2 way vs. 3 way in e36???

[Tom///m3]

I am very close to buying A/D/S 345is 2 way components and putting them in my e36, but I am wondering if I will regret not getting a 3 way setup and filling up the mid speaker location in the door. I have heard people say 345is sounds great, but its 2 way and I am wondering if I will miss a ton in my music by not having a 4" driver. Will I miss much?? Will I be blown away with the 345is vs. the 3 nokia speakers and just not care 3 way vs. 2 way? The only thing that concerns me is that all the mid frequencies will be coming from feet and none from the door, any ideas? I have a Zapco amp powering the 3 way stock setup now,would the 345is be much better? I could just hold off and save more for a 3 way, but it cost so much more. Thank you for your input.

[RayMan]

Excellent choice for speakers. The a/d/s speakers should be tons better than the factory drivers. The factory mids don't produce a frequenct range much different than the factory tweeters so they're really more for show than SQ. You might want to consider mounting your tweeter down by the 5.25" drivers. This will help equalize the distance of the right and left channels and give you better sound.

[mascabre]

A dedicated midrange is a great thing to have, however if you decide to go that route, I recomend you do a few things, dampen the hell out of your door panels, and then when you think you are done dampen some more.

If you feel obliged to use factory locations, you may want to get an additional tweet and place it on the a-pillars, to raise the hieght of your soundstage. Wiring the mid on the oppisite out of phase should help a bit with imaging locations.

Currently I have a cdt audio 642 setup, and the accuracy of these drivers is phenomenal. Mounted in stock locations in an e36 coupe.

I would advice to stay away from a/d/s they have had financial difficulties over the past few years and not have created and decent products. Directed has bought them out and probably intends to bank on a good name of the past.

THere are many newer companies that are attempting to make a name for themselves and have a great product also.

Feel free to hit some audio dedicated sites if you want to go at this indepth, www.elitecaraudio.com is my favorite board when it comes to that.

Nes

[raceyBMW]

Actually, it is better to have the mid and tweet near the feet in the kickpanels. It creates a better soundstage, as this is the place where the distance from the speaks to your ear is closest to being equal (which can never actually happen in a car). If you want to go that far, you could even build custom enclosures near the feet so you could mount the mid and tweet near each other. And if not, the stock location should be fine also, the other way would just give you a more perfect soundstage. You should be fine with just the 2-way like RayMan said. I put a pair of Orion hcca 5s in and they sound pretty amazing, even unamped.