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Posted by: kid914 Jan 14 2014, 06:37 PM

Looking at some car speakers on e bay. Anyone familiar or using Boss brand ???
They look nice- loud and cheap.

Opinoins?
Thanks

Posted by: 914itis Jan 14 2014, 08:27 PM

Look, loudness and sound quality are all different.

Cheap ; you always get what you paid for.

Posted by: CptTripps Jan 14 2014, 08:37 PM

Car audio is one of the things where you get what you pay for.

Now...that being said...

I have the Boss 10" Slim Subwoofer that I plan in using on my restoration. But subs are pretty easy, so I'm not sacrificing much there.

Posted by: Mike Bellis Jan 14 2014, 08:47 PM

Always buy the best speakers you can afford. There are few moving parts so build quality has a lot to do with sound quality. The best speakers will require an amplifier to take advantage of performance.

You could get buy with a lessor (off brand) amplifier as long as it has a low THD. Less than .01 is ideal. Most off brands are bootleg circuit copies of quality amplifiers. If you can find a nice old mosfet amp from the 1990's that would be best. Some of the best, most powerful amplifiers were built in the 90's. I have an old Kenwood KAC-PS500F, 500 watt amp made in Germany. By far one of the best amps I ever herd. These were made back when amps had huge power supplies, huge heat sinks and no pulse width modulation.

Posted by: messix Jan 15 2014, 02:23 AM

look for old Rockford fosgate amps.

rated power was calc at 12V and put out much more at 13.5

Posted by: CptTripps Jan 15 2014, 07:58 AM

I wouldn't worry too much about THD in a 914. Honestly, you're never going to have a really great audio experience in a 40yr old car with a plastic roof...and a VW motor right behind you...with your butt 8" off the concrete...at ANY speed.

Posted by: Mike Bellis Jan 15 2014, 09:22 AM

I had a customer years ago that brought me a no-name amp from a big car stereo show. It was 20 Watts per channel @ 10% THD. He wanted to run this on his stock Honda radio. I told him it would sound like crap since 10% of the signal was noise.

I was right! sounded worse than the stock radio's internal amplifier. He wanted a refund but since I warned him and he said do it, he did not get his money back.

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) regulates home HiFi systems. If they claim 50 Watts per channel, the amp must produce as advertised. The FTC does not regulate car stereo components. They can claim anything they want. Buyer be warned! You cannot get 1000 Watts from a 20 Amp fuse...

Most Name brand manufacturers have an agreement to correctly rate their equipment. If you have never heard of the brand, do not buy it.

Posted by: Kaduku Jan 15 2014, 08:40 PM

I bought an Alpine deck with an amp and matching speakers. I am using one of those aftermarket speaker pods. Sounds like crap. I may try to seal it better and hopefully it might sound better but doubt it. I really did not want to make a hole on my doors.

Posted by: rmdinmd Jan 15 2014, 08:46 PM

good speakers with a so-so radio sounds better then so-so speakers with a good radio. you hear the speakers not the radio.

Posted by: ORANGE2 Jan 15 2014, 11:28 PM

Boss speakers are a waste of money. The factory 4x6 speakers are small. I'd buy some nice speakers. On my old 73 I made brackets and installed 5 1/4" speakers behind the factory grill. They were Zapco speakers. They sound really good. In my 74 I'm going to do Focal speakers. They sound awesome and I'm a dealer so I can get them at a good price.

Posted by: jpnovak Jan 16 2014, 07:58 AM

I will offer another opinion. I agree that you should put the best speakers if possible. However, I bought a set of Boss speakers years ago to replace the paper cone distortion producers that were in my DD. I admit I had low expectations and was not expecting sound quality or volume. Just less rattling than what was in there. The set was a 6.5" separates for a too-good-to-be-true price.

I was actually impressed. At low to moderate volume the sound quality was above reasonable. The factory deck did not have enough power to push them. The remote tweeters improved the sound stage. Overall, it was a huge improvement.

I see that particular installation as similar to a 914. It was your basic stripped econo-box. Loud. Noisy. and not worth putting tons of money into an audio system.

YMMV.