component vs coaxial
 

I'm going to buy some new front speakers to go with my Alpine 9821. I've pretty much decided on Infinity speakers but would like some opinions on the benefits of components over full range.
The down side is finding somewhere to mount the tweeters (I assume that the Infinities won't fit behind the oe grills). How do you attach the tweeters when fitting behind the mirrors?

Are the benefits of components worth the additional hassle. Bear in mind that this is only a 45W head unit and I am unlikely to make any further changes.

I will be using Dynamat in the doors and making spacers to fit 16.5cm speakers.

If your going to stick with the head unit you have I would go for full range.

Component speakers will be a better choice if your thinking of adding an amp.

Most tweeters come with a range of mounts so you could mount them behind a grill or put them on a door panel.

Components every day.

You have the flexibility in mounting which is missing from the coax option, plus you can fine tune your installation to get some form of stereo image, which isn't easy with coaxials in the standard location.

Components do not give you the point source that coax gives, but the imaging will be improved compared to stock locations so it's a tradeoff that's worth making.

Chiark, when you talk about fine tuning the stereo image, do you mean with location and direction of the tweeter or something else?
What do you see as the advantage of a "point source" over component locations?

Thanks for the help

I agree - components. The problem with coaxials is that the tweeters are by your feet, you are bound to loose some imaging. Also I feel that coaxials do not give such a good low/mid bass response than the component equivelants. Which just adds to the poor front staging - where it seems you have more sound from the rear than the front.

Next you'll be getting into time alignment..... :)

Then the fun really begins :)

They will fit but you need to modify the bracket slightly. Only takes a pair of strong pliers or a junior hacksaw.

You can always fit them as per the pic below.

http://members.aol.com/nathlang/tweeter.jpg

The coax option is always going to be a compromise by it's very nature, imaging will be very difficult as your ears are more tuned to high frequencies than low hence you can put a sub in the boot, do that with a tweeter, well you get the idea so the tweeter needs to be set so the sound i.e. vocals comes ideally from the top of your dash as though you were sitting at a concert with the group in front of you.

I have a set of Infinity components that are going in my new WR1 they are a few years old now but sound great the tweeter is unusual in that it is oblong in shape and thin it's about 100mm x 50mm and about 15mm thick it's known as a ribbon tweeter, and is easy to fit actually on the dash so if you do have problems and do like Infinity then it may be worth looking out for a set of these?...