car speakers?

Question

im finally going to replace my stock speakers.
i was thinking about installing components.
i was wondering where would be the best
place to put the tweeters(front and back).
i have a 2001 dodge stratus.
thanx.

and where do iput the crossover box thing???tips on the installation process please. can i do it myself

Answer 1

I'll try to make this response as short as possible, but helpful.

First, music is stereo (left and right only). Outside of specialty (home theater, mainly) sound tracks, there is no front and rear. In the effort to reproduce music most accurately in a car, which is already quite difficult due to the extremely poor enclosures that doors and panels make, and where you're sitting in proportion to the speakers, and all the reflective and absorbing obstacles, audiophiles strive to reproduce the virtual "sound stage" as accurately as possible. As in, the music literally sounds like the band is on a stage in front of you and not coming from behind.

Getting sound up front is fairly easy -- just fade forward or don't run rear speakers. The tricky part is lifting the sound stage up off the floor and/or out of the corners, and drawing virtual center while maintaining accuracy, linearity, and indistinguishable distortion.

So, your question "where to put the tweeters" is actually a better question than even you may realize. The tweeters are a very significant part in balancing the sound stage. No, I won't get into all the details, and obviously I can't tune the location of your vehicle's placement over the Internet, but I'll toss out some recommendations.

Don't focus on your rear speakers at all. Disconnect them, run stock, or run some cheap rear speakers for back passengers if you really care about them hearing music. Even "surround sound" doesn't come from the back (except in movie sound tracks and so on, which most car audio decks don't play anyway). You can use the money you save from rear speakers on buying better front speakers. For the tweeters, it is often best to locate them as close to the midbass/midrange drivers as possible. Monkeying around with putting them too far away from each other can make the speaker "locations" extremely distinguishable while listening to music. However, keep in mind that as the frequencies get higher, the sound is more uni-directional and can be blocked or reflected easily. Also, try to get the speakers as close to the same distance from your head in the driver's seat, as possible. Often, the best place for this is in the kick-panels.

Ah, but you probably don't want to spend the time and possible money getting all serious about it like that, right?

If that's the case, I urge you to visit your local car audio dealers with a CD that you love. Audition every set of speakers they have set up for you to listen to, that will fit your car, and drop the dime on the ones in your price-range that you like the most. Nobody can tell you what "sound" you will personally enjoy the most. Some can be sharp and contrasty, some can be mellow and warm, some can be bright, and some can be deep. Of course, the sound will change when loaded into the horrible enclosures of your vehicle, but at least you'll be on the right track to finding satisfaction.

Just one other thing. You can improve the enclosure characteristics and overall sound-quality of your vehicle significantly by properly "deadening" and sealing critical areas. Ask your specialized dealer (NOT BestBuy / Circuit City jokers) about sound deadening materials and what types are best for what surfaces/areas.

Good luck.
-HiAmp

For your question about the crossover boxes (that come with the component speakers), definitely use them, but it may be necessary to also use an additional (high-pass) crossover on an amplifier, or otherwise, to aid in power-handling and distortion-reduction. You can put them anywhere there's space: up under the dash, inside the doors with 2-sided hobby-tape (keep clearance for window mechanism), under seats, etc.

Answer 2

its easy. i personally recomend boston acoustics, which is my favorite and what i run. but mb quart, and kenwood excelon are both great brands. mount the crossovers the same place you mount your amps. most people mount them on the back seat, that way if your seats go down, its easy access and there out of the way. dont get componets with out a amp. depending on what speakers you get, your going to have a bass driver and a tweeter. thats a 2-way. a 3-way has a bass driver, a mid bass driver, and a tweeter. either way its simple run speaker wire to your amp to the crossover. on my bostons i have to run 2 seperate wires, one to the mid, one to the tweeter. on some you only have to run one wire. either way after you have wires linked to the amp, then match up the outs of the crossover to the speakers. mine say TW for tweeter, and LP for the mid bass. then thats it, mount the speakers and your done. also componets sound a lot better then just normal speakers. its worth the little bit of extra work.

hope this helps

Answer 3

Don't use a passive crossover.

Go with an active crossover. Much easier to tune.

Answer 4

If you are referring to the x-over as the "crossover thing" you should have this professionally done or you WILL regret it. There are so many things you can mess up.

Answer 5

Check with Crutchfield.com. They really know speakers and car stereos.

Answer 6

Check out http://www.bestcarspeakersHQ.com they have tons of great speakers for cars to upgrade.

Answer 7

Not sure sorry