I'm currently looking for a relatively cheap (because I will be stripping the car down in about 3months) but decent set of 13cm 2-way component speakers for my mk2 golf. I've picked out a few which I think should do the job (i.e. sound good enough to last me a few months) but want to know if anyone has had them and what they think. Alpine: SXE-1350S - 13cm components - http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/pro...ts_id/506.html Infinity: Reference 5010cs - 13cm components - http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/pro...s_id/3828.html Edge: ED305 - 13cm Components - http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/pro..._id/10462.html
Links not working? Having not seen the specs my personal preference would be the Infinitys - I've fitted a lot of Alpine and Infinity stuff and I think your money goes further with the Infinity range - never heard of Edge. JBL do good budget speakers too btw. Assuming these are going in the front 13cm will give v. little bass, so you want as wide a frequency response as possible - the information should be there on the specs...
Not sure why those links didn't copy over properly. EDGE ED305 - http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/10462.html Infinity Reference 5010cs - http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/3828.html Alpine SXE-1350S - http://caraudiosecurity.com/shop/product/products_id/506.html Good point about the limited bass due to size but 13cm will have to do until I sort out some bigger door pods.
Components do need an amp also. Just fitted the infinity 5010cs set and a new sony head unit today and played around with the set up but no bass at all. I know they are good speakers but at the moment my wifes pug 406 has better sounds! The speaker instructions only mentions connections to an amp from the crossovers which says it all really.
You can run components off a HU, saying you can't is totally incorrect. Depending on the specs of the speakers, some will work better off the HU than others. If the speakers RMS power rating is greater than about 40 Watts then you definitely won't be getting the most out of the speakers without a separate amp, but they will sound fine. The best HU will only put out about 20W per channel RMS. In my Mk2 golf I was running some 13cm Pioneer TSE components off I think (it was a while ago, but i think off an MP4400 pioneer HU). These gave excellent clarity and some decent midbass considering their size. It's true you will never get any real punch off a 13cm speaker, but if fitted correctly you will get some decent sounds running them off an HU. In the Mk2, the speaker fixes to the grill then the grill to the door pocket. I found this rattled, I used a silicon gell (transparent) to seal the edge. It improved the sound quality a great deal, and was easy enough to remove when I took out the speakers.. The speakers in question were very similar to these http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/pioneer-tse130ci-13cm-separate-2way-speaker-system-180w-p-3112.html I later ran them off a JL amp and they were even better, something similar maybe a good plan as you can upgrade the power later.... If you have more money tho there are of course better speakers/set ups available...
