These Car Stereo Speakers Have Better Drivers for Bigger Sound

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As a general rule of the road, replacement or “after-market” speakers are almost always going to be better than the speakers that came standard with your car. They’re built with a higher caliber of components, designed to handle deeper lows without distorting, and higher highs without clipping and popping. But selecting the right set for your ride depends on a few different factors.

What to Know When Buying 5 x 7 Car Speakers

There are a few things to keep in mind when shopping for the best car speakers for your vehicle. We like the size and style of 5 x 7 speakers, which deliver big, bright sound in a compact (read: not overly obnoxious) size. Here’s what else to keep in mind.

Crossovers are what directs your audio’s frequencies to the appropriate parts of the speaker that handles them. Your car’s original speakers most likely only have one driver to handle the whole sound spectrum, which means both the lows and the highs are being directed to both come out of the same place.

As with any speaker basics, the tweeters handle the higher frequencies, and the woofer handles the low end. But coaxial speakers send all sound out of one place, since the mid-range woofer and the tweeter are mounted together, connected, and both producing audio through the same spot, with a small single input crossover in back sending all frequencies through that sole speaker.

With a component speaker, however, the lower/mid-range and the tweeter are separate. By separating out the higher and lower frequencies, the resulting sound is more efficiently balanced, and audibly better quality. Some models even offer adjustable tweeters that swivel, to get additional precision in the direction of your sound and where it bounces off of within the confinement of your car.

A speaker’s cone is designed to push air backwards and forwards, creating the sound waves we hear. And while standard car speakers still have one, they’re often made from paper, which produces a thin, muffled sound and can be affected by humidity and weather. Replacement speakers usually have a better built cone, from kevlar, polypropylene or even titanium. A speaker that has different cones for different frequencies, separating out both the lows and the highs, creates a noticeable and powerful difference.

To go even deeper, a subwoofer as an extra add-on can take the bass to whole a new low, often under 200Hz. It also helps with the upper registers too, since having a specific sub takes on all the bass frequencies and allows the tweeters to handle what they’re best at.

Finally, make sure it fits your ride before you buy. Most speakers on Amazon have a handy tool up top that lets you enter your vehicle type to be certain before you go all-in.