New Speakers

[Shearer]

Yesterday my rear right speaker blew out in my 1999 Mazda Protege Sedan so i guess its time for me to get new ones. I have no clue about anything since i have yet to do anything to my car except have someone else install a headunit for me. I want to replace all my speakers with pretty decent ones. Looking to spend between $100-$300. I realize that leaves a lot of options and im looking for wutever advice i can get.
I do have a sony head unit, cant remember which one exactly but i got it 2 yrs ago for only about $100. If someone could please give me advice on where to start and a good place to get them install i would be very thankful.

[Shearer]

component speakers

after sitting here reading as much stuff as i can i see that most places reccomend getting component car speakers as compared to i guess just speakers. What is the difference between them except component speakers are made to work together? and is the difference in quality worth the extra money?

[P-rotege]

Component systems are speakers that have been seperated into their respective parts, a woofer (bass) and a tweeter (highs). They have been seperated to reduce interference between the two and reduce distortion for very-clear lows and midtones, and crisp highs. They won't produce seat pounding bass, and won't make as much bass as some 6x9's but they sound very good. If you get components you will need to run an amp to supply enough power through the cross-over to utilize their full potential. The one downfall is that they require more space for installation as the woofer usually fits in the factory speaker location, and the tweater must be placed seperately elsewhere.

[95ProLeila]

you'd be pushing it to try and get 4 decent speakers for $300. if your fronts are okay for the time being, then I would recommend just getting a decent set of 6x9 rears, personally I like phoenix gold, but there are other good companies out there. it also wouldn't be a bad idea to get a small-ish multi-channel (2 or 4) amp. however, an amp sounds like it would be out of your price range after you include the associated costs.

[Shearer]

thanks both of you for your input.

See the way i saw it was that if i was getting rear speakers it would be a good idea to get them all together but i see thats not really the case bc the come seperate anyway. ALso is getting speakers and amps and subs and what not of the same brand better then different brands or does it not make a difference? If not i'll continue will your suggestion and just get rear speakers.

Where to go from there still leaves me kinda clueless. So if i get component speakers i would also require an amp right?
I have yet to read up on amps ( as you can tell im really new to all of this) so i dont really know...well anything about them. How much better do they make your sound and what sort of amp would i require? Im not looking for anything crazy and i am willing to pay more if need be 300 is just an estimate. Im most likely not going to get a sub but might get additional front speakers so how many channels should i get and again should i stick to one brand or does it not matter?

[95ProLeila]

replacing any of the speakers doesn't require an amp per se. however, if you turn the volume up too loud without an amp you'll blow the speakers, and the sound quality won't be at maximum potential without an amp.

don't worry about matching brands, it all works together fine, and some companies are better at making amps than speakers and vice versa.

expect to pay ~$75 - 100 for wire and install on an amp, not including the price of the amp itself. as far as what kind of amp to use a small 2 or 4 channel amp (60-100 watts/channel) should be fine, IMO subs are really unnecessary, as you can get plenty of bass with a solid component and 6x9 setup with an amp. all told, if you don't install any of it yourself, expect to pay more than $500 for everything.

[Shearer]

Thank you.

I guess my only remaining question is whether or not to get component speakers. I'm leaning towards alpine speakers and im also leaning towards not getting component speakers. I would just like to hear what people say and whether or not alpine speakers are a good choice

[95ProLeila]

I'd go with components, Alpine is good stuff, just make sure they fit before you buy.

[P-rotege]

Component speakers will really set your car apart from other speaker set-ups. Like 95proL said, 6X9's are a good choice for a beginner set-up, they will give you a pretty good balance, and will give you enough bass that you wont need a sub unless you want to rattle your mirrors, but you can't "tune" them as well as components. The amp you will need is really based on the amount of power, and speakers your install in your car. I don't know anything about your car so 95ProL is more of a help with this, but if you have say 4 speakers, 2 front, 2 rear, you need either a 4channel amp, or 2- 2 channel amps, one for the front one for the rear. I run 2 MTX amps in my truck, one 400W 4-channel amp for the speakers, and one 400W 2 channel amp (bridged for one channel) to power the two MTX 10's behind the seats.

Alpine does make high quality stereo components, I have Alpine head units in all three of my cars. Sometimes they are a bit pricey, but worth it in the end. It all depends what you want out of the car, but make sure the head-unit is good enough to maximize the sound from your speaker set-up. Ask some audio specialists at audio install shops for more info, they should be willing to help.

Good luck, it's really simple once you get into it.

Here's some pics for ****'s n giggles, amps are easy to install if you have instructions, after you do it once it's very simple.

[Shearer]

This is just to make sure im not doing something stupid and thank you again for your inputs theyve helped me out a lot.

I've decided (well havent ordered just making sure im doing the right thing) to get the alpine SPS-571A component speakers for the back and the Alpine SPS-570A for the front. They are sizes 6x9 for the back and 6x8 for the front which are the sizes for my speakers now.

My question is will i have any problem installing these because im doing it with a friend and dont want to buy speakers that wont fit...also theres no such thing as component speakers for the front of the car right?

guess now its time to pick an amp...im probably going to get a 4-channel one because that seems like my best choice so is there any recomendations bc i havent really looked into it very much as of yet and will start right after i post this.

Thanks again to both of you your helping me a ton

[95ProLeila]

you can use a 2 channel to power all four, you just lose fader control, or maybe it's balance . . . eh, I think it depends how you wire it.

[P-rotege]

Component speakers are universal, the woofer part will fit in the factory mounting location for the stock speakers. As long as you order the correct size woofer it should fit front or rear depending on the mounting depth, sometimes the magnet on the speaker protrudes to far rearward and causes mounting issues. You will have to check the mounting depth and make sure they will work in your car. If the rear sppeakers mount into the rear deck, and not in the door or anything, then you will have no issues with mounting depth. You will have to custom mount the tweeters though no matter where you put the woofer.

The four channel amp will work fine for your application. What 95ProL said is true as well, you can run a 2channel, but you will be combining speaker outputs which is not a good way to get the best sound. You will basically have both front speakers run from one channel, and the rear speakers from the other channel. You will lose individual control over your balance and fader inputs.

One thing I noticed with your speaker choice for the back is the size discrepency, the rear speaker locations accomodate a 6x9, but the alpine SPS-571A is a 6x8 woofer setup. You should probably find a 6x9 setup for that so you don't have to rig the speaker into the ounting location. Other than that both speaker sets look nice, plenty of power and should sound good with a balanced amp.

[95ProLeila]

The four channel amp will work fine for your application. What 95ProL said is true as well, you can run a 2channel, but you will be combining speaker outputs which is not a good way to get the best sound. You will basically have both front speakers run from one channel, and the rear speakers from the other channel. You will lose individual control over your balance and fader inputs.

Yeah, obviously 4 channel is the best, but if you're being cheap a 2 channel will work.

[Shearer]

for the rear speakers i should be buying 6.5 component speakers right? there is no such thing as 6x9 component speakers...justdouble checking

[Shearer]

also are there component speakers for the front speakers and if so what size would i get (they fit 6x8 speakers). I see there are ones Alpine Type S 5"x7"/6"x8" Component Speakers so are these the ones i want?

hopefully i will be ordering everything tonite if i can get this **** figured out.

For the back, assuming 6 1/2'' component speakers are what i want.

I've decided to get the Alpine SPS-171A 6 1/2" Componet Speakers for the back

Alpine SPS-571A Type S 5"x7"/6"x8" Component Speakers for the front


Still working on what amp i want. Its going to be a 4-channel amp but i have no idea what brand to get and whats a good price for one. Also is there a big difference in quality of the amp. Most seem to be around $120 or so and some go up to $400. Just wondering how big of difference it would make and if getting one for like $120 or so would be just fine.

Legacy seems to have a large selection of moderately priced amps...is this a good brand to go with?