Best 6.5 component auto speakers for sound quality?

tubeboob

Super Member
I'm looking to seriously upgrade my mobile car system.

I am looking for 6.5 inch component speakers which put out clean quality sound.

I have heard Polk SR series and really loved them, sound quality was far and above anything else I had auditioned.

Problem is that Polk does not make these masterpieces any more.

So what do I audition to fill the void left by the Polk SR series?

I need to get two pair of components, and while cost is considered, I am willing to pay more for audiophile sound quality.

I have heard of Dynaudio and Focal, but have not auditioned either of them and am not sure of what models to look for.

Your considered expertise and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Head unit: Panasonic CQ-TX5500W
Amplifier: Not yet chosen???

Cheers
 
If you want the best components, I'd look into (in no particular order):

- Focal
- Dynaudio
- Rainbow
- DLS

As for subs, my only recommendation is JL Audio.

As for amps, McIntosh or Zapco.
 
Unless you must have a passive crossover, you can get WAY more bang for the buck with raw drivers from Madisound/PE etc, than you can with prepackaged car-fi speakers. Not to mention I'm a huge proponent of active system in the car over passive crossovers.
 
Some of the old precision power amps were great as well as older phoenix gold, yamaha, harman kardon just to name a few. I am running a pc 650 in my good car right now, powering a pair of 10" mtx black gold subs, and a set of shallow kenwood excelon components in the doors. I would post pics but i am going to be re making the entire set up properly for the hatch area, and also i will ve making kick pods to mount them in and possibly getting some midbass speakers for the doors.

In my beater i am running polk ex's in the doors and polk db's in the rear deck. I have an old soundstream reference 604 powering a infinity kappa 10" green coned dvc sub as well in there.

I do need to find a set of tweeters though as one of mine seems to have went out. Or i may be in the same boat as you buying new components.

As for recommendations, i havent auditioned many new sets. The last new set i had was around 4-5 years ago. I was running 2 pairs of powerbass 6 1/2 components, sounded great powered by an older rockford fosgate amp. I had that paired with a large mono kenwood amp powering a 12" dvc infinity kappa perfect. Powerbass is actually a pretty good company overall IMHO. I am hearing good things about bostons new stuff. I may have to check them out for my self. Sorry for the bit off topic. LOL
 
I have heard good things about Focal myself.

I like Precision Power old school "art series" amps, I just picked up a pair of Kicker 6.5's for my pathfinder and they were half off, got them for $64.99 delivered and they sound pretty good so far, Have 6.5" Alpines in my other car, here's a pic of my PPI amps the left one I bought brand new back in 91 still going strong, it feeds 2 -12" kicker subs and is 200 x 2, right amp is a 5075DX with the built in digital x-over that can be controlled with the remote controller that connects using a fiber optic cable. Finally found that controller not too long ago:

14t96s4.jpg
 
I have heard good things about Focal myself.

I like Precision Power old school "art series" amps, I just picked up a pair of Kicker 6.5's for my pathfinder and they were half off, got them for $64.99 delivered and they sound pretty good so far, Have 6.5" Alpines in my other car, here's a pic of my PPI amps the left one I bought brand new back in 91 still going strong, it feeds 2 -12" kicker subs and is 200 x 2, right amp is a 5075DX with the built in digital x-over that can be controlled with the remote controller that connects using a fiber optic cable. Finally found that controller not too long ago:

I remember those old PPI amps, we used to sell that at the shop I used to work at in the late 80's and early 90's, Great amplifiers, we eventually dropped the PPI stuff for Rockford Fosgate and remember being skeptical but the Fosgate stuff proved to be good too...just not as classy looking as the PPI artsy stuff, I still have my Punch 45HD and Redline subs:thmbsp:

I remember that fiber optic controller, we did a couple systems using those, it was pretty cool as it also had graphics that matched the look of the amps.
 
Nice amps. I always liked the looks and sounds of the art series amps.

The older rf stuff was very nice. i had a 4 cannel amp and a punch 100 dsm amp a while back. Just sold them.

I did keep my first amp which is an old yamaha 4 channel ypa-1000. Its a great sounding amp that a ran my entire system off of when i fist got my license. It is damn heavy and rated at 50x4.
 
I would recommend Memphis Audio's 6.5 M class separates. I have a pair in one of my cars. They sound pretty darn good. As others have said, Focal.

Good quality car speakers are hard to find. I sure miss the old days of car audio...
 
Pioneer makes pretty decent stuff, especially headunits, thier 2 way coaxials with the silver cones I find nice sounding, and the amps are pretty ace. Not sure about thier other speakers though, I imagine they also sound good.
 
Pioneer actually has some high end car audio speakers, but they're quite pricey. it's the PRS line.


Turborusty
 
Unless you must have a passive crossover, you can get WAY more bang for the buck with raw drivers from Madisound/PE etc, than you can with prepackaged car-fi speakers. Not to mention I'm a huge proponent of active system in the car over passive crossovers.
+1 on the raw drivers :thmbsp:
 
I loved the Peerless CSX series, a better where the Scan Speak paper pulp series..I used a xover from Madisound.
 
I've used Elemental Designs components and enjoy them very much. They can take quite a bit of power and the bass is quite good for a 6.5" driver in a door. I have mine crossed at 60Hz 24db/oct. Same with there subs. I'm also using a 13Ov3 sub (NLA). The sub is loaded into a RLH. For amps, I'm using a trio of old Ultimate Audio pushing 150w/ch into the doors and 600w going to the sub. No eq other than the Kenwood deck. I've gotten quite a few complements on the system, even from my wife who does NOT like it loud :)

It's clean, dynamic, and (sometimes) loud!!
 
Problem is that Polk does not make these masterpieces any more.

So what do I audition to fill the void left by the Polk SR series?

The Polk SR6500 are still available at alot of dealers. I know woofersetc.com still lists them.
 
Unless you must have a passive crossover, you can get WAY more bang for the buck with raw drivers from Madisound/PE etc, than you can with prepackaged car-fi speakers. Not to mention I'm a huge proponent of active system in the car over passive crossovers.

The problem with that is either you rely on a megabuck head unit's DSP or you buy an expensive EQ and an RTA. Most people dont' have access to either.
 
for drop in,one stop shopping...the best sounding i found were infinity kappa's,the reference series are decent as well,not as nice as the kappa's but about half the cost...i'm not sure i would class either as truly high end,but they are an upgrade to most any OEM and sound better than many in thier price range..worth investigating
 
The problem with that is either you rely on a megabuck head unit's DSP or you buy an expensive EQ and an RTA. Most people dont' have access to either.

DSP is for those afraid of sawzalls (proper speaker placement)

When I was competing in IASCA I used to set up for the RTA part of scoring with a radio shack digital SPL meter on a tripod set on the drivers seat and a CD with sweeps of the applicable test tones. Rarely scored beneath most of the guys who used RTA's.

Funny enough tho a car that is tuned to be perfectly flat usually sounds like ass.




'
 
The problem with that is either you rely on a megabuck head unit's DSP or you buy an expensive EQ and an RTA. Most people dont' have access to either.


All you need over a car marketed passive set is an electronic crossover, well and two more amplifier channels. Eq and DSP are not limited to just raw drivers only, and they're not required for either raw or drivers or passive systems.

I used a Pioneer Premier DEH-880PRS deck that had a built in 3 way crossover, eq and time alignment. It only cost about $300. Plus I saved money buy not buying an a passive set, so I could use any mid or tweeter I wanted.
 
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