Tunnie, you have completely misunderstood me.
You seem to think I said that newer speakers are better than old - that is certainly NOT what I meant to imply. I did however say a "decent set of modern speakers" which I take to be something very different.
Forgive me for going over old ground again, but I`m happy to explain my reasoning.
Years ago, it was found that a set of speakers and a stereo in a car was a decided asset, and as a side issue, it took peoples minds of the clunks and rattles that the car made - thumbs up for the manufacturers ! The original paper cone speakers were made for next to nothing, sounded awfull and did the job perfectly.
Along came Mr BOSE and redesigned a set of speakers and audio system to suit the Omega using the materials he had at the time and there is no dispute from me that this was a significant step forward at the time, and the sound was a vast improvement over the paper cones - I do not disagree with this at all.
However, materials technology, speaker construction and general sound quality has come on leaps and bounds in the last 20 years, and even a fairly "basic" set of speakers (with a subwoofer) nowadays can almost give the Bose system a run for its money - but it doesn`t stop there.
I take in board your comments about modern cars not sounding that great, and I agree - but the emphasis nowadays is of cost, and the manufacturers will do anything they can to reduce the costs of the speakers that they are now "obliged" to fit, and as a result the sound quality has suffered even further to a point where yes, I agree, the custom designed BOSE system of all those years ago does indeed sound more rounded than many a modern car nowadays, and the BOSE systems in the cars today do in fact sound quite good, I agree, but thats more down to the added subwoofer giving a little depth of sound than anything else.
But it doesn`t stop there - When people nowadays look to replace their speakers, they also think too much on a budget and often end up with an entry level speaker from a manufacturer who has made their name selling better ones, yet has to have the budget range to keep people happy, and then find that the £50 speakers they have just bought sound no better than the ones they are replacing. You get what you pay for. If you spent a little more (not that much more) and move away from the entry level, you will find that instead of buying an entry level performance speaker, you can actually get one that will faithfully reproduce some sound with a bit of quality to it.
From 18 years of retailing car audio speakers, I reckon that you can generally say that most Car Audio manufacturers have 4 ranges of speakers, and they are as follows:
Pro Range - Very expensive, give the manufacturers the name they deserve for quality and build, but unless you are mega rich you simply cannot afford them - and neither can the guys in the shops selling them, so you will only ever see them in magazines, and never being demonstrated.
Competition Speakers - Don`t believe that they are used in competitions, they seldom are, but the build quality is usually excellent from this range, but you will need to think about the cost of extra amplification to get the best of them. This range will cost around four times what a budget speaker will cost. Only the top end dealers will have them for you to listen to though, as again expensive to show off. If you are ultra serious about car audio, you will have bought here.
Mid Range - No, I don`t mean the type of speaker, this is generally the range of speakers that are the next ones up from the entry level ones, costing on average just under double what the entry level ones cost, and this is generally the range to aim for.
Entry level or budget speakers are what you will see on the shelves of many a shop, in the display stands of Halfords and the like, sound awfull, built awfull and are to be avoided at all costs. If you want no improvement over the standard speakers, and still want to replace them six months later when they have burnt out, then look here.
My argument is and always has been that for the amount of work involved in retro fitting very tired and worn out 20 year old technology for the sound it gives is simply not worth it, and fitting a decent set of modern speakers would prove far more beneficial with far, far better results.
hope that helps ?
8-)
Author
Topic: sound probs (Read 1351 times)