Buyer’s Guide – How To Choose The Right Speakers For Your Car
The ten speakers we just looked at represent some of the best car speakers on the market. But, having great speakers doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get great sound right out of the box. There are a bunch of factors that will influence how good a speaker will sound in a given car.
Now, we’ll tackle everything you’ll need to know to select excellent car speakers for your ride.
Types of Speakers
There are three different types of car speakers you’ll want to get familiar with as you learn more about the best car speakers for your ride.
Subwoofers
Subwoofers are the largest speakers we’re going to be concerned with, and they typically range from 10-15” in size. They’re responsible for handling the lowest frequencies in your music. Most stock car audio systems don’t include a subwoofer. Instead, they’re added to an aftermarket system.
Woofers
When you close your eyes and picture a car speaker, chances are you see a woofer. Woofers are the medium sized speakers that are present in any car sound system. They’re usually 3.5-7.5” in size, and they handle the mid-range frequencies in your car.
The larger the woofer cone, the better it is at handling bass frequencies and producing the best sound. Meanwhile, smaller woofers handle frequencies closer to the high end of the range with more accuracy.
Tweeters are tiny speakers that handle the high-end frequencies in your music. These speakers are typically under 1.5” in size. In full-range speakers, tweeters are mounted in the middle of the woofer. With component systems, tweeters are usually mounted high in the door panel, or just behind the driver and passenger seats.
Other Components of a Car Sound System
While these components aren’t speakers, they play a role in your car’s sound that’s every bit as important as the speakers themselves.
Crossovers
Crossovers are small electronic components that are present in every car sound system. Crossovers act like little computers, telling the sound where to go based on its frequency.
A crossover will send the lowest frequencies to the subwoofer (if you have one) or to the woofers (if you don’t have a subwoofer). It will also send the mid-range frequencies to the woofers and the high-end frequencies to the tweeters.
In full range systems, the crossover is built into the speaker. With component systems, the crossover is a separate device that must be mounted in the car.
Amplifiers
Amplifiers do just what their name entails: they amplify the sound that’s produced by the input source you’re listening to.
Amplifiers are sold based on the number of speakers they can power. A one channel amplifier is only capable of powering one speaker (usually a subwoofer), whereas a five channel amplifier can power a total of five speakers. Make sure you know how many speakers you’ll need to power in your system.
Types of Speaker Systems
There are two types of speakers we’re concerned with (coaxial car speakers and component speakers). Here’s a breakdown of these types of car speakers:
Coaxial (Full Range) Speakers :
With a coaxial speaker, every component you need is built into the speaker. Coaxial speakers have a woofer to handle lower frequencies, and tweeters to handle the high end. Some coaxial speakers have additional drivers to handle mid-range frequencies.
If you’re looking to upgrade your car’s stock audio system with minimal effort and fuss, coaxial speakers are going to be best for you. But, if you’re looking for the absolute best in audio quality and customization, you’ll want to look into component speakers that can outdo coaxial speakers.
Component Speakers:
Component speakers are designed to provide the absolute best audio experience for the listener. With component speakers, each aspect of the speaker is a separate entity, unlike coaxial speakers.
The woofers in components speakers are mounted separately from the tweeters to provide the best experience for the listener.
A crossover in component speakers routes the proper audio frequencies to the right speaker, ensuring that the higher frequencies are handled by the tweeters, while the lower frequencies are routed to the woofers.
These types of speakers usually use the highest quality components and offer the best sound with the most opportunity for customization. They’re also more expensive and often require custom installation work. So, there’s that definitive between components and coaxial speakers.
See the best component speakers reviews for 2020.
Important Considerations
There are still a few more things you’ll need to consider before you start shopping.
Power Handling
The amount of power a speaker can handle is critically important. To achieve great sound, you’ll need speakers that are capable of handling the power that your head unit (or amplifier) puts out.
If the speakers can’t handle the peak power your head unit puts out (such as 45 watts), this will result in distortion, and ultimately, blown speakers.
If you’re sticking with your stock head unit, check your owners manual for power specs before shopping for speakers. Or, if you’re replacing the stock head unit with a new model, make sure you know the power of the head you’re going to be using before purchasing speakers.
Sensitivity
The sensitivity of a speaker refers to the amount of power the speaker needs to receive to produce sound at a given volume.
If you’re planning on keeping some of the stock components of your car stereo, you’ll probably need high sensitivity speakers, which require less power. So, high sensitivity can be an advantage because they’re easier to drive well. So, instead of needing 90 watts, a pair of coaxial speakers with high sensitivity can operate just fine at 45 watts.
Build Quality
The quality of the speakers you’re using has a profound effect on speaker quality. Your car is often subject to extreme hot or cold conditions, and over time, these conditions can wreak havoc on a speaker.
If you’re looking for the best sound and durability, look into car speakers that feature a woofer cone with rubber surrounds and appropriate mounting hardware.
For subwoofers and woofers, stiff and lightweight cone materials offer the best durability and sound as well. On higher-end models, metal fibers are often woven into a material like polypropylene to enhance both sound and durability (like handling peak power).
Tweeter materials vary a bit more widely, and high-end models may use cone materials that are soft like silk, or hard, like graphite.
Final Word
Upgrading your car speakers is a great way to improve the sound of your car. The ten speakers we’ve covered above represent some of the top car speakers currently on the market and you can’t go wrong.
Other Speaker Articles:
James thank you for this article. I’m looking to purchase a stereo system and speakers for my husbands car (his birthday). He is a music purest and he will only listen to albums or CDs. He claims all other formats clip the highs and lows. That said and knowing his keen sense of hearing I thought Infinity Kappa 60.11 CS speakers would do him well. Thoughts on that? Also, I need a stereo that plays CDs. Can you offer any insights to that?
Penny for your thoughts please as this is way out of my comfort zone!
Appreciate it
Hi Cheryl, thanks for your question! Your hubby is a lucky man that you’re planning on supporting his music-loving ways. Yes, the Kappas are a great choice for sound quality and I think that’s going to be a great bday present for him.
Regarding media formats and clipping of frequencies in the spectrum, boy, that’s a loaded topic to comment on right here 🙂 I will say that if you focus on lossless formats and high quality system components, that will put you in the best place to enjoy your music. It’s not so much purely a media format issue.
Your final question around a stereo system for his vehicle to play CDs — there are lots of good choices. It will be tough to say for sure, not knowing exactly his vehicle (make/model/year/etc.), but here are a couple of good examples, depending on what brand he may prefer and price/quality level:
Pioneer CD Car Stereo System
Alpine CD Car Stereo System
Enjoy!
James
Im not sure what kind of system was used to rate and rank these speakers but I believe it was some flawed logic. Some of these speakers are great but those kickers which I have run in a couple beaters are by no means a sound quality speaker. Expected to see some focal, Hertz or even jl audio on the list.
Hey Jacob, appreciate your comments here, my friend. I get what you mean and can’t argue, necessarily. The reality is, however, when you have a pair of speakers like the Kickers doing what they do under $60, you have to give them praise. You mentioned some excellent brands and we’re also talking 2-4x the cost. We’re serving a huge audience and many of them have stricter budgets. You make great points, though, and we’re going to concentrate future content on different price ranges to address more of the high-end enthusiasts among us, as well. Appreciate you being part of the community!
I bought the Rockfords in this review and was highly disappointed. The sensitivity rating is way off and couldn’t even keep up with Pioneers on deck power. I had them on a clean Alpine 40w RMS and an Alpine UTE73BT. They’re such a pain to get in the doors I just added Infinity MX20s mids and JBL GTO19t tweeters to the dash on deck power. Hindsight top ten reviews had a better evaluation.
Hi N8, appreciate your comments and will add your feedback on performance and installation into our knowledgebase to track overall user experiences. I’m glad you like the Alpine UTE-73BT, it’s a solid head unit. The Infinity Kappa-20MX is a nice driver and I’m also a fan. The JBL GTO19T do a nice job, especially at that price point. We’ll be doing a lot more component reviews soon!
These are some pretty solid options to make a car hop down the road because of the bass!