Speakers & crossover help

[JJ30]

I bought my son a sweet '87 325is which we both love and mostly he gets to drive and work on. He wants to refurb or upgrade the sound system so I thought I'd try to score some components for him for Xmas.
The current head unit is an alpine CDA 9820XM, 18W x 4, 50W max x 4, and we're running the original set of speakers with the fader control on the dash (not hooked up).
I can only spend $200- $300 right now but perhaps more later. The speakers seem a bit worn, they distort & buzz a little when turned up and 1 tweeter barely plays at all.
My thoughts would be to get some kind of active crossover and either keep the speakers or upgrade a couple of them at a time. Is there a way to tell if they are worth salvaging? Is it worth it to try to find OEM replacements? We are not planning on a subwoof at this time.
What's the best way to go guys---we need the most bang for our buck but I believe we can make a big improvement in what we got now.
thanks in advance
JJ

[KenC]

Buy a decent set of 5.25" components, and just use the passive crossover that they come with.

[DSchultz325e]

http://stores.ebay.com/CADENCE-DIRECT

Those 5.25s are what I have right now. Don't be fooled by the price, it's just getting rid of old stock. If you want to hack it up a little bit, the 6.5s would be better.

[JJ30]

Thanx
What fits in the boxes in the back window-5.25? + a tweeter? Can new tweeters be installed near front mirrors-& what size?

[Mless5]

Thanx
What fits in the boxes in the back window-5.25? + a tweeter? Can new tweeters be installed near front mirrors-& what size?

yes. yes. 1".

[JJ30]

http://stores.ebay.com/CADENCE-DIRECT

Those 5.25s are what I have right now. Don't be fooled by the price, it's just getting rid of old stock. If you want to hack it up a little bit, the 6.5s would be better.

Will the Cadence MMX-5s fit front and back in the factory enclosures-a 5.25 and tweet in back boxes and a 5.25 in front kick panel and 1" tweeter in the window/mirror location? This would be cheap, easy & sound great---
Thanks
JJ

[JJ30]

Amp Wattage & Cadence

http://stores.ebay.com/CADENCE-DIRECT

Those 5.25s are what I have right now. Don't be fooled by the price, it's just getting rid of old stock. If you want to hack it up a little bit, the 6.5s would be better.

Will my head unit at 18Watts per channel drive these speakers without a separate amp unit?
Thanks
JJ

[StereoInstaller1]

JJ, you will be fine. To get anywhere near "loud" you will need to use an amp to run those...but are you really looking for all that loud? If and when you do a subwoofer, then you will really want to amplify the front and rear...just to clean things up a bit.

Keep in mind that "wattage" is the biggest myth in audio.

Fact: Wattage is a logrythmic thing.

Twice the power of one watt is NOT two, but 10.
Twice the power of 10 watts is 100. Twice 100 is 1000.

What I am telling you is that there is no audible or measurable difference between the 60 RMS watts you now have and say 120 watts RMS.

Better power will sound better. A high pass filter would have been nice to see the twats at Alpine put in that deck, so instead you are gonna have to amplify just to get a HP filter...then you have to lose the sub level control, or do high-level to the rear, since the twats at Alpine once again screwed the consumer by giving you a feature and taking 3 away.

Anyway, get them there cheap-o Cadence seperates. Fine sound, more than adequate for just about everything. Buy a bit of Dynomat "Extreme" to put behind the front speakers. You will be fine.

Luke

[JJ30]

JJ, you will be fine. To get anywhere near "loud" you will need to use an amp to run those...but are you really looking for all that loud? If and when you do a subwoofer, then you will really want to amplify the front and rear...just to clean things up a bit.

Keep in mind that "wattage" is the biggest myth in audio.

Fact: Wattage is a logrythmic thing.

Twice the power of one watt is NOT two, but 10.
Twice the power of 10 watts is 100. Twice 100 is 1000.

What I am telling you is that there is no audible or measurable difference between the 60 RMS watts you now have and say 120 watts RMS.

Better power will sound better. A high pass filter would have been nice to see the twats at Alpine put in that deck, so instead you are gonna have to amplify just to get a HP filter...then you have to lose the sub level control, or do high-level to the rear, since the twats at Alpine once again screwed the consumer by giving you a feature and taking 3 away.

Anyway, get them there cheap-o Cadence seperates. Fine sound, more than adequate for just about everything. Buy a bit of Dynomat "Extreme" to put behind the front speakers. You will be fine.

Luke

Thanx Luke, Cadence it is, 2 sets and we'll go from there. The Dynomat is a great suggestion-Where to get?
May have some wiring questions post Xmas-
Jude

[StereoInstaller1]

Jude, most car stereo shops carry Dynamat. Regular Dynamat is useless garbage, might as well glue toilet paper to your car.

Any of the butyl-rubber based aluminum backed sound deadning material will work great. You should be mostly concerned with damping the panel behind your speaker. a bit on the front of the panel is a good idea too.

Luke

[AndrewBird]

Just a tip, Home Depot sells an asphalt based sound deadener used for roofing. It's foil backed with adhesive on the other side. A lot oh MG guys use it and say it is great. I've never used it personally, but considering it is a LOT cheaper then Dynamat, you might check into it.

[Aerton]

...Anyway, get them there cheap-o Cadence separates. Fine sound, more than adequate for just about everything. Buy a bit of Dynomat "Extreme" to put behind the front speakers. You will be fine...

Luke

Hey Luke,

I'm searching for what speakers to put in the kick panel, so you like the Cadence? can I fit 6 1/2" up front? In a previous thread you recommended the Memphis Speakers as a good buy.

What speaker would you listen to or what do you have in your ride?
Thanks

[StereoInstaller1]

Hey Luke,

I'm searching for what speakers to put in the kick panel, so you like the Cadence?

Not especially, but they were like $58 a set or some shit.

can I fit 6 1/2" up front?

You could fit many of the Neodymium magnet speakers that are out there today with some modification, or build simple kickpanels to easily fit 6.5" speakers

In a previous thread you recommended the Memphis Speakers as a good buy.

Not all of them. I really like the MSync, and the MClass co-axial. The 5.25" co-ax is just fucking awesome for the price.

What speaker would you listen to or what do you have in your ride?
Thanks

Ack. Do you really want to know? Currently, there is NOTHING in my car, but I am in the process of preparing for the summer. Buffing, repainting all of the trim and finally doing the stereo.

Bass: Lightning Audio S4.10.VC2 in 2.4 cubic feet, ported with 2) 4" Areoports, tuned about 31Hz.

Midrange: KEF "KAR 6" Midbass/midrange (NIB from 1993) in .7cu.ft sealed, each. On axis, very close to equal pathlength L vs. R.

Tweeter: Polk Audio "Silver Series" home speaker replacement drivers, unless I can find a set of Dynaudio D21AF, preferrably in 4 ohm.

Cables will be Stinger "Dream" series, amps will be either 5 channels of Crossfire or my ancient Harman/Kardon CA260's ( I have 3) or possibly Orion HCCA250 on bass with 2) HCCA225 on mids and highs.

If I feel it necessary, I will find the money to run 3) 2 channel ARC Audio amps.

No passive crossovers, electronic will be either AudioControl 6XS or Orion SVX3100.

The biggest challenge will be building the front speaker enclosures. So far I have relocated the ABS brain...but that is all I am gonna say.

Luke

[Aerton]

Wow !!!

Thanks Luke, now I know what to strive for in the long run, in the meantime I will crawl forward with a poor-mans simplistic system or until I go full bore.

First I have to replace my broken Sony cdx-M630, as the face died.

Thanks again

[StereoInstaller1]

broken Sony cdx-M630,

You must be kidding...a broken Sony? Hooda thunk a SOny would break, wow.

[/sarcasm]

I have finally installed one of the Panasonic CQ-C7413u. For the money, I think it a winner. A tiny bit guady, but excellent performace and decent color match.

Motorized "tilting" face, too.

Luke