Car Audio Speakers

I'm not saying you can't get better sound in a new car with after market gear. It's just that the gap in sound quality is smaller. Depends how fanatical you want to get and how much you want to spend.

My last car had a very good setup and sounded great. My head unit was a Pioneer P9 with the outboard digital eq/crossover box. Into a 4 channel Tube Driver Blue amp for the fronts. For tweeters I used the totl Morel soft dome. Midbass drivers were 8" Dynaudio. I used the Pioneer P9 for the crossover. The P9 also had a 31 band eq. I used a RTA to adjust. For subs I had 2 12" Eclipse driven by a Rockford Fosgate digital amp. Being able to adjust eq for the car environment is very helpfull.

In my new car I did not want to cut up my door panels to accomodate the 8" mids and big tweeters. So I just used some older Diamond Audio Hex series I had behind the existing grills. My Pioneer P9 finally died so I just got the new Pioneer PRS80 which is much less expensive but has most of the same features of the P9. Unfortunately it does not sound as good. I miss the other speakers so I may find a way to install them in this car.

Don't overlook Audiofreak32's mention of Dynamat. Lowering the noise in the passenger compartment is an essential first step. In my last car I lined the doors and inner door frame pillars with Dynamat and had substantially quieter environment in which to listen. BTW, I've got Focals and find them very satisfying.

Thank you for all your informative advice.

I found a local installer who is a dealer for Focal, Dynaudio and German Maestro (founded by members of MB Quart). The latter appears to be even pricier.

"Tube Driver Blue amp"...I didn't realize there are tube amps for car audio!

I ask the installer about Dynamat.

Hi Dracule

I was surprised to about a car audio tube amp. I heard about them years ago but never got a chance to listen.

The company is called Butler Audio.

http://www.butleraudio.com/car.php

Lots of good brands of speakers mentioned here. I used to drool over lots them. I'm curious about Maestro as I remember MB Quart making quality stuff.

I don't know if this company is around but they used to make Horn Loaded Compression Drivers for cars. Image Dynamics. They would fit under the entire dash. I never got to hear them in a car but I always thought the installs were cool.

I settled on 2 pairs of Focal K2P separate components. They are/were considered decent higher end (for car I guess)speakers and have them hooked up to a 4 channel McIntosh amplifier. They sound great but I will say they're a little on the bright side. They even come with a "treble cut" switch on the crossover which I have set to the lower setting. I would have loved to demo some Dynaudio separates but couldn't find anyone in the area that had them or could demo them in a car environment. Overall I'm really happy with the sound, but you can only expect so much from a car system if you're used to systems like you see on this website.