This isn't a problem or a big question, but more of a funny story. I decided to get some nice new pioneer speakers for my 1998 GLE, and entered the store already knowing what i wanted, the type, size, etc. I go pick up the two boxes of 6 1/2 inch pioneer speakers, and the...o-so-helpful attendent stops me, informs me that for one, hes gonna have to walk the merchandise up to the register for me (because im totally going to steal huge speaker boxes), and that their new awesome computer system was up and running! SCORE! ive used it before, lol, they have ferraris, bugatis, and other cars listed on it...that would never use best buy speaker systems, and says that they all use 6 1/2 inch speakers (they also have a listing for the new STI...with no stereo, apparently it was 6 1/2 inch speakers too...somewhere) so he decides to look up my model...how helpful, and finds out it uses 5 1/4 inch speakers. I had read all over the forum that my car used 6 1/2, but began to worry that i had been mistaken, and was gonna spend a loooot of money on the wrong thing. the guy leaves, and im about to but the boxes down, when my friend tells me to hold up. we go up to the computer and BAM...guess what, he entered an 1988 maxima by accident. my friend fixed the problem, and wouldnt u know it, even their comp said my car uses 6 1/2 inch speakers... the uber helpful clerk didnt really care that he had made a mistake, so i just walked myself to the register, paid and left. lol...what can i do

 

all 4th gens are 6 1/2

 

People do make mistakes from time to time. It's not really that big of a deal.

 

1988 maxs dont use 5 1/4" either, so that's still a funny story...

 

u shoulda walked out and got something much better on e-bay for cheaper.

 

im really happy with the speakers i got, and yes i know people make honest mistakes, but he did something similar when trying to sell my friend speakers for a integ...claimed in need 6x9 speakers when it only needed 6 1/2 round ones.... im happy with the product just not the help

but i also have a question. The guy tried to sell us capacitors to hook up in between the speaker and stock connector. I know the reason for getting a capcitor with a subwoofer...but why would i get capacitors for my regular speakers? I cant remember what he said (i wasnt listening) but it was either for bass handling, or removing line noise. Does this theory hold any water? Just wanted to ask some people who know a lot more than me

 

i thought we tooke 6.3/4?
is it 6.3/4 all around?

 

6 1/2... also if ur car needs 6 3/4 (which it doesnt) buy 6 1/2s with extended mounts or a adapter ring, almost all 6 1/2s now are over sized

 

 

Capacitors??? MAYBE a small capacitor in-line on the hot (+) wire as a high-pass crossover for TWEETERS... but I doubt you'll need that for speakers (in fact, if you don't have a subwoofer, you definitely WON'T want it, and if you do, you'll only need suitably-sized high-pass crossover capacitors if your headunit doesn't have a crossover or if the external amp you use for the interior speakers doesn't have a crossover builtin...)

 

Yes, a high pass filter is simply a small capacitor, AKA Bass Blocker. For once the guy had some idea of what he was talking about. With no sub, don't bother with it. If you get a sub some day, then you might want to put a 100 Hz blocker on your 6.5". But the best way is to use some sort of active crossover, like on a head unit or an amp.

In general, don't trust the bozos who work at those places, they usually know less than you do; and everything they don't know, they will pretend to know anyways.

 

One guy from Best Buy tried to sell me some in-line capacitors a while ago when i bought a tape deck for my dad's car. Me being naive about car audio then, actually almost bought it. I guess they sell anything they can to boost their commissions...

 

Yea, I used them for cross overs for tweeters on my last car...but have never heard about them for cleaning up line noise and whatever. That...im summary, is why I called their employees stupid... the want to sell lots of things, and its hard to believe all their employees gracing the car audio section are knowledgeable in car audio.

 

what they should do is rotate their car audio technicians into car audio sales too....which would eliminate that problem somewhat, but then if i was technician, i'd complain about doin sales!!! the technicians have always been pretty cool though....even as far as doin somethings for free or a cheaper price for me!!!

 

I don't really think the technicians know much more than the sales guys. You ever talk to them? They are guessing half the time. They come from the same background as the sales guys: 10th grade. lol.

 

yea, but you figure with them havin to be certified (i know some that aren't), they would know, but i only let them do stuff i have no idea about....other than that, i resort to the org!!!

 

Good idea man. The org and other audio forums are a much better resource than those guys (whose certification means next to nil). Not that everyone on here is an expert, but someone on here will know the answer or figure it out.

And as the old saying goes, "if you want it done right, do it yourself."

 

I knew that i had read i needed 6 1/2, and didnt trust the guy plain and simple. Did make me doubt myself for a moment... didnt want to spend the money on the wrong dang thing.

 

They could care less what you buy. They don't work on commission. They guy was just trying to help, but wasn't very knowledgable.

Also, all Best Buy technicians are MECP Certified. No exceptions.

 

well then thats saying something bad for MECP certification.

 

And just recently there was a thread about how much of a joke the MECP certification is. I think one guy said it was even easier than the written driving test for your learner's permit, and another guy saying MECP installers don't know their a$$ from a hole in the ground.

 

i remember that, said he got himself certified (was it online or with a book? either way... he wasnt taking it serious) but even if MECP is legit, i doubt every single best buy person they stick in that section is certified... its pretty apparent that the people working at MY best buy arent amazingly knowledgable at car audio

 

lets not get it confused....the ones that work in the store are not MECP certified....the ones that do the installation and what not are!!!!

 

yea well i was BUYING speakers from the guy...i would never pay money to have speakers installed, too easy and if i would....why go to best buy? only thing i do is buy stuff there (like neon tubes or DVDs) its cheap enough

 

errr. best buy...put it this way i worked for them when i was in college and even though most of the technicians are mecp certified there are always one or two morons that don't know what they were doing....ie example...my car caught fire in their bay because it was not grounded properly and my trunk liner went up in flames...i had to sue them to get my money back, and later they fired the installer and rehired him again only to fire him again a month later...grrr...then ofcourse the head technician almost killed another one of the installers by backing out recklessly from teh bay and clipping teh poor basterd in the chest with the mirror of the car........headache from that place....only worth it because the mark up on all audio equipment is something like 50-75%. would i ever buy anything from best buy again? yeah why not....but honestly it's your car...if you did the research and are positive, don't let any fool tell you otherwise. they don't work on commision but they are still salespeople, and half the time you have people from media or other areas covering for car audio who may not know what they are talking about. on a lighter side they did install my alarm which is flawless...

 

i wasnt letting him tell me otherwise, but it did throw me for a loop. when i research prices and best buy isnt too bad, i buy there instead of having it shipped...the only thing ive boughten there in the last year was those speakers, 2 neon tubes, and some DVDs

 

ehh..no worries... price wise for retail they are pretty good. unfortunately alot of the local tuner and audio shops don't have the buying power as best buy..i would rather support any local shop than any of the retail giants any day because they generally are better informed as well as have better installers mecp or not...i'll take any guy who has been doing installs for 4 or 5 years than somebody who got mecp certified a week ago. but best buy does offer great prices especially when stuff goes on sale...i'm just going to be forever spoiled buying things from them at 10% above their cost....as for installation i would never get anything installed by them unless i know the tech personally at this point...or go to the12volt.com to get a ton of info to do any electrical install and do it myself..

good luck with your next purchase and hopefully you'll be helped by someone who knows what they are talking about.

 

First off...I can't recall for sure but the front BOSE speakers are not 6 1/2. I think they are 5 1/4. But unlike the Best Buy employee I actually own a 4th gen Max and can't tell you for sure even though I've worked on dozens of them. Do you know what size the BOSE speaker is? Why not? You own one. Does that make you an idiot too? You seem to forget that there are thousands of cars w/ all different size speakers. You expect a $12 an hour best buy employee (probably makes more than you) to know each and every one?

Bassblockers or BB or passive xover- An inline capacitor that sets a frequency cut off of 199MHZ or 300MHZ (these are 2 of the 3 BEST bUY sells). See most people who buy radios believe they can just crank there stereo up til it screams at you ultimately blowing their speakers through DISTORTION. The BB filters out the frequencies that the speaker can't reproduce. What happens when a speaker can't reproduce a signal? It creates distortion. What is the most common cause of speaker failure? DISTORTION.

It's really not a dumb idea to add a BB.
Most 2+ way speakers come w/ their own BB. Usually on the tweeter ( a speaker) and no BB on the woofer (also a speaker). Why? Because most manufacturers assume you will use an active xover. Most people don't. Why wouldn't that Best Buy employee try to sell you BB's? Less hassle for him when he avoids a return for blown speakers. Less hassle for the customer if they avoid blowing them too.

 

alright well for one he was using the best buy car database computer. he was convinced that i was wrong, and that his computer was right....when he clicked on the wrong year anyway (88 instead of 98) No one can know all the speakers but dont claim you know it, and the owner is wrong IF YOU DONT KNOW. Also i bought two sets of the same speakers and one warantee for both, i blow them, i get a new free set, no questions asked. without the warantee, i know that if i break something after i take it home, its pretty much my fault so i wouldnt go "hassle" the guy about it.
*edit* yea he does make more money than me im a student with no job

 

That was an unnecessary comment. Is someone bitter? A former Best Buy employee perhaps?

Besides, if they get $12/hr, they are overpaid. I doubt they get that much. And if they do, then why didn't anybody tell me when I was in high school? I would have loved to get $12/hr for standing around chatting with other employees.

 

first job was 10 bucks an hour for being a file clerk for a tax office. second job was minimum wage for doing stuff i love all summer... i'd rather be happy

 

First of all Best Buy employees don't get paid that much unless they're supervisors. At least here in Oklahoma, it does depend on where you live, because of cost of living. Here a regular Best Buy employee starts out at about $7.50 depending on experience. And your right no, they're not on commission. I was a senior over the video department here about 2 years ago and was paid $10 /hr, got a offer to move to St Louis for $13/hr. But normal sales or cashiers positions are lower.


Second, you are going to have people that aren't really knowledgeable about all areas were ever you go. Last week I went into a really awesome car audio store here in Tulsa, and the employee told me everything I need to know about decks and them some. Really informed me on the Eclipse decks (then I double checked on the ORG) but then proceeded to tell me it would cost me around $150 to $160 for the bose adapter to work on my Max. I don't thinks so.