UC Gordon

I really cant find speakers that I will enjoy in my car, mostly because all of the car audio shops around me only stock cheap crap and have to special order anything basically over $150.

I already have alpine ida x-303 headunit, a multichannel amp on the way, and plan to use sound deadening in the doors because I do not want a subwoofer.

What am I looking for? A nice, full sound that doesnt make my ears bleed. But I dont want it too laid back, I listen to rock music and clarity is important, most of my music is lossless quality.

I've heard the lower priced Alpine speakers in a car (SPR17) and was told by the owner that they sound amazing. Well, sitting in the car, I was quite disappointed. There was no mid bass to speak of, just lots of treble and boomy bass. Which is why I will be using plenty of sound deadening in the doors.

My budget for speakers is hopefully under $300. Price doesnt have to be exactly that, it can be more or less.

I've searched up and down, and its hard finding S2000 owners who have listened to alot of the speakers.

What I've been considering so far:
Alpine SPX-17PRO (supposedly hard to tune? Alpine HU has imprint)
Pioneer Premier TS-C720PRS (will these even fit?)
Polk MM6501
Focal 165A1 (harsh tweeter?)

Just read about the Hertz HSK165, anyone with experience?

Honestly, it seems the more research I do the more I change my mind. Thanks for all help.

Neutered Sputniks

What 4 channel amp do you have on order?

kamal

I have the Polk Audio DB6501's (I think the MMs are the marine version) and I'm happy with them. Haven't heard any of the others so I have nothing to compare to. I also paid ~$125 for them. I've heard good things about the Pioneers and Focals... the 6501s will fit but I made custom MDF brackets.

UC Gordon

The amp is actually coming from an old friend who moved to Arizona, its a MB Quart DSC 4125, which supposedly has 125w at 4 ohms per channel.

I found a local shop today that had Morel speakers, and those sounded very good.

I've found these new options, which seem to be more musical than the normal retail brands:

Morel Tempo 6
Image Dynamics CTX65CS
Hertz HSK165 (latest version)

ace123

I just decided on and bought the PRS set. They fit with a 3/4" spacer. I was looking seriously at the focals, SEAS components (and others) from madisound, the PPI set, and I looked casually at several others. Morels are one I probably should have spent more time on.

The reason I went with the pioneers is that I repeatedly heard that the woofer has excellent bass output and is great otherwise except a slightly low sensitivity. the tweeters are reportedly just ok, and on the included crossovers some people don't like the sound much. The crossovers are at 2kHz, but most people like the set crossed at 3kHz better. I'll be running full active with 4x100W RMS, and most everyone said that doing that gets around all the big issues with the PRS set and lets the woofer really shine. I figure if I hate the tweeter, I can chuck it and buy a new pair from madisound or skulk around on the DIYMA classifieds until something pops up.

My rationale for eliminating the others:
I was primarily comparing the PRS, Focal, Madisound's options, and the PPI set.

The PPIs are supposed to be great and the price is, but nobody seems to run them active, so I didn't find much input. I had $300 budgeted, and saving half of it would be nice but I honestly didn't care a lot. I've never heard them, and so having no online input either scared me away.

The focals are supposedly a bit weak on the midbass and really benefit from a sub. I won't have a sub for at least a year, and I'd like to not get one at all. I eliminated them for that reason. If I had a sub on the way, I probably would have given them a lot more consideration.

Madisound's seas line and other lines were close. I ended up eliminating them, but not for a terribly good reason. Mostly because 1/ I hadn't heard them (actually that's a fair reason IMO), and 2/ The ones I could get were nominally 8 ohm speakers; the 4 ohm ones were more than I could afford. That's kind of a stupid reason, especially since the sensitivity can offset for the higher resistance. 3/ The PRS set seems to have better midbass, based on scattered, indirect comparisons on DIYMA.

I heard the pioneers in person on a sound board and was impressed. I bought them based on that fact--I liked the sound--and the reportedly great midbass.

I'm probably going to hook them up this weekend, so I'll let you know how I like them, but I haven't been in the SQ scene long so I'm not sure how much I can help. I've been in car audio, but it was always more just loud than SQ until now.

Neutered Sputniks

Honestly, OP, I would stay away from anything mainstream. IN fact, most low-end car audio speakers are tuned to have boomy mids and overly bright tweets.

For fullest sound, you'd probably be better off going with the SEAS woofers/tweeters from Madisound. Just make sure they're not an uncoated paper cone and less than about 78mm mounting depth.

(1" spacer = 25.4mm + 54mm mounting depth = 79.4, 79mm to be safe)

A 1" spacer will require shaving the back side of the speaker grille in the door panel.

UC Gordon

I finally listened to all of the speakers. My decision is now based around either the Hertz HSK165 or the Alpine SPX-17Pro. I've only heard them in a demo room, not in a car.

Also, I installed my IDA-X303 head unit today, using the Modifry DCI and PNP harness it literally took less than 15 minutes, including running the ipod cable through the dash. The door closes perfectly as well.

blueap2

I have some Focal K2P components for sale if you're interested. Only a little higher priced than your budget...