I need advice

When getting new speakers for a car, is it a good idea to get better speakers for the front, and worse speakers for the back. I ask because I'm on a budget and I want component speakers up front and regular 2-ways in the back, with the subwoofer.
This is the 'bass system' I'm thinking of getting:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-008Z4ui4clh/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=700V103XT&s=0&cc=01

This is the component speaker system for the front:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-008Z4ui4clh/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=107DB5250&s=0&cc=01

and I'm trying to decide between these:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-008Z4ui4clh/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=400&I=130TSA6871
and these:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-008Z4ui4clh/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=400&I=1086812CF
for the back.

Any Comments or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm totally new to the whole car audio thing.

The car is a 2000 mercury sable wagon, by the way.

You can forget about the rear speakers. If your front stage is set up properly you wont need rear. The polks should be decent enough, but you may want to get something better like RE, or CDT. I assume you already have a head unit with at least two sets of pre-outs for your front stage and subs. Youll need a decent amp to power your components. For the subs I would look at a high quality 10 or 12 which you can build a box for yourself for cheap. You will soon find that retail store equipment is hardly average. Check the Sticky in this forum for a list of recommended brands. you cant go wrong buying from companies on the 'highly recommended' list. Make sure you research ALOT before buying, because if you settle for cheap stuff you will regret it.

I only have a few hundered dollars to spend. is that really enough for amps for all of my speakers? I'm uncertian about the specs of my head unit. I'd prefer to get a pre-enclosed subwoofer because I dont have any wood working skills/equipment. If I have amps for my front speakers where will I put them? I dont have extra space up front. Also, can you recommend where I should go for installation? Since I dont have any tools/skills with electrical systems or cars.

Circuit City/ Best Buy can do it, but sometimes they do a crappy job. Components really need to be amped, but you will definetly see an improvement even if you dont. As long as you dont crank it too much they should be fine. The sub will work, but might have build quality problems.

on a budget of $500, what parts would you personally sugjest?

If it was me, I would get a decent front amp such as Hifonics, and the best set of components I could find. Maybe something like:

http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=1190

and amp:

http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=4201


Then just forget the sub for awhile. Then once you have mroe money, pick up maybe a 10" sub in a ported box. You dont need much to get decent low end in a wagon/hatch.

Its really worth it to make sure you get the best stuff you can, because you can always take it out and put it in your next car.

Your best bet to get a decent setup that will last a long time and wont sound like crap is to check on ebay for prices sometimes half of what others retail them for. Instead of trying to get the best try to stick to mainstream brands that have been around and arent trying to sell a chromed peice of shit. Check out infinity kappa series subs, Polk makes some nice mid level subs for a good price, you can get a single sub and a 4 channel amp so you can run the sub on 2 channels bridged and the speakers on the other 2. My amp was 175 shipped and its built like a tank. Those components are actually pretty good, you can get some b grade CDT's on ebay for about 100, also check into mb quart, infinity, and alpine. Same with subs. Keep in mind that installing it your self will save you roughly 100-200. There are plenty of step by step instructions on line that make it easy. All you need is basic hand tools, screw drivers, adjustable wrench and electrical tape and vice grips. I did an install in an accord with nothing but a screw driver and a pair of vice grips in my front yard.

Now for amps, check out profile for good priced amps that will work good for a budget, hifonics are good stay away from brands like pyramid, pyle, dual, jensen, and sony. Visonik makes decent subs but im talking on a flea market level. If i can get some time tomorrow i can search on ebay and other places to find you all the components and prices to try and keep it under 500.

Also keep in mind the last sub bought which is an RE SX 18" was 300 and i got a hell of a deal on it. My first amp was 175 and my second one was 225, the deck was 200, and my comps where 170. So far in wiring not including my rcas was about 80, and the rcas are about 30 a set and i need 3 sets. I still have more work to do and i need sound deadener and other things. But my first setup was around 750 for everything, and also remember that car audio is addictive.

I dont really know if I'd beable to tell the difference between the $130 component speakers and the $370 component speakers. On the Sub I'm thinking of getting the signal responce and all of that seem to be good. what other ways are their of checking to see if a product is good?

if you chrome a piece of crap, it's still ....... a piece of crap

if you chrome a piece of crap, it's still ....... a piece of crap that is now shiney

corrected for the better:wink:

Beleive it or not most car audio is actually "get what you pay for" In retail cost anyway. So the difference between $130 and $400 comp speakers is going to be huge. Quality, durability, performance. Everything. A good high quality set of speakers will last a very long time when used properly. So its a good investment to get good stuff. I understand you want to save money, but if your going to do it, do it right.

about 99.999% of speakers on the market can do an kick-ass job doing what all speakers do at lower levels....


about 50% of all speakers on the market can do a respectable enough job at higher levels for relatively short durations without damage....


but it's that top percentage that everyone calls the good sh?t...that's the stuff that you can hit with a bazooka, (pardon the pun), all day,
everyday and it will keep on pounding loud and hard for years and years. If you decide on the cheaper stuff you're sooner or later going to
have to deal with it's inevtible failure, or live with the compromises...three burnt-up $100 speakers in three years is not equal to the one $300
speaker you can pound forever

So, do you think im going to need to replace my head unit? also, do you think the component speakers in the front need to be amped?

Ive burnt subs but with all the crap ive done to a set of speakers ive never been able to blow them. Amped or powered off the HU. You have to think even a set of lightning audio speakers powered off an amp will sound better than a set of stock speakers in a car that has a mojority of its attention drawn to the sub. Out of past experiences and the fact that you are not going for a competition grade setup you will be fine with a set of $130 comps.

Now like the other guys i dont believe in getting what you can afford to sacrifice more money later to get what you really want. But alot of people wont know major difference in a set of speakers. I would rather save up and get what i know will be the best that i want and need. But sometimes something like the polk db's might be more than what you need. And yes you want to amp them if at all possible. Remember one thing car audio is a majority personal preference, what sounds good to you might sound like crap to someone else or amazing, its all in what you need and what you want. I know spending 300 on a set of speakers seems mind blowing but like i said the ones you want might be more than enough for you.

And like i said earlier check ebay prices will be cheaper, everyone always says what about the warranty or what about this. Ive never blown and amp and anything that i have screwed up has been way out of warranty and if you spend say 75 on the same set that cost 130 thats more money in your pocket for other stuff.

Also on the sub you cant look at one feature and say wow this is a really good sub, in order for a sub to sound good and provide the nice lows all of the TS specs must work together, the sub is only half the equation, the enclosure and amp make up a majority of how a sub sounds. And like someone said you get what you pay for, but remember not everyone can afford a ferrari or a lexus. But in the same aspect you dont want something will last a week and sounds like ass, so dont get a hyundai or daewoo.

So, do you think im going to need to replace my head unit? also, do you think the component speakers in the front need to be amped?

I would start with a new head then go for some fronts, and definetly amp 'em...
judging by your prospects, you're leaning towards Crutchfields budget boom section
so staying with that same Crutchfield amp/sub combo vibe maybe you should check some of these out...

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Bd7JiMvHyFI/cgi-bin/ProdGroup.asp?g=51000&avf=N

for the same price as that visonik setup you can get an amplified bazooka 10 with
100watts or the 200watt setup for a few dollars more. those tubes'll sh?t all over
that box for the same price, ( it's even cheaper consideing the install)

Don't listen to the guy that says you don't need rear speakers. You do need them, it is a different kind of experience, you are in the music, not on the "side" of it, don't know how better to explain.

When I got rear to complement my front ones, it was day and night difference.

all depends ...... if you have HT (home Theatre) and have it adjusted incorrectly, most peole do, then you may like the 4 speakers system when they are all at the same volume. If you like STEREO it is a 2 channel recording, everything you need can be recreated with front speakers only (and a sub). The problem is, there is VERY little recorded in something like 5.1 except movies.

i dunno i think it depends on what you drive because i tired just using front speakers in a sedan and i did prefer 4 speakers then 2 and that was with setting my head unit to having just front speakers and re setting everything for a 2 speaker set up verses 4 speaker

If I do use 4 speakers, would I want the rear ones to be of lower quality? to save money.

rear is not as important as front stage.

if you are doing surround they need to be of similiar quality, if you are doing rear-fill you really only need a small midrange.