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I've already replaced my rear speakers with 3-way pioneer 6x9's in my EX Coupe.... now I want to upgrade the front component speakers. I was trying to decide between the Infinity Reference 605cs and the Infinity Kappa 60.3cs. Which one would sound best running off the stock head unit? I was also considering the Rockford Fosgate FNP2614U speakers, but I think the Infinities are made better. Just looking for some opinions and advice, thanks in advance!

Brian

 
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Well I can tell you first hand that the rockfords sound like [IMG]i/expressions/moon.gif[/IMG] From what I've heard there kappas are clearer then the reference but the reference have better mid bass. I listend to both of them but bought mb quart instead. The references are 75 watts rms and the kappas are 85 watts rms the RF are 50 watts rms, so you'll need an amp no matter what you buy. The factory deck will just fry a good pair of speakers it's only about 10 watts per channel. My opinion get the Kappas out of those three.

 
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Gotta go Infinity. The Kappa's are a little step above the Reference, but still the Reference is a really good speaker. I have the old green Kappa 6x9's and they sound good with my Kenwood HU. My suggestion would be try to upgrade the stock headunit. You will not regret it. It makes a world of difference.

 
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Running off the stock deck I would advise against infinities because of their high power requirements. If you had an amp I would say go with them. For $239 at thezeb.com you could get a set of Focal Polyglass 165V components. The power requirements are not as high as the infinities and the sound quality is very good.

 
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<< I have the old green Kappa 6x9's and they sound good with my Kenwood HU >>



maybe i just got crappy 6x9's. i had green kappa 6x9's and they flexed SO much, it was insane. taking those out was the best thing i ever did for my system. yours dont flex at all when playing tones or anything?



<< Well I can tell you first hand that the rockfords sound like [IMG]i/expressions/moon.gif[/IMG]. I listend to both of them but bought mb quart instead. >>



This is FASCINATING! Did you know that RF owns MB Quart? Ive installed a pair of fanatic P components in a 4-runner, they sound AMAZING! the get so loud and the midbass will kill anything infinity EVER makes. I would however say that it is indeed the fanatic P line that needs amping moreso than any of these other sets, as we had to give that set 150 watts per side to really get their juices flowing. (if you do this, their twets a bright, id put a small L-pad on the tweeter)



<< Running off the stock deck I would advise against infinities because of their high power requirements. If you had an amp I would say go with them. >>



Have you heard a set of infinities off deck power? even the perfects get resonably loud on deck power! (despite being the most power hungry mids ive ever seen)

here is the deal with low power for speakers (or subs, for that matter) the power rating is what the speaker is SUPPOSED to recieve to achieve maximun excursion and thus highest SPL. therefore, a speaker with a power rating of 20 watts will get louder on 10 watts than a 100 watt speaker will get on 40 watts (assuming 100% efficience, similar conditions, same excursion capabilities, etc...) This is why the infinity reference are best suited to run on deck power, and kappa are best suited for rearfill.

with reference in teh front, you are best utilizing the available powe,r and still have a solid set in case you want to upgrade to a small amp for your stage (hell, i know SQ competitors, like the local shop owner here, who runs infinity ref for is stage) kappas in teh back wont move as much cause they need more power to achieve that excursion, and so your stage will become more defined as noise from the back is decreased.

so, between the three choices you are looking at, by far with exclusively deck power, I would run the reference. But it leaves the least headroom for system upgrading. If you plan on upgrading, I would take the fanatic P, as it is also the cheapest set. ($89 with best buy discount, n oonline, and you get a PSP)

something to note: infinity made VAST improvements to their sets after 2001, so MAKE SURE you get a post 2001 set! anything good i have to say about infinity is a lie if you get a pre 2001 set. green kappas are pre 2001. refeerence is white now, kappa is grey now. as for fanatic P, i dont have the slightest clue when they became good, all i know is that the 2001 line that we put in my buddy's runner has an insane range for a component set. (the lowpass is set to 50 Hz, and the speaker is playing no distortion, next time i see him im gonna do a tone test with an SPL meter)

 
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hey, whiterabbit, private message me I want to get some opinions from you and you seem to know a lot about this stuff

 
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Yes White Rabbit I know that Rockford owns MB Quart. FORD owns Jaguar. This does not meen I'll be buying a Focus just because Ford owns Jaguar. The reason I said that the Rockford sounds like *** is because I had a pair in my car for six months. I sold them to a friend who runs them of his Pioneer head unit and he's happy with them, I still think they sound like ***. But hey different strokes for differnet folks.

 
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what year? rockford has been garbage for the past decade, i dont know how long they ahve owned MB quart tho, might be only recent changes. my buddy has 2001 fanatic P

 
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I bought the Rockfords last summer. The Mb Quarts are made in Germany I think that rf are made in a sweat shop somewhere, [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/IMG]

 
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thats kinda funy, he bought his in early december, and the new model year is now, so they must be the same ones......I guess they sound different in different installs, casue the best buy we went to before he bought, they sounded good in demo. then we went to another best buy and they sounded terrible. then we put them in hs car and they sounded 100 times better than in the first store.... i dunno.....

maybe you got a bad set? maybe we got a good set? maybe its install? that sucks man....

 
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White Rabbit. Let me put it this way they sounded better then stock and they sound better then coaxial polks(polk are what my freind before I sold him the RF's). But they don't sound anywhere near as good as my MB Quart. I thought they were lacking in mid-bass, and they weren't very accurate. Sure they probably have more mid-bass then kappas but people don't buy Kappas for there mid-bass, they buy kappas because there accurate speakers. I got flamed like crazy for telling people I had RF fan.p on Soundomain. And I guess I was happy with them untill I got flamed. Then I started looking in to other speakers any now I know why I was getting flamed. Oh well we'll have to agree to disagree[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/IMG] BTW 150 watts is a lot to put on those, rms is only 50. Are they still holding up? What kind of speakers are you running up front? How do they compair to the RF's. BTW I only had 40 watts on them that's amp not HU.

 
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agree to disagree [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/IMG]

we tried a varaiety of amp power, and decided that 150 was best. the midbass is fantastic! ill tell you tho, the tweet keeps breaking, i think we need an L-pad for those littel guys but thats what the best buy PSP is for, you break it, you get a new one!

 
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so can you blow these speakers on a stock deck due to low power? Is there anything to be aware of when installing these speakers on stock power?

 
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low power + distortion = blown speaker
high power + distortion = blown speaker
high power = just fine
HIGH POWER = thermal detruction

a speaker ONLY dies for three reasons:

thermal breakdown
mecahnical breakdown
fatigue falure

you give them a responsible amount of power, and dont play distortion, your set.