jic

I wanted to upgrade all four of my speakers and my head unit in my 2006 TC. In some searches I've seen that all four speakers can be 6 1/2 and in some searches people say mods will be needed to fit that size. I don't want to be ripped off by the installers, so will four 6 1/2 coaxials fit?

nebster

personally i wouldn't only do the fronts. its cheaper and filling the back is just not worth it to me

sraudio

Yes all 4 can be changed to 6-1/2 the installer will need to make a MDF ring to bolt in place of old speaker to hold the new 6-1/2. To get good sound you will also need a baffle for the rears to give them somewhat of an enclosure because they are just hanging there right now. It takes me and my guys about 10 extra minutes to make the rings for the rear speaker swap.

jwaggz82

iTrader: (1)

exactly what he said. In january im off to sraudio to pick up a few things ...baffles being one of them. The rear speakers need some kind of box because to replace the rear speakers you are just bolting them right to a piece of metal (because the front and rear stock speakers have their mounting brackets glued to the actual speaker). ..... i have never seen speakers like this before .... its a cheap way to make speakers and I didnt realize that was the case till i had everything a part. I have 5 1/4 speakers in the front but I had to make custom brackets .... get 6 1/2's for the front.

Yanki01

components up front will be a great move! no need for rear speakers! HU, amp and components is what you need!!!

here's the 3/4" MDF bracket.

sraudio

The cheesy one peice speaker is a Japanese thing Honda/Acura does it as well

Spect2K3

I'm a musician, and I tried just doing the fronts, I couldn't stand that...A week later, I went back and did the rears...it was driving me crazy...much better now

SCI_TC_GUY

^^ it's all in personal preference.... I like to attempt to reproduce the music exactly as it was recorded. Almost all media is recorded in stereo(2channel) so all you need is a front left and a front right for accurate reproduction.

jic

Thanks for all the prompt replies to my question. Some of you guys are saying to not go ahead with installing after market speakers in the rear? I really don't like the way the stock ones sound as they seem to get drowned out by my sub. Will after market rear speakers not make that much of a difference in terms of loudness and clarity in the rear? Please explain. Thanks!

SCI_TC_GUY

I personally unhook my rears all together. like I said, it's all in personal preference

Spect2K3

All music recorded in 2 channels is completely incorrect.

Back in the old days, they used to use 8-tracks - or 8 channels. Now we use a lot more. Coming from an MP&E major at the berklee college of music, there are many more than 2 tracks on a studio recording

Boom12V

Wow! That is a big question. If you have an amp and subs already then you change your deck and speakers. I think you will still be unhappy. You have this "high preformance" amp and sub trying to keep with a "normal" powered deck and four speakers. It is like racing your car against Rado's drag tC. Now I will say that I didn't see what kind of amp and subs you have but... If you have a couple of 10" or 12" it will be out of ballance. I would suggest an amp for your mids and highs.

Good luck

ADRdesignCo

thats not completely true spect2k3. though you are right about 8 tracks being 8 channels and there being more than 2 tracks in a studio recording; the word "channels" could also be in reference to a right and a left signal, not limited to just how many layered tracks a track would have. i do your see example with the 8 tracks and 8 channels but in recorded music just because you have 8 channels going in, it doesnt necessarily mean you will have 8 tracks going out (unless you have a firewire device that is capable of recording 8 simultaneous tracks or through a ADAT or direct outs or other really high end equipment). ive done recordings with 16 channels into my board and only 2 channels out into my computer, and it still only took up 2 channels. i also do agree that music nowadays use alot more than 2 tracks (though some seem like they dont lol), but i don't think saying that "all recording is done in 2 channels is completely incorrect" because most music is recorded in stereo (2 channels) or at least in production (i.e. mastered and produced over all, not just the individual tracks) recorded in 2 channels ( left and right ). unless of course you're dealing with surround sound movie tracks and in a few occurences surround sound audio cds, it is in 2 channels. :D

nebster

i'm just putting comps in the front bc i don't hear the back anyway and with the subs i'm putting in people shouldn't sit in the back bc they'll go deaf

Vapid

^^^ Thats correct, I have worked at Studio X in seattle and in the end after mixing, it comes out in two tracks. Or if we are making a DVD it might have a few more. But in most cases you will not see 5.1 in a car. I can do it with my system but its not really worth it unless I am wachin a movie

Spect2K3

Have you all heard the song by Beyonce, Deja Vu? That was recorded by a group of producers that a friend of mine is part of....Rodney Jerkins... This is all MP&E - Music Production and Engineering.

Music is not broken down into simply left and right channels. It has many channels that it is broken down into. Front left, front center, front right, left rear, right rear, center rear, subwoofer, and sometimes more. Obviously, to truly hear a song as it is meant to be heard requires one heck of a system that we can't reproduce in a car. Having 4 speakers rather than 2 can surely help.

Any track recorded into just left and right channels is severely inferior and amateur.

Just as a side note: as songs are recorded in such a format, mp3 files are horribly compressed such that many tracks are not heard of stuffed together. Much better quality sound would be wav files for example. Mp3 is broken down into less tracks than wav files, that is why they are so much smaller.

Hope that helps!

ADRdesignCo

i am actually familiar with Darkchild's work i listen to mostly hip hop and r&b; and i must say you are previlaged to be friends with him, id love to get into the studio with such a musical mastermind such as he. :D

while that may be true in some cases (i.e. surround sound mixing for a movie) almost all the time music is recorded in 2 channel (left and right) stereo. what you are talking about is a 5.1 surround sound system; when was the last time you bought a cd and it was in 5.1? the truth is that 2 channels is NOT severely inferior nor is it amateur.

again, about 99% of the cds out there today play in stereo (2 channels), i have yet to hear an audio only cd that is 5.1 and find it almost pointless to have it at that unless its a live concert recording and it has a very very strong dynamic effect ( drums through the center speaker, bass on front left speaker, vocals throughout, etc.) but i havent even heard a cd with those capabilities. it would make sense for a movie to have the dynamics of a 5.1 system to simulate something moving accross the screen, or make it seem as if it is behind you. but when it comes down to music, not everyone can have a 5.1 system in their car, the producers know this and thus it is the industry standard to have it in stereo.

i work both in live sound reinforcement and recording along with studio recording. majority of the time i would capture and record everything in a mono through a direct injection box to receive the clearest possible sound; even with multiple track recordings, from ukes to keys to vox, are done in mono. which to by your definition of 2 channel (stereo) being severely inferior and amateur, would that make 1 channel (mono) primitive and childish?

in my visits to diffrent studios and mastering suites, the common goal between all the producers have been to reproduce music as if it was happening right in front of you (a full live sound, unless of course for effect; even still done in stereo) and master the levels for the most pristine sounding. a great example of this would be Black Eyed Peas where the mastering is done so well, no matter how many speakers or how crappy the speakers are (within reason) their music sounds great, full and as if it is in front of you. even at the last concert i worked, the Angels and Airwaves tour, they were using the Pro Tools Icon rig to record it live. while they did indeed record it in multiple channels for the DVD release im "shure" (pun intended :D) when they release the audio cd (if they do) they will have to mix whatever they recorded down to 2 tracks to be able to play on a consumer sound system. humans only have 2 ears, so i highly doubt a 5.1 headphone set would ever be a true surround sound headphone piece. why would people want to produce something for everyone if everyone doesnt have it ( why produce a 5.1 music cd when their target market only listens in stereo?)?

i have yet to ever hear about or come accross any studio that saves their master track in mp3, not even in mp3 format when they do individual tracks; thus they mainly use wav or aiffs (on certain occasions). while most music are horribly compressed (i.e. anything less than 320kbps cbr) do keep in mind what MP3 is short for, MPEG Layer 3. the way the laser disc concept where they just stripped the audio from the movie, and it eventually became what it is today. what i am trying to say is that 320kbps cbr and wav and even against a real audio cd sound are quite parallel to eachother, none of them have a lead on the other using a pair of Event TR6's, KRK RP5's, and a pair of Shure E2C headphone while im on the go, i can safely say that having a 320kpbs song thats around 9mb is alot better than having to carry a 40+mb wav file, saving alotta room in my ipod, or on my cds (both audio and mp3).

i am not too shure what you mean about mp3 is broken down into less tracks than wav files. wav and mp3 are both digital formats and whatever a wav can be so can an mp3. my guess is that your talking about the mix down, which is almost always set in stereo, mp3 or wav or apple lossless for that matter. if a session file has 1000 tracks, you mix it down to 2 tracks (stereo) to be able to play it in any consumer based music product. and whether it is mp3 or wav, all 1000 tracks can be mixed down into 2. tracks can be whatever format they want. in programs such as adobe audition (i like using it for quick records) you are able to mix mp3 and wav together. back to the line of the 8 track, while it did play each indiviual track of the tape, 8 track is far from considered "inferior" today but unless you have a stand alone player (minus the computer) that can play session files its most likeley going to be in stereo. even if you do a direct recording from a program it still comes out to stereo (2 channels), again it would be pointless to have to switch tracks to hear each individual sound track (i.e. vocals on track 1, guitar on track 2, etc.) unless your a really nit picky masterer, you would still get it in stereo. even a nit picky masterer might not go to that extreme because they would want it to be balanced amongst the other tracks.

and just like you.. hope this helps :D

titolito

TELL 'EM Adrian! You AV Tech geek-nerd!

Spect2K3

The mp3 comment was solely for information, had nothing to do with cd creation in the studio...I was just trying to give some information on topic here. A lot of people use the mp3 feature that comes with the stock HU, I personally couldn't stand it. Of course cds are not made originally using mp3 format - thats horrible quality, start with the best. And what you said about mp3s is correct.

I'm not going to argue though, many different cds are made different ways and many different recording studios and producers use different techniques and equipment when recording cds.

Let's get this back on topic:

I would do both front and rear speakers as I did with my own car. I tried just front at first and was very unhappy. To me, with my setup, the sound quality was very poor and the system was trying to put too much through the front speakers thus distorting the sound to some extent - although that had a lot to do with the amp that i'm using.

Play it safe, just do the fronts, and if you want better sound quality or are not satisfied with what you have and think rear speakers will improve it, do it then!