a picture somewhere that may barely capture one of them mounted. I THINK that was on my first digital camera though, and I've misplaced the two copies/backups that I made of those photos... Quote Selected
New speaker recommendations. Reply #10 – February 12, 2013, 06:11:38 PM I looked at my Mark VII and it has the same style of mounting that the Thunderbird does, with the big rubber band. If I can get two mounts from a Mark VII in the junk yard I "should" be able to get the 6"x9"s in with the stock style mounts. Quote Selected
New speaker recommendations. Reply #11 – February 28, 2013, 11:42:40 PM I'm also running the factory stereo and equalizer. Right now I have my stereo and equalizer out as I've just fixed my equalizer power button. I wanted to see how the system sounded before putting everything back together and it looks like I need to change the door speakers. I put my ear up to each individual speaker and I think I can live with the dash and rear speakers for now but both door speakers crackle terribly. I took off the door panel on one side and took out the 6.5 inch speaker factory speaker to see what I need and found your thread when searching. The polk speakers you're discussing look very nice at a fair price and I may just order those, but I have a couple of questions. Can we only use slim mount speakers due to how the panel fits over the speakers? I'm also curious as to why you're going with 2 way speakers versus 3 or 4 way? I was checking this one out but it's a 3 way with 300 watt max. Is that overkill for the older stereo? http://www.crutchfield.com/p_130TA1675R/Pioneer-TS-A1675R.htmlI don't know anything about sound systems and have always stayed with premium factory systems although I know you can spend a fortune beyond that. Since I'll be staying with the original system other then this I doubt if it matters a lot as to what speakers I order but I'd like to make the best choice and get it back together within the next week. Quote Selected
New speaker recommendations. Reply #13 – March 01, 2013, 03:35:55 PM I'm looking at some speakers today at a retail store but will most likely go online. I'd like to order these today if possible and I'm leaning toward the 3 ways. Any advse is appreciated. Quote Selected
New speaker recommendations. Reply #14 – March 01, 2013, 05:15:22 PM Quote from: Pacerized;410268I'm also curious as to why you're going with 2 way speakers versus 3 or 4 way? I was checking this one out but it's a 3 way with 300 watt max. Is that overkill for the older stereo? http://www.crutchfield.com/p_130TA1675R/Pioneer-TS-A1675R.html 2-way is just as "good" as 3, 4, 5+ way, but typically better. Typically, the best speakers, car or otherwise under $1k will be 2-way speakers. Very few companies or individuals get everything right with 3+ way speakers due to placement and a mess of crossovers. Once you go beyond two point sources, each playing different frequencies, it gets VERY difficult to correctly design a speaker system that doesn't have each driver working against one another. Just like the 300 Watts, the numbers mean absolutely nothing but marketing. With wattage, that means power draw, nothing more. It does not define how loud a speaker design will get, or how good it will sound. With the same speaker, more watts means more power and more acoustic output. With two different speakers, you have to base your decision on how efficient each speaker is before you can look at wattage, One may need 10x the amount of watts/power to play at the same volume as a different speaker design. Your system will only push past 1W at high volume levels. Subwoofers can use 10-20W for healthy amounts of output, and 100+W hits on bass-heavy songs.You will typically find that if you take the same speaker but design the voice coil to be 8 ohms instead of 4 ohms, it will require half the wattage to get as loud as a 4 ohm speaker but the amplifier also has to push the power harder to get it through the speaker's voice coil (you get less watts overall). I believe the factory uses 6ohm speakers so in general, going to an aftermarket 4ohm or 2ohm speaker will not be as loud as stock and will make amp get hotter. 2ohm would burn the amp up if you were to upgrade the speaker wiring. Stock paper drivers/speakers are also much lighter than most of the aftermarket, making them move easier with less power for more efficiency.I use home-audio grade 8-ohm speakers in the car. They sound better and get louder with less power. Using the stock speaker locations, I think most people would be happy with a 6.5-7" single "woofer" in the doors, a 3.5" 2-way in the dash, and whatever they wish to use in the rear deck. I know my setup sounded great like this years ago, before the car sat and for unknown reasons, the door speakers both failed by the voice coils opening up.Else, just get whatever $50 pair of car speakers and be happy with "as good as you can get" without custom fabrication in the vehicle. Quote Selected
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