Looking for speakers to use with factory deck and amp

[Coaxial]

Hello everyone. I just found this site and it looked interesting to me so I joined. I am not new to audio but I have been absent from it for a few years so some of my knowledge is a bit rusty. In the past I have had several small systems in several different vehicles, but nothing huge. I've installed speakers, amps, decks, and other things for friends too, and even built a sub box in my last system. That's a little bit of background on me.

I bought a brand new 2014 Nissan Frontier truck last fall, so it is a year old now. I'm interested to replace the stock speakers, although at this point I don't know if I'll add an amp or not. I definitely don't want to change the head unit, though, and I believe this truck has a stock amp under the passenger seat. Since I suspect this amp would be low powered, I think I need to go with some pretty efficient speakers, in the 90dB+ range. I also am not really interested in spending a lot, I just want to dabble in car audio again, so I would probably just purchase these from Amazon. I have been looking at the Kenwood KFC-1665s 6.5's for the rear doors, and KFC-6965s 6x9's for the front doors. Any reason to think these would not do well on modest factory power?

One thing I want to do is maintain the midbass the factory system has, so thats why I looked at these, for their efficiency and power handling range, but I also want to improve the highs and overall clarity too. I know sometimes when you replace speakers, the highs improve but the midbass gets worse. I'd like to avoid that if possible. Any suggestions for a simple speaker replacement that would meet this goal?

[White Lightning]

Welcome to SMD. I see no problems with the Kenwoods, just make sure to prep your doors with baffles, sound deadning, and proper reinstallation of the door panels.

[Coaxial]

I have several questions if you wouldn't mind helping me just a bit more.

Will adding sound deadening material and baffles help retain the midbass I have now? Why don't the factory speakers require this for them to perform like they do? I like the idea of foam baffles behind the speaker to protect from moisture, but I wonder, is this enough air space for good performance? I have not used them in the past so I have no experience.

In my head, it seems that adding sound deadening all across the whole door frame, covering every hole, would make it like one large enclosure. I haven't used this in the past but I'd guess the clear plastic film on the door would need to be removed first before installing the deadening material. But with the speaker in the baffle, the air space in the door would be isolated from it, so any enclosure effect gained from the sound deadening would be useless, so it would just be to prevent vibrations only, right? What if I didn't use a baffle, so that the speaker used the entire door as an enclosure. Would that improve the midbass? I'm pretty sure from looking at other installs in my model of truck that the factory speakers are just mounted in the doors with no baffle enclosure behind them. I'd use a foam gasket around the mount hole for sure.

Of course I'd prefer the baffle all around the rear of the speaker to protect from weather. I lost a good set of Eclipse speakers once due to having no rear protection. The rubber surrounds just fell apart. Don't want that again. I think baffles would have helped prevent this. I just wonder how they would sound with such a small air space behind them.

Thank you for the response.

[White Lightning]

The last Frontier with a factory system I picked up on my wrecker (think it was an arrest) sounded awful to me so I'm sure that anything you can do to those doors will be an improvement. If you have a problem with water getting in your doors with that late model vehicle, you have a factory defect and need to get it checked out while it's under warranty.

[Coaxial]

So far no water gets into the doors of this one that I know of. The truck I had the issue with was a 92 Chevy 1500. It was about 14-15 years old when it happened. I didn't know it was happening, then one day the speakers started sounding really scratchy so when I looked, I saw that the rubber surrounds were starting to come apart. As I touched them, the rubber would come off in strips. It had just dilapidated. I always thought this was due to moisture. I had actually cut and added these speakers in where none had been before. My next set was a set of Polk db650's, marine grade, and they lasted about 7 years and were still like new when I sold the truck I put them in (not the same truck, but a 97 Chevy 1500). I only got about 2 years from the Eclipse speakers. I think baffles might have helped.

[Andrew Storlie]

Dayton audio....... they sound amazing, are loud, and are cheap. Here are the 6.5" speakers
http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-rs150-4-6-reference-woofer-4-ohm--295-372

Rated at 40rms so a radio isnt going to blow them even with clipping if you max the radio out. I have 2 of the 4" versions of these in a custom sound bar and the sound is amazing, you can see them herehttp://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/198453-custom-sound-bar-for-computer-desk-built-in-amp-and-aero-ports/

you can also add a cross over ad tweeter down the road for more clarity but those 6" speakers can reach pretty high frequencies by themselves.

[Andrew Storlie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K22EzGPqBgc these are the 7" versions but still the same thing. i can tell you from personal exp that they sound soooo good