Creature

I want to replace the speakers in my 2002 Max, keeping the standard Clarion head unit (non-Bose system, so no external amp). Anyone have experience with the following speakers?

front - Infinity Reference 605cs (6-1/2" component w/ 1" tweeters @ 3.5K crossover, 2-90W RMS, 92 dB sens.)
rear - Infinity Reference 652i (6-1/2" 2-way, 2-60W RMS, 92dB sens.)

front - Kenwood KFC-P306 (6-1/2" component w/ 3/4" tweeters @ 6K crossover, 8-50W RMS, 91 dB sens.)
rear - Kenwood KFC-1677 (6-1/2" 2-way, 2-40W RMS, 92 dB sens.)

front - Pioneer TS-C1653 (6-1/2" component w/ 7/8" tweeters @ unspecified crossover, 2-40W RMS, 90 dB sens.)
rear - Pioneer TS-A1661 (6-1/2" 3-way, 2-35W RMS, 90 dB sens.)

The Infinity and Kenwood sets have matching drivers in the front and rear sets. The Pioneer 3-ways in back have different tweeter types.

Anyone have any experience with these particular speakers?

Anyone have experience with other speaker sets -- in the 2002 Max -- that you would recommend over these (i.e. MB Quart, Alpine, etc.)?

How hard is it to install the A-pillar tweeters, and where is the crossover for them? Would it be easier to just replace the 6-1/2"s all around and leave the A-pillar tweeters alone, or would I be sacrificing too much tonal quality and matching? I have also considered putting two sets of full range speakers in the 4 big holes and still getting a pair of matching tweeters for the A-pillar.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

Gates

iTrader: (2)

Out of those three I'd choose the Infinity speakers, but if you like bass than you'll want to add a sub too. From my experience Infinitys don't put out much bass at all for 6.5s. Are you stuck on buying from Crutchfield? Their prices are a bit high. If I were you I'd ask around for a good local shop or find better prices or equipment elsewhere online.

Creature

No, I don't plan to buy from Crutchfield, although it was their catalog that got me started thinking about this and that is why I linked stuff from their site (but also asked about other brands).

I agree with you that the Infinitys will probably have the best mid-highs but the stock system needs the most help with the lows and adding a sub is not really an option (we often use every inch of trunk space as it is on heavy shopping days). I'm not expecting any 6-1/2" to give me sub-like bass performance but the stock speakers distort horribly with any volume so I want something to remedy that.

The Kenwoods and Pioneers have better deep bass extension per the figures listed (although I'm sure the -3dB rolloff is quite a bit above what they list there). Infinity and Polk generally list their frequency response figures at the +/-3dB rolloffs though, so even if Infinitys appear to not go as deep, it may be a more honest figure.

In any case, I will go listen to them first, but I was also mainly interested in how well any of these particular sets does or doesn't fit in the 2K2. I read about one of them needing some extra work to get the tweeters in the A-pillars. Depending on how significant that work was, it could possibly sway my decision one way or the other.

PrinzII

iTrader: (2)

Don't sleep on Boston Acoustics.

LeonBlackMax

i recommend if you are using the stock headunit to get a speaker with the highest sensitivity and dont get one that needs a lot of power. Get something simple but well built. Dont go overboard b/c your headunit doesnt put out that much power.

cedarpark

Posted this question in another message, but perhaps you know--what if you keep the head unit, and then use an amp with those speakers? Will that help with the power?

soundmike

iTrader: (24)

I have both Infinity's listed above in my 2k2. The low-end is being helped out by the Infinity Basslink. Even with heavy grocery-getting the 'link won't hinder you in any way. I can even still put a couple of luggages in the back w/o a prob. All this combined, even when i still had my OEM headunit, they sound a lot better than even the Bose equipped 2k2. With my current headunit they sound even better!

You'll want to get rid of the "tweeter" from the stock system, though it's okay it won't compare to the aftermarket. Installing the Infinity tweets will require a slight modification to get it behind the A-Pillars but nothing significant, even installers won't charge extra to have it done. Same goes with fitting the 6.5's all around - as long as they have the proper brackets.

If you really don't want a sub to help with the lows you can probably get away with having 6x9's installed in the rear deck and bypassing the 6.5's in the rear doors.

Otherwise you can get the Kappa series, they have better mid-bass than the Reference.

LeonBlackMax

Adding an amp will make your speakers louder, clearer and a lot more crisp sounding. Bass respose from your speakers will also increase if you dont want to add a sub.