Speakers Integration
How to Fit Aftermarket Car Speakers & Information on Aftermarket Choices
Car Speaker Door Adaptor KitsNew or non standard car speakers may not necessarily fit in the same size a standard car speaker would. Usually in most circumstances speaker adapters are required to fit aftermarket speakers in car doors securely. Speakers should be installed securely, if there not it will dramatically reduce sound quality. The space available in the door & the size of a speaker adapter will determine the size of aftermarket speaker that can be used.
There are many various designs, shape & size of aftermarket speaker adapters depending on the vehicle manufacturer you are installing the new aftermarket speakers. They marry the size, shape & fixing screws/bolts to the aftermarket speaker to the vehicles recess for the old standard speakers. Pictured are just a few examples of aftermarket speaker adapters. |
Coaxial SpeakersThe most common type of car speaker is the coaxial speaker, which consists of a midrange/woofer with a tweeter mounted in the middle of the cone. These speakers are made in sizes that on occasions will fit directly in to certain vehicle types. Advantages of this design include low cost, ease of installation & a speaker that more closely approaches the one loudspeaker ideal, also called a point source. This is where all frequencies appear to originate from the same location. The disadvantage of this design is a generally lower sound quality for the majority of coaxials available versus the majority of matched component sets available.
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Component SpeakersA component loudspeaker is a single driver designed to reproduce frequencies in a given range. Component speakers are used in tandem with other component speakers to reproduce the entire audio spectrum. The drivers are kept operating within their designed audio band (frequency range) by a series of frequency filters known as a crossover. By using a crossover to keep speakers operating within a certain range the speakers do not become distorted trying to reproduce frequencies that they are physically unable to reproduce. In order to keep the point source attribute with a set of component speakers these speakers must be placed very near each other. However this is not always possible due to the vehicles interior layout.
Sometimes a midrange/woofer will be placed in a door while the tweeter may be placed in the front corner of the front window or on the pillar that separates the windshield from the door frame (the A-pillar). Advantages of this design are generally better sound and more options for installation. Disadvantages are added cost, more complex installation, and possible problems with time alignment. |