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Hi,

I was wondering what speakers you recommend for a car...I can't wait for Klipsch to make thier entry into this world! Does anyone know why they don't? I was thinking of adapting some Heresy's into my SUV but I just can't get them to fit in my Vette!

Anyway, I currently have some Bose speakers in there (not my fault, came with the car!) and its getting more depressing when I leave a listening session with my La Scalas, then get into my car and hear the Bose.8.gif

Thx

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I've often wondered if it would be possible to use the klipsch in wall speakers in a car, but I think the varying tempetures, at least here in minnesota, would ruin them. as far as brands I like, I really like the high end models of Audiobahn and MTX subs. I really hate those square and other geometric shapped car speakers, really gimmicky if you ask me. there aren't really any car speakers that can mimmick the horn sound to my knowledge, but than again, my knowledge is limited, lol. unless you were to take the horns out of some klipsch speakers and build new enclosures in your car for them. thats the only solution I can think of.

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I actually do have plans of sticking a pair of Heresys in my SUV. I will post pics and how it sounds when I do. I was then going to put some K77 tweets in the front to offload a total rear fill only sound. I have a feeling though that I may want to drive the truck more than the car once I do this!

Has anyone ever "adapt" some Klipsch speakers inot thier vehicle?

Ernesto

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Many years ago my youngest brother was into car audio big time (always installed his own systems in all his vehicles: JL Audio subs, MB Quart modular speakers, Alpine CD head units, AudioControl processors, and Precision Power amps, etc.). He's lost interest now since his job is so close to home that he doesn't hardly ever listen to his latest system anymore. But I remember back in the day (late '80's to mid '90's) he would talk about modular horns that you could install underneath the dashboard; I have no idea whether they're still available, or who the manufacturer is/was. I never got into car audio (I listen to talk radio while driving), so I don't know if horns are still an alternative to 6x9's or if it's passe. I think it would be rather interesting if Klipsch had a line of car audio horn speakers, but I have no idea if they ever considered it. I would assume size wouldn't be an issue, since their ProMedia horns are rather small, but not being a car audio engineer, there may be lots of design issues for Klipsch not building horns for car audio. Maybe Trey Cannon or another Klipsch representative would have some answers for you. Good luck!

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Car speakers...

The best of the best component speakers(two and three way here)...

MB Quart,Dynaudio,Focal and Boston Acoustics

Some of the best subwoofer drivers...

JL Audio(the uppscale series),Atomic,Adire,Boston Pro

Properly installed a set of component Dynaudio speakers in the doors and a JL Audio sub powered by a good quality PrecisionPower amp will thrill any audiophile.A quality EQ must be used to tame the peaks encountered in the car,this done you will have a sound most deram of having at home.

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Hi ,

Thanks for all the suggestions. I got on a Vette forum and they all seem to like the MB Quarts so I may look into those. Someone also made the suggestion here on this forum to try some inwalls that Klipsch makes. That actually has me most intrigued. I think if I can pick up a set on Ebay for a good price, I may give that a shot. The doors utilize an 8 inch subwoofer system so there is plenty of room to make custom plates if I remove them. Again, thanks and I will update when I upgrade from the Bose (it shouldn't be that difficult2.gif )

Ernesto

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There are several good brands around:

Infinity, Polk, Boston, MB Quart, etc. Stay away from manufacturers that dont make good home speakers such as pioneer, kennwood, sony,

Each has entry level, mid, high, and competition range. You will fall off your chair when you see the prices for the high and competiton! The markup is tremendous

If you are used to Heresies at home, I would stick to the high end. You probably dont need the competition stuff.

Most of the installations have a 6.5 inch woofer/mid in the doors with tweeter placed on the dash or on the sail (the place on the inside of the door from where the mirrors are mounted. Most of the soundstage will come from the front, with the rear providing the fill.

I suggest a subwoofer for the bass, and then high pass the front woofers at 80 or 125Hz. If you put too much bass in those small spearkers, the doors will rattle.

Keep in mind that the car subwoofers are designed for small enclosures. For good sound quality without the booming, I suggest a sealed box. You can get 10inch woofers that fit in 1/2 cubic foot sealed box (the Boston PRO 10.4 for example). The result is that their 3 db down point is about 50 HZ or so. This sound crappy compared to a home sub, But remember that because of the small interior volume of the car, there is a 12 db per octave bass gain starting somewhere between 50 and 100 Hz I(the smaller the car, the higher the frequency) , there is a way to calculate it, but I cant find the web site where I found it last summer) That is why a car sub that start rolling off at 50Hz still has lots of bass by the time it hits 30Hz.

Car speakers have lousy efficency compared to anything in the klipsch line. Only on the order of 88-91 dB for 1W at 1 meter. That is because even the 6 1/2 inch woofers are designed for good bass. This is almost a waste if you use a sub and high pass them anyway. I would like to see a manufacturer that recognizes this and builds a very efficien mid bass unit that will cover the 125 to 700 Hz range with say 95db efficiency so that I can then use a Heresy mid and tweeter! That would be awesome. Something like an Eminence Beta 8 that would fit in the doors!

Your Idea of using heresy mid and tweeter up front (if you can find the room) is great, but you cant simply put the heresy woofer in the rear, because there is considerable voice and music content up to the 700Hz that the woofer handles and it would sound bad comming from the rear. You need that frequency range up front comming from the same spot as the mid and tweeter. Noble thought thought!

I have a 2002 honda odyssey with Infinity Kappa 62.5I in the front doors and a 8 inch cerwin vega sub in a .35 cubic foot custom build box that fits in a very specific spot in the back.

I will be putting the kappas in the rear, and some Boston PRO 6.5 inchers in front.

I have a Rockford Fostgate 120Watt RMS amp for the sub, and just running the mains off my Pioneer head unit. When I drive alone and play it loud I go deaf. I have a Pheonix Gold 65w x 4 amp at home that I may install for the mains afte I finish building my HT room! I may need it after my LaScalas reduce the sensitivity of my ear drums permanently!

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Unless you can install the entire speaker cabinet into your car, I don't think adapting Heresy's would give the intended result. Horn's very directional imaging isn't really ideal for the unusual angles in which they can be installed into a car's restricted interior... as well as Edmund point about directing the upper mid-bass to the woofer in the trunk. The crossover point will simply be too high.

If SQ is your objective, I think dome tweeters, mid-bass in the kick-panels or doors, and subwoofer in the trunk is the way to go. I believe a sub is essential as the midbass units are usually small and installed in a sealed enclosure = very little bass.

I think the "preferred brands" have all been covered in the previous posts... and I'd like to add JBL amps and subs... even though they aren't leaders, they offer a lot of "bang-for-the-buck"

D@mn, you are giving me the urge to upgrade too.... 9.gif

Rob

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Infinity for me. I have been using Infinity since '87. The best I ever had was a 92 Explorer with Infinity Kappa 6x9's in all 4 doors with an 8" sub in each rear door. All 6 powered by a Phoenix Gold 4x35wpc amp & a Sony head unit & 10 disk changer.

The 6x9's are now in my 2000 F-150, & the subs are in my custom Heresy center channel.

Over 10 years old & they still sound great.

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Image Dynamics makes horns for cars but they are not cheap. The installation alone is like 150 dollers just for the horns because the have to be laser aligned to make sure they are on the same level or they will not give off the right image. My opinion on car speakers is that MB Quart is way over rated with a lot of highs and no midbass, Focal is good but only above the Kevlar ones and into Utopias. Dynaudio is good if you have the money but will definitly require a amp. Diamond is good for the money and relativley easy to drive.

This is my first post to the forum and I just want to say hi!3.gif

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No one has mentioned Morel/Macrom they make top notch speakers for the car. Their coxials are killer! A 6" woofer with a 3" Hexatech voice coil and an Fs of 43Hz. I used 4 Morel MW-166's in my '94 Competition Camaro with HiFonics Series VIII Platinum High Current amps (Isis & Ulysses) with an Alpine 7909, custom crossovers, Vifa Midranges and Polk Trilaminate tweeters. The bass was provided by two Atomic HPW-1095 subwoofers in a Montana Pro super custom enclosure built into the rear well. In the 70's a friend I knew that was handicapped and had a van, had 4 Heresy's in there with an Alpine deck and all Zapco processors and amplifiers. It sounded incredible! Pink Floyd's The Wall sounded unbelievable in that thing, and man could it get loud!

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One day Doug (Stiles ) drove his Mercedes into Hope and Paul asked him if the speakers in the car were any good. Doug responded, As good as it can get in a car. (Cassette players were just beginning to be installed in cars.) Paul told Doug he thought he could put a great system in his car for him. Paul immediately began measuring, configuring meticulously all dimensions of the inside of the trunk. Paul built and rebuilt and reworked the proper boxes for the speakers. Finally Paul installed small stereo horns for the midrange and tweeters in the back of the car and then constructed a perfect box for the cone speaker bass units that were placed in the middle portion of the trunk. The first (and last) Klipsch auto system. No one ever believed he had a Klipsch custom-made auto system until they listened to it. It was one heck of a sound for a car!

From the book Paul Wilbur Klipsch, The Life.The Legend

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I too, love the infinity kappa 6 1/2 coaxials. I bought the first set ealy in 1999 and then I purchased two more sets and a set of 6.5" kappa midbasses. Never hooked up the third set or the midbasses yet though. Still sitting in the boxes. My choice of amplifiers is soundstream. I started out with a itsy bitsy soundstream reference 200s that is rated at 25 w x 2 rms into 4 ohms at 12 volts. Now seeing that it has an unregulated power supply , it produces more power, like 45 watts into 4 ohms at 14.4 which most other companies use to rate their products. That little amp just blew me away with the amount of reserve power that it had. It wasted the kenwood kac-626 that is supposed to be 75 watts x 2. The kenwood would run out of steam and just fall off running the same load as the soundstream. That little blue amp just stomped all over that kenwood. Then in 2001, I ordered the soundstream rubicon 1002. Let me tell you that this is the cleanest car amp that I have heard to date. No pops, thumps or other noises. Dead silence and more power than you should ever need. I have it strapped in mono, driving a pair of jbl gt 1081 10" 8 ohm subs wired in parallel for a 4 ohm load. I have had the clipping lights flash occasionally on loud passages, but neither the amp or the speakers show any signs of distress. ( Although my ears do ! ) It will bottom the speakers like nothing if I run more than roughly 3/4 volume and test tones (20-30 hz) off my bass mekanic cd. At 40-50 hz the mirrors shake violently and the air freshener on my rear-view starts jumping up and down on the elastic cord.

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