Car audio help needed

[NickJ]

Hey Guys,

My mom has a 98 Jeep Loredo ltd. with four blown woofers (according to her). I am a novice when it comes to home speakers, so I have no idea would the right word would be to describe my knowledge of car audio (Plebian? Ludite?).

Someone is offering to replace the speakers for 300 dollars, but I was wondering if I could do better than that in sound or money. My mom's husband is handy with a screw driver and could install the parts pretty easily if I got him the right ones (they live a thousand miles away so doing it myself would be a problem).

She says there are 4 speakers (I assume coaxial), one in each door, of currently unknown size. How would I go about figuring out a good replacement part?

[50 watt head]

You might try Crutchfield -- you can search their site for replacements according to make/model, etc. They also might be able to help over the phone.

[John_Frum]

www.sonicelectronix.com

You can look up stuff that would fit her vehicle and they have much better prices than Crutchfield. You can definitely do better than $300.

[B_Rich]

You can definitely do better than $300.

x2. Good sites mentioned above, too.

[NickJ]

Great. It looks like there is a 6 and 3/4 in each door. Once again I assume that means co/tri axial. If I did order them how simple is installation (calibration)?

Also, although I have a pretty good lay of the land for home audio brands now, any recommendations of high value car speaker brands?

[B_Rich]

If it's just for your mom, look into a coaxial replacement. Just get a simple 2-way coaxial, don't waste your money on the "3-way" or "4-way" coaxial designs. Installation is no more than hooking the stock wires to the new speaker and throwing screws into the mounting holes, and that's that.

The Infinity Reference line and Alpine Type S are very good for the money. It'll be a slight upgrade from stock and won't break the bank.

[NickJ]

Installation is no more than hooking the stock wires to the new speaker and throwing screws into the mounting holes, and that's that.

So I don't need to worry about the active crossover or anything?

[videsh]

If its running off the Head Unit, I agree with B_Rich, get 2 pairs of decent coaxes.

I have personally used some CDT coaxes which got really loud and still sounded great with decent midbass. A buddy of mine runs some JBL and those are just as loud and have a little better midbass. Of course its all install dependent ( door treatments and whatnot).

[B_Rich]

So I don't need to worry about the active crossover or anything?

Definitely not, that's all done within the coaxial of the speaker (I believe it's just a capacitor in line with the tweeter). So it'll just be a drop in replacement.

[caver50]

Just make sure that the coax will be efficient with low power, because it's likely that they will run off HU power.

[DjDisturbed]

If you want something from PE that would be a simple replacement These would be a good choice. Plus order some of this to ensure a good seal between the speaker and the sheet metal. The only thing other than that I would suggest would be to get some speaker wire adapters to make the install even easier for him. Because Jeep has a weird connector that hooks up to their factory speakers.
Hope that helps.

[awwnuts]

Hey Guys,

My mom has a 98 Jeep Loredo ltd. with four blown woofers (according to her). I am a novice when it comes to home speakers, so I have no idea would the right word would be to describe my knowledge of car audio (Plebian? Ludite?).

Someone is offering to replace the speakers for 300 dollars, but I was wondering if I could do better than that in sound or money. My mom's husband is handy with a screw driver and could install the parts pretty easily if I got him the right ones (they live a thousand miles away so doing it myself would be a problem).

She says there are 4 speakers (I assume coaxial), one in each door, of currently unknown size. How would I go about figuring out a good replacement part?

If it has the Infinity system and the amp is shot or its fuse is blown, none of the woofers will work but the tweeters will. They run off the head unit (radio in the dash).

[jhollander]

If it has the Infinity system and the amp is shot or its fuse is blown, none of the woofers will work but the tweeters will. They run off the head unit (radio in the dash).

good point maybe some more trouble shooting is in order before spending money on the speakers

[NickJ]

If it has the Infinity system and the amp is shot or its fuse is blown, none of the woofers will work but the tweeters will. They run off the head unit (radio in the dash).

I don't think she does. I heard it a year or so ago and it sounded like a blown speaker to me back then, I just don't know if ALL of them are blown like she was saying.

Crutchfield (and the internet) are saying that it needs 6 3/4 speakers, and I have seen some, but also keep getting directed to 6 1/2. Is this a mistake or is there more wiggle room than with home audio speaker sizes?

[B_Rich]

I don't think she does. I heard it a year or so ago and it sounded like a blown speaker to me back then, I just don't know if ALL of them are blown like she was saying.

Crutchfield (and the internet) are saying that it needs 6 3/4 speakers, and I have seen some, but also keep getting directed to 6 1/2. Is this a mistake or is there more wiggle room than with home audio speaker sizes?

From my past experience a 6 1/2" speaker will fit in a 6 3/4" opening. It might not be a dead nuts line up to the previous holes (rarely are any aftermarket speakers), but it'll be close enough to work with.

[John_Frum]

If you want something from PE that would be a simple replacement These would be a good choice.

+1 for this suggestion. I have the 6.5" comps in my car running off the headunit and they sound great. Not a lot of bass but mids and highs are spectacular.

[DamonB]

Had a Jeep Liberty in which the foam surrounds rotted resulting in "blown" speakers. In my case aftermarket replacements were unavailable since it was an active system. I refoamed the offending drivers instead.

[awwnuts]

I had a 1998 Grand Cherokee Laredo. It does take the 6-3/4" drivers. I would probably buy something inexpensive from Parts Express...

[jsr]

Go to Sonic and pick up 2 pairs of JVC or Clarion coaxials for $30/pr shipped, thats only $60 total. I doubt your mom will complain about the SQ of those if she was fine with the stock. Buy a few b.u.t.t connectors.
Tell your moms husband to use a battery to check the polarity of the wires (positive to positive will result in speaker moving forward), mark them, cut them, and hook up positive wire to positive terminal, etc. with the b.u.t.t. connectors (the speakers will usually come with wire for you to attach to the speaker terminals, he just needs to connect the wires together). Test before reinstalling door panels.
Don't worry about sensitivity. The lower priced speakers, and especially coax/triax/etc. are all very sensitive.
Oh, he may need to drill new screw holes in the door inner skin. Just use self tapping metal screws.
This isn't what I'd do on my cars, but is the simplest to do for someone that just wants to hear music, on par with a oem system.

[HareBrained]

If you want to give her a good sounding system, 2 pair of eD i3.65 will be under budget and sound great. There is a video on how to make them into coax.

More good options and they're 6.75", are the Image Dynamics CTX65. Or these JL's. Or these Pioneers.