Are tweeters recomended in a thirdgen? If so, what brand and where do I put them? Thanks.

 

You mean just adding tweeters to the stock stereo? I wouldn't bother... the bandwidth of the factory radio is so bad that you won't get much out of them.

If you buy aftermarket equipment, every aftermarket speaker on the planet (save for the exceptionally cheap crap with whizzer cones) already comes with tweeters.

 

I already have a pretty good aftermarket system in now. I have 3-way Pioneers 6x9s in the rear, 2-way Pioneer 4x6s in the rear. I am planning to put 6.5s in the doors as well. I just installed a 600 Watt amp in the rear with internal cross-over. I am using the rear out on the amp for subs and was thinking about running the 4x6's and tweeters on the high pass for the front channels. I was wanting a bit more on the highs.

 

You have too many speakers already. Adding more is only going to make it worse.

Replace what you have with a lower quantity of better quality stuff and you'll get what you want.

All you ever need in a car is 1 pair of speakers up front and one pair in the rear. I personally prefer to only have 1 pair up front. I don't have rear speakers. They just blur the imaging and pull the soundstage too far toward the listener.

Wiith the 4 sets of speakers that you want to use, you'll have no imaging or soundstaging at all. It'll just be a bunch of sound coming from all over the place.

One major drawback to our cars is that the factory dash location, in addition to being a lousy spot in the first place, also makes it impossible (or at least very difficult) to install good quality speakers. The solution to this is to buy/build kick panel enclosures. Of course, this is an added expense that most people aren't willing/able to take on.

If your budget permits, I would suggest that you scrap all of the speakers in the car (or retain the 6x9s if you insist on rear fill) and plan on installing a pair of good quality components into your kick panels. You can build these yourself, buy a set of custom made kicks from REZN8R or myself, or buy (and plan to modify) some Q Logic kick panel enclosures. Listen to as many component speakers that you can find. Somewhere out there is a pair that sounds just like you want. There are a lot of very good sounding component speakers out there.

If you're not willing/able to go with the kick panel route, your problem gets a lot harder to solve. You're basically stuck with the 4x6 location, which means you're bound to being able to find the best sounding pair of 4x6s out there. There are some that sound decent, but nothing that's truely outstanding.

 

How much are the kicker panels and what size speakers can you put in them? I know what you mean about imaging. I always tune the system to prduce the best quality sound. I plan to replace the whole system over time with better quality pieces, but I have budget limitations.

 

Q Logic kick panels sell for around $100, and with a little work they aren't too bad.

I sell my kicks for $200. I forget what REZN8R charges, but I think it's a bit less expensive.

You can do your own for virtually nothing as long as you have the resources and materials at your disposal to do it. You need to be able to cut some MDF rings, position them, staple fleece into position, soak the fleece with fiberglass resin, apply fiberglass & additional resin, then apply whatever asthetic treatment you prefer.

 

Ok. I may buy the kickers, but I am looking at buying a set of door mounts that hold a set of 6.5s. Do you think that these would sound the same as the kicker panels?

 

Kick panels are generally better than door panel mounting. It's due to the fact that the kick panels are a little more equal in the distance apart. With door panel mounts the driver side mount will be much closer to you than the passenger side of course. So you get worse imaging from it. Like if you turn your fader so it only plays the passenger side at 50% and the driverside at 100%. Theres a big difference in the way the sound comes at you.

 

Fireturd is right. I've had the mids in the doors of one of my previous thirdgens, and the imaging and sound stage was significantly improved when I moved them to the kick panels. Putting the mids into the doors will provide better midbass though... if you damp the hell out of the outer door skin to keep it from singing along. Personally, I'd rather have the imaging. You can equalize out the midbass problems, but you can't equalize out imaging problems.

Plus, building out the doors to get by the power window motor looks horrible.

 

If the distance from the door to your head is further from the passenger side that the drivers, wouldn't that make the kickers on the passenger side further away, too? I have an idea. I will move the drivers seat to the middle like a McLaren F1. That wasy, the imaging will be the same all around. What size speakers would be good for the kicks or the doors. I was thinking 2- or 3- 6.5s.

 

I think I'd just buy one good 6.5 instead of 3 sh*tty ones.

 

Sorry, I meant to put 2- or 3- ways. Opps.

 

If you're going with just kicks, a 2-way 5.25" or 6.5" component set will do. If you're interrested in the extra work involved in going with doors/kicks, then a 3 way with a 6.5" woofer will probably be the ticket.

But... if you're dealing with a modest budget (say under $500 for components), you'll probably get better results by using your money on a good quality 2 way component set vs. a lower quality 3-way component set.

 

What brand? I was thinking Rockford or Infinity....

 

infinity has good speakers. Get the kappa series if you decide to go this route.

 

I would definately pick a good 2-way over a 3 way from either of those 2 companies. Rockford and Infinity are the type of brands that usually have 1 or maybe 2 good sounding lines, but their lower end stuff can be iffy.

CDT is the value leader for components. You get great sound quality at very good prices. Above that there's Morel, Focal, Rainbow, Seas, Dynaudio, DLS, and a bunch of others. Boston Acoustics, while perhaps not to the level of the stuff I just mentioned, is still likely to give better results than Rockford and Infinity.

There's always a standout here and there among the "circuit city" and "best buy" brands, but for the most part, there's more crap than good, so it's important to listen to exactly what you're interrested in.

 

so what brand are you gonna put in your ~$400 amaz-o-kicks that you're gonna sell me as soon as you perfect the design?

better than kappa perfects?

 

It's not any specific "brand". I'm sourcing separate woofers and tweeters that meet certain t/s specifications. I think that the quality of these drivers will exceed anything available commercially for less than what my entire kick panel/speaker package will likely cost.

 

excuse me while I wipe the foam off of my mouth