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Speaker shopping these days


Toby Ratcliffe

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Part 1 - Venting and backstory

The last time I bought component speakers was in 1998. I had some Memphis convertibles mounted in the front doors of my 4 door Jeep Cherokee powered by a Rockford amp matched to the speakers power requirements. They kept up with the 2 cheap 15" JLs I had in the back. Fast forward to today where I have a similar vehicle, 89 S10 Blazer 2 door, and I am again looking for components.

I went into a local shop yesterday trying to listen to a few sets of components within the power range I have available. The shop had one set of Kenwood components. I am not going to bash the brand, but I can listen to Kenwood at Wal-Mart. He tells me that each job he does is custom and doesn't keep any stock. He also didn't give any recommendations because once he found out I was a DIY guy he shut down anything I had to say. Mind you he was looking at his computer and never really gave me any attention.

I called another shop, not quite local but carried a brand that I am interested in hearing, and got the same response about not keeping any stock. Another shop called after that, and I got the same story.

I know the online market has cut deep into the local shops retail, but if local shops aren't investing in customer service, it exasperates the problem.

Part 2 - Still shopping, anyone have recommendations?

I am looking for components that will fit in Q-form kick panels for an S10. The tweeter mounting area is 2.5" and the Woofer mounting area is 6.7". I am powering them with a Sundown 50.4. I am thinking of bridging the channels and running them passive for now until I find an active crossover or processor I like, and then using the same amp to power all 4 speakers.

Budget - I don't have a specific amount, and I would have to have a real good reason to spend more than $200. My issue is with build quality between a $100 set and a $1000 set are non-visual. For instance, I like what I have gotten from Sundown in the past. There is minimal difference in specs between the SD and SA series while there is a $120 price difference. And other import brands with the same visual build quality cost half that price. And then on top of that Alpine build quality looks better than the Sundown, and it is cheaper. Anyone in the business will tell me that the Sundowns will sound better, yet, there is no comparisons for consumers to hear for themselves.

I went to SlamFest this year, and every system there was an SPL machine with PA speakers in the doors. I don't need that much sound to cover the sound of my V8.

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Unfortunately I am in the same boat. It's hard to tell how they will sound by looking at the specs. I bought a set from CT sounds. If I don't like them I will get something else.

91 C350 Centurion conversion ( Four Door One Ton Bronco)

250A Alternator (Second Alternator Coming Soon)

G65 AGM Up Front  / Two G31 AGM in Back

Pioneer 80PRS

CT Sounds AT125.2 / CT Sounds 6.5 Strato Pro component Front Stage

CT Sounds AT125.2 / Lanzar Pro 8" coax w/compression horn tweeter Rear Fill

FSD 5000D 1/2 ohm (SoundQubed 7k Coming Soon)

Two HDS315 Four Qubes Each 34hz (Two HDC3.118 and New Box Coming Soon)

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The set I got is their component set with pa mid and 1 inch silk tweeter. On sale for $120 free shipping. I will start a thread when I install them and add about $400 worth of second skin to the doors.

91 C350 Centurion conversion ( Four Door One Ton Bronco)

250A Alternator (Second Alternator Coming Soon)

G65 AGM Up Front  / Two G31 AGM in Back

Pioneer 80PRS

CT Sounds AT125.2 / CT Sounds 6.5 Strato Pro component Front Stage

CT Sounds AT125.2 / Lanzar Pro 8" coax w/compression horn tweeter Rear Fill

FSD 5000D 1/2 ohm (SoundQubed 7k Coming Soon)

Two HDS315 Four Qubes Each 34hz (Two HDC3.118 and New Box Coming Soon)

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What kind of head unit do you have?

If it's an active capable head unit....

well I've loved this pair of cheap Parts Express mids/highs.

Parts Express TC-6024 mids

http://www.parts-express.com/tc-6024-6-1-2-treated-paper-cone-woofer-with-foam-surround-4-ohm--299-2196

Tymphany/VIFA 1 inch silk Domes

http://www.parts-express.com/peerless-by-tymphany-bc25sc06-04-1-textile-dome-tweeter--264-1028

$50 in the front stage. I ran this same combo in my F150 for the better part of this entire year. Recently swapped the mids for some Silverflutes, just might go back idk yet.

Use a Fosgate R300x4(so 60w a channel or so) and a Clarion CZ702($130 3 way active headunit).

On 1/4/2013 at 9:31 PM, HatersGonnaHate said:

Wow. 184 posts and I think you're a fucking asshole.

 

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I ended up going with the Pioneer MVH-X560BT. I honestly didn't even think about going active using the head units crossovers. That might change everything. Those CT Sounds Strato components are starting to look nicer for the pricer.

The tweeter you linked would be a bit too big for the outside diameter, and I would have to figure out a grill situation since these would be in the kick panels.

Let me start looking through my manual for the crossovers.

Thank you.

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It looks like the active setup through the deck won't work, as there is no way to band-pass the mids. I can set the deck to High Pass at 80 or whatever, but the amp doesn't have a Low pass around the 3500KHz or so that the tweeter typically starts taking over. I would be missing 400hz to 3.5Khz.

But still the CT Sounds Strato set are on my tired mind. I will sleep on it and see if there are any more recommendations.

  • HPF: The head unit's 12dB/octave high pass filter only allows frequencies higher than those in the selected range (50, 63, 80, 100, 125Hz) to your front and rear speakers through the unit's speaker-level or line-level outputs.
  • LPF: The subwoofer preamp output features an18dB/octave low pass filter so only frequencies lower than those in the selected range (50, 63, 80, 100, 125Hz) are output to your connected subwoofer.
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Too bad they are too big. I really like them. Could always trim them down a little. I had to to get them to fit on my pillars how I wanted them too.

Location dependent, you could find someone with a SMD CC-1 to set your crossovers up for you on the amps.

On 1/4/2013 at 9:31 PM, HatersGonnaHate said:

Wow. 184 posts and I think you're a fucking asshole.

 

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