What Speaker sets?

[Anonymous]

Hi, little vote here guys, which would you reccomend? I just want something better than what i already have. But i am trying to keep costs down.

1)    m http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/alpine-spg-17cs.html m
2)    m http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/focal-a ... 65-a1.html m
3)    m http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/ground- ... c165t.html m
4)    m http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/jbl-gto6508c.html m



So yeah, I want the best audio for the lowest price!

can anyone reccomend brands? or any other speaker systems that will be better/cheaper??


Thanks guys, i really appreciate all the help!

Rich

[AckersMR2]

The best thing to do is to decide what you really want to spend, then look in that budget, ideally do you want to spend around £50 or £100?
I've got the Focal's in mine, im only running them off the head units amp and I like them. Some say the tweeters can sound a bit harsh being aluminium but ive not found that and you can adjust it on the crossover, but if you like a soft treble then maybe a silk dome tweeter is the way forward for you?

Ive also heard the Edge range are good for the price under cutting all those you've listed. At then end of the day anything you put in there is going to beat the stock speakers. The only thing I would say is try to go for ones that come with a proper crossover and not a cheap in line capacitor.

Are you running them off the standard head unit or have you changed it and are you intending to run the speakers off that or put an amp in line?

[Anonymous]

to start off with, just off the head unit...

i dont like a lot of treble, but i can adjust my EQ accordingly... Ive only got an old single din head unit.

but i will spend £50 soon on a pair of speakers... or £100 later after i have saved up.

Edge, i thought they were supposed to be cheap and nasty? but then again, i really dont know what is good anymore, so i appreciate any advice.


***EDIT***

Alpine has the best Peak power
Ground Zero has the best RMS
JBL has the best Low + High freq (which i thought was important) and is the cheapest

[AckersMR2]

Edge are cheap but for the price I don't think their nasty? Not sure if they have an in line capacitor or proper crossovers though?

Your head unit is probably 40-50w, RMS of that will be around 20w RMS, so you really want a speaker with lower RMS, forget peak power. If you want the speakers now and your budget will stretch then id get the JBL's, I don't know what their like though so if their crap don't blame me  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

A little while ago Halfords were knocking them out for £25, you cant go wrong at that price but i doubt you can get them anymore?

[Anonymous]

problem with amps is where to put it?  s:( s:(  

plus cost. its more of a gradual modification.

i would like a sub, but at the same time im not the 17 year old i once was... and turning up to a client with my wing mirrors vibrating isnt exactly professional  s:P s:P

[stargazer30]

Out of that lot and off a head unit I'd say if you want to go cheap get the Edge 306s.  Cheap but not half bad.  If you can afford it pay the extra and go with the focals as they are a grade or two above all of the others in that line up but are sensitive enough to run off a head unit without an amp.  Later when you get an amp they will sound better.  The focals are bright speakers, so use a warm amp or you'll get painful treble like I did   s:mrgreen: :mrgreen: s:mrgreen:  

Oh if you didn't already sound deaden your doors.   Do that first before anything as its the cheapest way to make the biggest improvement to the audio.

[Anonymous]

Cheers, I already had the sound deadening in mind.

Whats an example of a warm amp? :p

[stargazer30]

Cheers, I already had the sound deadening in mind.

Whats an example of a warm amp? :p

Warm just means the amp brings out the lower frequencies, whereas bright means the opposite it favours treble. For home audio, NAD make typically warm amps but for car amps I don't have that much experience to say as I've nearly always ran JBL amps.  Based on the amps I've have run the budget JBL amps are a tad bright and made my focals a bit harsh.  The JL amp I had more was more neutral, but not exactly warm or cheap to buy for that matter.  Vibe black box amp - just sounded crap full stop   s:flame: :flame: s:flame:

[stargazer30]

problem with amps is where to put it?  s:( s:(  

plus cost. its more of a gradual modification.

i would like a sub, but at the same time I'm not the 17 year old i once was... and turning up to a client with my wing mirrors vibrating isnt exactly professional  s:P s:P

Amps typically go in the rear bin.  Make an MDF base to raise it up a bit so you can adjust it and any water getting in the bin won't fubar it.   Subs don't necessarily mean boom boom boom windows shaking, thats usually bigger subs in ported boxes running on high power monoblock amps.  Infact in a correctly setup audio system you are not supposed to be able to hear the sub as a separate speaker, it should sound like an extension of the main speakers only.  The UD sub with JL 6" driver is a good example of this.  You can't see it and depending how loud you set it on the amp it can compliment your components or punch out that bit more if you prefer.  Like all sealed subs its tight controlled bass regardless, not street bass.  Ironically your more likely to rattle the windows and wing mirrors trying to push too much power through the door speakers!

[Anonymous]

Alright, I know a bit about how it should sound. A friend of mine used to do sound competition. I don't want anything rattling, just want it a bit clearer. Just don't know what to get :p

I should look into a new head unit as well then so I can set a more accurate eq

[walt]

This sounds like it could start getting expensive.. Let me tell you a little story about what I have been up to.. If any of this rings true then maybe you can use my story to help you decide now exactly what you want to do..

I have a mk1 golf cabriolet which is my show car if you like.. It is totally stock apart from the stereo.. I started by wanting a new head unit with retro looks but with gorgeous sound quality.. So I bought a pioneer DEH-P77MP and installed it.. The improvements were slight and I was really disappointed.. So I decided to upgrade the standard speakers.. Fronts looked easy enough however the rears wouldn't take a 6" x 4" with integral tweeter so I couldn't replace these.. So.. I decided to go for quality fronts and use a sub to make up for the lack of warmth due to less speakers.. But now I needed an amp.. So I bought a DLS A5 to run the fronts and the sub.. But then I decided it was such a shame to do all that and not have a rear shelf with speakers in and if I was doing that, then really I should get another amp, so I bought another DLS A5, then upgraded to a DLS A3 dual mono.. If I am running two amps, a sub, a rear shelf and front components, then I should really take the time to do a top drawer custom install... So I did... Now I have one of my amps in with the amp doctor Gordon Taylor of Genesis who is upgrading my amp to sound even better..

The point I am making is, I wanted a new head unit.. Several months and several thousands of pounds later I have more stuff than I know what to do with, I could do another build with the stuff I have left over.. It can all get very addictive chasing improvement..

So two things to think about now before you start.. What exactly will make you happy? And once you start spending money and start chasing the results you thought you would get in the first place, would you have been better off spending that little bit more in the first place and bought the best straight away rather than gradually spending more and more upgrading..

Just food for thought.. If you are gonna rush in, rush in on the side of expensive.. Buy cheap, buy twice..

[Anonymous]

thanks mate!

i hope you gain some control soon!  s:) s:)  Sounds like a good project though!

Tbh i think a set of decent speakers will make me 90% happy.

Ive heard very good things about the focals. so I would be tempted for them, but i can wait and save up to do the whole lot. with an UD sub and "warm" amp  s:) s:)

[carlclarke]

I like my music and I have Focal 165 A1 + an Alpine SWE-1000 powered sub that just fits nicely laying on its back in the deep recess in the passenger side storage bin. The sound is clean and flat (unless I apply too much gain to the sub). This combination has really transformed the sound and it is now more like being inside a large pair of quality headphones (like my Sennheiser HD25-1 IIs). I am running the Focals from the amp in the head unit and they only start to distort beyond 75% max volume (50W peak from my AVH-8400BT). I cabled for an external amp and may fit that at some future date but it is certainly more than enough for everyday loud use as-is. The Focal speakers are £89.91 from my local Road Radio in Crawley, they sell them on the Internet too.

You are a bit far but you are welcome to listen if you are ever near to East Grinstead (close to Gatwick) in the day on weekdays or close to Brighton on weekends.

Carl.

[Anonymous]

Thanks,

I am actually in red hill for a week from 6th august for work reasons...

How long does it take to get to you from red hill? I might pop down one evening  s:) s:)

[carlclarke]

Thanks,

I am actually in red hill for a week from 6th august for work reasons...

How long does it take to get to you from red hill? I might pop down one evening  s:) s:)

PM sent with my contact details.

[trickyD]

Alpine has the best Peak power
Ground Zero has the best RMS
JBL has the best Low + High freq (which i thought was important) and is the cheapest

- to be honest, specs like that are totally irrelevant.
Power is just meaningless for speakers, as they don't produce any power - amps produce power. The power referred to is just maximum and sometimes recommended power levels. It doesn't mean a 100w speaker is louder or more powerful than a 50w speaker.

For anyone interested (based on my personal experience) Alpine make good speakers and awesome head units, JBL I haven't used but they are similar to Infinity (part of the HK group) which I have used maybe 5-7 separate occasions and I rate them very highly for budget to mid-range choices. I'm just about to buy some JBL comps for the MR2 so can report once fitted...
Focal are possibly one of the best car speaker manufacturers out there along with people like JL. Will you notice the improvement over a £50 set; depends.
I've never ever heard of the other brand

[Anonymous]

Fitted Focals in the end and they were FANTASTIC!!!!!!! worth every penny

[trickyD]

Cool!
Great news (jealous!)

[StuC]

Fitted Focals in the end and they were FANTASTIC!!!!!!! worth every penny

Do they have that "painful treble" sounds that stargazer described?

[trickyD]

They certainly didn't when I had a set (access comps)
They were great and truly "HiFi" in character

[stargazer30]

Fitted Focals in the end and they were FANTASTIC!!!!!!! worth every penny

Do they have that "painful treble" sounds that stargazer described?

Yeah I found out why mine were ear splitting.  The focals do have sharp tweets, but matched to a warm amp like a JL they are fine.  I had mine running on a JBL amp which itself is quite bright so the combo of the two and songs like pride in the name of love got painful lol.  I'd certainly recomend the focal A165s, for the money they are hard to beat.

[trickyD]

They have a 3 or 6 db attenuation on the treble via the crossover to reduce any perceived harshness.
Can't say I saw any with mine (will dig out he model) I was using an alpine "V drive" 60watt head unit...which was very good.

[Anonymous]

The tweeters are bright but not painful. they are just SUPER SUPER clear.

you can always adjust the EQ anyway...

trust me, it was well worth it, and you get used to the tweeters

[StuC]

Vinxy are you still running these off the stock PFL HU?

[Anonymous]

Please refer to my thread here:


 l viewtopic.php?f=9&t=42313 l

 s:D s:D