1998 Accord Coupe needs speakers
 

My son just bought a 1998 Honda Accord coupe with the original stereo and speakers. He (we) are looking at new speakers for the stereo. After paying for the car he is cash poor so he just wants speakers right now. Any good speakers out there that people have used?

Thanks for the help

Tony P.

Speakers are very personal, what one person likes another may not, so its really best to try them out before buying. Stick to well know brands like Alpine. In general people tend to agree JL makes some of the nicest speakers on the market. Do you plan to run the speakers with an amp or just run them off the power from your head unit? Because that makes a lot of difference in which speakers you should choose

Just plan on running them though the unit no amp.

Sounds like great sound isn't your biggest concern, and if he's real tight on money then I would stick with the headunit power for now. The headunit can only supply 10-15 watts RMS. So you want to choose a pair of speakers that are rated for very low power, 15-25watts would be perfect but try to stay under 50watts. When you feed a speaker that is designed for more power, only a few watts the speaker will sound very muddy and muffled. Also a high efficiency rating is good to look for as well, 90dB or greater will be good.

I'm assuming your looking at speakers that are less than $100 a pair, and in that price range brands don't matter so much. The differences are much more subtle, and to someone who doesn't really care they sound pretty much all the same. I would stay away from those fake 3 way speakers that have a "super" tweeter, those are just a sales gimmick. Nice features to look for are silk tweeters, butyl rubber surrounds, and a nice stiff woofer cone.

Since you want to run the speakers on head unit power make sure to buy the most efficient speakers you can find. A lot of coaxial speakers will have a high efficiency look for 90 db @ 1 watt @ 1 meter or better. A lot of component speakers have lower efficiency but can handle more power. The more efficient they are the less power they need to play at a decent volume.

Thanks to everyone. Now the decision comes down to which brand. Does anybody have any brands we should look for or stay away from.

Now can the stock unit take an amp? And how much?

Might be a good present for a "just because" for him. He's a really good kid and does good in school.

Getting an amp is a great idea, take it from me the difference is day and night between speakers that are amped and speakers that are not. You would need a 4 channel amp (1 channel to each speaker). How much power you need it to be depends on how much power your speakers call for. I would find some speakers that you like first and then find an amp that will match them nicely, as opposed to the other way around. As far as brands for the speakers, I would really suggest going to an audio store and listening to some of the different brands and types of speakers they have, everyone has different tastes in sound and most speakers sound a little different from one another. If you have an aftermarket headunit there are RCA connectors on the back for connecting the amp, as well as a remote line to turn the amp on as soon as the headunit is turned on. On the stock unit im not sure of a way to connect an amp, but t00fatt might know.

Without getting a cleansweep or at least a audio control LOC such as the LC6, I would just look for an amp that has high level inputs. That way you can connect the speaker outputs from the radio directly to the amp. Not the best way of doing it, but on a real low budget I would go for it.

Now if your going to amp them, get a nice brand name amp. Small amps are not expensive so don't skimp on the brand. Stay far away from names like boss, audiobahn, sony, lanzar and those other cheap ebay amps. Your best options are JL, Alpine, Kicker, MTX, Focal, Rockford, Polk Audio, and even Kenwood.

I would first choose a pair of speakers you like. Alpine, JL, and Polk Audio have a nice low cost entry level speakers. But each speaker has it own sound, and everyone has different tastes. I like warm speakers, so I'm partial to JL speakers. So I would have your son go to local shops or even shows to hear different speakers.

If he wants the best sound for least amount of money. Forget about the rear speakers, and just invest the absolute most you can upfront. Without proper adjustments, the rear speakers can actually damage sound by moving the sound stage back and just messing with the timing.

The options with audio are limitless, so you really have to decide what it is that you want and how much you can spend before you can get a better idea of what to do.