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I just received my Crutchfield catalog and wow, $4-$5,000 car component speakers. Beryllium, aramid glass -fiber woofer, adjustable crossover with 4500 combinations. Let me inform the uninformed. This is just a marketing ploy, they used that for many years long ago in home stereo. One company even used powdered diamond coated tweeters. The more expensive the material is, doesn't mean the better the sound. Accurate "Imaging" and "Soundstage", doesn't apply to car stereos. Most recordings are meant to be played back on two speakers in front of you, with you sitting in the middle (especially audiophile recordings). The best place for this in a car would be the middle of the rear seat, with two speakers located somewhere on the dash. Not, sitting to one side between two or more pairs of speakers, unless you're listening to "surround sound" or home theater. You have imaging and soundstage, but not what is meant when "audiophiles" use them.
Car stereo "high-end" is not how accurate the sound is, it's how loud and "clean" or how low it can play. Go listen to these systems and tell me about soundstaging and imaging. Compare it to your recollections of listening to "live" music, does it sound the same? Dont be confused.
Your car system's main component is the HU. It's equivalent to the receiver plus CD player of the home system. Compare your HU with a home stereo unit, notice the difference in size? Your HU has nowhere near the quality of components that a home stereo receiver has. Even home CD players alone, are bigger that a car's HU. There are very few, if any, who would buy $4,000 stereo speakers and run them with a $400 receiver/CD unit. Even though you may buy an external $1,000 amp, your HU is not "high-end", its the weakest link in your system.
Of course, there's the "ego" factor, it's prevalent in the "audiophile" world also. They fail to realize, or dont want to, its not how much you spent, it's how good the sound is. Save your money, buy good quality speakers and use an equalizer to "customize" the sound to your cars interior. It'll do the same thing as that 4,500 combination crossover (you'll never try all of them and you probably, wont know what you're doing).
Car stereo "high-end" is not how accurate the sound is, it's how loud and "clean" or how low it can play. Go listen to these systems and tell me about soundstaging and imaging. Compare it to your recollections of listening to "live" music, does it sound the same? Dont be confused.
Your car system's main component is the HU. It's equivalent to the receiver plus CD player of the home system. Compare your HU with a home stereo unit, notice the difference in size? Your HU has nowhere near the quality of components that a home stereo receiver has. Even home CD players alone, are bigger that a car's HU. There are very few, if any, who would buy $4,000 stereo speakers and run them with a $400 receiver/CD unit. Even though you may buy an external $1,000 amp, your HU is not "high-end", its the weakest link in your system.
Of course, there's the "ego" factor, it's prevalent in the "audiophile" world also. They fail to realize, or dont want to, its not how much you spent, it's how good the sound is. Save your money, buy good quality speakers and use an equalizer to "customize" the sound to your cars interior. It'll do the same thing as that 4,500 combination crossover (you'll never try all of them and you probably, wont know what you're doing).