New Speakers

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I remember Polk making KILLER audiophile home speakers in the 80s that were uber expensive. I bet these car speakers sound awesome!
 
Sorry Nick...I love my home audio and theatre gear...but in the car I'm lame. I've never upgraded a car stereo that I can remember...well one Pioneer head unit in an old pick up that only had AM radio.

I would guess just about any speaker upgrade from the factory paper cones would be a good first step.

If I can ask, what did this upgrade cost with installation?
 
I think you did all right. I like both Polk and Sony car speakers I've used. Pioneer speakers are also pretty good. I use to like Infinity speakers but have had some issues with them in the past. I like to use the same brand and model line of speakers front and rear though. Did one model not fit front and rear? Sometimes I like to upgrade the speaker to a larger size with a new bracket. But just switching to a better quality speaker the same size as original can make a good improvement.

I hate it when the car's factory speakers are some weird ohm like 8, 16, 2 etc instead of 4 ohm or biwired.
 
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If you're happy with them, you made a good choice.

I had Sony Xplods in my old truck and didn't really like them. They were prone to distortion, and the sound quality just wasn't that great. I replaced those with Polk Audio db570s and loved them. Great speakers.

Personally, for lower end speakers I think Pioneers are better than Sonys, but nearly anything will be better than the typical OEM paper cone speaker.
 
Polk always made a decent drop-in. I used some in several Fords. I had Eclipse Point Source and Phoenix Gold RSDs when I had my Focus. Almost anything above those stock speakers were a large improvement. The older Ford speakers were Made in Mexico, and used to look better (at least). The Focus' speakers were Made in China.
 
I think you did GREAT with this upgrade.
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I'm a Focal fan myself (for car apps), but they are some of the most exorbibtantly priced speakers out there.
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Originally Posted By: Nick R
What do our audiophiles think, did I make a good choice here?


I would have went with one brand and model speaker all around. Polk would be my first choice.

Speakers sound different, however slight it is, from maker to maker. And from model to model.

While it *really* has no mesurable difference, just for the principle, I would have stuck with just one brand.
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I remember Polk making KILLER audiophile home speakers in the 80s that were uber expensive. I bet these car speakers sound awesome!

I have the Db Series in my car now. While they sound good, They are not quite the Speaker they were in the 80's. I already have one that 'pops' and not even 6 months old. NEVER had that problem with the Made in USA ones, but now since they have been China-fied, Quality is slowly going down.
 
I decided to pick up another set of the Polk DXi 5x7s for the fronts too. I get each set of speakers for $42 each through employee accomodation with Polk. They retail for over $100 per set. Installation is about $30 per set, which isn't bad. I'm gonna return the Sonys, they are ok but not as good as the polks, and I want all around good sound.

I'm thinking about picking up in the future a 4 channel amp and adding it in. Wish I could get 6x9s in the doors, they punch quite a bit better.
 
Could you not get 6x9's in the rear deck? That's where you can make some decent bass. There is better seperation of the front and back waves and if you are lucky the trunk might be the right volume to get some of the back wave back to give the bass a little boost.
Maybe your door plastics are still tight but putting alot of power into a stock door isn't the greatest for sound quality.
 
Well the problem is that all 4 of my speakers are in the doors. I would have to get holes cut in the rear deck, and then wires run. Don't particularly want to be cutting holes in my car till I'm out of warranty.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick R
Well the problem is that all 4 of my speakers are in the doors. I would have to get holes cut in the rear deck, and then wires run. Don't particularly want to be cutting holes in my car till I'm out of warranty.

Hmmm, I wonder why they did that? Have a look under there through the trunk and you might find some oval holes in the stamping for speakers. Wires might be a challenge though depending on how they get to the back door hinges.
I've heard of putting insulation behind a door speaker to help kill the back wave, your installer guys at work should know about it and if its worth doing.
How do you add a 4 channel amp to the factory deck? Maybe it would be better to add a subwoofer and amp and put the mids and highs through the doors?
 
my fav combo was in an old grand chero. $100 pioneer and a set of polk 2 way 6.5's. The best combo I'd ever heard. I've used sony, kenwood, blaupunkt, JVC separates, been all over the map. Pioneer 2-way and polk 2-way speakers are the cleanest, smoothest sound I have heard at a reasonable price. the pricier stuff can have better numbers, but also becomes more picky and sometimes too edgy, or reveals too many flaws in other system components. I have personally had high-end tweeters that produced so much upper-end frequencies that harmonic distortion from the amps themselves from digital recordings became a real distraction, and took even more processing to clean up. Blaupunkt and kenwood amps seemed to churn out a lot of high-freq noise. the pioneers sounded very smooth by comparison.

I've had sony gear and found it sounded safe, if not slightly bland, though indestructible, including a HU in a car I submerged by accident and lasted for another 6+ years before I sold the car.

bottom line: you can assemble a very nice sound system if you carefully choose mid-range (not sparkomatic) parts. High-end components often requires more work and more high-end components to match!

M
 
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Originally Posted By: meep
my fav combo was in an old grand chero. $100 pioneer and a set of polk 2 way 6.5's. The best combo I'd ever heard. I've used sony, kenwood, blaupunkt, JVC separates, been all over the map. Pioneer 2-way and polk 2-way speakers are the cleanest, smoothest sound I have heard at a reasonable price. the pricier stuff can have better numbers, but also becomes more picky and sometimes too edgy, or reveals too many flaws in other system components. I have personally had high-end tweeters that produced so much upper-end frequencies that harmonic distortion from the amps themselves from digital recordings became a real distraction, and took even more processing to clean up. Blaupunkt and kenwood amps seemed to churn out a lot of high-freq noise. the pioneers sounded very smooth by comparison.

I've had sony gear and found it sounded safe, if not slightly bland, though indestructible, including a HU in a car I submerged by accident and lasted for another 6+ years before I sold the car.

bottom line: you can assemble a very nice sound system if you carefully choose mid-range (not sparkomatic) parts. High-end components often requires more work and more high-end components to match!

M


I'm gonna check my rear deck but I'm not holding my breath. I'm going to get my dad new sound stuff for the jeep for fathers day. If you've ever heard the stock speakers in a wrangler, you will understand. 4" front, 5.25" sound bar. They are horrible. Can't decide if I want to do more Polk, or go with some Kickers for him. I'm gonna give him the Kenwood deck I had with my cavalier.
 
Forget 6x9's, just get a sub and amp in the trunk and you're good to go.

I love the sound setup in my sedan... Alpine speakers up front (no rear speakers) and a single sub. Sounds awesome.
 
Alright my friend colin from work has convinced me to get an amp too. So I want the Polk Audio PA 660 4 channel amp (75w rms) but then I noticed that the RMS output on the amp (75W) exceeds the RMS rated power on the speakers (60w). What should I do?

I decided this after he talked about it, and then I listened to the same speakers on display with, and without an amp. the difference is more than I would have imagined.
 
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