Car Speakers

[Speedy624]

I not a fan of loud music but would like something a little more power than the standard car system. I poped down to the local audio store and the guy threw some random (so it seemed) figures at me for the audio. He could obviously tell I do not know much about car systems but i'm pretty certain im paying too much for the equipment.

I was quoted

£50 for door Speakers

£50 for tweeters

£70 for a pair of 6x9

£50 labour

£130 for CD Player

£19 for some cable

£25 for a cover that will cover the empty gap some the CD Player is installed. I have the big cd player atm not the 3 slot. See picture attached.

He didn't show me a single speaker nor did he mention what they were apart from the CD Player, I was told to take my pick and directed to what looked like damaged and used empty boxes. Nothing looked appealing.

I would prefer to buy my own Speakers have them installed by someone but not sure what I really need and what is nessary. I do want a pair of 6x9s installed but do i really have to change my cd player and front Speakers? Why would i need separate tweeters?

[BOF]

I not a fan of loud music but would like something a little more power than the standard car system. I poped down to the local audio store and the guy threw some random (so it seemed) figures at me for the audio. He could obviously tell I do not know much about car systems but i'm pretty certain im paying too much for the equipment.

I was quoted

£50 for door speakers

£50 for tweeters

£70 for a pair of 6x9

Rather depends. You can get the Speakers in (roughly) two different types. 'Component speakers' have separate tweeters and usually a separate cross-over. the other type has an integrated tweeter (or tweeter and a mid), again with a cross-over but in this case the cross-over will be somewhere integrated with the speaker. (In each case, even calling it a cross-over is a slight stretch; it might be a simple single component, with the Speakers being designed to operate with nothing more).

So, the price depends on what you are getting; for a unit with two or three driver units, that would be fair, for a single component driver, less so (even though the high frequency drivers can be quite poor and cheap to manufacture, these are the typical prices).

Why would i need separate tweeters?

For the component jobbies, these will be the only tweeters that you get, which is why you would need them. For drivers with an inbuilt tweeter, you wouldn't.

In general, the higher quality drivers will be component ones, but you'd really have to have a good, convenient, place to mount the tweeters to realise that (potential) advantage. And you might even want to drive the different frequency ranges with different amplifiers, rather than using a passive cross-over to drive them, for a further advantage in sound quality (and more expense).

£70 for a pair of 6x9

Are you going to mount them somewhere with much air behind them? If not, that will probably diminish the (bass) advantage over a smaller speaker.

£130 for CD Player

That could be waaay too expensive or dirt cheap, depending on the actual part; probably the best thing to do would be to look up the actual part number on-line and see what it is on offer for.

£25 for a cover that will cover the empty gap some the CD Player is installed. I have the big cd player atm not the 3 slot. See picture attached.

I'm sure that I've seen those for about £10 - 15. Try amazon or Flea Bay for prices.

£50 labour

Actually, that doesn't sound too unreasonable, if they do a good job. On the other hand, given the apathetic and unprofessional nature of he presentation of the boxes, I'd have to guess that a good job won't be what they'll do.

I rarely advise people to go down the Halfords, but at least if you took a wander around there, you'd have an idea of what is on offer and the likely range of prices.

Edit:

do i really have to change my cd player

No. You'd probably have to turn it up a bit more, so that would be inconvenient if you already end up turning the volume up towards the maximum, that would be inconvenient.

(And you haven't said where you'd be fitting them.) You can probably get away with replacing an existing set of door Speakers with newer, bigger, speakers without much else in the way of new kit, but there may be more-or-less extensive door surgery to get them to fit. If you are thinking of adding these as, say, parcel shelf speakers and leaving the existing speakers working, then it is more difficult in that there are more parts needed to do it right.

[Hassen]

There is plenty of information on the forums here to started. My best advice would be to have a budget first of all on how much you have to spend.

1. Find the sizes of the Speakers that you need first for the ones you will be replacing.

2. Do you want to add a subwoofer to the setup? 8", 10" or 12" All have their merits and ultimately depends on what you are looking to get from the music e.g loud, lots of bass or sound quality.

3. Headunits: single or double din? Will you need adaptors, steering adaptors, fascia adaptors?

4. External amplifier/s: You could use it to power the speakers/subwoofer

This is just a few pointers from my own experience over the last year. I am still not done with my setup and I reckon it will take a few more months till I get there :)

Best of luck :)