What are the best car speakers

[pioneer 1250]

My dad and i have a 1972 chevelle (drag car) and we want to put a pair of good aftermarket speakers in the car. I would like to know the best speaker to put into the car and not spending $500+ (best bang for the buck). The car has an after market pioneer sterio in it just want to get some good speakers and if the speakers go best with a spacific sterio then please tell.
Thanks, James

 

[Djcoolray]

Best bang for the buck is Pioneer automotive stereo products as long as you get the top of the line high end products. I believe it would be the Pioneer DEH-P3100....$230 ! It's a 45 watt four speaker system so matching up speakers from Clutchfield or Pioneer for price won't be that difficult as long as you stay at 45 watts. If your going with an amp/EQ that's an entirely different situation. I've got a Pioneer Super Tuner III set-up in a supercharged '65 Dodge Coronet 426 Wedge RB engine with 383 RB crank and rods to lower compression for the supercharger, deck heighth is taller on the 426 Wedge RB motor. The car was originally a 413 Super Stock model....

 

[Kingshead]

Years ago running a little Rockford Punch 45 to drive a set of full range speaks in the dash of a 1984 Toyota 4X4 pickup. Originally started with a nice little set of Polks, they gave up the ghost after a short while. Changed to Infinity, one of my favorite brands. One evening jamming out going down the road I began to smell smoke, glanced over at the right side dash speaker and I see flames.

These were not the only speaks in the small truck cab, or Rockford amp, so the stressed speakers went unnoticed until too late, it was quite loud at the time.

Why the long story? Well, my next choice was a sweet little pair of Kickers, those little buggers took everthing that little amp could dish out, and then some. The truck is no longer with me, but I believe the speakers are one of the few items to survive the great sell off of 2012, yes they were that good.

 

[damacman]

Best bang for the buck is Pioneer automotive stereo products as long as you get the top of the line high end products. I believe it would be the Pioneer DEH-P3100....$230 ! It's a 45 watt four speaker system so matching up speakers from Clutchfield or Pioneer for price won't be that difficult as long as you stay at 45 watts. If your going with an amp/EQ that's an entirely different situation. I've got a Pioneer Super Tuner III set-up in a supercharged '65 Dodge Coronet 426 Wedge RB engine with 383 RB crank and rods to lower compression for the supercharger, deck heighth is taller on the 426 Wedge RB motor. The car was originally a 413 Super Stock model....

Pics of said Coronet?

 

[Farmhand]

Back in the late 80s I had a Volkswagen Scirocco and put in a sound system including Rockford Fosgate "The Punch" speakers: 2x12" subs, 4 mid bass, 4 mid range and 2 tweets. If I'm not mistaken one of the mid range was buried behind the center fans on the dash.... Driving them was 3 Orion amps. I believe the one driving the subs was a 1000w (long rectangular thing) another 500w for the mids and another matching smaller amp driving the tweets.
All with a remote controlled big faced flip down deck. Looked like a tv set with buttons and the face would swing out with the CD going in behind.. I believe it was Pioneer but could have been Clerion or something like that.. I don't remember but boy was it ..... loud... Thank God I only had it for a month or two...I'd be brain dead today if I'd have kept that car...

Seems like the late '80s were the golden age of car audio. I had a Rabbit with a constantly evolving system. Somebody gave me a Power Plate 100 before I even knew what it was, and I traded it for a couple of other things. I was a bottom feeder where equipment was concerned, my first "subs" were a pair of Pyle 6x9s with the tweeters removed. Then a Pyle DVC and a Coustic amp, then a step way up to a Precision Power 2x30. Always separates of some kind in the front.
I don't know what's great these days; I have RF Prime separates in my Corolla, mainly due to price concerns. They're OK, I guess.

 

[Djcoolray]

Pics of said Coronet?

Sorry...

I've never been much for taking pictures, I've been busting my knuckles on cars all my life and don't see the point. I've always been big on interchangeability. Like a '56 Belair with a 348 engine, motor mounts and transmission mount from a '58 Belair or Impala, bell housing from a 409 and 4-speed from a '69 Z28 and 390 rear gears.....

 

[turboyam]

Jensen Tri-Axials! hahaahahah! sorry, i had to do it!.

 

[damacman]

Sorry...

I've never been much for taking pictures, I've been busting my knuckles on cars all my life and don't see the point. I've always been big on interchangeability. Like a '56 Belair with a 348 engine, motor mounts and transmission mount from a '58 Belair or Impala, bell housing from a 409 and 4-speed from a '69 Z28 and 390 rear gears.....

Come now, it's easy. Take that camera phone out and snap a pic or two and post it up for us to see. Mine is in my avatar . . . and I've spent many an hour busting knuckles on it.

 

[Djcoolray]

Come now, it's easy. Take that camera phone out and snap a pic or two and post it up for us to see. Mine is in my avatar . . . and I've spent many an hour busting knuckles on it.

Truthfully...

I'd have to get my daughter to do that for me and yes....my daughter did my avatar on AK ! I'm no good with computer stuff.....my daughter bought me a new phone just like hers and I hate it, one of those huge Samsung Galaxies. Thing is my daughter doesn't live here with me. I got a digital camera and I just washed the car yesterday but I don't know how to attach...sorry !

 

[whoaru99]

Best, well, dunno about that but I quite liked the pair of Alpine coaxials back in the day, in the rear deck of '74 Monte.

Liked the sound of Pioneer coaxials too at the price point, although no doubt there were technically better.

Didn't care much for triaxials. Had one set of homebrew separates for a while in the rear deck of a big Oldsmobile tanker, but at that time didn't have enough $$ for any decent electronics beyond a mediocre head unit.

 

[Kingshead]

Real easy with a smart phone, open a photobucket account, it's free, when you take pics store them in photobucket. Once they're in photobucket it's easy to attach them to your post.

 

[damacman]

Truthfully...

I'd have to get my daughter to do that for me and yes....my daughter did my avatar on AK ! I'm no good with computer stuff.....my daughter bought me a new phone just like hers and I hate it, one of those huge Samsung Galaxies. Thing is my daughter doesn't live here with me. I got a digital camera and I just washed the car yesterday but I don't know how to attach...sorry !

Look at the three buttons at the bottom right of the reply window - click on the one that says Upload a File. If you're on AK from your phone, you can upload any photo from your phone right to your post. Done.

 

[tanker 200]

I've had good luck with Parts Express Reference series speakers, They seem to be much higher quality for the price than speakers than what you find from Alpine or Pioneer. The little Heil tweeters work great in cars too

 

[pioneer 1250]

i just want to run speakers and possibly a new sterio no pre amps or anything like that i am also not planning on putting in subs. I am also listining to rock music liike rush, motley crue, guns and posers and other 80's rock music like that.
Thanks for all the input, James

Not to go off topic but if anyone was woundering what the chevelle was well here it ismy dad typed it up a while ago so i just copied it and pasted. "Bad Bowtie", The car started life as a bench seat, 350, 4 speed Malibu with 67,000 miles. I liked it as I can fit the whole family in it. We got the car back in 2004 from an Akron, OH gentleman who had a 496 in it, blew it up and had a dream to make it a 540. For health reasons he could not finish it, but had 95% of the parts, a
540 built, and a TH400 to go behind it. It sat for a few years before I had the funds and the time to finish it up. A few years ago I took the car to a “hotrod place” to finish it up. (A friend and I got
the engine and tranny in, but that was it…) To make a long story short the
“hotrod place” fired it up without priming it and it did not live long.

(I have learned a very valuable but costly lesson from this experience… First
“hotrod places” charge a ton of money and are not really that good at
something that is not a ground up where they use their parts that they are
familiar with. They actually build cookie cutter hotrod cars from an engine,
electrical & drive train perspective.)

Looking back I am grateful I took it there as believe it or not there was more
positive than negative. First, I can say I am very happy to find people from
this very club and others who helped solve issues and problems. After the
engine mishap my son JJ was fired up to get it done. He helped in the whole
process and I could not have gotten it done without him. I also had a good
friend Tim help with engine and tranny install and I am grateful for it. This was
my first experience putting together a car and had a lot of fun doing it and my
son has inspired me to take on an engine build this winter. He will be there
helping out.

The engine & drive train took on a whole new transformation and planning.
Took the block to Sputz Performance in Owatonna and I began to worked up a
plan. First, the goal was to build a killer street-able beast that would run on
pump gas, want to keep the cost down without sacrificing quality, and to learn
as much as possible from knowledgeable people. By surfing the ‘net I was able
to find many of the parts I needed at reasonable cost. Also by selling parts
from the original 540 build, I was able to recoup costs. Got all the parts to
Sputz and he went to putting it together.
The build
-557 BBC
-Merlin II 4.5 bore
-Callies 4 3/8" 4340 crank
-Callies H beam 4340 rods L19 bolts
-Mahle pack forged 4323 pistons 8cc dome
-AFR 335CNC heads 112cc chambers with Jessel shaft mount rockers
-ISKY EZ rollMAX "no needles" lifters
-Merlin SP intake
-Holley 1000HP carb
-TH400 built by Burt Brown Racing Transmissions (Straight Cut gears normal
Valve body)
-Pro Edge Converter @ 3200 stall
-Gear Vendors OD
-Denny's Nitro custom Driveshaft
-Strange Dana S60 with Detroit Locker, 4.10 gears, Wilwood disc brakes
-AFRC rear adjustable upper and lower control arms
-Spohn ARB
-Lemons headers and Flowmaster 40 3" exhaust
-Strange SA shocks all 4 corners
Engine dyno'd 758HP @ 6000RPM and 720FtLb @ 4900RPM

We still have our work cut out for us, tuning the suspension and updating the
converter. The car has a lot more potential. This winter we hope to send the
converter in to get re-stalled, and building a HydroBoost brake system. The
car is great on the street and I love to take it to the strip. Got to be careful, as
it runs a little fast at the track and we have no roll bar/cage (which we may
plan to get as it is so much fun). It is little hard on gas and do not take it for
long cruises. We’ve managed to put 1000 miles on it. The "bad bowtie" name
came from the black and red plate license plate my wife and son found that
says "Bad Bowtie". I just like to stick with small 2 strokes but my dad is letting me rebuild his 327 for his 67 impala in 10th grade engines class.
And here is a vid of it at the strip http://s469.photobucket.com/albums/rr60/sbsrkh1/Rock Fall 10-2-11/?action=view&current=VID00001.mp4

 

[misterj]

I replaced the speakers in my suv with hertz speakers, after listening to many different ones, the hertz 6.5 sound very good, I picked I because the mids sounded very good unlike most others which focused on highs and lows...

 

[wmgwizard]

Your biggest challenge in a car with a powerful engine, minimal sound deadening and a loud exhaust is power.

The power built into the typical head unit is not sufficient to overcome the high noise floor. 45wpc might be fine for an average size room and moderate listening levels but a car with loud exhaust and open windows at 50mph is a heck of a lot louder than your home. That's why car audio systems typically have hundreds of watts, even from the factory anymore.

You will also have to contend with the resonant frequency of the car/exhaust and how those vibrations affect the speakers. The "throbbing" of a powerful engine causes the entire car to vibrate and resonate, including the speakers. These vibrations make it very difficult for an amplifier to accurately control the speakers, that's one reason many car amps have very high damping factors.

Due to the operational environment, a modest coaxial speaker should provide sufficient sound quality as it is doubtful you will be doing any critical listening in the car. Some of the best sounding car speakers are made by Focal, but don't overlook some of the higher end offerings from Pioneer, JBL, Infinity, JL audio and MTX.

A decent 100 - 150wpc amp and pair of speakers should be well within your anticipated budget.

 

[Kingshead]

Just keep in mind the real world specs for most head units output are closer to 3 watts/channel than the advertised output. If replacing the OEM speakers with after market without adding an amplifier then look for the most sensitive speaks available.

 

[Poultrygeist]

Parts Express usually has lots off close out auto speakers

 

[soundmotor]

i just want to run speakers and possibly a new sterio no pre amps or anything like that i am also not planning on putting in subs. I am also listining to rock music liike rush, motley crue, guns and posers and other 80's rock music like that.
Thanks for all the input, James

Not to go off topic but if anyone was woundering what the chevelle was well here it ismy dad typed it up a while ago so i just copied it and pasted. "Bad Bowtie", The car started life as a bench seat, 350, 4 speed Malibu with 67,000 miles. I liked it as I can fit the whole family in it. We got the car back in 2004 from an Akron, OH gentleman who had a 496 in it, blew it up and had a dream to make it a 540. For health reasons he could not finish it, but had 95% of the parts, a
540 built, and a TH400 to go behind it. It sat for a few years before I had the funds and the time to finish it up. A few years ago I took the car to a “hotrod place” to finish it up. (A friend and I got
the engine and tranny in, but that was it…) To make a long story short the
“hotrod place” fired it up without priming it and it did not live long.

(I have learned a very valuable but costly lesson from this experience… First
“hotrod places” charge a ton of money and are not really that good at
something that is not a ground up where they use their parts that they are
familiar with. They actually build cookie cutter hotrod cars from an engine,
electrical & drive train perspective.)

Looking back I am grateful I took it there as believe it or not there was more
positive than negative. First, I can say I am very happy to find people from
this very club and others who helped solve issues and problems. After the
engine mishap my son JJ was fired up to get it done. He helped in the whole
process and I could not have gotten it done without him. I also had a good
friend Tim help with engine and tranny install and I am grateful for it. This was
my first experience putting together a car and had a lot of fun doing it and my
son has inspired me to take on an engine build this winter. He will be there
helping out.

The engine & drive train took on a whole new transformation and planning.
Took the block to Sputz Performance in Owatonna and I began to worked up a
plan. First, the goal was to build a killer street-able beast that would run on
pump gas, want to keep the cost down without sacrificing quality, and to learn
as much as possible from knowledgeable people. By surfing the ‘net I was able
to find many of the parts I needed at reasonable cost. Also by selling parts
from the original 540 build, I was able to recoup costs. Got all the parts to
Sputz and he went to putting it together.
The build
-557 BBC
-Merlin II 4.5 bore
-Callies 4 3/8" 4340 crank
-Callies H beam 4340 rods L19 bolts
-Mahle pack forged 4323 pistons 8cc dome
-AFR 335CNC heads 112cc chambers with Jessel shaft mount rockers
-ISKY EZ rollMAX "no needles" lifters
-Merlin SP intake
-Holley 1000HP carb
-TH400 built by Burt Brown Racing Transmissions (Straight Cut gears normal
Valve body)
-Pro Edge Converter @ 3200 stall
-Gear Vendors OD
-Denny's Nitro custom Driveshaft
-Strange Dana S60 with Detroit Locker, 4.10 gears, Wilwood disc brakes
-AFRC rear adjustable upper and lower control arms
-Spohn ARB
-Lemons headers and Flowmaster 40 3" exhaust
-Strange SA shocks all 4 corners
Engine dyno'd 758HP @ 6000RPM and 720FtLb @ 4900RPM

We still have our work cut out for us, tuning the suspension and updating the
converter. The car has a lot more potential. This winter we hope to send the
converter in to get re-stalled, and building a HydroBoost brake system. The
car is great on the street and I love to take it to the strip. Got to be careful, as
it runs a little fast at the track and we have no roll bar/cage (which we may
plan to get as it is so much fun). It is little hard on gas and do not take it for
long cruises. We’ve managed to put 1000 miles on it. The "bad bowtie" name
came from the black and red plate license plate my wife and son found that
says "Bad Bowtie". I just like to stick with small 2 strokes but my dad is letting me rebuild his 327 for his 67 impala in 10th grade engines class.
And here is a vid of it at the strip http://s469.photobucket.com/albums/rr60/sbsrkh1/Rock Fall 10-2-11/?action=view&current=VID00001.mp4

Most vehicles are in the mid ~60dB range when underway. My guess is yours will be 10-12dB more at the minimum even if sound deadening materials were added under the carpets and inside the doors when the car was rebuilt. That is a very high ambient noise level to overcome. That will make perceiving sound quality differences between brands difficult. I would concentrate more on what you can easily fit rather than what sounds "best" as few will be able to tell them apart when the car is rolling.

If however you plan to run the system a lot when the car is off (car show, etc.) then look for something of better quality. I would also consider speakers front & back with the largest cone area possible for greatest SPL. 6x9s on the rear deck and something in the front kicks is a fairly standard musclecar combo. Year One used to offer replacement kick panels with speaker openings in them. I'd check there as well as the Chevelle forums for other options.

 

[soundmotor]

Just keep in mind the real world specs for most head units output are closer to 3 watts/channel than the advertised output. If replacing the OEM speakers with after market without adding an amplifier then look for the most sensitive speaks available.

With the advent of class-D and other hybrids there are some truly decent chips available from NXP, Philips, ST, & TI. Even back in the early 2000s there were some lowly quad 20W BTL chips available that sounded great and delivered rated power.