What are some good quality speakers I will be able to fit into the S2k door that will be really loud? Willing to spend a bit but nothing crazy like 1000 a set for speakers.

I've tried various soundstream speakers in the past. I've found certain speakers like the Soundstream Tarantula TR-6N wont fit due to mounting depth - they install OK but when you try to put the window down it gets stuck. Soundstream RFC.60C weren't bad but then again weren't great. The old tarantula TR6 fit in the door with a spacer and the window would go down, had pretty good quality and midbass but this model isn't available anymore.

Soundstream seem to have really high RMS handling figures on their website but after having about 3 sets of their splits i'm not happy with the volume that you get out of them considering how much they cost, and they were loud at the start but after a few months the tweeters and midrangers always blew. I've always run the speakers with decent soundstream amps.

Also i've always ran the tweeters and splits passive. Not sure if i should try running them active so i can control how much power goes into the tweet and the midranger seperately.

Would appreciate any tips...this will be my 3rd sound system and I would like to get it right this time instead of putting together systems that get fried after a few months.... maybe just buying soundstream has been my problem all along!

 

Are you planning on using an amp?

 

This is the wrong car for a "loud" system. 90% of the audio goes up into the clouds.

However, with the right speaker and amp combination you'll be able to produce enough volume to hear at highway speed top down. Perhaps this is what you're really after.

 

^ I would have to disagree with the first part of that statement, mine is incredibly loud (if I want it to be) and clean. It's not going to win any SPL contests, but I wasn't going for that.
It's possible to have a very loud system, it's all in what you put into it.

 

Agree with sw05s2K, my door speakers can blow my ears out if I really wanted to lose my hearing. 90% might be lost in the clouds but plenty hits my ears.

Good passive crossovers, like what came with my Focal components, allow you to balance the tweeters (mine use push-button tweeter attenuation from 0 to -7 dB). I do think I'd like a dash-mounted active x-over only because different sources and even different albums in a given source need different tuning when you really pump up the volume.

 

It is hard to beat Alpine for the money...

 

regarding mounting depth, have you tried using a spacer between the speaker and the factory mounting holes? there is a some space between the door panel speaker grills and the inner door skin, so you can move the speaker closer to the grill giving more clearance for the windows to go down.

i've always liked a/d/s speakers, but the set i have in the car currently don't seem loud enough. i'm using an alpine mrv-545 amp whose "birth certificate" says it was tested at 174 watts/channel rms, so that shouldn't be the problem. my head unit, an alpine ida-x001 has 2v pre-outs, so perhaps i need more gain than the 2v setting on the amp...? i'm not used to setting the volume control at 2/3 or higher, and that's with the top up.

 

There is also a 1/4" or so of plastic you could slice off the door (a ring around the OEM location) for a deeper speaker. I had a very tight fit, using custom-made speaker rings, for a 2.78" deep speaker with foam basket (adds maybe 1/8"). Virtually no extra room between an unmolested door skin and the window.

The window has a sort of spool shape that moves up and down right behind the speaker. I asked in another thread if anyone ever shaved that spool but never saw any yes answers. It looked possible to shorten that part and gain speaker room.

 

are you using the xtc foam baffles? do you find they increase bass response? any sense of "bloated" or muddy sound?

 

Usually they will kill your midbass unless you cut them open so that they are acting more as a protective cover to keep moisture out of your speakers. Most automotive speakers do not do well in such a small enclosure.