6.5 rear speaker opinions

[kemicala]

hi guys and girls. so im in the process of doing a sort of hybrid u85 speaker system. what i want to do is have components all around with a sub in the trunk and i have a factory non monsoon cd player with 7eq in the dash. i also have the rear grill with tweeters in the back. i was planning on getting 5 1/4 components for the front and 6 1/2 components with tweeters in the rear. all will be amped of course. then i thought, would the 6 1/2 speakers in the back be enough or would the audio sound tiny or not that great.

i guess what i want to know is does anyone have experience with 6 1/2 speakers in the rear deck and how do they sound. i wanted to go 6 1/2 because i know round speakers are a little more accurate that oval, ie 6x9 speakers. i have no problem settling for 6x9 and tweeters like the u85 system has if its agreed 6 1/2 in the rear is not that great.

thanks.

[crash93ssei]

Not sure about the round speakers out back, but definitely upgrade your head unit. If you sink all that money into amps and components, your and result will still be a crappy sounding stereo with low clarity that drops the low frequencies off at high volume.

[kemicala]

i guess from the lack of responses, no one has an opinion or experience with 6 1/2 speakers in the rear?

[crash93ssei]

I honestly haven't seen anyone here run them, but I am willing to bet many people skip right over this topic because of the title, thinking you are trying to turn your car into a hybrid that can burn regular or E85 fuel. I honestly have no clue what u85 is, I just randomly clicked on it to see what was being asked about. Try changing the title to 6.5" rear speaker opinions or something like that and you might get more responses.

[kemicala]

I honestly haven't seen anyone here run them, but I am willing to bet many people skip right over this topic because of the title, thinking you are trying to turn your car into a hybrid that can burn regular or E85 fuel. I honestly have no clue what u85 is, I just randomly clicked on it to see what was being asked about. Try changing the title to 6.5" rear speaker opinions or something like that and you might get more responses.

haha. you are probably right. i thought u85 was the speaker option code for 8 speaker systems. ill change the title, thanks.

[Bugsi]

Give people a little time to respond. Things have been a little slower on the forums the last couple years, and the west coast meet is in progress, so some of the regulars may be MIA.

i know round speakers are a little more accurate that oval, ie 6x9 speakers.

I think this has to be based on myth and you can safely disregard it. I don't know how you "know" this, it might be from experience of some oval speakers of lesser quality than some round speakers you've experienced, but from an engineering perspective, it isn't exactly challenging to build a high quality acoustic reproducer with oval shape, or for that matter, much different than designing a round one. But triangles, -now there you've got a challenge.

When you consider the reality that there are excellent 6" x 9" oval speakers available at pretty much every possible price point, I think you're just causing yourself more trouble than it's worth for a bogus reason. By all means: If you just WANT to stuff 6.5" round speakers in a 6" x 9" oval hole, GO FOR IT, be happy, and enjoy your round speakers. -But you could just buy a decent 6" x 9" oval speaker that fits to begin with.

You can just choose a good quality 6" x 9" 2-way or 3-way speaker and leave your component tweeter location empty. I know it's tempting to fill it, but we won't hunt you down if you don't. If you still want to do components, you can find some 6" x 9" components by MB Quart and Eclipse and possibly others. You could also buy a coaxial 6" x 9" 2-way and just clip the wires to the tweeter and use it for a bass component, and still mount a tweeter in your separate tweeter mounting spot. Frankly, I'd do that before I'd try to stuff a round speaker in an oval hole.

In general, the soundstage of your front speakers is more important to your listening position, so many people with upgraded stereos in the Bonnevilles don't even use rear speakers, so consider that before you spend a large chunk of your audio budget on rear speakers. I think your money would be better spent on an after market head unit. If you go through with your plan to keep the stock EQ head unit and spend your money on high quality component front and rear speakers with 4 channels of outboard amplification, I think you're ultimately going to be disappointed in the sound. You'll need to use the speaker levels out of the stock head unit to drive the amp (easy enough as many amps have speaker level inputs), but people who have done that here frequently complain of high pitched whining noise interference in their sound, which is pretty common with that type of setup, usually picked up from the alternator. Not everyone has a problem with it, so feel free to try it, but our goal is to give you the best advice we can. My advice is to prioritize your spending [in order] on:

-front speakers
-head unit
-amp
-sub
-rear speakers

I order them that way because I think that order makes the most difference to your sound.
-Front speakers will have the greatest impact on changing and improving your sound, whether you feed them with a stock head unit or an aftermarket deck and amplifier.
-Head units are (generally) acoustically transparent. What you're buying is features: line outputs for front, rear, and subs; ipod and USB connectivity; CD/DVD/mp3 compatibility; tone controls, and that sort of thing.
-An amp will give you more undistorted gain than you can get out of a head unit alone, but you have to have a head unit to drive it first, so I place a head unit before this. An amp is essential to drive a sub.
-And so you can get a sub after you have an amp to drive it.
-Finally, rear speakers fill those holes in the rear deck.

But again, these are guidelines. If you have the time and the money, feel free to experiment with putting 6.5" round speakers in back, you might come up with something you really like. I'm sure people have done it before, too, so if you're lucky you might be able to find someone who has done it and see how they like it.

[97SEBonnevilleMan]

For clarity in your sound try a set of

Boston Acoustic SE 6.5 series component set $119.00 set
Two tweets with three different mounts /flush /angle /flat
Two 6 in. woofers
Two crossovers
Two crossovers /wiring to and a Soche "adapter plate" plastic mount included to mount them in the 6x9 opening if purchased through this site free w/purchase

Crutchfield.com 1-800-217-1059 search outfit my car "online"for what fits your Pontiac no guess work.

Boston 6.5 Pro series is what I run in my car front and back locations "bigger magnets on 6.5's /and more money" buy them once and you are done.$ 450.00 for a pair one set.The sound is amazing The price is high but htese sets can last for long term and into your next car when it is time to move on .

Boston Makes a nice 3 way 6x9 $149.00 SE Series

I have been sold on Boston for years They never break .I have all Boston components mounted in my car I had since high school never a problem.Still have the car and all that good quality sound.

Aloha Matt

[jedwards83]

IMO, the only advantage to doing 6.5" in the rear is compatibility with other vehicles should you decide to sell the car in the future. GM is the only automaker to my knowledge that almost universally uses 6x9's, but 6 1/2" are becoming more and more common even in their vehicles. By no means do I think a 6.5" would sound "tiny." You're not using it for low bass reproduction, so the size for a mid-range application would be more than enough inside a vehicle.

I've heard the old adage that 6x9's don't have as great of sound quality because of their shape-- I think it's hogwash. I work for a company that builds many digital "pipe" organs, often in excess of $200,000, where the sound has to fill large churches or cathedrals. In this application sonic accuracy is of utmost importance. We use 6x9's for the midrange drivers with great success.

On the other hand, in my own experience, co-axials can't compare to component speakers. I believe this is largely due the the price point that co-axials are marketed toward; they tend to be cheaper and of lesser quality. While not cheap, a set of 6x9 components would be my choice. Diamond audio makes several in that size, though I'm sure there's other brands to choose from.

[BonneMe]

I like the 6.5" rear idea. Infect I'd run that if it were my car, I would even consider ditching the rear tweeters or put switches in the trunk to disable them, and use the 6.5" in the rear deck for rear fill only.

6x9" won't produce as clean of a sound as most 6.5". They have some extra surface area so lower and louder bass is possible. Without going into too much depth, there is a reason pretty much every well designed hifi loudspeaker uses circular woofers...

[kemicala]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I haven't been on here a while so just catching up. I will definitely take all your thoughts into consideration. and its looks like ill be going 6.5 with tweeters indeed since i have a sub for the lows. I tried some alpine 6x9s but for some reason the sound was so tiny. I dont know why. it might have to do with the head unit i have in place which isn't a stock 93 bonneville but a stock cd unit from i think it was a 2001 grand prix. Is there something i'm forgetting that is causing the sound output to be so low? the cd unit doesn't say monsoon or anything and it works fine output wise with the stock 93 speakers.