I wanted to upgrade my speakers so I went to a few shops and decided I like JL TR570-CXi the best and Polk Momo570 very close second. I got a pair of new JL off of Ebay and hooked the driver side up. It sounded aweful. It had no treble so e-mailed the seller and told him I think the tweeter is blown. He's refunding my money. But in the mean time I hooked the other one up to my house stereo. That one had more treble, but still left me with a very hollow sound. Side by side, my cheapo tiny KLH bookshelf speakers sounded more natural and full ranged. Chances of both speakers being bad should be low, but generally speaking, very few of the car speakers I've heard sounded natural and full ranged to me. All had either harsh trebles or too bassy and lacked mid-range. So are car speakers inherently lower quality than home (even cheapo KLH) because of their nature of having to be in a harsh environment and not enclosed, no crossover, etc?
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are car speakers inherently inferior to home speakers??
- Thread starter andy
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Dyoel182
Addicted CEG'er
So are car speakers inherently lower quality than home (even cheapo KLH) because of their nature of having to be in a harsh environment and not enclosed, no crossover, etc?
Put any speaker in a tuned box and it will sound better than a speaker bolted into a metal car door.
steeno321
CEG'er
All brands of speakers have a different equalized band they are tuned on. I've noticed that Kenwood emphasizes the highs and lows on their speakers but midbass lacks. I run Boston Acoustics in my car 2000 CSVT and they are the flattest speakers made. I suggest going by a car audio shop and checking out different brands and listening to what they have. Every person has a preference on what they like to hear. Also keep in mind that a home speaker is wired at a higher impedence therefore less signal distortion but not as much power. The best way to determine what you want is to "play it by ear" Make sure that the shop you go to has a full range amplifier hooked up to their speakers as well that they can turn off and on for you so you get the true feeling of what the speakers can actually produce.
CarpePoon
Hard-core CEG'er
All brands of speakers have a different equalized band they are tuned on. I've noticed that Kenwood emphasizes the highs and lows on their speakers but midbass lacks. I run Boston Acoustics in my car 2000 CSVT and they are the flattest speakers made. I suggest going by a car audio shop and checking out different brands and listening to what they have. Every person has a preference on what they like to hear. Also keep in mind that a home speaker is wired at a higher impedence therefore less signal distortion but not as much power. The best way to determine what you want is to "play it by ear" Make sure that the shop you go to has a full range amplifier hooked up to their speakers as well that they can turn off and on for you so you get the true feeling of what the speakers can actually produce.
huh?
the enclosure has more to do with tuning than the speaker itself. speakers have a broad frequency range, not a "tuned band". You can tune an enclosure to give you the best response at a certain frequency.
The contour just flat out sucks for an audio platform. The doors have some of the worst bass resonance I have ever heard. Have you ever looked through the speaker grill at your door speakers? Ford did such a wonderful job on this car that half of the front speaker fires right into the door panel rather than out the opening. The rear isn't much better IIRC.
Needless to say, dont go buying expensive speakers because they sound good in a store. You'll likely be half as impressed once you get them into your audio killing car.
Oh really? After all that research and listening at shops, I guess I should've taken some of the suggestions that Pioneers are good enough for the Contour. I kept thinking I would splurge and get something nice. I didn't pay a whole lot for these JL, in the range of Pioneers at Wally World. So why do people buy Infinity Kappas and Polk and Boston Acoustics for the Contour if the SQ is just going to be destroyed by the car? Maybe I should just mount a couple of 6x9 in boxes in the rear tray!
Dyoel182
Addicted CEG'er
So why do people buy Infinity Kappas and Polk and Boston Acoustics for the Contour if the SQ is just going to be destroyed by the car?
Because they have the potential to sound better. Plus they may take the time to modify the door panel.
Because they have the potential to sound better. Plus they may take the time to modify the door panel.
yeah, i actually have kappas in mine, i noticed there was better bass from them once i RAAMatted the door. However, the tweeter placement wasn't really the greatest....
Keeping the JL
Keeping the JL
I removed the JL, tested it on my home stereo and decided the tweeters are indeed working and not broken as I had thought. Reinstalled it in the door using foam backer rod around the opening. Also installed the passenger side so the two sides are now balanced. Before I only had one side installed and the passenger side was louder and had more treble. Still think treble is a bit weak, wish I had bought Infinity with swivel tweeter. Would adding an amp improve the sound? I read some speakers need to be amped to sound good, though I don't understand why amp vs. no amp (for a given volume) makes a difference unless some speakers just need to be played LOUD to sound good
Keeping the JL
I removed the JL, tested it on my home stereo and decided the tweeters are indeed working and not broken as I had thought. Reinstalled it in the door using foam backer rod around the opening. Also installed the passenger side so the two sides are now balanced. Before I only had one side installed and the passenger side was louder and had more treble. Still think treble is a bit weak, wish I had bought Infinity with swivel tweeter. Would adding an amp improve the sound? I read some speakers need to be amped to sound good, though I don't understand why amp vs. no amp (for a given volume) makes a difference unless some speakers just need to be played LOUD to sound good
pre98zetec
Veteran CEG'er
To get any decent frontstage sound its probably your best bet to remove the speakers (or component set, which ever you have) and build kickpanels. Or, if you must.. Fully deaden the door.. By deaden i mean behind the glass and everything, not just a couple layers on the outside. You will be surprised at the midbass kick you will get when you deaden them.
If your trying to get any kind of sub-bass extension from door speakers your looking in the wrong place (unless you're running a dedicated IB woofer in the door). Easier to get a single 8" or 10" to kick down the low's.
If your trying to get any kind of sub-bass extension from door speakers your looking in the wrong place (unless you're running a dedicated IB woofer in the door). Easier to get a single 8" or 10" to kick down the low's.
Have you ever looked through the speaker grill at your door speakers? Ford did such a wonderful job on this car that half of the front speaker fires right into the door panel rather than out the opening.
Is the speaker off to the left or right? or is it off up and down? Like say I wanted to put some 6.5" in my doors...would it make a difference if i set them higher or lower in the 8" tall space that i have.
And yeah, anything amped will sound better....and a lot of speakers do need to be up a little bit for them to sound their best...
Recoveryone
Veteran CEG'er
I have read the above post regarding speaker build and tuned type, but in most cases its not the speaker itself but the head unit/amps. Just as speakers are built to preformed at certain levels (Spl) and frequency, your head unit and amps need to be able produce those levels to get the optimum sound stage/presence.
My next move was to get a new HU since that's a simple upgrade. Have Aiwa now. I was thinking Alpine. Transmission is on the fritz, so I don't want to do too much work like adding an amp or build kick panels only to have to remove it 2 months down the road when the car dies.
twang, the speakers are offset high, so only the bottom part of the speaker clears the grill. On the 5x7 I just installed, the tweeter is just about at the top of the grill so I'm losing about 25-30% behind the trim.
twang, the speakers are offset high, so only the bottom part of the speaker clears the grill. On the 5x7 I just installed, the tweeter is just about at the top of the grill so I'm losing about 25-30% behind the trim.
twang, the speakers are offset high, so only the bottom part of the speaker clears the grill.
thank you very much kind sir :laugh: