Replacing Low Quality Speakers
 

So my brother has been slowly upgrading to speakers in our '05 coupe. However he got suckered in by Pyle; he thinks its awesome, I thinks it's crap. He's finally seen the light and is moving on from the basement bargain bin. So this is a do-over.

Right now there is a JVC KD-S100 headunit installed but I need some real speakers. I was thinking the JL Evolution TR Series. Specifically the TR690-TXi (6x9) for the back and the TR650-CXi (6.5) for the front. If anyone has any experience with these (or any Evolution Series) it would be great to hear from you. For the record these speakers represent the rough maximum of what I'm willing to spend of a pair of speakers.

Also, I would preferably hook these up to an appropriate 4-channel amp. Maybe the Alpine MRP-F300. Perhaps a sub is in the future too.

I'm open to any suggestions if anyone can show me any others within the $100 range. Thanks!

If you have heard the TR's and like them, then I would go for them. What speakers to choose is really a personal preference. But TR's are pretty good speakers for the money. Although for just a but more you could get some VR's or C2's as they call them now, I got my VR's for around $170 a piece. The VR/C2's will have better low end response and are a bit brighter. JL's already are pretty warm speakers, and the TR's are very warm. Also that amp is not a bad choice, alpine makes good amps. If you can dish out the extra money for a PDX amp, it is well worth it.

I used to have that exact Alpine amp your thinking of, GREAT amp for the money. There will always be something better if your willing to spend more money, but if thats all you want to spend on an amp, it's a great choice in that price range

Warm is good for me. Though I won't be able to get in any real listening. The only car audio place nearby is a Best Buy a half hour's highway drive away.

I would love to up the speakers but that would end up breaking the bank (same with the PDX). If I snag a job for the coming school semester I may hold off and save some more. I was also considering a Rockford Fosgate Punch P400-4 (4 x 50w RMS) as an alternate amp. Speaking of which would a 60w amp put too much stress on 50w speakers. Such as if I used an RF Power T400-4. Rough $200 is the amp budget (on ebay that is).

NB/ all the high-end makers seem to really fearmonger ebay for their products. I know some people on ebay are craptacular but is there a real risk?

I personally would go with the alpine over the RF amp, but I have a personal grudge with RF. In my opinion the alpine amp is the better choice. While RF top lines are not bad, I don't like their entry level stuff. While alpines entry level amps are priced right, and well worth the money. An extra 10 watts is not a big deal, just be easy on the bass and even gains to be safe if you are concerned. If your going to cross the speakers then no worries. I have my 6x9s running off 80w, while they are rated for 70w. Not sure about the TRs, but JL speakers are slightly underrated, but so are quality amps.

I've bought quite a few things off ebay, I believe both sets of my current speakers came off ebay. Amps I would feel more comfortable getting from a authorized dealer. If the speakers have a defect you will know right away, an amp can take a while to fail and you may be over the stores 30 or 90 day warranty. From a dealer you will get the full 1 year manufacturers warranty. But there are some great deals on ebay, that sometimes it's worth the gamble. But you will NOT get a manufacturers warranty from pretty much every manufacturer, if not all.

Most ebay vendors I've seen promise 1 year warranties provided by themselves. I think I'll go the gamble.

I'm planning on using the amp's built in low cut for the front set to let them focus on the more midrange sounds. That would most likely protect them during excessive bass binges. The rears are rated for 60w so no problem there. I see that you used the component version of the VR650's, how was the installation of the tweets? Do you think it is worth the effort to preserve the original speaker layout of the car with a component set?

I was reading how the RF Power amps have a bump in the treble and bass response which would actually suit me quite well since I always tend to bump it on the basic radio settings.

Those store warranties are worth as much as the paper they are printed on. You may get lucky and find an honest company, but it is very easy to blame the customer for the failure and exempt you from a replacement under warranty.

Where you mount the tweeters makes a huge difference in sound. They are very directional, idealy you would like them as close to the woofer as possible, but where are speakers are mounted that is no good. I recommend doing what I did, get some double sided foam tape, and try out different spots to see what sounds the best with your range of music, try a few very different songs. I have mine mounted on the A-pillar just below ear level, but also found a spot on the door panels that sound good as well. You can also mount them in stock location with a bit of modifying, but the windshield can mess with the sound a bit, but I don't think it's major issue.

If that is truly a "feature" on those amps I doubt RF would advertise that, as that is about the last thing you want. You want your amps to reproduce the sound with as little modification or change as possible. Even with a regular HU, you can control that at the headunit. Honestly your better off just turning on the "Loud" feature on the HU, as that is exactly what it does, boost the low and high end. But that is no good compared to setting the EQ yourself.

Well said on the flat response argument. In that case I may dump the RF amp in favour of a different 4-channel. What say you on a 50~60w from Kicker (ZX series?) or from MTX (still trying to figure their brand hierarchy). And if they significantly better than my original choice Alpine amp.

I know that getting tweets into the dash oem location would be a lot of work. Good to know there are some other good spots that they go in. I think I will go for the component front set then. Either way it will be a Home Depot trip to get them mounted.

On a side note living in nowhere Ohio really makes it hard to find vendors other than eBay.

I've owned several kicker amps over the years, and the only one that ever failed on me got wet:mad:. MTX makes good amps, but their entry level amps are nothing special. Personally I would take a ZX over an entry level MTX.

I honestly never even looked at what it would take to get the tweeters in the stock location. I only had them out long enough to unplug them. But from what I have read it's a pretty simple job.

I would never recommend buying from a local shop, unless you want to get ripped off. You can find authorized online dealers, I think you can still get manufacturers warranty if they are not an official dealer from a store. I think it is just ebay purchases that void the warranty, but don;t take that as gospel.

Yeah, just ebay does void the warranty on almost all products I've seen. For the amp the Kicker 08ZX350.4 seems to suit my fancy at 60w a channel. And it's cheaper than RF but looks to be a solid step up from the Alpine MRP-F300.

Going to be putting the order thru soon on these. I'm about to be away for a bit, so Wednesday is looking to be the day of truth (and a day of Home Depot runs).