Component Speaker Advice

Phantom · 27 Apr 2006 at 12:00

Hi guys and gals

I'm looking at some front component speakers at the moment (for a 2003 Honda Civic Coupe) and came across this the Alpine SPS-171A.

I dont want to spend more than £150ish max on this including fitting but I also want the best sound quality money can buy within this budget. What do people think? Are Alpine speakers, in particular this model any good?

Thanks in advance!

Phantom · 27 Apr 2006 at 13:32

Went to Sextons during my lunch break - apparently the Honda needs slim line speakers which rules out the Alpine (?). The ones he recommended were a set of Focals 130V slims ... and quoted me a price of £240.

thats a massive price difference to what I wanted to pay but if it means minimal hassle and the quality is better i should go for them... what do you think?

are Focal a better make than Alpine? :confused:

(he said in his opinion they were!)

Phantom · 27 Apr 2006 at 13:50

DezUk said:
Hi m8

I have a couple of sets of speakers for sale, a set of Alpine SPS 171A's and the high end model, the SPX 177R. My car has the 171A installed just now but its is being upgraded with a new JL Audio system so they are for sale. I had bought the SPX 177Rs with the intention installing them but in the end went for a pro install. If you are interested im sure we can sort something out.

hey there! if standard sizes dont fit i dont really want to fork out lots of £££ for them to go hacking my door cards if it means there wont be much gain from it. i'll pass but thanks for the offer

Phantom · 27 Apr 2006 at 13:58

paradigm said:
Focal's are SUPERB. A friend has a complete install in his Civic Type R ('04), and they just sound utterly awesome. If your an audiophile or just love clear crisp music, then they do sound the nuts!

Didn't know the civics needed slim speakers though.

EDIT: Are you going to be amping them, and what headunit are you running them off?

(Headunit makes a bigger change in sound quality than speakers IMO).

they had some Focals on display in their "sound room" and they do sound nice although i have nothing to compare them with so it doesnt really mean much to me. what i did notice was that the more expensive they are, the better they sound :-/

crispness is what i'm looking for and something which can handle a bit of bass too.

this is where i show my n00bness because i have no idea whether i should be amping them or not. the intention will be to buy the JVC KD-AVX2, hence my thread here . I shouldnt need a separate amplifier right?

Just found the spec sheet for the speaker:
http://www.focal-fr.com/car/download fr/Polyglass V2/Fiches HP/130VSlim.pdf

...and the tweeter:
http://www.focal-fr.com/car/download fr/Access/Fiches HP/TN47.pdf

it means nothing to me

Phantom · 27 Apr 2006 at 14:26

worst case, what is likely to happen if they are not externally "amped" ? will i get distortion when i turn up volume to the max or will it cut out/blow or something? :-/

Phantom · 27 Apr 2006 at 14:55

oh right, they didnt tell me that one...

to be honest, it'll be very rarely that i ever play anything to full volume and i dont tend to spend that much time in the car listening to music just to work, driving round town which at most is 1hr max.

the longest i ever have the radio or music playing is if im driving up north (about a 5.5hr journey) but i only ever do that once every 2-3 months.

I just checked the price of some amps and they seem to be £150+. For my use i dont think i need one (or do i?).

Phantom · 28 Apr 2006 at 11:06

think i'm going to skip the amplifier, thanks for the advice guys - dont know what i'd do without you

Phantom · 28 Apr 2006 at 11:59

needmorespeed said:
just get the amp now and be done with it.

just like that huh?!

where do they install an amplifier? i dont think i have room under the dash but id rather have something like that hidden away and not on show.

car has been booked in for next friday for a provisional speaker install, fingers crossed they know what theyre doing!

Website for the company is: http://www.sextons-southampton.co.uk take a look at their previous work in the gallery - looks like they know their stuff!

Phantom · 12 May 2006 at 10:27

The work's been done and one week on you can definitely notice the difference in the sound output. I didnt go for an amplifier in the end and had the tweeters fitted within the door panels along with some dynamat stuff inside the door itself... photos to come. there now seems to be more distinction in the high end frequency scale.

Sextons took 3 hours in total to do the job at a cost of £30ph. Total cost = £300 spot on. Not bad I think as they did a better job than i could have done and were the cheapest to supply the speakers too. The only thing now is to find some decent tunes to listen to whilst on the 5hr journey up north this weekend! I'm open to suggestions

Incidently, the factory speakers which they took out were paper cone based and looked reeeeaally cheap!