Front Speaker comparison.

**2000GTGP** · 05-02-2011

im on the hunt for some new front speakers, since mine went kaboom, but cant decide which. Im looking for something with good midbass and highs. I don't necessarily need them to be good at lows, i have my sub for that. I am wanting something that gets loud and has pretty good SQ to it. Here is what i have come across so far but can't decide which set i want. I will be powering these with a kickerzx460 amp http://www.kicker.com/sites/default/...0Amplifier.pdf

Polk Audio
Polk Audio db521 5-1/4" 2-way Speakers (Marine Certified) (db 521)

ID
WoofersEtc.com - CTX5 - Image Dynamics 5.25" 2 Way Speakers w/ Silk Tweeters

Cadence
WoofersEtc.com - ZRS55 - Cadence 5-1/4" 150W 2-Way ZRS Series Coaxial Speaker System

Rainbow
WoofersEtc.com - KX 130 - Rainbow KX 5.25" Coaxial Speakers

RE Audio
WoofersEtc.com - RE5FR - RE Audio 5.25" 2-Way Coaxial Speakers

Anyone have any opinions or can recommend something around the price of these?

**clevelandfan** · 05-02-2011

go with the rockford p152s man. they sound GREAT n u can usually get them priced decently. anything rockford sounds really good.

here is the comparison of mine

**2000GTGP** · 05-02-2011

i didnt have stock prior to mine going kaboom. I had a set of memphis pr speakers in their. Im pretty sure that kicker amp put out to much power since they were 30w rms speakers. Anywho ive never been a fan of RF. The only thing i would buy from them is their amps but not anything else. I appreciated the suggestion though.

**rynoman03** · 05-03-2011

Polk

**whiney** · 05-03-2011

cadence or rainbow's but save yourself the time and just do 6.5" speakers with some cutting of the plastic. I like my alpines, they sound purdy and look the same...

**I800C0LLECT** · 05-03-2011

Scan speak discovery please.

That aurasound can't be beat for the price either. Great sub.

Cadence makes a very nice price conscious 2-way as well. I'd like to try out the rainbow profi's. Came pretty close to buying some mids. I've heard they have a "warm" characteristic to their sound. The seas should be airy/accurate from opinions I've read. Seas is typically for higher end audio enthusiasts who like to use active crossovers and dsp's. They usually only sell raw drivers so this must be some kind new marketing approach for them?

Im pretty sure that kicker amp put out to much power since they were 30w rms speakers.

It's actually more likely that they didn't have a high pass on the mids. They were just using a natural roll off. Throw in some "bass boost" or other processing that extends the driver past it's specified use and you've toasted the mids. Try using an hp filter ~80hz w/12db slope. Get a nice set of mids and you can even go as low as 60hz. If it's natural roll off...be careful with the volume knob if you decided to distort your bass.

**2000GTGP** · 05-03-2011

im leaning toward cadence because of the price but im willing to pay the extra if rainbow is worth it. i generally listen to rap/hip hop/rock if that makes a difference between what i listed.

as for the hp...

Active Crossover Modules:
These 2-way modules allow you to use separate amplifiers for your subwoofers, midbass
drivers, midranges, or tweeters. By doing this, especially on the subwoofer, a clean and
undistorted sound is available at much higher listening levels.
Each module offers a range of selectable crossover frequencies and 24dB/octave filtering.
• SWX – 60Hz, 80Hz, or 100Hz subwoofer/midbass or midrange crossover.
• MRX – 175Hz, 250Hz, or 350Hz midbass/midrange crossover.
• TWX – 3500Hz or 4500Hz midrange/tweeter crossover.

I have the TWX module on the amp and i believe its set at 3500 HZ. Also the HP on my HU is set at 160Hz so i dont think they blew because of issue with mids. I could be wrong though. If i set the the HP on my HU to 120Hz or lower then my speakers would distort and why i have it set so high and which has led me to believe to much power as i shouldn have to set my HP so high to prevent distortion.

**dpzelenak** · 05-03-2011

i have polks all the way around, perfect replacement for stockers for the price

**cleangtp** · 05-03-2011

I just replaced my tweeters in my pods and door speakers because mine were fried. I didn't want to run an amp, simply because I don't care that much about sound. I just wanted working speakers again up front. I ended up buying this Kenwood component set. It was normally $120 and I got it for $69.xx and I couldn't be happier. On deck power they still rock out, tweeters are very nice sounding, crisp and clear. You're never going to get much base out of the door speakers especially if they're 5 1/4, you may with 6 1/2's but these suffice just fine. They also have a built in crossover with a fairly large capacitor to eliminate frequencies that would destroy them. Here's some pics of them......

Took me about 10 minutes per door to install these. The tweeters were a bit big for the pods to mount flush on the outside so I mounted them just like the factory tweeters inside the door sails. OCI Butyl tape FTW also hot glued them in, they're going nowhere. These components came with enough wire also. I simply cut the factory clip off that went to my 5 1/4, took out all the wiring from original tweeter and used these. The spades that connect to the 5 1/4 I cut off then wired the factory wiring into them along with the wires for the tweeters, heat shrinked and done.

**I800C0LLECT** · 05-03-2011

Originally Posted by 2000GTGP

im leaning toward cadence because of the price but im willing to pay the extra if rainbow is worth it. i generally listen to rap/hip hop/rock if that makes a difference between what i listed.

as for the hp...

Active Crossover Modules:
These 2-way modules allow you to use separate amplifiers for your subwoofers, midbass
drivers, midranges, or tweeters. By doing this, especially on the subwoofer, a clean and
undistorted sound is available at much higher listening levels.
Each module offers a range of selectable crossover frequencies and 24dB/octave filtering.
• SWX – 60Hz, 80Hz, or 100Hz subwoofer/midbass or midrange crossover.
• MRX – 175Hz, 250Hz, or 350Hz midbass/midrange crossover.
• TWX – 3500Hz or 4500Hz midrange/tweeter crossover.

I have the TWX module on the amp and i believe its set at 3500 HZ. Also the HP on my HU is set at 160Hz so i dont think they blew because of issue with mids. I could be wrong though. If i set the the HP on my HU to 120Hz or lower then my speakers would distort and why i have it set so high and which has led me to believe to much power as i shouldn have to set my HP so high to prevent distortion.

I'm not trying to say you're wrong but I definitely think something was setup improperly. I've run "500+" watts on "50watt" speakers without problems. I don't want people to get the wrong impression about over inflated power numbers. It's very difficult to ruin speakers with "too much power" utilizing a clean signal. However, it's very easy to over-drive an amplifier and ruin a set of speakers with a clipped or distorted signal. Even improper gains can clip a signal. That's what typically ruins speakers that are playing off head unit power, over-driving(creating distortion) and a clipped signal(turning "LOUD" or bass knobs all the way up).

Creating a sound wave in the bass region takes much more power than creating something in a higher octave such as 10khz to 20khz. Matter of fact, I highly doubt typical output to tweeters and mids exceeds 50watts. If you are certain your HP was 160hz you might want to run through your setup and verify that everything seems legit so you don't ruin the new speakers on accident

FYI, changing your EQ effects your crossover as well.

**2000GTGP** · 05-03-2011

Originally Posted by I800C0LLECT

I'm not trying to say you're wrong but I definitely think something was setup improperly. I've run "500+" watts on "50watt" speakers without problems. I don't want people to get the wrong impression about over inflated power numbers. It's very difficult to ruin speakers with "too much power" utilizing a clean signal. However, it's very easy to over-drive an amplifier and ruin a set of speakers with a clipped or distorted signal. Even improper gains can clip a signal. That's what typically ruins speakers that are playing off head unit power, over-driving(creating distortion) and a clipped signal(turning "LOUD" or bass knobs all the way up).

Creating a sound wave in the bass region takes much more power than creating something in a higher octave such as 10khz to 20khz. Matter of fact, I highly doubt typical output to tweeters and mids exceeds 50watts. If you are certain your HP was 160hz you might want to run through your setup and verify that everything seems legit so you don't ruin the new speakers on accident

FYI, changing your EQ effects your crossover as well.

Gains are set fine. However my HU has loud feature that i leave on all the time. If i turn it off everything sounds like crap. Also with loud turned off, i literally have no bass from my sub. In order to get my sub to actually play bass as it should, I have to set my lows to +7 or more which is to much. I am 100% sure my HP is set to 160hz on my HU. Even though i have the loud feature on, i cannot hear distortion or clipping. Would my EQ settings be the culprit then?

Loud Feature on.
Low +1db
Mid +2db
High +1db

I know its better to have the loud feature off, but everything seems way to flat to my liking and why i keep it on and for the bass problem i mentioned earlier.

**2000GTGP** · 05-04-2011

ok back on topic since i figured out the above problem with no bass with loud off.... im deciding between cadence and polk. both are pretty much same price but which is going to offer more SQ. Ive heard really good things about polk but havent heard much about cadence.

**cleangtp** · 05-04-2011

Originally Posted by 2000GTGP

ok back on topic since i figured out the above problem with no bass with loud off.... im deciding between cadence and polk. both are pretty much same price but which is going to offer more SQ. Ive heard really good things about polk but havent heard much about cadence.

Cadence and Polk really

,, cadence was cheap sh*t back in 1995 when I graduated high school. I don't mean cheap ok speakers I mean cheap junk. Buy the Polks if anything but there's better speakers than Polks too. Just depends on how much you want to spend but don't buy Cadence anything. That ranks up there with Pyle

**matt5112** · 05-04-2011

This thread is pointless.

How do you plan on installing them eh?

**cleangtp** · 05-05-2011

Originally Posted by matt5112

This thread is pointless.

How do you plan on installing them eh?

Your worthless comments are also pointless so who cares.

**2000GTGP** · 05-05-2011

Originally Posted by matt5112

This thread is pointless.

How do you plan on installing them eh?

is that a rhetorical question?

**I800C0LLECT** · 05-05-2011

Placement is the key factor in choosing your product. If speakers are off-axis...you might want a speaker that has a better off-axis response. If it's going to point directly at you, on axis, then grab a speaker with a better on-axis response.

In addition to that, do the speakers present the sound characteristics you prefer?

So yes, installation comes before product choice. Speaker choice determines amplification needs.

**I800C0LLECT** · 05-05-2011

Everybody has an opinion....$75 Cadence speaker review.

**I800C0LLECT** · 05-05-2011

Originally Posted by 2000GTGP

Gains are set fine. However my HU has loud feature that i leave on all the time. If i turn it off everything sounds like crap. Also with loud turned off, i literally have no bass from my sub. In order to get my sub to actually play bass as it should, I have to set my lows to +7 or more which is to much. I am 100% sure my HP is set to 160hz on my HU. Even though i have the loud feature on, i cannot hear distortion or clipping. Would my EQ settings be the culprit then?

Loud Feature on.
Low +1db
Mid +2db
High +1db

I know its better to have the loud feature off, but everything seems way to flat to my liking and why i keep it on and for the bass problem i mentioned earlier.

Majority of people don't notice disortion in the bass region until it's above 20%. That includes clipped signals. When most hear clean bass, they turn the bass knob up.