Speakers again

[sailaholic]

Say at 3 price points if you could - High-end, middle-ground, and budget?

Give the man a budget! Low medium and high is all subjective.

To a Ferrari owner a Toyota is budget but a Mid 90s Hyundai excel owner will see Lexus as high level!



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[ManiacLachy]

No idea. I've never bought speakers, but high medium and low are self explanatory I would have thought. High-end is the ducks nuts, it is the Ferrari. Low-end is the cheapest dirtiest option that will get the job done. Medium falls in the middle.

[Jeo]

All still very subjective though. A couple of hundred should keep most people pretty happy, or you could spend thousands on a pair of drivers and still have to buy your crossovers and tweeters separate.

Better idea. Go to a car audio shop, bring some music you're familiar with, and listen actually to things. You'll get a far better idea of what *you* like the sound of.

[muzzy66]

The NB models however have a larger diameter and can fit just about any midbass imaginable up to 8 inches. This is a big, big advantage when you take into account the fact that the MX-5 doesn't really have enough boot space for a proper amp/sub setup while still remaining practical - a good set of midbass drivers up front can some pretty close to rendering a sub unnecessary.

I would love to know what you would suggest for the NB. Say at 3 price points if you could - High-end, middle-ground, and budget?

And for NB's would you suggest upgrading the tweeters as well?

All depends on what you consider to be budget, mid-range and high end!

To put things into perspective, when I first got in to the audio game $99 Jaycar coaxials were the norm for me, so I felt like a $300-$400 was super expensive for a set of splits. Yet right now Rainbow's top of the line splits retail at around $14,000 and Focal's flagship splits at around $20,000. That is no typo.

I, personally, look at it something like:

A: Cheap & Dirty: < $200
B: Entry Level: <$200 - $349
C: Mid Entry Level: $350 - $499
D: Mid range: $500 - $699
E: Mid High End: $700 - $899
F: High End: $900 - $1,499
G: Audiophile: $1,500+

Just let me know which of these price points you are curious about, and I should be able to recommend you something

[Snowmotion]

How do you rate the Jaycar co-axials?

[ManiacLachy]

I'm not currently in the market - but I expect to be in time, once I finish addressing other areas of the car.

I guess I was looking for a bit of a general buyers guide, so that various forum members with their various budgets would have a point of reference (rather than being specifically about me, my needs and my budget).

I, personally, look at it something like:

A: Cheap & Dirty: < $200
B: Entry Level: <$200 - $349
C: Mid Entry Level: $350 - $499
D: Mid range: $500 - $699
E: Mid High End: $700 - $899
F: High End: $900 - $1,499
G: Audiophile: $1,500+

Just let me know which of these price points you are curious about, and I should be able to recommend you something

In keeping with my original intent, I think B, C & D would fill the general price points of most people. I'd likely be shopping at C.

Thanks!

[muzzy66]

How do you rate the Jaycar co-axials?

The last time I heard them was back when they still had aluminum dome tweeters (3/4" tweeter on the 5.25", 1" tweeter on the 6") and black poly cones. They weren't anything special in the grand scheme of things - from what I recall they were pretty bright in the highs, not spectacular in the midbass, kinda Ok in the midrange. That said you can't expect much in that price range - the fact that you actually get proper dome tweeters (rather then the usual plastic jobbies) was impressive for the price, and I never really heard anything else in the price point that sounded better.

If we were talking about those old ones, then I'd b happy enough to recommend them in the < $150 range, though I'd recommend jumping up to something in the $200-$250 range if the budget allowed. The Focal 165AC (6.5" coaxial from the Access line) retails at around $220 and could probably be had for around $200 with a bit of bargaining. I think they would probably be tough to be at that price.

The current Jaycar's unfortunately I can't make much of a comment on, as I've not heard them.

[muzzy66]

I'm not currently in the market - but I expect to be in time, once I finish addressing other areas of the car.

I guess I was looking for a bit of a general buyers guide, so that various forum members with their various budgets would have a point of reference (rather than being specifically about me, my needs and my budget).

I, personally, look at it something like:

A: Cheap & Dirty: < $200
B: Entry Level: <$200 - $349
C: Mid Entry Level: $350 - $499
D: Mid range: $500 - $699
E: Mid High End: $700 - $899
F: High End: $900 - $1,499
G: Audiophile: $1,500+

Just let me know which of these price points you are curious about, and I should be able to recommend you something

In keeping with my original intent, I think B, C & D would fill the general price points of most people. I'd likely be shopping at C.

Thanks!

Will reply to this as soon as I get time!!

[Snowmotion]

The Focal 165AC (6.5" coaxial from the Access line) retails at around $220 and could probably be had for around $200 with a bit of bargaining

Thank you for the information.
Do you know if this is a straight swap into a NB8a door speaker?

[bear2230]

Yep, They will fit straight in but while the door card is off put some sound deadening in the doors.
Even the cheap stuff will make a big difference.



That is a 6" but as you can see there is plenty of room. You will need to make or buy the MDF spacer and it must be sealed good.
Leave the dynamat longer over the top of the speaker cavity and it will protect the speaker from water.

Richard.

[Snowmotion]

Thanks Richard

[ManiacLachy]

Will reply to this as soon as I get time!!

No great rush, I appreciate your input - thank you.

[bear2230]

Bigger picture, Scooby's sealed door. Full Dynamat on inner and outer door skin.

door_ds_complete_2.jpg

[muzzy66]

Until I have time to make a full write up, one thing I will say - if you aren't sure what to go for, there is almost always going to be something good from Focal. The things I like about Focal:

1: They built speakers that are designed with the car environment in mind
About 90% of all car installs feature a 5" to 6" mid-bass speaker mounted inside an unsealed car door, and Focal design divers that are pretty much built around that - high QTS (ensures suspension stiffness optimal for an infinite baffle environment), low VAS (to ensure the speaker sees a car door as an infinite baffle environment) and fairly high sensitivity (to ensure they can get quite loud off modest input power)

2: They provide lots of data
Focal provide technical data sheets for just about every product including a full set of TS specs and proper frequency response graphs - it's always easy to get an 'at a glance' view of how different products will perform. This is an often overlooked benefit, something that most car audio manufacturers do not provide.

3:They build drivers that perform
If you look at the spec sheets you'll see that a lot (not all, but a lot) of the speaker drivers that Focal makes have quite a nice, linear frequency response. This means that no single frequency is overpowering over the others. This is always a good thing for speaker performance as it helps to ensure your speaker will produce all kinds of music with accurate tonality.

4: Variety
One great thing about Focal as a brand is that unlike some brands who tailor to only the high end (e.g. Dynaudio), Focal is accessible to everybody. They offer a huge range of products that features consistently good performance and quality at all price points. Regardless of whether your budget it $200, $800 or $20,000 you can always rest assured that Focal has a product that is up there with the best in that price category.

So if you are looking for a product in a certain price range and you are totally lost (with no idea of what brand to go for, and no means to audition for yourself) you can always look at what Focal offers in your price range as a fall back option. You can always trust their products to be solid performing, well built products.

Now when I get time I'll post a full list of stuff I can recommend at each price point, but expect that there ill be one or two Focal products listed in each category lol

[Snowmotion]

You were right Muzza about the Focal 165AC being available sub $200. I have found them for $190 in Sydney. Will have a look at them tomorrow.
Thank you.