What is your favorite brand of after-market car speakers ?

Question

If you were to replace those horrendous OEM speakers that came with your car, which brand of speakers would you go with (Infinity, Boston Acoustics, Rockford Frostgate, etc.) ? You know, in fact, just share how you would re-do your whole car stereo system, if you have done so, or think about doing so.

Answer 1

I have always been a big fan of MB Quart speakers. They offer clarity, sharpness and excellent reproduction not found in many brands of speakers. They are however very costly unless you buy some of the cheaper ones.

The best thing to do is shop around, listen to a few different speakers and see what you like. It is very important to determine if you can get the sound quality you want with the budget that you have. I have been around car audio a long time and made this mistake many times before I leaned my lesson. Get exactly what you want the first time or at the very least close to what you want and staying in your budget. If you buy the "Well these will be good enough" speakers you can bet within a month or two you will be wishing you bought the "other ones" you liked. You'll end up selling the ones you have to a buddy for peanuts and then spend the money for what you really wanted. In the longshot you will have spent almost double than if you just bought what you "really" wanted in the first place.

My last system was in a 94 Z24, It consisted of 3 MTX amps, custom door panels. 3.5" kaption Mids in the dash with Clarion Pro Audio tweeters and Canton Crossovers. In the doors I had Rockford Fosgate Fanatic X speakers, 6" and tweets. In the rear I had Soundstream Exact 5 1/4's with reference series tweeters and crossovers. Top that off with an MTX 3 channel crossover, cap, 31 band EQ and a Kaption Pro Audio sub. Deck, changer Satalite radio, etc.

My Current vehicle that I am collecting stuff for will be (Only need wiring and sub still) Alpine deck and changer with 31 band eq module. MB Quart Premium 5 1/4's with tweets in the doors with 6.5's and tweets in the rear. I am using MB Quart Reference series amplifiers (They are huge and hard to keep together without custom panels) and will be using MB quart subs.

Keep within your budget but don't scrimp. You will find better sound quality and a larger difference in a good deck and amp then you will with the speakers. A good amplifier and deck are the main source. It doesn't matter how good your speakers are, if it comes out of the deck sounding like junk you will end up with junk.

Use 2 amps, one for subs and one for mids and highs. The less "work" you assign to an amp the better it will perform.

Think of it like this, do you work better when you have to do everyones job or just a specific set of tasks? Apply that to the amplifiers..

Bottom line is do your homework.

Answer 2

Planning is most important above branding.

I changed my source first before I did the speakers coz the signals come from stock head units are not strong enough to drive component speakers. If you maintain the source then you could only go as far as coaxials which are cheap.

After changing to a Pioneer HU with 3 preouts, I had a 4ch amp to drive all four speakers. When the rear coax burnt out, I had a 10in sub in a box with a single ch amp. That really improved everything.

The front speakers were the last to be changed. But it all depends on what music you like and how much money you got.

Answer 3

This my friend has a lot to do with budget and personal prefrence. Some people would be happy with a pair of 50dollar sony speakers while others demand a set of $10,000 focal speakers. My personal favorite are infinity. Thats just me and if i upgrade i will consider CDT components because they are in my budget and I have only heard good things about them.

Answer 4

I have to go with my all time favorite: Alpine, from start to finnish. I have used most of the top brands, Sony, Kenwood, JVC and others..I like the whole Alpine setup including head unit, speakers, crossovers, eq and multi disc player. I go with Monster Cable or equivilent for wires, amp kits and connectors.

Answer 5

My fronts are Image Dynamics Chameleon components. They're great for many reasons:

-Can be configured as components or coaxial
-Handle 150w avaliable in either 2ohms or 4ohms
-Mids are great for rock
-Tweeters aren't bright and painful

My sub is an IDQ made by the same company, which is great if you demand great sound quality from your sub, not just loudness.

The also make horns if u wanna go nuts and compete, haha.

Answer 6

my personal favorite is Bosont acoustics. personally i dont think any speaker sounds better. or atleast none that i have heard. here are some brands that i like too.

MB Quart
Kenwood Excelon
Pioneer Premier
Eclipse
Diamond Audio
Infinity (great sq for the price)

Brands i dont like

JL Audio (overpriced, overated)
Alpine (sound like crap)
Sony
Audiobahn
Kicker

Answer 7

I have become a fan of JL audio componets I like there subs and there amps handle nice.....but I have always used either polk or infinity for speakers

Answer 8

head unit > pioneer deck (mp3)
component speakers> infinity (gold)
> 2-12" sub woofer Audio Bann
Amp> 600 w rms audio bann

Answer 9

I have some rockford fosgate subs right now and they sound good, i also like infinity

Answer 10

rockford fosgate everything speakers amp tweets 6*9's the works
also cerwin vega is nice hard bumpin