Component VS Coaxial Speakers What are the differences between and the meaning in car audio?

Stock car speakers are made to produce ordinary sound, if you are after better bass and more clarity then its essential to upgrade to aftermarket speakers. This is because with them the manufacturer purely has a main focus on how to make the best sound and don't have to concentrate on other parts of the car such as the engine and interior. This means more effort and hard work is involved to make a better sounding speaker. Now there are two main types of speakers in car audio that you have probably have come across which are component and coaxial. We have a soundboard in our shop for our customers to listen to the speakers and try them out before them buy. There is alot of main differences between the two even though they both look like normal circle shaped speakers.

What we tend to do for most people when installing new aftermarket speakers in there ride is to install the expensive components in the front and for rear fill for the back install coaxial speakers. This is so the costs isn't too much for the customers that are on a budget and gives a nice balance of sound all over the car and not just in the front.

I am going to go into more detail of how a component and coaxial speakers work to give you a more broader information based on the construction.

Ok so lets start off with component. This is what it contains:

X1 Midrange speaker 

X1 Separate tweeter

X1 Crossover box

With a coaxial speaker design, the tweeter and crossover system is integrated inside the speaker. The tweeter will be placed inside the middle and a small electrical power cap will be used to filter out the bass frequencies for the tweeter. This is a very basic setup compared to a seperate crossover box that has more advanced circuits to separate the sounds to the different speakers in a component setup.

Pros of coaxial speakers:

1) Reasonable Price. They are generally cheaper to obtain due to being more cheaper to construct. This doesn't mean they sound bad it costs manufacturers less to make thats all due to they clever way they are designed and housed in one unit.

2) Easier to install. You simply removed the one from the factory location in your car for example your door, unscrew it and place your new coaxial speaker in. No fancy crossovers are required and can be installed in under 5 minutes if you know what you are doing and have done it before.

3) Can be powered from the headunit. Component speakers tend to be rated at a higher wattage and you wont get the best out of them from the stock amp inside the stereo. So if you are not planning to amp then don't get them it will be a waste of money.

Pros of component speakers:

1) Better sound quality. These are always used in the SQ setups for a reason at shows because they provide greater soundstage. This is because having a separate crossover box installed along with the speaker does a far more superior job to separating the frequencies.

2) Expensive. Due to the speakers have a separate tweeter and crossover box they are more expensive to make due to the research and development it takes to make them. Its not a simple as plonking a tweeter in a middle with glue like with coaxials.

3) More power handling. This means you will get more bass from your component speakers than you can achieve from fitting a good pair of coaxial speakers. You can run a four channel amp, using the front set to power the components.

• Tweet
• Share
• Share
• Share
• Share