Front Speakers

[POLKOHOLIC]

Quick question: I Have JBL P953's for my rear and Stock speakers up front. Im thinking of gettign the Infinity Kappa 52.5i for the front. Will they match well with the JBL's and will I Need bass blockers? Are bass blockers available that cut of 80hz and below at 6dB/octave? I Have seen 100hz but i think thats a little high. If not the Kappa's are there any better speakers for that price range($60-$70)

[Jstas]

Here is an 85Hz bass blocker

http://www.cardomain.com/item/LITBB485

You might be better off making your own. Bass Blockers are really nothing more than a capacitor in shrink wrap with a pair of leads attached to them. Find out the capacitor you need and head down to Radio Shack and get them. Wire them up with some shrink tubing and your good.

As far as the speakers go, I'm not sure how well the Infinitys will match up. They are both (Infinity and JBL) made by Harmon International but the doesn't necessarily mean they will work well together. I know that the Kappas are power hungry and deak power doesn't always do them justice. You may want to think about another set of JBL's or maybe Polk's new DB series. Either brand would work well and not break the bank.

[MacLeod]

Ive no experience with JBL speakers but a good bit witih Infinity and my take on Infinity is they are extremely bright and sometimes tinny sounding.

It depends on the type of music you listen to. I listen mainly to rock and metal and heavy, crunchy guitars dont do well on Infinitys. They come across sounding very thin and irritating. Snare drums especially sound thin. Rush's "Test for Echo" is a great example. This track has a thinnly recorded guitar and on Infinity speakers, sounds horrible.

With jazz or more acoustic recordings the Infinitys are fine with good detail.

Overall, I cannot recommend Infinitys and would go with Jstas' recommendation of another set of JBL or Polk DB. Generally I like to keep all speakers the same series and brand. To me thats an easier way of making sure things match up! ;)

[exalted512]

JBL's GTO speakers are in that price range i believe...id give them a try...good little speakers
-Cody

[POLKOHOLIC]

but the kappa's go down to 55hz while the gto's int he same size go down to 70hz i believe plus the kappas have an external crossover which the gtos lack. if a speaker doesnt have external crossover then how does it send frequencies to the tweet?

[POLKOHOLIC]

also if i go 6.5 inch can i do it without cutting a larger hole in my door panel. i dont mind cutting the metal inside but i dont wanna touch the door panel. i think if i do go the 6.5 round then the door panel wnt be blockign the actualy speaker cone and therefore not affecting sound quality....

[exalted512]

they have tiny capacitors on the speaker itself to seperate frequencies...and if youre going to use bass blockers...which i recommend...it doesnt really matter how low they get...
i dont think i understand your last post...
-Cody

[POLKOHOLIC]

The front speakers are in the door panels. They are 5.25" speakers but i think if I go to 6.50" speakers then I assume I would get better spl levels but this might require cuttign the door panel 1.25" larger in diameter which I dont want to do...so is it ok if that 1.25" is blocked byt he door panel--i dont mind cutting the metal on the inside to make room for the larger speaker. If this is going to be a problem let me know.

[POLKOHOLIC]

one more thing...what capacitor should i get to crossover at 60hz? and what capacitor to rcossover at 80hz? Im thinking 60hz is reasonable for the rears which can go down to 35hz(-3db) and 80hz for the fronts which will go down to 70hz(-3db)

[exalted512]

egh...i forget what capacitors you would need...you might be able to find out at www.the12volt.com
if not...go to radio shack and see if they know
and i think you will be fine without hacking away at your panel
-Cody