I am putting a new system together and was curious which size speaker is "better" a 6 1/2 or a 6X9?? I have lots of room to put 6X9's in my side panels but was curious if they were better than a 6 1/2? I already have 2 12's as well as 2 6X9's below the back seat, and the 6 1/2's or 6X9's will be strictly for mids and highs. So....which would be more beneficial for me??? Do you recommend separates?? Thanks for your help!!!!

Dave

Man that is a tough question. 6X9's will give you more bass then the 6 1/2 speakers. The 6 1/2 speakers will give you more clarity then the 6X9's. There is no reason that you can not mix and match the two. My most popular set up that I do is a pair of Babb 6X9's under the back seat with two subs, and a pair of component 6 1/2 speakers. It sounds great.

Jon

Have you played with any component systems?
I have yet to see a decent system made for water use that allows you to mount the tweeter and mid in a sep. location.
While underway, I would think this would make power needs less, because you could put the two smaller speakers more at ear level because of thier small size.
Any ideas???

Gumby...

I've done this with mine. I bought an Infinity Component system with the 6.5's and the flush mount tweeters with outboard crossovers (box looking crossovers). I mounted one tweeter next to my throttle, and the other one by the passengers boltser. (i also have 2 subs under the seat and use 2 amps). This setup sounded great. The problem was that the crossovers were built like Chit. I launched off some pretty big waves and the internals of the crossovers came apart....there were resisters laying on the floor. They did nothing to attempt to "shockproof" these. Well this passed all the lows to my tweeters and smoked them. I ended up sending the whole component system back for a credit....because i think there is too much "pounding" or "shock" for that setup.
I ended up getting the same infinity tweeters (mainly because i drilled 2 holes through my fiberglass, and had to fill it with something), and a set of 200w 3-way sony xplod 6.5's. The tweeters came with "inline" crossovers which are better for this setup.
This time i only amped the 6.5's and just ran the tweeters off of the radio. This actually sounds much better, because when i had the tweeters amped, they kind of "screamed" at you giving you tooo many highs at thier pysical position.
But i would buy the tweeters separate becuase of the crossovers. I can hear it well over the motor/wind noise, and am happy with the setup now

The Clarion Components are great.

Jon

hey audiofn is it possible to install tweeters with the poltplanars that i use, as in separate tweeters and use a crossover. i like the sound of the polyplanar but am interested in putting some highs note up a little. hope all is going well.
later

Audio,
Thanks for the reply. I was thinking the 6 1/2's in the side panels will look great and sound pretty good too. Was thinking of Infinity separates to "match" the rest of my speakers. If I have a 4 channel amp running 2-6X9's and 2-6 1/2's, obviously the 6x9's can take more power...any recommendations??? Perhaps power the 6 1/2's with deck power or should I use the power if I've got it??? Also, I have a 12 disc changer....where would be the best place to mount this with the limited space of a performance boat? My options for mounting the changer are limited to the engine compartment or under the back seat (both places see plenty of moisture). As for the amps, I'm going to mount them in the cuddy behind a panel....would you recommend a fan for cooling them? The amps are MTX 500W digital and a 100X4 regular mosfet amp. I would like to have it all together in the engine area, but am concerned about moisture and electronics. Would be nice to have it all together and mounted real "pretty" in the engine area but what do you think?????

Thanks for the help!

My boat came with the Clarion system, too, and it sounds great. The 6.5's are mounted on each side above the rear seat and provide plenty of volume for running w/ Captain's Call turned off.

It's the first boat I have been in that has a subwoofer which makes a great deal of difference.

My fear in mouting tweeters is that they would be all you hear but I could be nuts.

Later I am not sure about purchasing the clarions as just the tweeter. However this is not a problem as I need lots and lots and lots of speakers for my boat and I can see if I can design it so that I need the mids and then I can send you over the tweeters. They can be surface mounted or flushed in.

Dave: Man you are in a tough situation there. You want to keep that stuff out of the moisture at all costs. Engine bays are a absolute last option. Under the back seat is not the greatest place either but if you have to...... The amps MUST be mounted upright not upside down in any way. If you do then the heat will rise back into the amp and they will not cool. I have never needed to put a fan on any of my systems and try to not need them as it is just one more electrical thing to break. If you can get me pictures of your boat I can try and maybe make some recommendations.

Jon

audiofn that sounds great also could you shot me a price on either the sony or clarion head unit and cd changer the ones that do not skip! or is it the ones that skip but have memory how ever that works. and i wantthe ones that have the dash mounted remotes. thanks in advance
later