coaxial set up

[bgballin26 10+ year member]

Looking to replace my stock 6.5 door speakers and 6x9 rear deck speakers, i have been reading that you can use coaxial type speakers and run them off the Head Unit, i'm running a Kenwood Excelon 696 deck, I'm not ready to add an amp so would it be ok to upgrade to coaxial speakers for now and add an amp later? I was looking at the Focal speakers, or maybe Infinity. I'm open to suggestions

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[zako 10+ year member]

I don't think that deck power is any more suited for a coaxial speaker than it is for component speaker. A lot of speaker families have coaxial and component version, so they're basically the same thing as far as materials/baskets/cones are concerned. The components usually have more robust crossover networks. Some say that more robust crossover networks may result in more power loss, but it can't be very big, may be up to 10%. On the other hand, if you use components you may actually need less power than with a coaxial speaker. The reason is that in a typical component install, the tweeter is usually moved closer to your head, and so you likely hear high frequencies better. This can be a double edge sword, as some cheaper components have bright, harsh sounding tweeters, so their sound gets worse if moved closer to your ears (some Infinity speakers have a tendency for this).

For coaxial speakers, I'd try Hybrid Audio Mirus, Alpine Type-R, Pioneer D-Series. Morel Maximo. For components, I'd consider Pioneer D-series, Morel Maximo, or JBL MS-series.

 

[gckless 5,000+ posts]

^^That is good info. If it was me, I would get a set of components up front, and you'll be fine with coaxials in the back. Get something with a high sensitivity and moderate power handling, as they will get a bit louder off head unit power and be fine once you add an amp.

 

[av83 10+ year member]

Looking to replace my stock 6.5 door speakers and 6x9 rear deck speakers, i have been reading that you can use coaxial type speakers and run them off the Head Unit, i'm running a Kenwood Excelon 696 deck, I'm not ready to add an amp so would it be ok to upgrade to coaxial speakers for now and add an amp later? I was looking at the Focal speakers, or maybe Infinity. I'm open to suggestions

Boston SE series, for the low-power win.

 

[jungstah 10+ year member]

i think polk db's give you a good run for your money

 

[butterMilk 10+ year member]

Hybrid Audio has a convertible style speaker. So you can use it as coaxial, then when you feel like investing some time in tweeter placement you can "pop" the tweeter off and place it anywhere you like. And they are pretty good speakers.

 

[zako 10+ year member]

Hybrid Audio has a convertible style speaker. So you can use it as coaxial, then when you feel like investing some time in tweeter placement you can "pop" the tweeter off and place it anywhere you like. And they are pretty good speakers.

I think you mean Hybrid Audio Imagine. I wasn't impressed with their tweeters when running the stock crossover setup in component mode. The stock crossover "network" uses a first order high pass filter with a 6dB slope on the tweeter, allowing the tweeter to play a bit too much of upper midrange frequencies. I felt like the speakers sound a bit fatiguing at higher volume level because of this. Right now I run this active using 2nd order slopes on mid and tweeter at 6.3KHz, and they sound all right with this setup. A bit too laid back for my taste, but that can be fixed with eq. This is why I didn't recommend the HAT speakers in the component recommendations above. If the goal is to use HAT speakers as components with the supplied crossover network, the cheapest honest to god option would be HAT Unity, but I assume that's out of OP's budget. Someone recommended Polk db speakers, and they're should be decent for money too.

 

[butterMilk 10+ year member]

I think you mean Hybrid Audio Imagine. I wasn't impressed with their tweeters when running the stock crossover setup in component mode. The stock crossover "network" uses a first order high pass filter with a 6dB slope on the tweeter, allowing the tweeter to play a bit too much of upper midrange frequencies. I felt like the speakers sound a bit fatiguing at higher volume level because of this. Right now I run this active using 2nd order slopes on mid and tweeter at 6.3KHz, and they sound all right with this setup. A bit too laid back for my taste, but that can be fixed with eq. This is why I didn't recommend the HAT speakers in the component recommendations above. If the goal is to use HAT speakers as components with the supplied crossover network, the cheapest honest to god option would be HAT Unity, but I assume that's out of OP's budget. Someone recommended Polk db speakers, and they're should be decent for money too.

Yeah imagine series, my bad. I do have to agree with you that they are bright and can be fatiguing. Are you talking about the HAT unity with the clarus tweeters? Are they any good, I thought they were the same as the imagine series with the upgraded clarus tweeter?

 

[Nut Hair Trick 10+ year member]

Even Scott from HAT will tell you that running the Imagines as separates isn't a very good idea, but can be done with some modifications. I have the Clarus series and I'm very happy with them. Everyone talks about how solid the Imagine mids are so I really don't think you can go wrong with the Unity series.

 

[bgballin26 10+ year member]

Ok, so it sounds like there are plenty of options out there, and nobody mentioned Focal so i'm going to do some shopping around and see what i can't come up with, i have read good reviews on the Polk db's, i will check them out.

 

[zako 10+ year member]

Even Scott from HAT will tell you that running the Imagines as separates isn't a very good idea, but can be done with some modifications. I have the Clarus series and I'm very happy with them. Everyone talks about how solid the Imagine mids are so I really don't think you can go wrong with the Unity series.

There is nothing wrong with running Imagines in component setup if you use active crossover. I haven't heard him saying this. The default crossover on the back of speaker may have been optimized for running them as coaxial speaker if placed off axis and far away from your head, and this is what he may have meant.