Coaxial or Component Speakers??

[venox22]

Im relativly un educated in speakers, amps, etc, just looking to upgrade my OEM Front and rear speakers, i have seen there are 2 types of speakers Coaxial and Component which is better and why?? what is the difference??

[GBMINI]

My simple understanding ...
Co-axial speakers have the tweeter mounted on the woofer - normally in the center so they share the same axis = co-axial
Component speakers have the tweeter & woofer as two separate units for mounting in different places - this is how it is on the MINI, with the tweeter mounted up by the door open handle and the woofer down near your feet.

Many aftermarket speakers come as components but can have the tweeter assembled co-axial onto the woofer.


Which is better?
You hear the direction of high frequencies (tweeter) much more than low - so mounting the tweeter down at your feet will make the sound seem to come from there; it will probably sound wrong and maybe muffled due to the indirect path / reflections needed to get from down there to your feet.
The high-up tweeter position in the MINI is probably better (ie: component), but I find that I hear too much from the passenger side which is aimed straight at my head, compared to the driver side which is aimed past me, to my passengers head.

The best position for tweeters is probably set well back on top of the dash, in front of the windshield. Don't know anyone who makes kits to do that - but it would be a good idea. Mikey?


PS: The rear speakers in the MINI are only a single unit with no tweeter, so they are neither component nor co-axial.

[venox22]

Thanks v good explanation!!!! Any recommendation for replacement speakers, was thinking alpine as my head unit is made by them

[umberto]

I think most people will say that components are better than coaxials for the reason stated by GBMINI and also the separate crossovers help to organize where/ which frequencies will best be handled

That being said, I used coaxials in the MINI for ease of installation...they just plugged in to the same wires that the stock speakers used, so there was no wiring needed, and I left the stock 1" tweeters connected as is...works well for me. I was going to replace the rears as well with some better and brighter speakers but felt that for me I was satisfied after replacing only the fronts

[GBMINI]

That's an interesting idea ...
Putting a co-ax in the lower position and leaving the factory tweeter will now give you two points of high frequency. The purists will not approve - you will lose clarity. Of course if you like it, that is enough.

[venox22]

ok, so can anybody recommend some component front speakers that will be relativly easy to replace my front OEM one's

[SteveM3]

Practically any 6.5" components will fit as long as they need less than 75mm of mounting
depth. Let us know your price range and we can give a few suggestions.

[umberto]

Infinity 6002si Shallow Mounts...........they make them as component or coaxial.......the coaxial fit fine ( with a spacer to lift the speaker about 3/4" away from the door panel).....I assume the component version would fit the same...anyone?

[venox22]

any recomendations mikey!!!!????