Hey all, I'm looking to replace my stock speakers in my 93 Accord EX with something better. Amp and subs will hopefully follow someday, but for now I need something that will sound great without them. I have an Alpine HU, and I'm thinking of going with Alpine speakers -- would be kind of nice to have a smooth set. I listen to more rock/rap/techno = I want fuller bass, super clear highs are not as important as strong bass. For that reason I think I'm ruling out Polks, because I've read that they have amazing highs but weak lows. I'm setting my budget at $200 for the set which is okay, because there are some sales going on. Here are the two setups I'm considering:

Alpine SPS-1629S 6 1/2" 2 way rubber/poly/titanium-coated PEI.
Alpine SPS-6939S 6x9" 3 way rubber/poly/titanium tweet & mid.
$148 for the whole set

OR

Infinity Reference 652i 6 1/2" 2 way rubber/poly/silk
Infinity Reference 6953i 69x" 3 way rubber/poly/silk tweet & mid
$200 for the set

What do you think? Is there something else out there in my price range that will have better bass?

 

Have you spoken to people who have Polks? Reason im asking is because when I was first piecing my system together, all I was able to get at the time was my Alpine HU and some Polk EXII 6x9's and I haven't been let down one bit. When I installed them, the sound quality difference was so unbelievable(upgraded from oem 98 Acura CL cd player and Optimus 6x9's), I had crisp highs, and a low end that made people think I had more running that just my 6x9's. I had to pop the trunk to prove to my girl that there wasn't a sub in the trunk. Im not saying they are the best hitting 6x9's out there, but they don't lack on the low end, and if you had an amp running them, they hit even better. I had em running off the deck only. I got my 6x9's for $50 at Fry's, and I came up on some Kenwood eXcelon KFC-xr600 DualMag 6 1/2's for $50 on ebay, so grand total for mids/highs, $100:thumbup:

 

The only way to choose speakers is to go out and listen to them at the store....

 

i think your prices are a little bit high

 

listening is good... but its still hard to tell... in the store, the speakers are usually in individual, sealed boxes... probably hooked up to an amp... so the sound is totally different as if they were in the car.

As far as I know, the 90-93 EX and SE had 5's in the front (not 5 1/4's, just 5" speakers).

The Alpine's will provide slightly fuller bass... the infinitys will be a little "tighter".

Polks have excelent bass response... i'd say you heard wrong. Polk Audio is my second choice for car audio, first for home audio... I only second polk in car audio because I can get great deals on Boston Acoustics... which also sound very, very nice.

Keep in mind, these are relatively small speakers... you're not going to get a ton of bass from them... but most 6x9's do provide pretty reasonable bass, just nothing that will match a subwoofer.

Out of your choices, i'd say go for the alpines... just be sure to check into what size your front speakers are... they did vary... I have seen one EX with 6.5's up front.

 

I have the infinitys in the front of my car and the alpines in the back dash. I think it sounds incredible!! Go to e-tronics.com and you will find some awesome deals there.

 

Precisely, that's why I'm a little hesitant to go by that.

Good, you brought that up -- I forget to mention it. I'm getting conflicting figures here. According to Crutchfield, they're 5", and I'm tempted to listen to them cuz they kind of know what they're doing. But Circuit City and two other online places said 6 1/2" -- just enough that now I'm questioning. I was gonna go to Tweeters today to see what they tell me. If they truly are 5", then my choices are extremely limited if I want to make things easy. For instance, Crutchfield only carries one 5" speaker -- Polks.

 

The DX and LX models had 6 1/2's front and back... the EX and SE models had the 5's up front and 6x9's in the rear. The one EX I saw with the 6 1/2's up front had the speaker "pods" from a LX in his car... I talked to him last night... he got them from www.hondaautomotiveparts.com
That would open up more options for you, if you were up to changing the "pods"... you wont be limited to just 5" speakers up front.

I'll tell you... Crutchfield is VERY RARELY wrong... unlike most places, they actually tear all the cars apart and actually see whats in there... so they do know. :thumbup:

 

BTW- is your car 2 or 4 door?

 

It's a 4 door.
I just went to Tweeter and they said they are 5", but that the bracket is designed to be easily cut to allow 6 1/2". I hope so. They recommended BA, but they are a little out of my price range. He told me that the Alpine bass output would be the same as stock, but just the highs would be better. True in a real car? (as opposed to figures, etc)