Hi, I'm a newbie to car audio.
I am thinking of replacing the stock speakers in my 2012 Hyundai Elantra. So I am looking for 6.5 inch components for the front doors and 6.5 inch coaxials for the rear doors. I will be using the stock headunit and will not be adding amps or subwoofers. I am hoping to keep it under $400.
What brands and models are good and not too pricey?
Are big name brands like Infinity, Boston Acoustics, Alpine etc good or are the less well-known brands better performing and better value?

Also would like recommendations on where to buy and also to get them installed.
I also don't mind buying online if I can save some money that way.
I'm in Toronto, Markham GTA.
Thanks in advance.

 

If you're using the stock HU to power the drivers, I would stick with coaxes up front, and either keep the stockers or look at low-cost replavcements out back.

 

Any speaker brands recommendations? Anyone?
Will aftermarket speakers alone make a difference compared to stock speakers?

 

Depending on what your stock HU specs are, you'll get a very noticeable difference from aftermarket speakers, probably more from an aftermarket deck with 17w'ish rms/channel+ (being a brand new vehicle the stock HU might be decent?), and a much bigger difference amping them of course. as for speaker recommendations, what sort of music do you mainly listen to? some brands sound better for different genres but it's not as big of a deal compared to stock vs aftermarket. Maybe browse around SonicElectronix if you don't mind shopping online, they always have plenty of deals.

 

Look around for a decent used 4 channel amp to power them all - $100-$125 they are out there, then you'll be able to go the component speaker route

 

Another thing is that I only found a very select number of speakers that actually fit my Hyundai at Crutchfield. I went with JL Audio components up front and in the rear. Though, in hindsight I should have just left the rears stock and turned them off. The JL were $350 pair.

Oh, and though you can't order from the US site, they have a much better database set up for speaker sizing and placement. I went there to find the ones that fit and then ordered them from the Canadian site or wherever was cheapest. If you are sticking with the stock head, Infinity claims an impedance of 2ohms, and high sensitivity, which should work better with the lower powered amp in the stock head.

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Car/outfitmycar/MyCar.aspx

My personal recommendation would be JL, Alpine, Pioneer, Focal or Infinity. But that's just personal opinion and perception of quality.

 

I set a buddy up with a component and co-axial set of the 2ohm Infinity References not too long ago, right now they're just powered off the HU @ 17w rms/channel and they do get quite loud! He thinks they're "pretty much" as loud as my two component sets of Energy 6.5" run off 65w/chan @ 4ohm though.. not quite.

 

Yeah. I was running Infinity off the stock head in my '01 626 (5x8 in doors, 6x9 in rear deck) and they were more than loud enough for my uses. In fact, the Infinity 6x9s I put in the rear deck put out so much more bass than the stock speakers some people thought I'd put a sub in the trunk. Plus, the separate tweets sounded so much better than the Bose wizzer crap I pulled out.

 

At the very least, make sure your woofers have either rubber or butyl rubber surrounds. Foam tends to rot and disintegrate. Especially in cars, with the heat and cold and humidity.

 

i tried a cheap set of triaxial jvcs they actually sound good powered by most HUs