I was bored and decided to visit some stereo shops for ***** and giggles after work. Im planning on upgrading my front speakers real soon and just wanted to get an idea of what these shops recommend in the ~$300 range as fas as component speakers go. One shop was going to "hook-me-up" with some Kenwood components for $250 . I got out of there pretty quick. The next shop was a bit more helpful and offered me some Diamond Audio CM361 6.5" speakers. I think he said these were $269. The speakers looked nice and I really liked the fact that the tweeter could be mounted on the speaker itself (see pic below) or you could mount them anywhere else in the cabin. I liked the idea of having the tweeter behind the door panel for that stock look compared to having the tweeters outside of the door panel. I can get these for roughly $150 bux but I dont know how good they sound or if theyre even worth getting. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

never heard them myself but i've heard they're nice, not sure about that model but doesnt sound as bad as the kenwoods lol

 

Doesn't the shop have demo speakers you can audition?

Anyway, this is MHO, but Diamond Audio's current lineup is decent, however, they're nowhere near as good as they used to be when Eton (high-end, highly regarded European loudspeaker company) was making their speakers.

 

Hope you can fit those 6.5in in there, it's a preaty tight space.

Gil

 

Diamond has always made a great speaker I use to run there m5 Compenants. That looks as if it said cm6 as the model number if so the last i sold diamond the cm series was there entry level stuff but still sounded goodI guess it just depends on what level of sound quality you desire. and getting 6.5 in the doors isnt to bad just takes a little time

 

Diamond is among some of the highest reputable audio companys around. I currently have two of their titanium m6 subs in the back and quality and sound are unmatched. If I were you, I would spend another $150 for the DIAMOND HEX (S600) 6.5 inches and the woofer depth is only 1.9 inches! I am considering these for my car, I currently have a/d/s comps and I am extremely satsified with them, but they cost $800. Diamond makes some of the best products around IMO and I would put them up against focals, morel, dynaudio, ID Chameleon, but for half the price them. I personally like the sound of my a/d/s speakers but I went all out on audio for my fd so, money was no object for this audiophile.

 

^^smart man...a/d/s is the way to go if you can afford it...IMO nothing beats it (as far as component speakers go)

 

Both shops I went to said component speakers were too expensive for them to be on display. You'd figure they have them setup so people could hear them before buying them. I really wanted to hear the Diamond Audio's since they looked very nice. I'll probably visit more audio shops and hope one of them has them on display.

I went to Tweeter and heard some nice Boston Acoustics. I really liked the way they sounded and they were in my price range. Im undecided at this point and Im sure I'll probably see/hear other speakers that I like, making my decision even harder.

 

I love Boston Acoustics, my personal favorite for speakers, very crisp, clear sound .

 

I got some MB Quart Components, TOP quality stuff, you wont be dissapointed with MB Quarts, a bit on the pricey side though. I got mine for about $350 if I recall correctly, and they retailed for around $500, they come with some nice crossovers included. You dont wanna go cheap on the amps either, I'd reccommend Eclipse.

 

I'm running Boston Acoustics' coaxials in my FD. I had a set of their Pro Series components in my old 300ZX TT. They make awesome speakers - then again, there are a LOT of awesome speakers out there, some already mentioned in this thread, and some not mentioned (Adire, CDT Audio, etc.). You can go on and on...

I think that spending too much money on a component speaker set for an FD isn't prudent. It's a noisy car w/ less than ideal acoustics, and minimal room up front, so basically you should 1) find something w/ ~2.5" mounting depth and 2) sounds good to you and is within your budget.

 

I had a set of MB Quart components in one of my old cars and I'd have to say that they're one of my all-time favorite speakers, however, they *are* an acquired taste. The metal tweeters on those things are accurate, yet VERY sharp. On some frequencies, at high volume, it's like sticking an ice pick in your ear! I had to drop the attenuation on the crossover, and set the treble on the source unit to neutral just to be able to tolerate those speakers. Some people might prefer a softer, warmer sound, and I'd recommend a comp. set w/ a silk tweeter, and maybe even a tube amp if you have the budget for it. All depends on what you want and what you listen to.

Eclipse amps are good, but as I mentioned above, you can go on and on with all the brands as there is a ton of good stuff out there. That said, my $0.02 goes to Zapco amplifiers.

 

VERY true, those things are freaking precise! I have yet to mess with the crossovers, but I dont have a really good amp to tune them to yet, so im holding off. Only thing I dont like about them is if you have a not so good burnt copy of a disc you can hear the distortion.

 

I hate MB Quart's. I have them ...anyone want to buy them? They are 4" seperates with the tweets attached to the frame. That design makes instillation for the doitselfer easy. Another nice set is Eclipse (something). I have those in my CRX. Anyhow, the Diamon Hex (discontinued) series is expensive but sound awsome. My 4" handles 100w RMS! they drop in perfect inside the Bose box and still work well enclosed because the box is ported. The best part (besides power handling) is the choice of silk tweets, they sound beautiful! the 5&1/4" will fit depth wise but you will have to modify the hole diameter. Boston Pro's are nice but very expensive as well.

 

Two choices to NOT look at are, alpine type x comps,. thought they would be amazing since is their best speakers and $450, they sounded awful, and I had the eclipse comps they were awful to. These were running off a seperate amp and a 30 band equalizer. These are compared to my a/d/s speakers which are god like, but if I were you Get the hexs(s600) with only 1.9 in mounting depth you cant go wrong. I have had 0 problems with my diamonds products and they are highly regarded on other forums.

 

Two choices to NOT look at are, alpine type x comps,. thought they would be amazing since is their best speakers and $450, they sounded awful, and I had the eclipse comps they were awful to. These were running off a seperate amp and a 30 band equalizer. These are compared to my a/d/s speakers which are god like, but if I were you Get the hexs(s600) with only 1.9 in mounting depth you cant go wrong. I have had 0 problems with my diamonds products and they are highly regarded on other forums.

 

I looked up the Hexs S600 and the mounting depth said 2.3". The 4.5" Hexs have a mounting depth of 1.8". All of this is straight from Diamond Audio's website.

 

I have some 6.5" Diamond Compnents in my FD. I'm no audiophile, but I think they sound pretty good.

 

What model do you have?

 

the s500 series which is the 5.25 inc h has a mounting depth of 2 inchs according to diamonds website, the only thing your are going to get with 6.5 is some more midbass...But than again the hex series are known for sq and very little mid bass.... Lots of good reading on caraudio.com , their forums are very informative just do a search on diamond and you will find more than you will ever need.