3.5" + midbass or just a component set?

[MikeS 10+ year member]

Hey guys!

I'm trying to improve the lousy stereo in my Prius. I used to be super into car audio, but these days I'm just looking for a solid SQ system. I'm a musician and audio engineer, so SQ is all I car about. I'm getting older and don't like loud anymore...and I drive a Prius...someone beat me up!

Anyways, the Prius has these retarded little 2.5" sqwuakers in the dash and 6x9s in the doors. It'd take a little bit of surgery, but I could squeeze a 3.5" speaker in the dash. I'd roll it off around 200 and then put a 6.5" mid bass woofer in the door. Seems reasonable, and it'd be nice to get some mids in front of me, but I'm not sure I wouldn't be better off just putting a nice set of components in and mounting the tweeter in an ideal location rather than up under the glass where the factory speakers are.

I'd love to hear some thoughts about this. Also I'd love to get some speaker suggestions. 3.5" seem little hard to come by. Anyone know a good 3.5" speaker with a great smooth sounding tweeter? I tend to like silk or soft dome tweeters. Nothing too harsh.

My previous car had a DEI mid bass with focal tweeters and it was nice. Whats comparable these days? Lots of new players in the car audio market and seemingly less places to hear them all.

Thanks guys!

Mike

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[Chriszle 10+ year member]

I would do a component set. You can play with the positions of the components to get the sound you are looking for.

 

[zako 10+ year member]

Are you going to just replace the speakers or also add an amplifier and DSP? A far more important component for SQ is a DSP. You want something with an active crossover capability, better equalizer, and time alignment.

The 3 inch speakers that cover the entire frequency spectrum well, without tweeters, can be pretty expensive. One such speaker is Hybrid Audio L3SE. Personally, I would just go with a good component set and run it active. One good set of 6x9 component speakers is Hybrid Audio Imagine i69-2. The 6.5 inch version has gotten very good reviews, including in the archives on this web site. The 6x9 version should be more of the same. These speakers will play amazing bass. They have 8mm one way xmax and 45Hz resonance frequency.

 

[Jroo 10+ year member]

You might want to look at a set of fullrangers in the dash. A lot of sq guys are running them and depending on your taste and how they are aimed in the dash, many dont use tweeters at all. You could do those with a midbass and be set or a nice componet set which would be easier

 

[MikeS 10+ year member]

Thanks guys, lots of good thoughts!

I will add an amp. Not sure exactly what at this point. I have an old German made 5 channel amp in my garage I may give a try, but I'll definitely have something.

Whats a good DSP to use? I'm not too familiar with them in a car audio context. Are there HUs with adequate DSP or is this an outboard device? Time alignment sounds good! haha.

What are 'fullrangers'? I can guess by the name, but haven't seen them.

 

[Why So Cereal? 5,000+ posts]

I would use a DSP something like the JBL MS8 so u can keep the stock look.

Fullrangers are basically small mids that play a huge chunk of the freq range. The thing is, they need to be aimed precisely to avoid having the beaming effect ruin your upper freqs. My Camry is setup similar to your car and if I ever change it, my plan is probably to get an MS8 or similar and either run 6x9 components or a 6x9 in the door and something like a small 3.5 or 4" coax in the stock dash location. I haven't quite figured out the center speaker yet since its smaller than the others it seems.

Small coaxs that come to mind are Image Dynamics And Morel lines. But I haven't really looked into it too deply in a while.