I am not really into the Idea of making spacers for the speakers and these are listed on crutchfield to fit up front will I notice a drop in sound because they are 5 1/4 or will they be the same. Also it says the the RMS is 8-40 so will I need an amp or can I power them with the stock amp. http://www.crutchfield.com/S-wgrWO9q...=1&cc=01&avf=Y

or would these be better
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-wgrWO9q...=6+1%2F2&cc=01

 

Do not go with the 5.25" speakers. That would be counter productive. Spacers are not difficult to make but if you're worried about it pay a couple bucks extra and let a qualified shop do the install for you. The stock amp should be fine.

 

not to be a learn to search whore but

http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...&threadid=8182

 

I wouldn't put 5-1/4 speakers up front. IMO you would sacrafice a little bit of sound because of the smaller woofer cone as opposed to the 6-1/2 speakers. The front door speakers get the mid range signals (everthing that is not sent to the dash tweeters by the amp's crossover) so a larger cone will make a difference.

I think the spacers everyone is talking about are to accomodate the depth of the speaker (i.e keep it out of the way of the window glass). To accomodate a 5-1/4 speaker your spacer would have to be that much more substantial.

Of course, I haven't personally switched out the speakers (just done a lot of lurking and reading) so I'm just stating opinions and not facts.

 

I'm sure there are 5.25's that will work just fine. Just keep track of sensitivity specs and you will find something attractive I'm sure. Since the front speakers have a highpass filter on them already the only difference that you might hear a detraction in sound in would be LF extension, so that point is moot. On the contrary to what another poster said, a smaller driver can produce midrange more ideally than a 6.5 because it will have a higher dispersion near the midrange to treble transition.

Againm keep track on sensitivity (if it drops too much from 6.5 to 5.25 then you will lose output).

 

All that may be true, but people usually put the largest speaker they can fit in a spot.

For obvious reasons, the 6.5 will give you more output soundwise than the 5.25. I dont know if I've ever listened to the two side-by-side, but I bet that the 6.5 will sound better given the same power.

 

Sensitivity has little to do with speaker size. How sensitive do you think tweeters are? Very sensitive would be the correct answer.

The 6.5" speaker has 57% more surface area to move more air. Coupled with a larger magnet it will develop much more bass.

 

Go with the 6 1/2.

 

LOL... you just contradicted yourself. Bass output is also going to be related to sensitivity, which as you pointed out is affected by Sd (cone area). That was precisely my point.

Thing is, output of all the other frequencies will also be affected across the board, all other T-S parameters remaining equal. The reason you don't always see huge changes in sensitivity in smaller form factors from the same brand lineup is because better manufacturers intentionally change other T-S specs to make up for the smaller Sd, like BL for example. That's what I wanted him to look out for.

My recommendation for a smaller driver was still related to the fact that the factory Xover point makes the lower fs of a larger driver irrelevant.

 

My point was sensitivity is measured as db/1w@1m but it doesn't mention what frequency. The harmonic frequency of a smaller driver will be higher hence produce less low bass. If you extend that down to a tweeter and you want the same sensitivity you have to play at a much higher frequency. That's why tweeters suck at producing bass.

I don't understand your argument of the crossover making the bigger driver irrelevant.

 

Sensitivity specs are not universal... if you look at an Fr graph and then try to figure out what you would consider the overall sensitivity of the driver you would not necessarily come up with the same number as the next guy. Sensitivity DOES vary with frequency, but the spec is arbitrarily chosen as an eyeballed "average."

My argument about the Xover is that the significant bass response difference between 5.25's and 6.5's will usually be sub-100Hz. Typical fs specs will be 80Hz and 60Hz, for example. Since the front stage is crossed over actively, the primary differences between the drivers' bass responses will not play as big of a part in the game.

*That* was why I made an issue about sensitivity, because all that's left that might make a 5.25 inferior to a fellow 6.5 from the same lineup *in this application* would be the overall sensitivity, which absolute can be affected by Sd if other motor specs aren't modified to compensate (because smaller Sd will require larger excursion to produce the same SPL... and that excursion needs to come from a stronger motor, or more compliant suspension.

 

I can't argue with that. I don't even understand what you said but it sure sounds impressive.

I only understand that the front speakers (doors & dash) get a full range signal which is split between the two by the crossover. The tweeters in the dash get the highs and the doors get the rest. Reproduction of a signal w/o the high frequencies is better with a larger cone, i.e 6.5 vs. 5.25. If they both get the same signal, and they are both the same impedence and magnet size then the magnet doesn't have to work as hard on a larger cone to produce the same output.

 

I tested your argument. I took a one of each speaker (at Lee's Stereo). I hooked them up to the same stock stereo and added a 100hz resister.

Yes there is a big difference. The bigger speaker has more sound.

 

Ahh... if that's true then my second point is flawed. It was my understanding that the front door speakers get a signal that is bandpassed (lowpassed for the tweet, but then also highpassed for the subbass signals being sent to the rear 6x9s). If the fronts really are full range in that sense, you probably will hear a difference in bass response.

That said, the front doors are absolute crap at handling bass in our cars. You might get better results from speakers than aren't gonna go as low. It might even help to put a passive highpass filter (just a cap-n-coil) to remove the low frequency signals from the front entirely and let the rears handle it (it's non-directional so your ear won't be able to tell).

Can anyone verify that the front speakers play full range as a team?

thanks,
-Alt

 

I would also like confirmation on this point. Do the front and rear doors receive full signals or do they receive only lower frequencies via the crossover internal to the amp ?

 

Not really a confirmation but I'm basing my information on a post by SilverTSXinPA in this thread: http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...5&pagenumber=6

 

I see... I would really want to put a second-order highpass on the front midbasses for better sound and less rattles. I think it would help a lot, especially for people that have also upgraded their 6x9's

Sounds like the front midbasses use their own rolloff as the lowpass for the high frequency cutoff. New speakers will probably play higher than the stock units and might result in break up at high volumes. Considering that, I'd want to actually build a bandpass filter for the mids (but the tweeters are fine with the factory highpass).

-Alt