Very Cheap 5.25 3 way speakers, that sound great!!!

[5Toes]

Im running these, or atleast something REALLY similar. Spending all my money on proper sub, amp and deck.

And.. I plan on doing proper door pods later

[dogsbark26]

My car did not have the premium sound so did not come with factory tweeter sails. I did buy used tweeter sails that I'd like to hook up before trying to replace the tweeters in them with new ones but I haven't decided on what ones to buy yet.

[airkhin]

f* it, just ordered a set, im sure will sound better than the one blown i got now... 23$ isnt too horrible... haha. im just curious how to run the factory tweeter with the speakers, since i ran all my own wires from deck to speakers...

[StereoInstaller1]

If you want to use the stock tweeters, you need to use passive crossovers.

You can make your own with about $10 worth of parts or just buy a set on ebay or whatever.

[CrusherCurtis]

passive crossovers.

You can make your own with about $10 worth of parts or just buy a set on ebay or whatever.

Passive Crossovers???????? Please go on......

[StereoInstaller1]

Passive Crossovers???????? Please go on......

go on what? All speakers need a crossover of some sort (audiophiles, shut up, lets not go too far here) as obviously a tweeter can not safely get a full-range signal. You need to get all of the midrange out, obviously the bass too.

What I am talking about is a very simple passive crossover, like every set of component speaker come with. Better crossovers sound WAY better...that weird crap on the back of your stock premium sound speaker is what the E30 uses.

Does that help at all?

[CrusherCurtis]

What's your opinion on stereo's that have High pass filters? Are they enough? Are crossovers better?

[StereoInstaller1]

A stereo with a high pass filter will be roughly 120Hz, tweeters need to see a minimum of roughly 4Khz, not even remotely close.

Passive crossovers are a necessity on an install like yours.

[reelizmpro]

The stereo built in cross over is okay for mid range speakers but from there the separate tweeters should have it's signal passed through a high pass filter. A passive filter is straight forward and cheap. You can build your own and tailor the cutoff by choosing the capacitance of the capacitor you use.

[CrusherCurtis]

My stereo is set to 160hz and think it sounds pretty good. To my ears it sounds like the tweeter only play high sounds. Where do you even mount passive crossovers in an e30? Is there any room behind the tweeter sails?

[StereoInstaller1]

My stereo is set to 160hz and think it sounds pretty good. To my ears it sounds like the tweeter only play high sounds. Where do you even mount passive crossovers in an e30? Is there any room behind the tweeter sails?

No, you would mount them in the dashboard after you extended the wires.

I really think you should head down to a local car stereo shop and spend a bit of time listening to "good" shit. Bring your own music so you are familiar with what you are listening to.

If you are crossing your speakers at 160Hz, you car has ZERO midbass...the E30 already suffers from lack of midbass and you filtered the last little bit out.

Your tweeters, if still working, are playing information they are simply not capable of playing for any length of time or with any clarity.

I am not trying to be a dick here, but I have been a professional high-end installer since 1980. If I, or any other serious professional offer any advice, you really should consider it. There are LOTS of differing opinions, but what you have there is just completely wrong. A few bucks, a little knowledge and a little effort is all it takes.

Luke

[Vtec?lol]

My man luke is too right!
I've used Polks "MM" series in front and used the factory capacitor off the back of the stock premium speaker and even it wasn't up to the task.

Bottom line, there's no way your system sounds good with factory tweeters and 70-120hz being cut out of your mids. Don't let the subs do the work of your midrange, that's begging for distortion. It may be better than stock but once you spend the little time and money it takes to properly tune your system, it's worlds different

[5Toes]

Besides tuning... Luke what do you say about these speakers?

Got any alternatives?

[84driver]

I'm looking at the Rockford Fosgate R152-S, very well-reviewed for the price on SonicElectronix and available on fleabay for $53 new.

I already have RF rears and sub, and I have had good experiences with RF in the past, so I think these will be a great match.


I also looked at the 5.25 MB Quarts, the FSB213 and the DSH213. They are the same price and MB Quarts are recommended by Luke, nothing else that cheap or cheaper is as well reviewed...


PAUSE


Ok, looking closer it seems that the discontinued (but still available) DSH213 has the nicest specs of the bunch:

DSH213:

1" Titanium Tweeter
Nicer crossovers fixed at 3800Hz
Rubber woofer surround


FSB213:

3/4" Titanium Tweeter
Inline crossovers fixed at ???? No information anywhere!!!
Butyl rubber woofer surround


R152-S:

1/2" Mylar Tweeter
Tiny crossovers in the tweeter fixed at 12Khz :(
Foam woofer surround

It looks like MB Quart used to sell nicer crossovers in models like the FSA213 and the DSE213 but their new 'Formula' FSXXXX line they went cheap. I'm now worried the RF tweeters are junk... I don't expect that the mids really hit cleanly up to 12Khz either. Pretty sure I just sold myself the DSH213s. Get 'em before they disappear!