Well..I am not sure what section to post about this. Now that I have my HT tweaked and loving my Axioms...I would like to get some good sound in my SUV. Obviously Axiom don't make any car audio products. Can anyone suggest some good ones?

I really enjoyed the sound of Focal speakers when auditioning for HT speakers. They make some nice towers. I see that they also make car speakers, but I haven't heard them. I would suspect that they are quality stuff.

As for me, I actually enjoy my BOSE system that came in my 2001 Maxima.

You could always put some axioms in the car.

I bet an EP600 would be great for some bass in the trunk!

I don't know if you can get a hold of some JL Audio equipment in Canada, but I've had them in my car for about 4 years and I love them and they've given me zero trouble! well until a month ago when we bought our new car and the WAF wouldn't accept them in the new car, so now they're on craigslist

These are about the same responses I got when asking about car audio. "EP600 in the trunk" and "M80s for the rears"

Actually, what you will find is that just about any "aftermarket" speaker will improve your sound as long as it is properly powered and getting a clean signal from the head unit.

I would say that there IS a noticable improvement, obviously, in upgrading the speakers, but many times, the best improvement (beyond that) is to replace the head unit and any factory amp that is in there.

You will get a lot of people chiming in about their favorite speaker brand, JL, Polk, Alpine, Kenwood, yadda, yadda, yadda... If you are running the basis stock speakers now, any of these will be an improvement.

What year/make/model is your SUV? Knowing what size speakers your vehicle can support will help as well for some specific experiences, plus you can always go to Crutchfield and put in your car information and it will telly ou what fits, you can get their product research on them, as well as customer reviews.

I have Focals in my car. I started with coaxes from the Access line, changed to 2-ways from the polyglass line, and currently run 2-ways utopias. I would say they are all similar to the axiom sound. The crossovers (on the ones I have) are adjustable and I have the tweeters dialed back quite a bit. I will say if I had it to do again I'd stick with the polyglass, the utopias aren't enough better to justify the price in my loud-ass car.
I listened to diamond "hex"s in '03 and they sounded very similar to the focals. When auditioning, my impression was that the access line was a significant jump in SQ. over the slightly cheaper more mainstream brands. I would recomend a healthy amp as the next upgrade after speakers. I would also suggest considering the "front stage" approach- put your money into 2 great speakers in the front and forget the back ones. The catch is you need that heathy amp to really pull it off well.

I would love to put M80s in the rear...lol..how ever that will not work. I have a 2004suzuki XL-7 . The whole reason I want new speakers is because I just installed a Alpine W505 in it and realize the Stock speakers sucks ass. (can you believe it is worst than my 2001 focus stock speakers?) I believe visions sells JL's I might give them a listen.

Obviously, I wish Axioms will make some car speakers

So that looks like 6.5" fronts and 6.5" rears as well...


You want to go coaxial or drop the bucks on component (speaker with separate tweeter and a crossover)? There is a difference in cost and sound. I would think some nice 3 or 4 way fronts and then 2 way rears coaxials would work well and you could put some money into a sub since you will be missing a lot of low end...

Frostiex, your Suzuki stock front and rear speakers are 6.5". If you are looking to upgrade your stock car speakers on a tight budget I highly recommend Infinity 62.7i Kappa series 2-way speakers $79.99 mated with a robust amplifier. As others recommended, focus on the "front stage" and use the stock speakers in the back for rear fill.http://www.millionbuy.com/inf627i.html.

As for an amplifier Powerbass ASA300.2 $79.99 delivers everything it claims and careful gain adjustment will yeild excellent results with the 2ohm Kappa's. This ampis 2ohm stable and will deliver 150w rms to each channel.http://www.millionbuy.com/powasa3002.html

If you are looking to go all out and spend big bucks look at JL Audio Evolution ZR series component speakers and the new G series amplifiers. Top notch stuff! I am currently running a/d/s 6.5 " comps in my front doors with the tweeters mounted in the dash powered by JL Audio 300/2, 15" SI Mag D2 sealed enclosure powered By a JL Audio 1000/1 and CDT 6x9's in the rear panels powered by JL Audio A2150. I stripped my car to bare metal and sound deadened the entire interior with Raamat. The sound is mind blowing!

demetman

My SUV currently have a 7 speaker system.
2 tweeter by the wind shield, 2 fronts and 2 rears plus a small SUB that is mounted under the driver seat. (however...the low end is not good). These were all stock.

Will I really have to put in a new amp? I am really looking to just replace the speakers with current wiring if possible without going thru the whole car. Calgary summer is short here and I have tonnes of home reno projects on the go atm.

It’s very difficult to give you advice without knowing what vehicle you have now, and what head unit / system it is running. And even if I did know that information, I’d still have to talk to one of my car audio buddies to find out what type of interface devises are available and who much room there is for drivers and so forth…... Bose systems are a friggin nightmare to integrate with aftermarket speakers, as well as any vehicle that has On Star. Most with factory Pass/security systems also come with their own bag of headaches.

Your best bet is to ask this question on one of the car audio boards where you can speak with folks who do this stuff for a living. I’ve had very good luck at Elite Audio. They have a SPL forum and a SQ forum. The SQ forum is where I go for advice as these guys/gals are what I call, Mobile Audiophiles. The owns who BS in the SPL forum are much more, uh…..rap and thumpity thump orientated.

He stated that he owns a 2004 Suzuki XL-7 and has the Alpine IVA-W505. The Alpine is a pretty pricey head unit compared to what most poeple put in there car, and comes from a quality manufacturer, so that is good.

As for the "7 speaker system", I generally make the mistake (my bad) of not including tweeters in that count. My car from the factory is a 6 speaker system, but the factory tweeters, as with most vehicles, are such crap that even though I have them, I don't count them. If you want to replace the tweeters too, you could go with a component system up front (gets you tweeters, 6.5" door speakers, and crossovers) and either leave the rears, or upgrade them with coaxial. For bass, you would need to run a new sub and amp from your Alpine. With the size of that vehicle, you can get a LOT out of a 10" sub. Unless you want to be thumping down the road. If you get too much bass, then your SUV rattles like crap and that adds cost to resolve as well.

Some advice I was given in the past was to just disconnect the rear speakers and go with nice fronts and a powered sub. To me, right or wrong, I wanted rear speakers still. Some people, as mentioned above, just leave the factory rears in for "fill". I guess I am thinking that a crappy factory speaker is still a crappy factory speaker whether it is up front or in the rear. So it is either no rear speakers (which seems to leave a void in the sound field) or crappy rear sound unless you upgrade the rears as well.

I have a very low mileage 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP. That has 5.25" fronts and 6x9" rears. A big upgrade is to put 6.5" fronts in there, so I've heard a lot of talk about what 6.5" to go with. Oddly enough, one component set that keeps getting recommended is the Pioneer TS-A1702C. People on the Grand Prix forums say that they are great bang for the buck. Of course, component speakers sound best if powered by a separate amp, but they don't *have* to be.

Hope that helps to get you one step closer....

Try Alpine Type R speakers in the front. SPL-17??? I think.

I changed my stock Suburban speakers for Type R in the front doors and Type S in the rear doors. Used the stock head unit.

What a wonderful change!

Later added Pioneer 980 head unit. Even better!

Still later added Alpine amp for doors, 10 inch Type R sub and mono Alpine amp for the sub.

Best yet!

I agree with what many have said. I had just 2 JL Audio XR's in the front, separates, run by a JL 300/2, and a 12" JL W6v2 in the back, it rattled my little A4 like nobody's business! I think the investment in a quality speaker amp will do wonders, I couldn't believe the difference it made!

Ah, more good choices for speakers.

thanks for the help...I will go for some auditions...see how it goes first.

Would it be difficult to order Axiom woofers and tweeters and just install them into the car?

Joe Vassallo had 2 Axiom drivers in his Porsche...

Link

nice...