helius

I'm looking to replace all four speakers for my 92 Camry, and am in the "looking stage" (The factory originals are becoming rather unbearable). After the horrendous experience I had with Circuit City installing my CD changer, I've basically decided to buy what I want from Crutchfield and install it myself. My questions are:

- What is the going price on decent speakers? I don't really need/want anything spectacular, just something that's "pretty decent".

- Would I be better off buying a "matching set", or does it not matter? i.e. two identical pairs for the front kickpanel and the rear deck?

- Speaker sizes. Over at Crutchfield's site they automatically filter out speakers that won't fit my vehicle, but the sizes on the remaining ones still vary quite a bit. Case in point: The Infinity Kappa 6.2i and 6.52i. Except for their physical dimensions, they both look identical from their specs. Is bigger better?

ek5686

Those Infinity Kappas are nice man. But just to let you know, try not to buy them at Crutchfield. They charge a lot. Try to shop around for them online and buy it for cheaper. But do buy a manual on how to install it for your car from Crutchfield. A site for cheap stereo stuff is http://www.onlinestereo.com. I've been looking for speakers and amps for a while and this site has been the cheapest overall. if you don't go all out on your system, don't get components for your car, get regular coaxial speakers. if you get a component set, make sure you amp them up.

late..hope this helps

helius

Crutchfield sells their manuals / wiring harnesses separately? How do I get them?

Thanks for the reply, but onlinestereo.com seems to be down.

[Edited by helius on 01-10-2001 at 04:08 AM]

Realrammstein

Components really are more expensive, but sound best. Coaxials are a viable alternative(and sig. cheaper). your stock speaker holes can fit a speaker size(but that can typically vary by as much as .5 inches). You should go listen to speakers at car audio shops and sections(like Al& Ed's, Circuit City, Best Buy, etc). then find ones ou really like, and then buy them online. Car audio shops tend to try and quick-talk you into buying what they have a surplus of(or get the highest profit). Just don;t give in. Hope that helps.

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Grizybaer

I remember being able to D/L their installation manual in a PDF format (crutchfield). I'll look for the link when i get back to school.

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Great, so how much is shipping?

att

speakers are easy to install, just positive and negative contact points. if you buy an amp, it will come with directions, so i wouldnt trip on an installation guide. if you get all the stuff and have questions, you'll be able to find answers online. i recently bought a pair of boston acoustic speakers for my car and they pretty much rule, the infinity kappas are nice too, it really depends on what kind of music you listen to, if you want more bass response from your speakers, you'll want to get something else. this is where crutchfield comes in handy-they list frequency response for their speakers so you can match components to what you need for your listening preferences. i would pick out some speakers on their site, go to a few b/m stores and listen to them and ask what is comparable, then find the best deal.

ufcrusher

Depends on what you want, and how much you want to spend. If you want high end, you could go with some Polk MOMO's which will kick most other speakers out there. The rest of the pack kinda hinges on what kind of music you like to listen to, what you prefer bass or treble, and your budget. That being said, Boston (rally's included) are known to be more treble, less bass. Polks across the board are known as being a bit more bassy. Then you have your standard Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer, and sony speakers. Almost all manufacturers of decks make their own speakers. Any of them would be an improvement over factory speakers, but with most of the cheaper manufacturer speakers, its not that much of an upgrade. Pioneer does make some decent entry level speakers, that most people are happy with. Then you have your other brands such as Rockford Fosgate, JL audio, MTX, and Infinitys. The reality is most of the brands that I mentioned make decent speakers, it just depends on what you are trying to do with them (Such as just improve your overall sound or rock out your car) and your budget as to which ones to get.

The most important thing to do, and generally I recommend this before getting new speakers is to nake sure you have a good head unit. You didnt mention what kind of head unit you had, and it seemed to me that you probably were trying to use a factory deck. A new head unit, even with factory speakers will vastly improve your sound. Most factory decks are extremely low powered (8 watts per speaker used to be the average, now some of the premier sound systems will step up to 20 or 30 watts, but that is rare) and dont provide a good source signal. Once you have the new head unit which will typically be a 40 watt or higher unit per channel, you can then work on the rest of your system.

The other ways to clean up your sound is to add amps to the system. When you add an amp, it generally has more power, with lower harmonic distortion, and less interference, which leads to a much better sound. Its not necessarily about blowing your eardrums out while you are driving, but more power will actually help you have better sound at a lower volume. You could get seperate amps for front and back, and add one for a sub if you were so inclined, or you could get multichannel amps to use to run different combinations of all the speakers.

As i said, it all depends on what you want to do.

kil45

though crutchfield may have a nice selection and really good customer service, their prices are outrageous. i suggest checking out ebay for better prices on whatever set of speakers you've picked out or soundhabit.com or thezeb.com. Another problem is that crutchfield only carries household names like pioneer, infinity, kenwood, etc. they dont carry phoenix gold, soundstream, jl audio, etc.

helius

Pennypinch:
Yeah, I still have the original deck. And no, I don't really need/want the kind of insane bass that literally shakes the entire car. Since I'm planning on keeping the car for 3-5 years, what I'm looking to do is to get (wait for) a decent second generation mp3 deck player, and to replace the four factory speakers. I listen to mostly pop stuff, and a wee bit of classical (which sounds like crap in my car), so bass really isn't all that important to me. Any suggestions on modestly priced speakers?

kil45:
Only reason why I was thinking of Crutchfield is because of their CS. The hardest repair/maintenance-type stuff I've done on any car is to pop open the hood, look at the engine oil dipstick, and refill the windshield wiper fluid.

Kebs

Diamound Audio

MBQuart

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