Car Audio Experts: Please Help!

[GTaudiophile]

I have a 1992 Mazda Miata (19K miles). It's a pretty "vanilla" model with only the standard speaker system that features a factory 5.25" mid-range driver built into each door. One of the speakers is starting to rattle, so I am looking at upgrading them.

The CD player/receiver/amp in the car is the Blaupunkt Nevada RDM168. I am currently looking at these two Boston Acoustics speakers as replacements: FX5 ($100) and RX57 ($139.99). Looking at the specs of the amp, are these speakers a good match?

Other then Infinity, I can't think of a better car audio brand than Boston. Can anyone make any other recommendations? My price range is $100-$150 max.

Edit: the amp's max power output is 40x4. Does that mean that each speaker can received a max of 40w and the amp can power a max of 4 speakers? My Miata only has 2 speakers.

 

[minendo]

Eclipse makes really good stuff but it does get expensive.

 

[jfall]

Well, I guess you could call your CD player an AMP... but it really doesn't give off much power at all.. 40x4 PEAK POWER.. will more then only likely be around 16-20 RMS power. You can still run speakers off 20 RMS, but any thing that you want to sound good, you would have to run them from a separate amp. Something that will give them like 80-120 or so RMS per speaker.

 

[GTaudiophile]

jfall: Sorry, but I'm not getting a new amp. I guess it would be pointless to get the RX57 speakers. The FX5s would be a better fit. BTW, you have 666 posts!

 

[Farbio]

the only other brand i would reccomend would be mbquart, but they are quite pricey of course. anyways, i don't think there will be that much difference in the sound b/w the 2 of them, but go listen to them at your local store and see which you enjoy listening to more. that should be your best advice...you might find some speakers you like better for less actually.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Which brand would you all recommend between Alpine, Boston, Kenwood, and Sony?

 

[minendo]

definitely Boston

 

[Cessna172]

<< Other then Infinity, I can't think of a better car audio brand than Boston >>



Boston is better than Infinity. I had Boston ProSeries speakers in my car a long time ago, and they sounded excellent with my ADS amp.

 

[Viperoni]

The Morel WR-5 component set - $230 (3rd set in the link)
Those are the kinda speakers that are used in SQ competitions.

A lot of speakers sound better than Infinity

 

[jfall]

Like I said, you can still run the speakers off the deck.. and they still should sound alright. But when you are talking speakers such as Boston, they are driven off amps in most cases. I would look into the Infinity Reference Series.. DEI, Boston etc.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Bump for more opinions!

 

[Ns1]

ask this over @ car audio forum

they'd know alot more =)

 

[Angrymarshmello]

The Infinity Reference's distort too much for my taste at a low level. (22 volume out of a 40) If you're lucky you can find the green Kappa's being discontinued, usually at the same or better price than References.

 

[Z24]

DEI Studio

You didn't specify whether you wanted coaxial (with the tweeter in the middle) or components (with the tweeter as a seperate piece). If you're not going to buy a seperate amplifier (highly recommended with ANY speaker), then don't bother with the more expensive component speaker sets.

In a small car like that, two 5.25" speakers with a small amplifier will sound quite impressive. You really should look into it. Other companies are:

AVI
Image Dynamics
Diamond Audio
a/d/s/ (now owned by DEI)

and a bunch more... the thing is, you don't really get a high-end speaker for $100-150. I think the DEI's are by far the best bang for the buck--but they're closer to $200.

 

[Phatty106]

If you're going to get nice speakers, get an amp. If you're not going to get an amp, don't bother getting expensive speakers. That's my advice anyway...


ph

 

[Z24]

Here's a good deal on a nice amp from a reputable source: Phoenix Gold XS2200


edit: it's cheaper because the XS series has been discontinued -- but it's still an absolutely amazing amp for the money.

 

[bmacleod]

<< The Infinity Reference's distort too much for my taste at a low level. (22 volume out of a 40) If you're lucky you can find the green Kappa's being discontinued, usually at the same or better price than References. >>




Learn how to setup your speakers properly and that won't happen...it's the installer's fault, not the speaker's fault.