Good quality car speaker can help you through the day by providing music and entertainment while you’re off somewhere. Because of this, a lot of people, especially vehicle enthusiasts, aim to replace their speakers with better, more efficient models. Before doing this, however, you must know how to measure car speakers.
How to Measure Car Speakers
Luckily, because of Crutchfield, an electronics specialist company, you can input your vehicle’s model in their website within their “What Fits My Car” section. Upon entering your car’s details, the site will show you a category of speakers and receivers that the company knows will fit, with or without modifications. After that whole process is over, it is essential to take note of certain things.
It’s essential to take into consideration what your end goal is for your speakers. Are you just trying to replace a busted speaker, are you trying to build an excellent sound quality system, or maybe somewhere in between? With that being said, let’s take a look at some characteristics when it comes to knowing how to measure car speakers.
Speaker Efficiency
In creating a good sound system, speaker efficiency, also known as the sensitivity rating, is one thing to note in finding the right speakers for your car. Generally speaking, high sensitivity is somewhere around 90 Db up range. Speakers like this will do more with less power, which is crucial because if you have a factory radio, it won’t have a lot of energy, so higher efficiency speakers will sound better than lower efficiency speakers.
Power Handling
You’ll also want to look into the power handling of your speakers. Believe it or not, you don’t need speakers that need a lot of power to operate. In actuality, speakers that can work with not much is preferred.
Car Speaker Sizes and Fitting
Now, you may be overwhelmed with the number of choices in terms of car speaker sizes that fit in cars. Sometimes, there are even instances where multiple sizes will fit in the same location as your vehicle. This is mostly because of certain things, such as speaker brackets and the ability to prop smaller speakers into a larger opening. Accompanied by this fact, it’s highly recommended that you settle for the most massive speaker that can fit in any particular location in your car. For instance, if you’re given a choice between six-and-a-half and five-and-a-quarters, six-and-a-half will typically sound a lot better. They have the power to go a little deeper and play a fuller sound.
Frequency Response
Another specification present when knowing how to measure car speakers is to know is its frequency response. This refers to the frequencies a speaker can faithfully reproduce in its system. The lowest number in frequency response is bass. Higher numbers are, naturally, all of the higher frequencies. They are sounds such as electric guitars, female vocals, and the like. The range of a speaker is essential in what you would like installed in your car. If you want speakers with the most bass, go with the largest ones you can find with the lowest frequency response. On the other side of the spectrum, you can get speakers that go all the way up to 20 000 hertz and above.
Upgrades
Beyond replacing speakers, you’re going to want to look for better versions made of better materials. High-quality speakers can also handle more wattage. This gives you the choice of getting a bigger amplifier. Another advantage of having extra power is that you don’t have to worry about your speaker’s sensitivity rating.
Coaxial vs. Component Systems
Coaxial speakers refer to a type of speaker that has a woofer and a tweeter built into it. Usually, the woofer covers up a large surface area of the speaker while the tweeter pokes through the middle. Component systems, on the other hand, are single tweeters that are separate from the woofer.
Coaxial speakers are more comfortable to install as it will replace the factory speaker in the central factory opening in your doors, dash, or rear deck. Meanwhile, component systems, especially those containing tweeters separate from the woofer, are more complicated. This is because it includes many circuitries to ensure that the sound is separated from the tweeter and the woofer. It is worth mentioning that because of this intricate process, the audio quality and imaging from a component system is a lot better compared to its coaxial counterpart.
All in all, it depends on what type of speaker you’re going to install into your car and how willing you are to really up the sound performance of your speaker replacements. To best know how to measure car speakers, look out for which type of speaker you want to be installed.
Tweeters
Tweeters and the material they are made out of effect the way they sound. Several common materials are used to create a tweeter, which contains a slightly different tonal characteristic. For instance, silk or cloth tweeters typically have a warm and musical sound, whereas ceramic or metallic tweeters are crisper, sharper, and more precise.
In some cases, tweeters also contain a switch that allows you to determine its sound’s brightness. This is crucial, especially if your speakers are mounted in different places in the car. If they are mounted high up, reasonably close to the ears, you might slightly tone them down. However, if they are down low near the doors, you might want to make them a bit brighter to attain a clearer and sharper sound.
Woofers
Just like tweeters, the material a woofer is made out of will differ in its performance. There’s a lot of variety in this, such as paper, plastic, flax, and some exotic materials that might increase the speakers’ price a bit. Know more about car speakers.
Conclusion
It can be quite a challenge to navigate throughout the whole process of replacing and upgrading your sound system and looking at all the varying speakers to choose from. In the end, what’s important is that you can determine what is suitable for your speaker preference in your car. To know how to measure car speakers, you must know which factor best fits your car needs.