YACAT: Component Speakers

[Shawn]

Are they really all that much better than regular speakers? Also what exactly do the 2-way crossovers do? Also would these be a lot nicer than my current MB Quarts?

 

[0roo0roo]

components are where its at. you don't think sacrifice in design to cram both together in that coaxial? comparing two sets at the same size but with the different designs the components will beat the pants off the coaxial. coaxial is for convenient install/space etc.

 

[Shawn]

How good are Polk speakers?

 

[0roo0roo]

pretty good, depending on the line. i like their higher end dx speakers. didn't like the cheaper ex ones i tried and returned. mostly cuz i ussually don't like non silk dome tweets.

 

[Marauder-]

Originally posted by: iloveme2
How good are Polk speakers?

EDIT: NM - Realized it was for car audio... not HT

 

[TheCorm]

I think that it's a good idea to have component speakers for the front of the car as it allows you to put the tweeter closer to your lugs so that you get the higher frequencies better, after all...as we know from subwoofer placement with computer speakers, high frequencies are directional while low frequencies are not so the tweeter should be pointed at you.

I have seperate tweeters in the front of my car and find that it's very good, especially since the low/mid range cone is down at the bottom of my door, in my last car I had normal speakers but they were at the top of the door so it wasn't so bad. In the back of the car I wouldn't bother, the tweeter is right near the ears of the passengers anyway.

Jamie

 

[glen]

component speakers generally have a "better" cross over.
coaxil speakers are a better design.
Ideally, all your drivers would be in the exact same spot.
Now with subs, their size requires that we move them.
Their non directionality and some other things make the trunk ideal for them.
Unless you run compression drivers on horns in a car, I would suggest coaxils in the kick panels.
Your ears are good at detecting left to right, but not up and down.
In fact, with an EQ you may be able to use psycho accoustics to raise the sound stage.
Your ears hear sound the same coming from below, except for the attenuation of a narrow midrange frequency. Relative tonal changes in this frequecy que your brain to move the location up and down. So, you can reverse it using an 31 band or better EQ.
However, I have not done this in my car or felt the need to.
Here are my pods:
http://www.sounddomain.com/member_pages/view_page.pl?page_id=134802&page=3
Location will almost always have a greater tonal effect than the difference between brands of speakers.

 

[0roo0roo]

unless you have pods, coaxials probably mounted at the bottom of the door. lousiest place for tweets.

my guess is that for a given size, the coaxial is less efficient to boot.

 

[glen]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
unless you have pods, coaxials probably mounted at the bottom of the door. lousiest place for tweets.

my guess is that for a given size, the coaxial is less efficient to boot.

No. Even without pods, bottom of the door or kick panels are almost always the best. Your tweeter is off axis, but that merely attenuates the highs in a gentle curve, and can be corrected with an EQ or even your bass/high knob in a pinch. The advantage of the location is the path length equalization which results in simultanius time arrival, and therefore stereo imaging. Also, coaxils are nto more or less efficient than any other design. As I said in an above post, sometimes they use infearior crossovers.

 

[Shawn]

Well what I would like to know is would those polk component speakers be better than the speakers I have currently?

 

[glen]

Maybe; maybe not.
MB Quart are good speakers.
Again, let me stress, the location in the car will have a greater impact on their sound than the brand.
And, I prefer coaxils.

 

[oldirtythao]

Originally posted by: glen
Maybe; maybe not.
MB Quart are good speakers.
Again, let me stress, the location in the car will have a greater impact on their sound than the brand.
And, I prefer coaxils.

I aggree w/ some of your points regarding the position of the speakers to be important, but in some cases the tweeter does not necessarily have to be near your mids to sound right.
In my experienced i like the tweeters being placed on the a-piller pointed at eachother while the mids are in the doors or in kick panels aimed towards the middle of the car. this lifts the soundstage up w/o need of an EQ gives a good stereo feel and sometimes w/ the right tuning of crossovers it gives you a nice "center" staging.

I believe the alpine type X crossover have some sort of positioning thingie. Where you switch jumpers around depending on where you tweets and mids are to get the best staging for your car.

In some of the IASCA SQ cars they have tweets in the apillars or higher up while kick panels for the mids. Then again some of those cars have 10k+ worth of equipment and installs...

oh man i'm sooo off-topic.. but yea.. a good set of coax are comparable to a component set and are easier to install. Components generally require more power, and you won't really take full advantage of their quality w/o an good amp and a good headunit.