I have written this for all of you out there shopping for "the best speaker for this setup". Hopefully you have learned to use the search fuction and you will find this posting before you make the mistake of asking that question as it is not capable of being answered. It is all based off of your own preferances and the amount you can afford to spend, so I have written a guide to help you discover what those are. -Ok first the basics. A round speaker is normally going to produce a cleaner midbass, but will have a little less surface area so less bass actually being pushed. Oval speakers are the opposite, a little more bass and a little more tendancy to distort. When it comes to upgrading your car stereo system, with very few exceptions the Head Unit (HU) is the most essential upgrade. without it you probably do not even have enough wattage being produced to power aftermarket speakers. When shopping for mid speakers you basically have two options, coaxial or component. Coax are generally more affordable and can sound quite nice, but generally suffer due to the lack of seperation of bass and treble. Once you step up to a component system, the supplied crossover seperates the signal and sends bass only to the bass driver and treble only to the tweeter. You therefor recieve cleaner more well rounder sound from both. Also remeber as the price increases, so does the wattage. That can open up another series of issues due to the need of a larger amp. Also causing a higher strain on your electrical system and need for yet more upgrades. -Price ranges. Most good quality made car speakers cannot be had for under $100 (barring sales and clearances). I generally break down a well made set of speakers into one of three price ranges (mind you there is some bleeding between these ranges). $100-200 A very good set of coaxial drivers ranging from 5.25, 6.5, 5x7, or 6x9 can be had at this price and will produce a good quality sound. These types of speakers can normally be powered off of an aftermarked HU and sound clear. They will not necessarily be free of distortion, but should still be able to produce a full spectrum of clean sound and be enjoyable to the ear and normal listening volume. $200-300 Now we step up to entry level component speakers. They can be found in mostly the same sizes, but are most common in 5.25 and 6.5. Components offer a few big advantages over coaxial speakers. The main two are the splitting of the signal I refered to earlier and that you have more options of placement with two seperate speakers. Components normally have higher wattage capabilities and are constructed using better quality materials. One major drawback is that they are not commonly capable of being powered without an amplifier. $300-400 Once you commit to investing this type of money you main gain over the more affordable component systems is midbass. Normally the construction of the midbass driver in a high end set of component speakers is much more pronounced and defined. you should be able to consistently hit lower cleaner bass notes and have a much broader spectrum of midbass being produced. These types of components must be amplified to see any gain over the lower priced models. IMO anything more than the $300-400 range and you are no longer shopping for sound quality, but more of what level of volume you can produce that same quality. -Testing out what is right for you Now its time to lace up your boots and hit the road. Go find yourself as many car audio shops as possible. Don't worry about if they have the best pricing, you just want to hear how the speakers sound. Try and find shops with large selections and remember that ever shop has there own bias towards certain brands so dont ask for there opinions! Get a good feel for what sounds best to you. when listening make sure every speaker is being run off the same amp and songs so that you get a fair comparison. Don't run any other speakers or subwoffers along with the one you are testing as it will not give a true image of the speaker. I would also suggest that you bring in your own music that you know well so you can get a feel for where each speaker excels and lacks compared to how you have heard it played in the past. Use music that will help you to understand what the limitations of the speaker is. Use music that will produce many different sounds and effects in many different ranges as to truley test what each speaker is capable of. Try taking notes. Write down what you liked about each speaker, so you don't forget what you liked about speaker A when you are now listening to speaker R three days later after visiting 6 other shops. Also remember that the sound can and will change based off of the imaging provided by the enviroment the speaker is in. If you are listening to a speaker flush mounted on a wall, via 3/4 in MDF, on axis (facing towards you), with no obstructions, it will sound completely different than in your car at knee level direct bolted to sheet metal. Just try and remember that when you are listening. -Buying When all that is said and done, then hit the internet and find out what is fair market pricing on the speaker you have chosen. I always suggest that if a shop is priced fairly, then buy it from them. Not only will you be supporting the local economy, but you will have someone to come back to if something goes wrong. Hope this helps.
