SQ speakers under $400

[Jessica]

a lot of people will say running active is best. This can be true but, not always. some passive crossovers are more than just a high pass for the tweeter and a low pass for the mid. Since you are wanting true SQ with inexpensive speakers, then you are going to probably want some time alignment, good processing and test speaker placement and angle.

Just running active and using a 3 band eq could be worse than using a passive crossover and bi-amping. Anyway. Other things too can help with sq, IMO, cars with lots of vinyl in the interior can be harder to get to sound good. Carpet has a unique way of keep sound from reflecting, and then you have things like standing waves and resonance from various body panels that can muddy up certain freq.

There is a thread on here somewhere about how different x-over slopes effect the phase of the speaker too, so that is something to watch for.

I think true SQ comes more from experience than equipment.

[Chris Hammer]

Just to go off your comment about carpet...I believe it was over on the DIYMA forum I was reading that soem of the sq heads over there were having good luck with dash mat/carpet and installing a dashmat in their car actually helped the staging and reflections from those panels/windsheild. Just food for thought. I'm a newb but doing my best to learn.

[genesis]

yes, carpet can help eliminate reflections off the dash, although it looks tacky as hell (imo, of course!). ive often wondered if maybe a microsuede could have the same effect, while looking much better. ive tried leather, but it still had reflections.

active is nice, if you have a method of tuning them, the knowledge of where to place them (although this goes with any speaker), and, most importantly, the ears and skill to correctly tune them. most systems are missing one of these. id venture to say 80% of the people running active would actually be better served with a nice passive component set-up.

madisound is a good place to look, so is parts express (I really like a lot of the dayton drivers)

[MarkDB]

having here,

Focal p 165 v 30 Running active on a audison amp sounds damn great!!!!!

[customaudioman]

I would say Illusion Audio components, but the luccent or the carbon components. But they are out of your price range. They have a nice entry level one for $299 the Electra components they have bi-amp crossovers. I just got some PHD components in yesterday and wired them up to the board, oh man these are so nice. They retail under $400.

They are the PHD 6.1 pro. they can handle 150watts per side. the midbass is so accurate and precise. the silk dome tweeters are very smooth. They where hanging with my $1,000 carbon c6 components. Im a believer in the phd pros and the brand , awesome. I put these against any components around the $700 range they will come out on top. I only use high end $700+ components in installs. This is definitely is going to be my go to budget components period.

[customaudioman]

also Ive done many passive setups and a lot of active ones using mosconi 6to8 and 4to6 dsp. Ive had some passive setups that sounded better then the active ones.

its important to have good speaker placement, tuning and having good head room in the amp. more power the better.

[TITUS1985]

You said you were thinking about the Hertz HSK 165... those will be great speakers for the price. I'm running the HSK 163's passive off of a Hertz HDP4 (150 X 4) and couldn't be happier with the sound, the tweeter is soft but still present and there is a lot of mid bass with the 3 ways (not sure about the mid bass driver for the 165's because the 3 ways get a specific mid bass driver) I also have HSK 130 2 ways in my rear deck and they sound amazing as well but the 5 1/4 woofer definitely can not keep up with the 6 1/2 from the 3 ways.

Just throwing my 2 cents our there and good luck with the decision.

[customaudioman]

The PHD FB6.1 pros components will defiantly sound better then the hertz hsk 165. the hsk are good but not as good as the FB 6.1 pros.

[BoomZoom808]

Been looking at the CS 265.25 Germanium : 6.5" 2-Way Component System yet i cant find them online

Been looking at the CS 265.25 Germanium : 6.5" 2-Way Component System yet i cant find them online

These are amazing sounding speakers

[michigancapri92]

you definetly do not need to run active ... if you can phisically time align the speaker and the tweeter you dont need to run active. In my capri i have a 5.25 passive component set and placed 4th in world finals ... and im sorry but sound quality is not 90% install ... its 50/50. people who want true SOUND QUALITY and say its 90% install is someone who has a small budget and wishing for sound quality.