coaxials - where the tweeter is mounted above the midbass.
and 2 or 3-way components - which the tweeter and midbass are separate, and in the case of a 3-way...the tweeter, midrange, and midbass are all separate.
generally....components get louder, b/c both of the speakers aren't hidden behind the door. but if you aren't careful about where you mount the tweetwe(too close to your ears, or too high up i the vehicle) you can ruin the sound by making them too "bright sounding" meaning you will hear more of the upper frequencies b/c the tweeters are too close to you and the midbass can't keep up, or you will widen the soundstage too much by having them too high up in your vehicle and it will sound funky.
generally, you want to keep them as close as possible to maintain accurate sound.
also forgot to mention that with a component set, you have an external corssover(normally a black box with speaker hook-ups on it) which separates the upper and lower freq. that go to the tweeter and midbass.
the more speakers there are...the more technical and harder the install becomes...unless you are familiar with 3ways...i would stay away from them or have them professionally installed.
2ways are my favorite....not too many speakers. they are cheaper than 3 ways...and i think they sound better and get louder than coaxials...but they have to be setup right like i said earlier.
well if your new to car audio Coaxials are quick and easy and even if your not new they still sound good depending on wich ones you get, in my oinion there really isent a huge difference i mean depending on equipment and install things can change though.
bleh, Muddy doesn't know what hes talking about. 3 ways are better then 2 ways
no, but really, it all depends on how much time or money you want to put into it.
coaxials can be powered off the HU and are basically stock replacements. little better overall sound, not any louder though.
2 ways, you will need an external amp and wireing for the amp. you will also need to find a place for the crossover boxes and tweeters. most common place is up on the pillars or somewhere on the door panel. the further you get away from the woofers though, the more seperated the drivers sound...you'll be able to hear sounds comming from each individual driver and that will sound bad and be really annoying.
3 ways, same as 2 ways, but you have a mid range driver to find a spot for now too. usually 3 ways are in more custom designs consisting of kick panels, door pods or fiberglass door panels. they take a lot more to install and not really sure if they are "better" then a 2 way set. i run 3 ways because the 4 inch mid range takes up less space in my floor in kick panels then a 6.5 inch woofer does.
for either setup that will require an external amp, you will need a head unit with RCA outputs too.
like Brandon said.....3 ways are only "better" than 2 ways if you have them setup properly...otherwise it will sound very bad....mutlidirectional sound...too high or wide of a soundstage...etc.
