Best "budget" front stage SQ drivers.

[JoeMama541]

Hi all, I eventually plan to go all out on the goody good stuff when I can spend the big bucks on it but as of now it looks like I'll be piecing together a system as I can afford to do so. I would LIKE to just start with a 3 way setup but depending on how much I'll be able to do myself on labor and what ill have to pay for in custom fab plus all the other expenses that go into a system, I'm considering starting with a 2 way in the stock locations. It will be fully active either way so I'm looking at both driver sets from quality brands as well as individual drivers since I'll have a DSP. I'd love to hear some suggestions on quality SQ front stage drivers. Let's say budget of no more than $1000 but if I can get comparable SQ from something 3/4 or half the price I'm open to it for sure. I've been looking at the Seas Silver series on Madisound and really want to try the gold 3 ways when I can afford it. I know that Karma Mobile Audio is preparing to start selling direct to consumers via a new web site coming soon and I've heard good things about their drivers and they would definitely fit the budget even for a 3 way setup. I saw some Illusion Audio 2 way Carbon series online recently for a good price. I feel like you used to be able to find the Hertz Mille Legend stuff online for pretty good money but it looks like prices went up quite a bit. Not sure how they compare to other reference series components from other brands but I'm definitely not gonna be able to obtain Morel Elates, Focal K2 Experts/Utopia or JL Audio C7's etc. I have seen some Dynaudio Esostar drivers for a decent price. One last mention/question is if anyone has heard or has experience with the new Alpine F1's, do you think th are worth the price. I'm not talking about the $30k F1 status kit with everything, just the regular F1 relaunch products. Thanks.

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[Jimi77 5,000+ posts]

There are lots of DIY options. Silver Flute and SB Acoustics are worth a look on Madisound. Dayton & Peerless are good options on parts express.

 

[Old_Slapper]

What brands are you familiar with listening to? Some I ask because some people ask for SQ, but a pair of Pioneer 3-ways end up being all they need because they haven't heard anything else. And, what car is it going into?

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

My favorite components I personally had were Rainbow components, German made iirc. Been a while, don't quote me on that. IMO, SQ is more dependent on tuning/equalizing, speaker locations, dealing with possible unwanted vehicle or door resonances, possible door enclosures, once you get to a certain level of $ in equipment. Like, no matter how much you spend, you still have to tune it and deal with speaker locations and angles and all of that. I would prefer, just overall, a 3 way system with a dedicated midbass driver. If you have rear door speakers, you can put the midbass in the rear doors, rear deck, etc., possibly. True SQ would be exactly reproducing the waveforms of the music or sounds at the volume they were recorded at, but that's not really how music works for most. With subs and the amount of bass I like, I like having a dedicated midbass driver to better close the loudness gap between the bass and the midrange, which would far exceed what just a set of standardized tweeters and midranges could do. How loud your "SQ" needs to be might greatly change the setup.

 

[Old_Slapper]

The Rainbows were nice. I haven't heard them since ARC Audio split with them. I remember the rep pulling up with their $15k components. They sounded good, but not good enough for $15k.

 

[Thor230]

I got these for 330 to the door from Alibaba and there the best SQ your going to find for 500 or under, im very happy with the SQ and they look amazing too

 

[mclsound 10+ year member]

Gladen Zero Pro might be up your alley
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