what a component speaker set is. In researching the stereo system that will eventually be installed in my xA, I have come across a LOT of material with which I am unfamiliar. What's the difference between a component speaker and regular one? What's a two- or three-way speaker? Is it really worth the extra money to get any of these?

 

lol, ever get a crutchfield? the pictures are self explanitory.
1 way is just a fullrange speaker, with no tweeter(like most factory audio setups), 2 way has a tweeter mounted on top of a midrange, 3 way has 2 different tweeters, ive even seen 4 way, with 3 tweeters. thats over kill, imo. i guess the purpose of multiple tweeters is just to cover more of a frequency range? anyways, component is the best way to go. as you can tell they are higher priced. the tweeter is seperate from the midrange, because usually you will want to mount it higher, like around the backing of the side view mirrors. they also, this is the most important feature, have a separate crossover that sperates the frequency range into the tweeter or the midrange. this is benificial because your not wasting energy by putting sound into speakers that cannot reproduce that certain frequency. so you have a better separation the sound, resulting in clearer, better sounding music. theres an actual word for the power lost into speaker but all i can think of is kenetic energy but im sure thats wrong. this is my explanation, not scripture, so please no flaming at me from some audion engineer. later

 

Thanks for the description. Forgive my ignorance, but to me the pictures were not at all self-explanatory. They gave me a vague idea, but it's always better to ask someone who knows rather than assuming your impressions are correct. Thanks again, and if anyone else has anything to add, I'm all ears!

 

Everything Chrisl311 said is pretty dead on. There are some 4 way 6x9's that have a Midrange rather than jsut 3 tweeters though. A 2way speaker that is NOT two seperate peices is sometimes called a coaxial speaker, a three-way is a triaxial, and a 4-way would be a quadaxial (guessing.)

When mounting component speakers it is best to mount the woofer and the tweeter:

a) right next to each other
b) At least 8 inches apart (like they are in hte tC)

Nothing applies to ALL cases, but this is a good rule of thumb. For best sound quality it is usually best to get a good set of components.

 

18 inches is a better general rule...

 

Actually, the closer the axes of the two drivers are, the better they will be sonically. That's why braxials sound so damn good...

 

Something to keep in mind when your getting new speakers for your xA, they are all rivetted into your door, not screwed. You will need to drill out your old speakers, and buy the Toyota speaker bracket (http://www.cardomain.com/item/SCOSAT6) to fit the new speakers in. Just a heads up so when you take off your door panel (https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=59067), you'll know what to expect.

 

Good catch, Typo on my part. I meant 18 inches.

 

True, I like to make a coax out of a component set lots of times. Especially if there are no stock tweets to modify the mounting location to fit aftermarket. Problem is, lots of times, there isn't lots of room behind the stock panel to do this. The thing with cars are you want to make them as easily returnable to stock as possible, and to keep functionality of parts. Using plumber's back strapping, I can mount them right on top of the mid. Tweets, in a few cases, sound kind of mutteled because of manufacturers designing them to work off axis better than when they're properly imaged. So sometimes, it defeats the purpose. But, 18 inches will give you enough room to keep the mids in the doors, and put the tweets up high (in the saiol panel for example, or in the door, on the dashm etc) and still keep you a reasonable distance, and keep functionality of teh stock piece.

 

you can mount tweeters further away if you do a different type of system base on the system Richard Long built years ago and were the finest in the world

 

One thing you might want to think about when you use coaxials/braxials/components made into either/really close mounting positions/kick panel installations - I'm talking practical, not SQ here - is that when you put a passenger in the front seat, they will block sound. Blocking the midrange doesen't seem to mess with my head much, but get in the way of the tweeter and my brain goes 'wrong! brrrzzzt'

Which is why I'm going to go the rather obnoxious route of installing my tweeters in the dash....I have passengers a lot.