Hifi car speakers??

B

baronvonellis

Audioholic
I've been thinking, I spend a great deal of time in my car driving and I don't know anything about the speakers I have in my car. I think they are JBL. I've seen Polks and midfi stuff for car speakers that are around $75. There's got to be some better car speakers out there. Most car websites, talk about building giant rattling subwoofers. I'm not interested in that, but I'd like some more hifi speakers if possible. Can anyone recommend hifi car speakers? Or does each car have a custom size? How do you know what size speakers your car has?
 
T

TankTop5

Audioholic General
Generally MB Quart and JL Audio are considered top of the line car audio. I don’t think you can achieve HiFi in a car, just too much ambient noise. Some Dynamat will make a huge difference.


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davidscott

davidscott

Audioholic Ninja
Infinity and JBL make some decent sounding car speakers. Not sure if they are really High Fidelity though.
 
R

Russdawg1

Full Audioholic
Focal also has some stuff.

Infinity Reference also.
 
Kvn_Walker

Kvn_Walker

Audioholic Field Marshall
I spend 10+ hours a week in my car, so I can relate to you. Back in the day I dropped thousands into car gear (buy, try, sell, repeat-- can anyone relate?). There were more premium brands than exist today. I still have my JL 12w6v2 sub and Alpine amp for it; they've followed me through around 10 years and 5 different cars, so I at least settled on those.

Car audio will never be "perfect" because there are too many variables that you can't always control. If the steering wheel were in the middle of the dash (equidistant from tweeters), and you weren't ever moving, I guess you could almost get it right. But most factory speakers (in a "common man's" car- I'm not talking about luxury cars since I'm not a luxury car person) are absolute garbage bought from the lowest bidder and I've never met a person who has had them replaced and not gush about the improvements. My factory Hyundai speakers are "passable" for car speakers and even saying that, there are certain passages of certain songs that jolt my head and get my attention because some detail I knew I was supposed to hear just isn't there. At those moments I remember that I still need to get the speakers I bought installed. Some detractors say that aftermarket speakers can't help, but they are full of BS. I've done this way too many times.

{end rant} For door speakers, some trusted premium brands are Image Dynamics, JL, Hertz, Focal, even Dynaudio. I can't tell you what's currently good because I've moved on from that as a full time hobby. If you have a nearby autosound store (something real, not Best Buy if you can help it), bring some music and demo the brands and models they offer. Let your ears sell you; the process should be no different than buying speakers for your home. Just keep in mind that you want a good install too (deadening your doors is HUGE) and since most car speakers are 6.5" getting a decent sub (no you don't need a tooth rattling monster) will round out the sound.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Generally MB Quart and JL Audio are considered top of the line car audio. I don’t think you can achieve HiFi in a car, just too much ambient noise. Some Dynamat will make a huge difference.


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Oh yeah, you can achieve high fidelity in a car. There's far less noise in a car than ever before and ambient noise levels are in the ~75dB area, where it was in the 85 dB area in the '80s. Far less rattles, too. That 10dB makes it possible to have better sound at a lower power level, too- set up correctly, the road noise isn't going to be noticed unless the music has a lot of quiet passages. Also, with the new electronics available to car audio, like DSPs, it's possible to tailor the sound to the environment far better than ever.
 
B

baronvonellis

Audioholic
I spend 10+ hours a week in my car, so I can relate to you. Back in the day I dropped thousands into car gear (buy, try, sell, repeat-- can anyone relate?). There were more premium brands than exist today. I still have my JL 12w6v2 sub and Alpine amp for it; they've followed me through around 10 years and 5 different cars, so I at least settled on those.

Car audio will never be "perfect" because there are too many variables that you can't always control. If the steering wheel were in the middle of the dash (equidistant from tweeters), and you weren't ever moving, I guess you could almost get it right. But most factory speakers (in a "common man's" car- I'm not talking about luxury cars since I'm not a luxury car person) are absolute garbage bought from the lowest bidder and I've never met a person who has had them replaced and not gush about the improvements. My factory Hyundai speakers are "passable" for car speakers and even saying that, there are certain passages of certain songs that jolt my head and get my attention because some detail I knew I was supposed to hear just isn't there. At those moments I remember that I still need to get the speakers I bought installed. Some detractors say that aftermarket speakers can't help, but they are full of BS. I've done this way too many times.

{end rant} For door speakers, some trusted premium brands are Image Dynamics, JL, Hertz, Focal, even Dynaudio. I can't tell you what's currently good because I've moved on from that as a full time hobby. If you have a nearby autosound store (something real, not Best Buy if you can help it), bring some music and demo the brands and models they offer. Let your ears sell you; the process should be no different than buying speakers for your home. Just keep in mind that you want a good install too (deadening your doors is HUGE) and since most car speakers are 6.5" getting a decent sub (no you don't need a tooth rattling monster) will round out the sound.
Thanks, so it sounds like I should just check out some car audio shops. If they install dynamat is that expensive? It seems like they would have to take the whole interior apart? I like the idea of sound deading, although I have a toyota solara it's not super noisy like a truck, but I can hear the wheels and engine still. I put in a new pioneer headend and just upgrading that made a huge difference in sound quality.

I'll have to look for some of those speaker brands. I know Dynaudio are really good, I like their speakers, that would be really hifi for my car. I bet those would sound amazing compared to my stock speakers. Probably even some cheaper ones would sound better than the stock speaker from what your saying.
 
John Parks

John Parks

Audioholic Samurai
Thanks, so it sounds like I should just check out some car audio shops. If they install dynamat is that expensive? It seems like they would have to take the whole interior apart? I like the idea of sound deading, although I have a toyota solara it's not super noisy like a truck, but I can hear the wheels and engine still. I put in a new pioneer headend and just upgrading that made a huge difference in sound quality.

I'll have to look for some of those speaker brands. I know Dynaudio are really good, I like their speakers, that would be really hifi for my car. I bet those would sound amazing compared to my stock speakers. Probably even some cheaper ones would sound better than the stock speaker from what your saying.
Dynamat in itself is kind of expensive because of the brand name (there are somewhat cheaper alternatives for DIY, but dealers are more likely to carry the big names). The main thing you would be paying for, as you mentioned, is installation as it is very time consuming. That is why it is sometimes beneficial to go for the the whole package (speakers, sub, amp(s) and sound treatment) as the dealer might cut you a deal on labor.

To give you a good idea on speaker lines, just peruse the Crutchfield online catalog. They carry a plethora of brands and even the cheapest options are usually better than OEM from the car manufacturer. Local dealers will also carry off brands - some are pretty good, but they are "off brands" for a reason...

I got really lucky with my current ride: it is a VW and has the Fender (Panasonic, really) audio system and it is the first time I have had a car and not itched to upgrade the stereo...
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
Road noise is the enemy of good sound in a car. How much road noise you get depends on what car you drive, what roads you drive on, and what tires you have. Types of pavement and tires make a big difference. Often tires that make for better traction & handling can be noisier as you drive.

Try listening to music in a car while parked vs. while driving. The difference is not small.
 
John Parks

John Parks

Audioholic Samurai
Road noise is the enemy of good sound in a car. How much road noise you get depends on what car you drive, what roads you drive on, and what tires you have. Types of pavement and tires make a big difference. Often tires that make for better traction & handling can be noisier as you drive.

Try listening to music in a car while parked vs. while driving. The difference is not small.
Rain is a huge killer of audio in a car! I just had a very long road trip this weekend and on the way back, it rained heavily for most of second leg (6+ hours). The ambient noise from the rain had me turning up the volume too high... Rain is also a great example of white noise in that it drowns out other ambient road noise and makes your car seem quieter (except for the audio part) - weird, I know...
 
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Kvn_Walker

Kvn_Walker

Audioholic Field Marshall
Man, all the stuff I pull from memory seems to be gone. https://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/ This guy was really thorough and had great product and pricing and would personally answer your calls and emails, but he retired apparently.

I never used Dynamat, but I bought a big box of a similar product that had a thicker butyl layer and a thicker aluminum layer. I probably still have some left over in the house somewhere...

Ah! Memory just got jogged a bit. It's called D'Amplifier. https://www.secondskinaudio.com/ Good to see they're still around!
 
B

baronvonellis

Audioholic
Dynamat in itself is kind of expensive because of the brand name (there are somewhat cheaper alternatives for DIY, but dealers are more likely to carry the big names). The main thing you would be paying for, as you mentioned, is installation as it is very time consuming. That is why it is sometimes beneficial to go for the the whole package (speakers, sub, amp(s) and sound treatment) as the dealer might cut you a deal on labor.

To give you a good idea on speaker lines, just peruse the Crutchfield online catalog. They carry a plethora of brands and even the cheapest options are usually better than OEM from the car manufacturer. Local dealers will also carry off brands - some are pretty good, but they are "off brands" for a reason...

I got really lucky with my current ride: it is a VW and has the Fender (Panasonic, really) audio system and it is the first time I have had a car and not itched to upgrade the stereo...
I see that makes sense, thanks!
 
Gryph

Gryph

Audioholic
Just be aware that some factory head units won’t play nice with aftermarket speakers because the factory audio system sometimes uses wonky DSP or the speakers have tailored crossovers matched to the factory system. Some cars have active noise cancellation as well. So changing out the head unit is sometimes needed along with some research, not to mention finding a really good shop up to date on all this stuff.
Of course another headache is so many cars these days use steering wheel mounted audio and info cluster controls, so you need head units that integrate with all the factory controls.
I’ve been out of the car audio game a long time though so all this may be much less of a problem then when they just started with the steering wheel mounted controls.
Good luck
 
T

TankTop5

Audioholic General
Just be aware that some factory head units won’t play nice with aftermarket speakers because the factory audio system sometimes uses wonky DSP or the speakers have tailored crossovers matched to the factory system. Some cars have active noise cancellation as well. So changing out the head unit is sometimes needed along with some research, not to mention finding a really good shop up to date on all this stuff.
Of course another headache is so many cars these days use steering wheel mounted audio and info cluster controls, so you need head units that integrate with all the factory controls.
I’ve been out of the car audio game a long time though so all this may be much less of a problem then when they just started with the steering wheel mounted controls.
Good luck
Worse than that, many new cars integrate radio information into the driver information center or digital instrument cluster. There are work around a on many vehicles but it all depends, those work arounds are generally 2 years behind the current model year. The best source of information is a chat forum specific to your vehicle as you have people from all over the country as a posed to just your local car stereo shop.


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Gryph

Gryph

Audioholic
Worse than that, many new cars integrate radio information into the driver information center or digital instrument cluster. There are work around a on many vehicles but it all depends, those work arounds are generally 2 years behind the current model year. The best source of information is a chat forum specific to your vehicle as you have people from all over the country as a posed to just your local car stereo shop.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
While automotive systems integration and connectivity has gone further within today’s vehicles, I’d also expect that because of this more work arounds are now possible through software manipulation vs hardware changes.
Completely agree on searching out the group dedicated to your vehicle for the larger knowledge base it will offer.
I come from the VW & Subaru arena so VAG, CanBus, etc I go to that online community for answers.
 
MR.MAGOO

MR.MAGOO

Audioholic Field Marshall
Sometimes I wish we would 'uninvent ' things like multi-speaker car audio systems. Who the heck needs a DVD player and 8 speakers in their car? We must get back to that one single mono speaker mounted in the dash, no unnecessary and fire prone wiring throughout the vehicle, KISS philosophy! (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) You just get one speaker to listen to traffic and news! :p
 
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