Help me choose my speakers.

[DemolitionNine]

Hey guys, I own a 95' Ford Thunderbird LX w/ the 4.6L V8.

It's time to change out the crap-tastic stock stereo, since I'm getting my taxes back here real soon.

I don't have a *ton* of money like some of you guys, but I have about $450 to play with total.

I've chosen to get the Alpine CDA-9830 headunit, as it's on sale at Crutchfield.com, and has all the features I need & want.

The problem comes down to the speakers.

Should I go with 3-ways, or 2-ways?

I'm looking at the Rockford Fosgate FRC4368 3-Way units, for all 4 corners of my car.

For $79.99 a pair, they're awesome.

My question is this. Do Infinity's sound that much better than Fosgates?
My sister has some Infinity Kappa's in her Nissan, and to be honest they sound WORSE than my friend's car who has this pair of Fosgates. Could it just be the vehicle? His fosgate's have more bass, sound clearer, and crisper, especially at louder volumes.

I don't have enough money to AMP the speakers, so I'll be running off of the stock pre-amp for a while. Later I'll incorporate 2 amps, and 2 subs. (one amp for the speakers, and one amp for the subs.)

What route would you guys recommend on the front door speakers, and the rear kick panel speakers?

Thanks for the help, as I'll be doing this all myself.

-Matt

[DemolitionNine]

Or not.

Nevermind.... :/

[tbreihan]

Originally Posted by DemolitionNine

Or not.

Nevermind.... :/

I almost replied to this yesterday, but then I ended up typing around four paragraphs and found myself rambling, so I gave up. Nevertheless, I will give you a response now.

First of all, I assume the 6X8 is the drop-in replacement size for your Ford (this is a common size in FoMoCO vehicles, or used to be, anyway.) Ordinarily, a round-cone driver is going to play with less inherent cone distortion (i.e. clearer) than an ovoid-cone driver. Admittedly, an oviod-cone driver is going to have more area with which to move air, so the bass response will typically be amplified, but often times at the expense of midrange clarity and definition. Of course, depending on you vehicle, this may be completely insignificant. However, as a general rule, round drivers will give you the best sound quality.

That being said, you should buy the speakers YOU think sound the best to YOU. Asking if 'Infinity Kappas are going to sound x much better than Rockford Fosgate whatevers' and then telling me that you think the Kappa's that your sister has sound worse than the R-Fs is really answering your question, isn't it? A lot of people like the Kappas, but if you don't, then you will never be happy with them. I personally don't care for the sound of any Infinity speakers, save for their subs, and I love my MB Quarts. Likewise, many people don't like the MB Quarts, but swear by the Kappas. Does that make one of us wrong? No. It just means that we will buy what we like and be happy with it.

Now, as for your system, there are some things that you are going to want to take into consideration. The first, and probably the most important, is going to do with the power ratings of whatever speakers you choose. Now, you are planning to run your full-range sets off of your reciever, at least for some time while you save for a full-range amplifier. The head unit you want is rated at 18W RMS. Now, I don't know how accurate that rating actually is, but I would certainly assume that 18W is the absolute maximum RMS output per channel that you will ever see from that amp, and you probably won't be able to sustain 18WX4 at all. We're talking about a relatively meager amount of power here.

In my old car, I ran Infinity Reference coaxials off of my Clarion reciever with a similar power rating. These Infinities were roughly twice as sensitive as the R-Fs you are considering, and they often sounded somewhat flat at higher volumes. Also, it was easy to push the reciever into clipping at volumes that one wouldn't consider unreasonable.

The speakers you want may run off of head unit you want, but they probably wont sound to great doing it (I am not personally familiar with them, though, so I don't know for sure.) What you really need to get is an amp to run these things. An amp will also allow you run heavier duty, less sensitive speakers because you will have more power to drive them, and speakers like these (MB Quarts would be one such speaker) may be to your liking.

I pieced my system together in phases like you are planning on doing, and I did it in these steps:

-Phase One: Reciever with stock speakers
-Phase Two: Subwoofers and amp
-Phase Three: Full-range speakers and amp

I think that this plan will allow you to get best gains in sound quality without forcing you to make sacrifices now that will haunt you down the line as your whole system gets better.

Incidentally, I'll tell you what I am currently running...

Clarion DXZ645MP receiver
MB Quart Reference RCE213 front components
MB Quart Discus DKE110 rear components
JL Audio e4300 full-range amp
Infinity Reference 1032W subs
Rockford-Fosgate 201s sub amp
20 GB Apple iPod

I put that system together over a span of about 11-13 months and I've spent almost $1600 on it so far, not including the iPod. That said, it is to me right now the perfect system.

Hopefully this was helpful and not too long-winded. It shound give you some things to think about at least.

Later...

[DemolitionNine]

Wow!

Thanks a TON for taking the time to respond with that much detail. I really appreciate it, and will definitely take those items into consideration when I choose my speakers here shortly, and while I piece together my system.

Thanks man! Mucho appreciato!

-Matt

[1986BMW325es]

Two 6x9 Sony + a MTX 200 Watt amp would be good.. that what im using, 250 dlls total.

[DemolitionNine]

Originally Posted by 1986BMW325es

Two 6x9 Sony + a MTX 200 Watt amp would be good.. that what im using, 250 dlls total.

Interesting choices...

[1986BMW325es]

well for my opinion it sounds very nice.. the bass, all.

[carstereopro]

Originally Posted by 1986BMW325es

Two 6x9 Sony + a MTX 200 Watt amp would be good.. that what im using, 250 dlls total.

This makes me smile, I'm the Sony and MTX rep for New England, so thanks for supporting the companies that pay me.

[1986BMW325es]

really? nice... lol. Sony & MTX OwnZ.... give a free mtx sub =D

[carstereopro]

I cover New England, If I was the rep for Mexico, I'd try to take care of you, but you are way out of my territory.

Just feel good knowing that for the last three years, MTX AUDIO has made the most reliable amplifiers made in the USA.

Also, All of the Sony speakers made the last two years are the best sounding that Sony has ever made, and some of the best you can buy for the money.

[1986BMW325es]

[carstereopro]

Ok, you send me some fresh tacos and burritos first!!



J/K

[1986BMW325es]

looooooooool for sure i will =)=)

[DemolitionNine]

Welp. I chose 6.5" Infinity Kappa Components for the front doors.

We'll find out how they sound tomorrow night!

-Matt

[1986BMW325es]

try the sony's n mtx amp for back