Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio components

It's been awhile since I've looked at car audio. Can anyone give me recommendations on a good set of components? I've heard brands like Boston Acoustics, Infinity and Polk throw around but never looked into them. I'd like to spend less than $200 for the pair, $150 would be ideal. I've had Pioneer TS-6815s all around since day one, but I've never been really happy with their performance. For rear fill they are adequate but something cleaner is needed for the front. Oh I'm not planning to do extensive audio mods, maybe a 12" sub later but that's it. TIA...

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Louis Wang
Sugar Land, TX
1998 Black E0 #3826
http://web.wtez.net/tw57472

[This message has been edited by louisw (edited June 26, 2000).]

I installed Pioneer TS-A6855's in my Mystique and they sound better than stock, but if you have the money, Crutchfield has decent prices on TS-A6865's and TS-A6895's. The TS-A6865's are $99.95/pair and TS-A6895's are $139.95/pair. You might also consider the TS-P682, which goes for $149.95/pair for the rear doors. Just my .02.

I say go with a set of Kappa Comps from MMX. They are in the $150-$200 range but do not remember off hand. BTW, you are amping them right?


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David Litsky
96 Contour GL
Clarion, Infinity, ESX, Alumapro

i'm 100% polk.

i have a 97 se i have a 35x4 pioneer head four pioneer 6x8s 2 ways a lanzar vibe 420 which is rated a 300x2 2 kenwood kw-3003 12s subs each in a 1 cubic foot box i spent 160 on the head unit 60 a pair for the 6x8 and 139 for the 2 subs the box was 49 all was purched at best buy except the subs and the amp subs at a circut city and the amp at a local car audio store my system is loud as hell my question is what is the best/easyest sound deadening material to use in the trunk. just to say for less than 500 i got a killer sys

Take a look at some Kicker i57.2's.
They are 5x7 loudspeakers with outboard crossovers. Tweeters are titanium dome and can be mounted coaxially or freestyle (they can be rotated to aim at the listener). They cost me $158 from an online etailer. Don't waste any money on the back door speakers. You can barely hear them.

For the rears, I used a pair of ADS 320is'; 5 1/4 mids mounted in the rear deck and the tweeters mounted on either side of the back seat firing forward.

My current "to investigate" list includes the Infinity reference series, JL Audio's XR525-CS, Pioneer's components, and the Polk rX series. In the interest of future upgrades (4-ch amp), I'm also looking at the Polk dB series and Infinity Kappa series.

Eventually I want to install a JL Audio 12W6 with a 250-watt amp. Nothing too loud or heavy, just enough to round out the bottom. I'm not planning to enter in competitions or wake up neighbors, so one sub at that power level will suffice.

4cymys,
I've looked at those speakers before. They are good full-range speakers, but I am interested primarily in components. In general they sound better and are more flexible to setup. It's easier to tweak them to get the soundstage 'just right'.

David L,
Right now I'm planning on driving the speakers with my Alpine 7840 (40x4). But from what I've been reading, components seem to like more power than full-range speakers like my 6815s. Unfortunately I don't think I'll have enough $$$ after the sub to get a decent 4-ch amp, but I'll take a look. The sub IMO will add more to my overall setup, that's why I'm getting that first.

Oh and I'm not planning to change the speakers in the back at all. The 6815s are just fine back there. As for the tweeters, I'm leaning towards silk dome vs. metal right now. While I like clear resonant highs, metal is sometimes too piercingly bright for my tastes.

Some have asked, my music interests lie mainly in modern rock (e.g. Foo Fighters, Silverchair) mixed with some hard rock (Metallica, Korn, Rammstein) and a little classical (Mozart, Bach, Beethoven). Occasionally I play techno, rap or pop, but never country.

Thanks for the help everyone...

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Louis Wang
Sugar Land, TX
1998 Black E0 #3826
http://web.wtez.net/tw57472

[This message has been edited by louisw (edited June 27, 2000).]

Louis -
There is a comp set made by JL Audio. I saw it retail for $300 but it is fairly efficient. 40 watts / channel should work well with it. The feature that I like are the silk dome tweets. IMHO, silk domes are the smoothest you can buy and sound the best. Again, IMHO, titanium tweets are real harsh. Sometimes i feel my kappa tweets which are ceramic are too harsh. I will try and dig up a product # for you.

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David Litsky
96 Contour GL
Clarion, Infinity, ESX, Alumapro

You'll have no problems runnin components off the head unit. I have Alpine components in my doors right now that used to be in my old Escort and powered off a POS Pioneer tape deck. I abused those things to no end, and had no problems. Now they're run off a 40x4 Clarion amp and sound just as clear as the day I bought em 4 years ago.

Pioneers in the back doors is fine too. That's what I'm runnin. Just kinda adds a bit more fullness to sound stage, but that's about it. They use up the other two channels on that Clarion.

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Perry
Contour-L Admin
96 GL

I have an Alpine 7863 deck and BA RX87's in the rear doors. Stock up front until i get some BA components. Then maybe a JL Audio sub. My rear BA's sound pretty damn good, so i'm sure component BA's up front will sound even better. Oh yeah, and my deck puts out 60x4, so i won't be adding an amp anytime soon either for the doors. I know you're in Texas (Louis), so if i put my front speakers in anytime soon, i'll let you check em out.