Good Mids?

[clanderson]

General question, I know, but I'm looking for some good door/rear deck speakers that would provide decent highs/mids..

I'm using a Clarion XC1410, which is 50w RMS @ 4 ohms and 75w RMS @ 2 ohms per channel. So ideally, I'd like to get some 2 ohm speakers.

I guess I don't need the bass out of them, so I could care less about how low they get. But I was looking at maybe some Infinity Kappas but am unsure whether to get 2 way or 3 way. 2 way is more expensive for some reason.

Any guidance would be appreciated, thanks!

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[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

kappas are ok ,get the 2 ways if you get them . also look into the cdt lines

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

JBL also has 2 ohm coaxials.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

kappas run fine off head unit power so They should be fine with that power.

 

[clanderson]

I'm getting distortion at lower than half volume with my Alpine HD149BT and Clarion XC1410. Figured it'd be a little better than that, so I'm guessing it's the stock speakers. But I can't seem to find the specs for stock speakers on 2002 Dodge Stratus.

 

[bradl79 10+ year member]

the JBL GTO608c (components) are 2 ohm, i just checked the ohm load and i got 2.5, they are nice speakers.

as u can see by my setup they are in the rears

 

[clanderson]

Are the 2 ways better than 3 ways?

Why so/not?

 

[bradl79 10+ year member]

i think if you have a sub, u really may not need 3-way, i think 3-way does both high,mid,lows, if i am correct.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

the only difference between 3-way and 2-way coaxial is the extra 1" mid for higher output in upper midrange. both can play the same midbass. it doesn't matter if you have subs or not. coaxial woofers are usually ran full range, good 3-way coax have extensive crossovers to low pass the woofer and then you will hear an improvement.

4 ohm vs 2 ohm is a nearly inaudible difference of 3dB (we can perceive 2dB change and 10dB increase is needed to seem twice as loud)

plus, 2 ohm has much higher distortion at rated power than 4 ohm so it's not something I recommend.

and no speaker will sound "great" off deck power. do you have an external amp currently?

i have the HD149BT and can play at full volume with no distortion.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

the only difference between 3-way and 2-way coaxial is the extra 1" mid for higher output in upper midrange. both can play the same midbass. it doesn't matter if you have subs or not. coaxial woofers are usually ran full range, good 3-way coax have extensive crossovers to low pass the woofer and then you will hear an improvement.

4 ohm vs 2 ohm is a nearly inaudible difference of 3dB (we can perceive 2dB change and 10dB increase is needed to seem twice as loud)

plus, 2 ohm has much higher distortion at rated power than 4 ohm so it's not something I recommend.

and no speaker will sound "great" off deck power. do you have an external amp currently?

i have the HD149BT and can play at full volume with no distortion. but that's because my xtant amps are setup properly.

 

[clanderson]

the only difference between 3-way and 2-way coaxial is the extra 1" mid for higher output in upper midrange. both can play the same midbass. it doesn't matter if you have subs or not. coaxial woofers are usually ran full range, good 3-way coax have extensive crossovers to low pass the woofer and then you will hear an improvement.
4 ohm vs 2 ohm is a nearly inaudible difference of 3dB (we can perceive 2dB change and 10dB increase is needed to seem twice as loud)

plus, 2 ohm has much higher distortion at rated power than 4 ohm so it's not something I recommend.

and no speaker will sound "great" off deck power. do you have an external amp currently?

i have the HD149BT and can play at full volume with no distortion. but that's because my xtant amps are setup properly.

Really? Full volume, no distortion? I get to 18, with bass set reasonably high and treble normal and I get mild distortion - past 18, forget about it!

Do you use the MX settings? I have it on "Level 2".

As for an amp, I'm using a Clarion XC1410 Amp (50w x4).

The Clarion XC1410 manual says this about setting the gain (High/Low switch):

LOW = when using RCA inputs

HIGH = when using HIGH LEVEL SPEAKER inputs

I'm not using the RCA inputs, so I had the gain on high; but it sounds much better when set to low... What gives?

 

[bbeljefe]

Are the 2 ways better than 3 ways?Why so/not?

You'll need to buy a very high quality set of three way speakers in order to benefit from the added midrange speaker. And I'm not aware of any such speakers in a triaxial configuration. One thing I don't like about triaxials is that the tweeter is always much smaller than it is on coaxials. Also, there simply isn't much midrange you're going to get from a 1.5-2 inch driver. In my opinion, you're better off with a coaxial set with a 1" silk or titanium dome tweeter than you are with a triax with a teeny little half inch tweeter that can barely be heard off axis.

And if you think about it, 90+% of the triaxes you see are cheap speakers made by companies that are known for building crappy speakers. Either that or, as you've found, the triaxes built by a good company are less expensive than the coaxes. That's because the coaxial tweeters are actually good quality drivers while the mini mids and tweets are not.

As for running them at high power, whether two ohms or four, just make sure you set the crossover and gain properly by first testing your head unit for its maximum undistorted volume level. If you skip that step and set the gains by the proper procedure, you're very likely to still be introducing a distorted signal to the amp and thus, the speakers.

If set properly, you'll be able to run any set of quality mids at about 125% of rated power with no problems. If not, they will self destruct in 10, 9, 8, ....

 

[clanderson]

Thank you guys, makes a lot more sense now!

Still confused about the distortion I'm getting, and the high/low gain settings on my amp.

Thought my stock speakers were pretty good, I could have sworn there was a little sub back there when I first heard them - but they're just 4 stock 6x9's. Can't find the specs on them anywhere.. But maybe they can't handle the 50/75w from the clarion?

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

ah, you are using a compact booster. if you are using speaker level inputs then that is a problem.

you should use RCA outputs on the HU to the RCA low level inputs on the Clarion.

make that change first. if you still aren't happy then buy a better amp.

my amps accept the full 4V signal from the HU RCA's and make rated power with

---------- Post added at 12:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:57 AM ----------

[/color]Hertz Hi-Energy triaxial are pretty outstanding. I was very impressed.

 

[HoovaDeuce 82]

These would probably be good. I can't say I have heard them but I'm sure for 100 there are not many better 2 ohm coaxils out there. Again this is just a assumption and you know what they say when you assume lol.

CDT CL-6EX.2OHM

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