Hey people.

I literally know nothing about audio.

I'm taking all my rear interior out but want to retain having some music.

I don't want to run an amp, just the standard one on head unit.

Iv had both JBL and ground zero dash speakers in the mk3(3.5") and generally break/distort as soon as you turn it up, which permanently damages them.

Run an alpine head unit, which has 4x50w output I think, don't even know if that's peak or RMS tbh.

I don't know if they break because the head unit gives too much, or the speakers demand too much from what the bed unit can do.

I could bridge front and rear channels to fronts giving them 100w I guess? If that would help.

I also read I could fit 4" speakers in with a bit of fettling?

I don't mind spending money on some that will be able to be turned up and still retain quality, probably asking a lot. Was thinking hertz audio or something but I ask because I don't want to buy another set and ruin them straight away lol.

Much love x

I have a set of JBL GTO 10cms in the dash on mine. They get absolutely mullered but still sound great. Don't distort or anything. You have to trim a little of the surround and cover to get them in.

I know this might sound stupid, due to the size of them, but are they bassy at all? Obviously not shake the car like but not shit and tinny like tweeters lol

Ermmm not really bassy at all lol. They're not tinny, got some good mids. I have them and a sub and that sounds just right for me, I do rely on the sub though.

Take rear seats out nick, board it and incorporate a sub.........sorted

The idea of removing interior is to save weight, so I don't wanna pile it back in again with amps and that lol

I've been looking at these item number on eBay: 370609357019

I'll be running them with an amp, but seeing as I've never heard of 'bass face' I'm unsure of the quality.

It's more the rattles around the car that disturb my music, than the speakers distorting.

I was also thinking of getting some door speakers with separate tweeters & trying to find somewhere under the dash to hide them, then the tweeters coming out the normal holes. But i don't like cold weather so waiting for the sun.

Edited 10 February, 201313 yr by Craig_Fell

Anyone?

you wont get anything decent bass wise (without distortion when cranking it) of a speaker smlaller than 6.5 " howver you could fit 3 way component speakers that divide the frequencies between bass mid and tweeter giving a clearer crisper sound and providing decent bass however most decent 3 way comps are gonna 120wrms which mean you head unit will struggle to power them of the inbuilt amp eventually causing the amp to burn out or blow the way round it is to run a small 2 channel amp like this one along with something like this but they wouldnt mount in the front unless you can find a place under the dash/footwells etc

Abit off topic but I'm hoping to run a set of 6.5" component speakers as door pods ...

But audio's not really my strong spot .... What i was hoping for is the 6.5" components for lower freq. The standerd speakers for mid. and the tweeters for high..

I will need a crossover unit I'm guessing to allow the freq to change to each speaker etc..

How would i go about powering this? off the head unit or my amp, I've got a preety decent phiniox gold amp which I'm sure has cross over on that ?

use the amp for the low and mid but use the original wiring for the high as this will give the better sound and you get a more crisp beat jamie

Nick if you want base you are going to have to run an amp there not as heavy as seats and your rear interior but they do require mounting thats if you want to compromise

Obviously I know there's not going to be much bass at all from ~4" speakers, but some will be better than others i guess? My amp is pretty big compared by modern standards.

Why are audioscape pods not avail! Haha

running stock size speakers off the headunit, is never going to gain you a rounded sound. To make bass, you need to move air, to move air you need surface area. An 8.5 cm speaker simply doesn't have the surface area.

The reason your little speakers keep breaking will be down to the low end frequencies killing them. If you eq all the low frequency sound out of the speakers, it will take a lot more effort to blow them up.

I run a pair of JL audio 8.5cm speakers, powered by the headunit and a 10" sub, powered by a small 150 watt rms amp. Gives a nice warm sound with enough volume to drown out any road noise.

If you want more bass, you need to add more surface area, that means your gonna have to compromise on speakers and weight saving. If it were me I would run a small active sub and make sure the dash speakers have the low frequency sounds filtered out. You can get some really compact sub/amp units these days, Some will even fit under the seats.

I appreciate the lack of bass due to reduced surface area - common sense really.

But both sets of speakers iv had were both two way Coax 3.5" and one set had a lot more of a bassy sound than the others, even with tweaking settings.

I know I won't get bass, but there will be a variance between different brands surely

I had Alpine 3.5" speakers in my old MK3 dash. They were pretty good, and didnt distort when played loud. Werent that bassy though, but weren't tinny. Your best bet would be some door pods, either keep your eyes open for some Audioscapes (they come up occasionally on here), or make your own out of MDF and fibreglass, its really not that hard, just takes ages. I had all the stuff ready to do it, was about to start and some Audioscapes arrived :-) You can use 6.5" coaxials then, or a small amp under the seat (Vibe litebox, what i have, is brilliant) and some components. I also have a 8 inch sub and its a perfect set up IMO. Doesnt vibrate the car to bits, but overpowers the road noise and gives a good clear sound and really kicks when you want it to :-)

I appreciate the lack of bass due to reduced surface area - common sense really.

But both sets of speakers iv had were both two way Coax 3.5" and one set had a lot more of a bassy sound than the others, even with tweaking settings.

I know I won't get bass, but there will be a variance between different brands surely

there will be variance depending on the materials used to construct the speaker, the voice coil size, the sensitivity of the speaker, the magnet size, basket construction, I could go on!

Any decent make speakers should list a detailed spec.

power handling: ignore pmpo, rms power handling is all you are interested in. most good 8.5 cm speaker will be around 20 watts rms

speaker sensitivity: the higher the figure, the less power is needed to get the best from them. A high sensitivity is desireable! a 3db drop in sensitivity requires twice the amp power to achieve the same volume.

Frequency responce: this tells you what range the speaker will perform in. some manufaturers will also list a graph. looks a bit like a rolling road torque graph, and similar to a torque graph, a linear plot is a good thing. The info is also usefull when setting an eq for the speakers (no point in sending signals to the speaker that it cannot reproduce!)

It is important to try and match your headunit or amps o/p power to the speakers power handling, this reduces the chance of over powering or sending clipped signals to the speakers. Under-powering the speakers can be as bad as over powering them. When under-powered the signal can be distorted (clipped) before it has even reached the speaker, so you could have the worlds best speakers and they would still produce a crap sound in that situation. It will also over-heat the voice coil and the speaker will eventually fail.