an adapter braket?
will that be hard to find?
and what do you mean by two way and three ways?

 

hehe, get fusions, they fit perfectly. could be the metric system.

but yeah, the hardest part of the install would be pulling off the doors as you feel icky about hurting your baby... but just listen to the advise given and it's all good.

 

so the fusions were an easy install front and back?
and sound good?
well then! sounds good to me.
how much did they cost?

 

sunbyrne is right- the cast of characters in the mid price range that are higher efficiency would be JBL, Infinity, and Polk.

Quick lesson of speakers if I can make any sense doing it- sound in music as we hear it is made up of lots of different sounds, some really low like a drum or a bass, some really high like a womans voice or a bell. The term frequency is used as a benchmark to describe where in the sound range a particular instrament or sound something is. Low frequency means a low sound like the drum, and high frequency means something high like the bell.
Different size speakers do better at playing back different parts of the full range of sound that makes up music. No one single size of speaker is perfect at playing back all frequencies or sound ranges. Generally speaking really low frequency sound need a larger speaker, while higher frequency sound will do better with a smaller speaker, of a special kind of speaker known at a tweeter.
There are different ways of dividing up the ranges of sound for play back. The most common is a two way speaker, or two speakers, one large and one small, to try to cover the range. In car audio (home stuff for that matter) companies also build three way speakers, or a set of three speakers one for highs, one for middle range and one for low notes, to play back sound.
You could mount the little speaker in one location and the larger speakers in another, this is called seperates, and they usually cost more then units where they are mounted together. For your potential price range stick with all together units, not seperates.
So a two way is a system that uses two speakers on each side for play back, and a three way system uses three speakers on each side to playback music.
Note that more is often not always better- you have to be able to have some distincitive size differences between the different speakers to cover the different frequencies. Often in car audio there is not much size difference between the mid range and high range speaker due to size constraints so they end up playing frequency range, stepping on each other.
Two ways are also called coax, for the way the are built. The big speaker will have the little speaker mounting in the middle of it to save room, and as odd as that idea might sound it works.
Three ways are called triax sometimes, and it is the same method, the smaller speakers are built into the larger one.
A little more advanced now the frequencies- frequency is measured in hertz so there is a uniform way to measure them. Low notes have a low number. Most headunits will only go down to 20 hertz, but some can go as low as 5 hertz, really low! To get down to a 20 note you will need a much bigger speaker than what we all are talking about putting in your doors- speakers more of the 8, 10,12,15 inch size. These big boy speakers are generally called woofers or subwoofers, and can take over the hatch or trunk of your car really fast.
The speakers you are looking to use in this part of your system a 6 by 8 inches and 6&1/2 inches across will get you down to about 45 hertz at very best. Small speakers can indeed drive a really low note for you but it will be very distorted- you are trying to make it play notes it was not designed to play.
High notes have much high numbers. A standard number you will see is 20,000 hertz for really high frequency sounds like high note of a violin or a bell. Most humans can't really hear that high, the older you get the less you will hear it and sorry, woman hear high notes better than men. True hearing range is more like 17,500 at best. The itty bitty speakers (tweeters) you will get in a car will reproduce very well up to that range and fall off (not be as good) between 17,500 and 20,000 hertz.
SO- you want to get as wide a range, 20 to 20,000 would be ideal, but you will not find that. 50-19,000 will be more likely to be found.
The other number is that efficeiny or Db spl stuff, remember it was discussed earlier in the post? Efficeincy is how loud a speaker plays when given one full watt of power- the higher the number the better you will be. 85-88 is low efficiency and I would suggest staying away from stuff like that if you don't plan to use an amp. above 90 is high efficiency, and above 92 is very good.

This means will you see stuff like 6 &1/2 Coax two wayspeaker 50-19.5, spl 90- this will tell you it is a 6&1/2 inch size speaker, a two way design, built with one speaker inside the other, able to reproduce as low as 50 Hertz and as high as 19,500 Hertz, with a pretty good effieincy or use of power to make sound.

Does this make sense? It is long winded I know but hopefully it will provide the starting point for understanding speaker for your car.
Last you mentioned amps, but right now I am going to finish my drink and take a pain pill an go to bed! For right now with the budget you suggestted, stick to speakers, then we will visit an amp. 200.00 would not get you decent speakers and a decent amp.

 

Thanks and lot and goodnight

I understood that!
I'm think now that i'll just buy the speakers for now and add an amp later.
That's okay right?


I probably will be adding the amp later, fairly sure of it, and maybe down the road when i get some money i'll be buying a new headunit too. I"m sure I won't be buying a sub though. This shouldn't change my decision on what speakers to buy right now should iT?

 

Hmmmz......very informative......I'm pretty damn ignorant about all this myself.....but w/the help of my buddy ONEHAWAIIN I have gotten started on replacing my stock system. I bought a new HU and new front speakers....5x7's........the speakers have been installed...but the HU will not go in until this weekend most likely. I don't have it in me to install myself....so the store is doing it....and I must say....I was nodding my head when you guys talked about "not wanting to hurt your babies"......cuz the installer cut a lil slice in my drivers door.....I must say though...that he brought it to my attention right away(I probably wouldn't have noticed....at least not for a while)...and has ordered the section from Mazda for it to be replaced.
I do notice a difference in the sound already....just with those speakers changed....and am hoping the new HU just improves things more! =)

 

kad- the fusions are pretty cheap (not retail tho), but not too easy to find locally. best place would be on the net. however, i would suggest auditioning spkrs first as you may like one brand better than i would (or anyone else for that matter).

shay- what's up, buuuh-dy? you like those jl audio xr's?

 

I have to suggest that you give the Memphis speakers a listen if you can. These are outstanding speakers and not many people mention them or have heard of them, they are around the same price as the other speakers mentioned in this thread and IMO sound better. I am using Memphis coax and 6x9's and they are outstanding. Give them a listen if U can find them in your area ...

 

I will just throw this in... Just put in some cheap Bazooka coaxial front and rear in my P5 the other day. To hold me over until I get $$ for a full on system. Anyway, rear speakers in a P5 are 6½" or 6¾". You can use either. If you do not want to search all over for the adapter plate (I could not find one locally) you can just drill new holes for the speaker screws. I used 4 self tapping screws and they went in in no time. The fronts you can use 6x8 or 5x7 speakers I believe the factory are 5x7, but the factory hole is set up for either.