Black Dameon TLS

I just wanted to know if anyone has changed out their door, tweet and deck speakers and if so what are the best choices? I'm not sure how good the factory speakers are but I want to connect my sub and amps. I have a Kicker L7 in a box and a 2,000watt mono amp for it and want to start bangin. I just don't want to over power all the highs and mids and only have bass. I've read that you can remove the stock sub and connect the amp to the existing wires and play your own sub but will that give me enough power to make a difference? I want my interior to be loud.

jda123

There are a million choices for speakers. I would not jack with the rear deck. Perhaps a budget would be a good place to start. Also, in addition to loud, do you care how good it sounds?

I hate cars

There are a million threads on this over the 6 or so years people have been putting systems in the 3g TL.

eggyhustles

Budget
goals

The l7 is a cool little spl sub IF you put it in the right box

Black Dameon TLS

Well the box is built just for the L7 so the sound is right on that. And yes I DO care about the sound, I just want the highs and mids to be louder and more crisp. I want them to really over power the bass a bit so when I crank it the song can be heard clear through the bass BUT the bass is loud enough to be heard as well just down the street.

eggyhustles

What are the specs of the box?

Black Dameon TLS

I'm not sure but if I'm not mistaken the box was made just for it. It's one of those plane boxes that has this long port on the side. It's removable from the trunk cause my 2 kids are still small and when we take the TLS out with the family, I need the room for the double stroller. This is what it looks like in my old car.



You know I guess what I'm really asking is how hard the speakers are to change out. I know with the AMG I had to actually remove the the stock speakers and re wire them each to the amp because the car had the Harmon Kardon system and had it's own amp and everything. I also ended up removing the stock GPS screen and stuff so I can put my own screen in. After doing this I had to choice but to remove the stock amp and cut a bunch of stuff and etc. It was a pain in the @$$!!

jda123

The 3G tl has it's own amp.

You can change the speakers very easily and run new wire so that your messing with the stock amp can be kept to a minimum.

eggyhustles

^^x2

what's your budget?

im thinking id cxs & audison lrx

Black Dameon TLS

Well I was going to have everything done by my local place and they specialize in a company called Image dynamics that have a very nice rating. I want to stay somewhere around $2k or less since I have most of the equipment (caps, fuses, sub, box, amps).

eggyhustles

2k opens up ALOT of options

hp1kw

http://www.imagedynamicsusa.com/

I would question your shop about what is going to happen down the road after you blow the components. ID may still be in business, but the remaining owner could take it downmarket, etc. I have a 1000 watt amp pushing a JL W7 and 150 watts per side on BA 6.4s. The comps easily keep up. As for current brands, the top BA models would probably work well for SPL, also the standbys such as Focal, Dynaudio, Morel, CDT, etc... Also you could go active on the front stage with that money.

Black Dameon TLS

Yeah I mean I've never heard of image dynamics before but they say it's good product....I'm old school and like Kicker, JL, MA audio and Rockferd. I had a pair of MOFO's from Power Acoustic that were hard hittin speakers. I sold them and wish I didn't. This L7 though has been very nice and gives me what I want. I just want some good clean sounding speakers for the inside and some good tweeters. I think I just might stick with Kicker in the whole car....what size is our door speakers? And we only have the 2 front doors, tweeters on the dash and front speaker...plus the sub and rear decks. That's it right?

hp1kw

Yup ID has been around forever. I'm sure their current product line is very nice. I'd just be concerned, just myself, about buying product from companies with a 'going concern'. They could last you forever, but they could die tomorrow. I'm a half-empty type guy, so thats it on ID. As far as Kicker components? For $2k, I'm sure you could do much better. Our speakers are 6 1/2 inch fronts and tweeter mounts... hmm unsure, but it shouldn't be hard to accomodate most, as long as you aren't going ribbon or horns. heh. And your speaker count is correct. I'm guessing you want some Midbass hit. Its pretty hard to get that from 6 1/2". I guess its time for you to get out and do some listening :-p. Oh and depth for the fronts shouldn't be a huge issue (can always fab some spacers). Oh if you find some nice components with a great mid-bass hit, let me know. :-) I'll have a set of Alpine Type-X's soon so I'll let you know how those handle 200ish watts per side.

I hate cars

The Dyns really surprised me in the midbass department. Waaaay more kick than the IDs they replaced. This is my first comp set that actually sounds good with the subs off. And with the subs off, it still sounds like they're on just not as loud.

And come on OP, do you really need to be spoon fed? Asking the stock speaker size, really?

jda123

Eggy's suggestion of ID CXS is a good one. They are good speakers for under $350. I had a set in a TL, but have taken them out - they are FS in the BM now. The silk dome has more authority than any set that I have heard in that price range, and the midbass sound more like a higher quality set. That being said, they were still a $350 set and not even close to the KRX set that replaced them... but this is to be expected for a set that costs more than twice/thrice as much. For reference, I bought a Hybrid L1 and L6SE set off of Craigs list and the CXS were about the same to my ears even thought the hybrid were a lot more when new. I give the CXS about a B+/A- in the price range, and this is from a guy who usually does not care for silk dome tweeters.

The Audison LRX amp is a great suggestion, but the CXS (or and ID components IMO) are not detailed enough to warrant the money spent on the higher quality amps. However, if you got some LRx, then you could likely have them for life. The CXS are probably fine on a JL Audio, or equivalent, quality amp.

I would still buy the ID stuff that is out. Warranty is not a big deal to me and their line is pretty good for the money.

There are probably 50 sets under $500 that you might like and a dozen sets over $750-1000 that would work. Do some homework and figure out what kind of sound you like. First off, go and listen to some and figure out if you are a soft dome tweeter guy or a metal tweeter guy. When you listen to any set on a board, make sure that you are not right in front of them (on axis) and stand in between them, or off to the side. A good shop will know how to help you.

Black Dameon TLS

^^ lol I havent really had a chance to remove the door panels and look at them. I know that I want to customize the back doors and add some 6.5's to match the fronts and I was wanting to do some custom work to the back deck with some fiber glass and do some nice 3 ways. I know I have to remove the stock sub and I was going to use that whole as a port to the trunck for the bass. I like 6.5's more that 6x9's so I was going to do the doors all 6.5's 2 ways, better tweeters on the dash and then 6.5 3 ways in the rear. I also have to get an amp for the interior too.

hp1kw

Now I'm really confused. Why a 3-way in the back and why 6.5s in the back doors? If you are going to do so much fab, why not do a true 3-way setup in the front. That way you could get a true midbass without sacrificing the midrange clarity.

And IHC, you crack me up. Be nice. But yeah... So those dyns put out a ton of midbass? Interesting...

I hate cars

Waay more than I thought they would. I expected to lose midbass because you never hear Dyns associated with midbass. They killed the IDs in midbass, it literally sounds like I have the subs on but turned way down in the lowest frequencies and the kick is very nice.

I would do 3 way up front and if you have the budget, a coaxial set in the rear. Most importantly, get the absolute best front comp set you can afford. Don't do like me and waste money upgrading and then upgrading again a year later. I'm still running the stock rears, they sound fine with an aftermarket amp running them.

For a coax, I'm very happy with my Massive Audio SK-6 in the center. They sound very good for the price especially if you don't like harsh tweeters.

Black Dameon TLS

I was alway under the impression that 3 ways just added the tweeter in the speaker and since I was going to up the tweeter in the dash I would just do 2 ways up front.

I hate cars

3-ways would be a separate 6.5" midbass in the doors, a 3" or 4" mid in the kick panels (or wherever) and a tweeter.

In the rear all you have is the two 6.5" holes so a coaxial would be easiest that way you gain a tweeter also.

I really suggest you wait on the rears and hook an amp to the stock ones. You might be pleasantly surprised at how well they sound.

Rear fill is personal preference. Mine used to sound weird without it, now I like it better without. Since I have an MS8 I may hook up the rears again to let it work it's magic with Logic 7. I've heard it sounds VERY good with the center and rears hooked up.

If you plan on upgrading the center, don't make the mistake that I did and get an aftermarket stock sized 3.5". You can easily fit a shallow 6.5" in there and it will sound much better. Again, with the MS8 that uses the center channel heavily, having the large center made a huge difference in sound quality. IMO center should be the same size as the midbasses in the doors. Massive Audio makes an excellent coaxial that will slide right in with no modification.

hp1kw

This is great advice. But a 6.5" in the center? Really??? How hard was that to do.. Sorry to derail the topic. I'll have to give serious consideration to the dyns... hopefully I can get a chance to hear the alpines, I just HATE upidity sales people pushing "their" brand on you... had enough of that in the home audio world.... Hopefully all this banter is helping the OP.

jda123

The CTX probably would have had twice the midbass running active on a processor. ...so not apples to apples. I don't imagine that the dyns run on the stock crossover would be as authoritative with the midbass as they are on the MS8 and independent gain, but I don't know what the crossovers did either, so who knows...

Having a tweeter in the rear can really mess with your sound. Very few people actually like this. Midrange and midbass is usually what people do. I keep mine under 2800K hz, or so.

Alpines don't belong in the same paragraph as dyns unless it is something like: Apline speakers are not even close to Dyns.

hp1kw

Interesting as I would have zero issue going active. And yeah no tweets in the back please. I was under the impression though that midbass is directional, wouldn't having the majority of it in the back screw up the balance.

And yeah I know Alpine and Dyn are two entirely different leagues, but the Alpines are also 1/3 the price. Cost/benefit. Think the Dyns are 3x the sound?

jda123

No, not 3x. Probably more like 10x. You can do better than alpine even at the alpine price.

I hate cars

I had the Dyns on the passives for a couple weeks before I got the MS8. The excursion was there with the IDs but they're just not in the same league for midbass. In fact, the IDs got 220w through the passives, the Dyns post-processor get 75w best case scenario. Definitely lost some midbass after the processor which could be the MS8 or the lack of power but they still have quite a bit more midbass than the IDs did. In fact, I had to add a ton of extra sound deadening when I installed them.

I've heard the midbass of the CTX is run straight through and use their natural roll off, like the passive is not in the loop.

Nice to know that about the tweeters in the rear, I've never replaced the rears. I wonder if this still applies with the MS8...

I hate cars

It's VERY easy to put the 6.5" in there as long as it's shallow. You pull the clock out which only requires a butter knife to pry it out. The 6.5" slides in easily. You'll have to figure out a way to mount it. I used stuffing to get the height I needed and velcro to hold everything in place. It's also a good idea to open up the stock grill opening. If I had it to do over again, it's about a 5 minute install.

I don't like pushing speakers on people because so much of it is personal taste. The thing I like about the Dyns is they're so neutral, if you like them dull, you can make them dull. If you like them bright, you can make them bright. I've never had a speaker as responsive to small EQ adjustments as this. Midbass is awesome.

If I had it to do over again I would not change a thing. If I ever do it again in a different car I might try the DIY approach just because I know almost enough to make an educated decision.