Suggestions on speakers for 98 Prelude

univera

Alright. I'm ready to replace my blown out speaks in my 98 Prelude. I need a pair for the rear deck and a set for the doors. Seperates I suppose. I also don't know off hand the size of my cutouts. I'd prefer not to cut holes in my door for any reason. What models should I be looking for?
I've been out of the scene for 5 years, so I am clueless.

I loved my old, original DB series, so if the new ones are just as good, I'm game. I know JL a few years ago was considered good gear. I don't know if the DB's are still top of the line or not? Regardless, I want non-bright speakers that won't fatique my ear at high volumes, regardless of brand.

I will be running the mains with an older 4 channel Alpine V12 F300 and the sub with a bridged mono V12 T500. Plenty of power to go around controlled by an older, Alpine 4V preamp/tuner with fader and sub level control and a rotary volume control (don't have it in front of me for model info.)

If Polks aren't the best anymore, then I am open to suggestions. I want top of the line within reason and new speakers. Pioneer/Kenwood/Sony or anything with a bright tweeter are out the question. Thanks in advance. Don't hold back!

jderdock

If you're trying to keep a small budget like that, I'd ditch the rear speakers (I'd ditch the rear speakers anyways) and get a nicer pair of fronts.

I can highly recommend the SR6500's. They sound natural and non-fatiguing.

Greg Peters

And if you want to keep the budget, the new db's are OK. Not as bright sounding as the Momos.

Can't argue with the SRs, though. Beautiful.

univera

Forget the budget. I want whatever Polks sound the best and have a similar sound (or better) to the original DB series. I want the rear speakers as I always felt it filled in more than just fronts.

jderdock

You specifically said a bright tweeter is out of the question: Get the SRs.

When I first got them in, I thought they sounded horrible. They were very bright and harsh. After breaking them in, they settled down and turned into a different speakers. They're the least harsh car speaker I've owned.

audiobliss

I would definitely say go for the SR6500s! I can't tell ya how they compare to the original db series, but they have a ring radiator tweeter like the LSi series, and really sound phenomenal.

Even with no budget, I would say forego the rear speakers. You don't need anything back there pulling the rear soundstage rearward and messing up the imaging, and your car's small enough to not need any sound back there.

univera

Can you really get a soundstage front to back in a car? I never considered that for a second. I just wanted something to sound clear and clean. Essentially, you are telling me I will be able to tell the depth of instruments and players from a two front speakers.

Greg Peters

If you spend some time with speaker placement, you will get a very nice front stage with the SRs. They image very well.

audiobliss

But notice he said if you spend some time with placement. You really have to play around with that.

Greg Peters

Even if you were to mount the Srs in co-axial mode (point source), they'll still sound really good if the Prelude has decent factory speaker locations.

I can't recall the factory locations or if they had a seperate mid/tweeter location for factory components.

univera

The placement is in the lower door kick panel. No seperates, but I don't mind mounting the tweet on the A pillar or elsewhere if you guys recommend. I just don't want to cut holes in the door. Can you explain what you mean by front sound stage? Are you referring to the front of my car of the music itself? Are most people only using fronts these days? It just seems like music coming from behind will fit it up better. However, 2 channel home audio doesn't have rears, so I catch your drift. I know purists never liked rear speakers in the car.

My old Prelude with the DB's sounded awesome. Same HU and amps. I'm sold on the 6500's after reading the sticky. Looks like about $500.00 on Ebay.

univera

Do most people use bass caps in the doors? My amps don't have built in crossovers. It seems we capped the door mids. However it was set up, I could turn the volume all the way up without distorting the speakers. Therefore I couldn't blow them. Help with the sub suggestion. I know I won't get the max out of one sub, but I can't give up my trunk. Tight, hard bass is priority one. Also, should I Dynamat the inside of the doors and inside of the trunk lid?

Greg Peters

univera wrote:

The placement is in the lower door panel. No seperates, but I don't mind mounting on the A pillar if you guys recommend. I just don't want to cut holes in the door. Can you explain what you mean by front sound stage? Are you referring to the front of my car of the music itself? Are most people only using fronts these days? It just seems like music coming from behind will fit it up better. However, 2 channel home audio doesn't have rears, so I catch your drift. I know purists never liked rear speakers in the car.

A front sound stage is much like a typical 2 channel home listening soundstage, in that the performance is percieved to be coming from the front (like a live performance), with placement of instruments and voices much like they were when recorded.

There is much debate on "rear fill" speakers, because they can detract from that front sound stage. If you are a believer in rear fill speakers, go for it- just don't fade them so they pull the sound to the rear of the car. You can always turn them off with a fader for critical listening. They do detract from the budget, though .

I personally do run two speakers as rear fill (mostly for passenger's sake), but do so with them faded down to the point that they're not really heard from the front seat listening positions. If I fade them up so they are heard up front, it adds a sense of ambience, I suppose, but also messes with imaging from my front speakers.

Generally, the higher the frequency, the more directional those sounds are, and the more apparent the source of those sounds becomes to the listener. Tweeter positioning is the hardest one to get right, as those frequencies will not give you realistic imaging if they are too low, are too close to one listening position etc. A-piller and kick panel tweeter locations can be really good places to install them- the pillers give good stage height, while the kick panels are more equidistant from the driver's seat, but at the expense of the stage height. Some factory locations are OK, but are usually not optimum.

Good imaging in the car can give you a strongly placed illusion of sound sources, front-center-right clearly defined, and can sound like they are coming from above the dash. Head units or EQs with time alignment features can sort some of this out if your car's speaker locations are not the greatest.

A sub placed in the typical position in a trunk or hatch doesn't mess with imaging, because if crossed over properly they don't produce any kind of discernable high frequency (directional) sound. A properly set up sub system in the back will sound like it's playing up front along with your front stage.

univera

Thanks for the suggestions. Most of it is refresher. I don't plan on messing with EQ's as that would push me over the top. As far as tweet placement, I am likely to put it up higher so it is at ear level, which makes the most sense to me. I'm likely to go with a little rear fill. In the past, I always kept them faded down so that the front speakers were the dominant sound.

Since I am not installing these myself, playing with locations of the tweets will be tough. I just need to figure out a good general spot and figure out where to point them.

MacLeod

Usually, the A pillars are the best spot for staging and imaging while the sail panels are the best for SQ.

The A pillars are also harder to EQ then if they were in the sails due to all the reflection from the glass and everything. Plus, the left tweeter is now going to be way off axis from you which can cause phasing issues. I have mine mounted in the A's and it took me about a year to get them tuned right and Ive still got a wicked phase issue with them. Right now, I have the left tweet wired out of phase and it helps a little but not completely. Still, its worth it for me to gain the extra stage height and width.

Best way is to just wire them up and get a friend to sit in the passenger seat and you 2 move the tweeters around to certain spots and see which sound best.

I have mine mounted in the A's about an inch above the highest part of the dash and theyre slightly firing back.