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Speaker suggestions?

I'm running Polk Audio's db series for my surrounds and love them. They sound amazing as long as you remember to set your high-pass crossover to 80. I'm running a Pioneer, so it's easy to tune my system, and if you let your pioneer warm up correctly you can make it to about 58 before distortion kicks in, but thats with the high pass on. The Polks I got also have the semi-elyptical tweeters that you can aim for better imaging, too bad I didn't hear the trick about putting in 6 1/2s or I wouldn't have gone with the 5 1/4s way back then.

I've been running them for like 2 years and they still sound great and I've had no problems with them, but I had to upgrade my subs to make up for the lack of bass. You can't get really good bass out of small speakers, so I knew it was a trade off from the beginning. I managed to get a good deal ($330) on two 10 inch MA Audio subs in a sealed box and an 800 watt monoblock sub amp. It sounds better than a lot of my friends systems and can match the output of some 1200 watt setups I've seen.

If your liftgate trim starts rattling like mine did, its easy to fix. I took it off and sprayed it and the liftgate with truck bed liner I had kicking around for some dampening, then drilled through where the one way fasteners are supposed to mount in the trim. I put 1/4 inch expanding concrete fasteners into the holes in the liftgate and screwed the trim back in using 1 inch stainless steel hex head screws. It can't go anywhere now and has a kind of industrial look.
 
Sorry to ask the stupid question, but...

If I don't want to do any cutting. I might want to go components in front.

Will any of the Infinity or Alpine 6 1/2's work in the front of my 1996 without any additional cutting?

Are the Alpine CD players that need the 10 gauge amp kits worth the extra install work and money? Or is it that much better to still get an additional amp? I do not want to install an amp, but will eventually add something for a small JL sub. Don't have the space to add an amp.

Thank you
Jason
 
IMO the Alpines don't add nough power to make it worth it. A standard head unit pushing 200 watts will sound fine and if you want more power for your surrounds, adding a cheap amp will fix that down the road.

As for room, you can only fit up to 5-1/4s in the front doors unless you make rings to extend them further out of the door so that only the magnet is really going inside the door. Cutting for more room should be easy enough if you have any experience, otherwise just get some stock size components.

For amps, you can easily tuck two moderately sized ones under the rear seat if you move the jack assembly (currently I only have one under the drivers side), and if you wanted you could tuck a low profile one under the passengers seat.
 
nhrocker said:
As for room, you can only fit up to 5-1/4s in the front doors unless you make rings to extend them further out of the door so that only the magnet is really going inside the door.
Click to expand...
Wrong. Even though the stock speaker size is 5-1/4 many people on this site have 6-1/2 Infinitys in there.
 
If you're looking for the best sound quality, then I'd say separates by far! I'm running Infinity Reference 605cs 6-1/2's in the front doors and the tweeters up high. The bass is very full and tight and the clarity is excellent. These speakers are not full of midrange resonance like some others! They sound like they're running through an EQ! High frequencies are very directional and not very reflective like bass notes. It's almost a waste to get high dollar speakers and put those high dollar tweeters down at your feet. Separates allow you to place the tweeter up high, and aim it right at your ears for the best possible imaging! Believe me it makes a huge difference! Separates also have crossover networks that divide up the frequencies. The highs are sent to the tweet and the mids and lows only to the woofer. It doesn't cut off the sounds from both sides abruptly where they're divided, it uses what's called the crossover slope. The slope is tailored to smoothly overlap the frequencies at the crossover point for each speaker in the system. Conversly, most two and three way speakers use the cheap route and use capacitors to keep the bass from the tweets. And the woofer; having no high crossover, still tries to reproduce the highs!
Be careful on buying high dollar speakers for the back also! Since the back seat is in the way and who knows what else in the cargo area, the sound will be altered/muffled by bouncing off of stuff before it reaches your ears! Try some components/separates up front and fit the biggest possible woofer that you can fit in the door 6-1/2? for the best bass response. One more thing! If you are running on only deck power, pay attention to the sensitivity or efficiency rating of the speakers that you are buying! It'll be rated in decibles db and speakers usually range from 87db-95db or so. That rating is a sound level reading of 1 Watt input power with a microphone 1 meter away from the speaker. When comparing two speakers a 3 decible difference in sensitivity, the one rated 3db more will emit twice the measured sound output with the same power input! If we had speakers were rated at 89db and 92db, the 89db speaker will require twice the amplifier power to reach the same sound level as the 92db speaker! With deck power, you can assemble a clean and farily loud setup with great bass. On the other hand, low db rated speakers will starve for power and distort easily at mid volume levels. Try to find the higher rated speakers! They'll make more use of your deck power! The Infinity References are 92db and work very well with deck power!
One last note, disregard the peak (WATTS) rating! Look at the RMS output rating of your deck/amp. Route Mean Square (RMS) is the maximum continuous output rating! Peak power means nothing and is merely a measurement from the single largest spike on a oscilloscope readout. Remeber that a perfectly efficient deck/amp can only produce 24watts RMS from a 12 volt supply! Most make about 19-22watts RMS! Unless it's a Alpine V-drive, which has a power supply built into it which boosts the useable amplifier voltage. If you want some more info check this out! There's lots to learn! Good Luck! http://electronics.howstuffworks.co...ww.audiovideo101.com/learn/articles/speakers/

FUNKYTEE5
 
The reason I said that 5-1/4s wont fit in the front doors without some kind of trimming was my experiences with '95s which I thought had the same doors and trim as '96s. The only way I would be able to fit them in mine would be to remove the plastic cover and cut a hole in my trim panel so that they are mounted outside the trim, rather than behind it. With it behind it the trim would be visibly pushed out, which I didn't want.

Once that is done, the best way to ensure a clean mount would be to make some sort of ring to go behind it so the trim would still be able to tuck under the edge and look like a clean job without the rest of the rectangular hole from where the plastic was being open.

I wasn't talking about it purely for fit, but also for looks. I prefer my XJ to stay somewhat clean looking and wouldn't want some POS looking job. Maybe I should have clarified more in the original post, but if you have personally seen a way to mount them without removing any of the trim, pushing the trim out from the door, or the surround from the speaker not coming in contact with the backside of your trim panel and being damaged (which I have seen happen do to the travel of the speaker with the trim direcly over the speaker), by all means explain how it was done or show pictures. Don't just say that someone is wrong. He specified that he didn't want to do any cutting.

I think I'm done now....
:soapbox:
 
nhrocker said:
The reason I said that 5-1/4s wont fit in the front doors without some kind of trimming was my experiences with '95s which I thought had the same doors and trim as '96s. The only way I would be able to fit them in mine would be to remove the plastic cover and cut a hole in my trim panel so that they are mounted outside the trim, rather than behind it. With it behind it the trim would be visibly pushed out, which I didn't want.

Once that is done, the best way to ensure a clean mount would be to make some sort of ring to go behind it so the trim would still be able to tuck under the edge and look like a clean job without the rest of the rectangular hole from where the plastic was being open.

I wasn't talking about it purely for fit, but also for looks. I prefer my XJ to stay somewhat clean looking and wouldn't want some POS looking job. Maybe I should have clarified more in the original post, but if you have personally seen a way to mount them without removing any of the trim, pushing the trim out from the door, or the surround from the speaker not coming in contact with the backside of your trim panel and being damaged (which I have seen happen do to the travel of the speaker with the trim direcly over the speaker), by all means explain how it was done or show pictures. Don't just say that someone is wrong. He specified that he didn't want to do any cutting.

I think I'm done now....
:soapbox:
Click to expand...
I could really care less- mine are not mounted in he doors....BUT many, many people on here went with 6-1/2 Infinitys- I was speaking in reference to them. Here's a thought, do a search and you would have answered your own question.
 
dothedew24_7 said:
I resent that :D
Click to expand...

Sorry bro, I meant the tweets pointing at your feet! I saw your setup, it looks nice. If you got pods or sumptin it's all the better. Most people spend lost of cash on 3 or 4 way coaxials that shoot all of the highs at thier legs! Even with rotatable tweets on coaxials it's still hard to get them pointed at your ears.
 
JMotorsprt said:
Which 6 1/2 Infinity's?

Reference, Kappa, or Perfect?
Click to expand...



I think the References are the best value as far as sound quality and price are concerned. The soft dome tweets are nice and smooth. They're going for around $50-70 on Ebay. Note! I have 6-1/2's in my 93 XJ, they are NOT a direct fit! I'm not sure about the newer bodystyle? I had to modify the sheet metal a bit, and trim the fiberboard door panel backing so the surround wouldn't hit. It looks stock though, except for the tweeter up high. 5-1/4's are the bolt in size as far as i know. Crutchfield is saying that 6-1/2's will fit a later year 96 or 97up but i'm not for sure.
 
If I plan on something similar to the Alpine CDA-9831, what do you think?

Refernce 6 1/2 " seperates or 2-ways?

Probably put some 6x9's refernence in the rear and hook up an 8" sub and old Soundstream amp.

Thanks
Jason
 
JMotorsprt said:
If I plan on something similar to the Alpine CDA-9831, what do you think?

Refernce 6 1/2 " seperates or 2-ways?

Probably put some 6x9's refernence in the rear and hook up an 8" sub and old Soundstream amp.

Thanks
Jason
Click to expand...

I'm running a bare bones 9801 no fancy stuff, just good sound and great signal/noise ratio on the cd side. I'd go separates if you can mount the tweet up high. The Reference component sets give you angled tweeter mounting pods, so it's a cake install. Separates make a huge difference in sound quality. Where are you gonna put the 6x9's? If you can get them into something that has some air volume, they can put out suprising amounts of bass.
 
If they will fit in there, most likely the Infinity Reference, or a set of Alpines. Otherwise, I will drop it off at a local shop and work with one of their recommendations.
 
I should be trying the Peal and Seal. I need to have cheap sound dampening material because I also have two 12s that make my XJ sound like a rusted Pinto. I have a set of 6 1/2 Kicker components that I will try to fit in the front door (anyone now if I'll have problems?). I also will replace my rear speakers, have not decided yet but have some new 6x9s laying around. I will be ready to try this after I get back from Lake Tahoe, on the 16th of Jan. However, I want to research as much as possible before I start this.
 
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