6.5" --- Memphis --- Focal?

[SteelWheel 10+ year member]

I am installing a new system in my 4 runner and I am having tough time deciding what direction to go. I have tried to make a decision by listening to sound boards at audio shops and this has been very little help. I have been to six different shops and not a single one of them had a fully operational board. For example, at one shop all of the speakers were ran off of HU power only. At another, they could not turn the amps off. At another, an entire board of speakers were not operating. Needless to say, this makes comparison shopping almost impossible. Combine this with the fact that, IMO, soundboards inherently sound like crap, I have little confidence in making a decision based primarily on what I hear in an audio shop. Thus, I turn to you.

First, I am probably leaning toward 6.5" coaxils. While I would not mind spending the extra cash for the component system itself, I fugure that by the time I add on an amp to drive them, I am looking conservatively at an extra $400 to have a sytem with components installed. Although if I found the right set up that I really liked, I could afford it. One problem is I know very little about amps and I don't want to introduce any trash into my system and even an inexpensive amp pushes what I want to spend.

That brings me to my request for help choosing coaxils. Quite frankly, the $109 Memphis 6.5's probably sound better than any other that I have listened to. What's everyone's opinion on these??

I was very perplexed by the Boston 's. The Boston NX's sounded pretty power craved and somewhat flat (they were running off of HU power only and they could not put an amp to them.) However, the Boston 6.5" $250 components, which I am sure require power than the NX's, sounded much better. The bottom line Boston coax's, which I presume are better suited for low power, actually sounded like they were blown.

Based on the postings here, I would love to consider Focals, but I cannot get a dealer list to come up on their website. Anyone know of a Focal dealer in the south Mississippi or New Orleans area?

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[T3mpest 10+ year member]

I like BA, yeah their sets are power hungry. I've heard of people running the Z6's (flaship model) with over 400W. per side, the took it too. They were always one of my favorite, them and MB mainly for the tweeters, it's ribbonish. I haven't heard anything from memphis, i'd like to think are an audiophile favorite for a reason though.

 

[SteelWheel 10+ year member]

Thanks for the response. Hearing that Memphis is an "audiophile favorite" gives me more information than I had about the brand before. Being an old family man now, I get into the car stereo once every few years and then only until I find what I need.

I guess I have ruled Boston coaxils out, if I am going to need an amp to go that route anyway I would go with components.

 

[XtrmAudioCncpts 10+ year member]

you could go the the Boston pro's and you dont NEED to amp them

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

They won't sound that much better than stock without the extra power. HU power rarely gives the speaker the chance to really let loose.

 

[SteelWheel 10+ year member]

Thanks guys for the input. I can't tell you how frustrated I am at not being able to compare the sounds of different setups due to the the audio shops' not having their soundboards prepared properly.

For example, depsite dragging my butt down to the Boston authorized dealer, I have no idea what the Boston's sound like with an amp.

The best sounding speakers running off of HU power were the Memphis speakers. Even then, I was not listening to the size I am interested in -- 6.5's, but rather 4 x somethings because the board with the 6.5's was not working.

The best sounding components that I heard were made by Kicker (but that may have been because they were actually installed in a car within the store.)

By the way, I would probably go ahead and spend the extra $400 or so to go with a component system (including the amp and extra installation charges) if I knew there would be a substantial increase in SQ for that price.

In other words, is a $200 amp going to add sound quality to my system or just be a source of bad noise / headache? I am considering:

JBL CS 50.4 --- 268 watts, 4 channel, 67 watts 4 channels @ 4 ohms

JBL GTO 75.2II -- 260 watts 2 channel 97 watts RMS @ 4 ohms

Any thoughts. I know next to nothing about amps.