4 inch coaxial speaker woes!

[Stuey3D]

Hi all, I am looking to change the speakers in my seicento as I keep blowing mine up with Machine Head at excesssive volume.

I only have the standard 4 inch dash holes to mount speakers as I am not very good at DIY so can't make mounts for bigger speakers

I am currently running a Vibe slick A1 amp with the gain set to halfway and in the back I have a JBL GTO804 sub which sounds awesome and carries on far after the fronts give up. I have set the crossovers up so that sub gets all the bass and fronts get next to none. The sub is able to go upto 400hz so should take all the strain off the fronts bass wise.

Speakers I have used and abused are:

Ripspeed 4 inch (tweeters died) lasted a few months running off HU as no amp at the time
Vibe slick 4 v3 (tweeters died) lasted 2 weeks.
Edge ED204 (one woofer intermittently cuts out, tweeters fine)
And finally some Earthquake F4.0 (unknown damage as sound fine but trips amp safety) these lasted ages as the tweeters had a protection poly switch to stop me killing them.

I am now back to a pair of crappy JVC and desperate for some decent ones to improve sound quality.

I have a pair in mind, I am looking at some alpine SPG10c2. I hear very good things about the Alpine Type G's in general but cannot find any specific reviews for the little 4 inchers. The thing that got me interested in these is that alpine is a good brand and that they are designed for high power use which suits me well.

Anyone got any experience with 4 inch speakers and can advise me if the Alpines are any good or any alternatives that can handle heavy metal at high volumes for long periods lol.

 

[Eklipze3k]

Ahh Machine Head, good call

Have you considered that it might be your amp causing the issues?

Personally in my Sei (and I'm also a fan of the heavy stuff) I have a full BOSS audio setup, it's pretty cheap stuff but it's also pretty rugged and can take a lot of punishment!

I've a CH650 4-channel amplifer powering a slightly older equivalent of the 4" CH1442 up front and (again older equivalents) 6.5" CH6CK in custom door cards in the back. A separate PH3000D monoblock runs the 12" L12-Outlaw sub.

Now I will admit it's not the greatest of quality, but for the price I'm happy with it, I tend to balance it so that the back is louder than the front though as I know the 4"ers can't really take it, but with such a small cabin you still get plenty kicked in the head

 

[Stuey3D]

Don't think it's the amp as I killed some on the head unit as well, I think it was just cheap speakers as the Earthquakes which were a bit more expensive lasted ages and took loads of abuse and still work when connected to the head unit direct, they just trip the safety on the amp so possibly some hidden damage in the speaker circuitry.

I saw the boss audio stuff and thought it looked good but the geezer in the local audio store said it wasn't that good and he recommended the cheaper FLI speakers for a budget of £20 and under.

The Alpines look very good and claim to designed for high power use which is why I am very interested in them, plus I have heard good things about alpine in general, that's why I am looking to pay a bit extra for them over anything else.

As for rear speakers I have no holes cut for them otherwise id stick my vibe 6x9's in but to be honest I like the soundstage in front of me and when the speakers work the mid and high from front and bass from back sounds great.

Be warned though, Dave Mclains drums on the song "I am Hell" kills tweeters quickly lol.

 

[Stuey3D]

Still looking for speakers and I now have another choice to consider.

So far I have narrowed it down to:

Alpine SPG-10C2 For around £40 - £45
Or
Hertz ECX 100.4 for around £75

The Alpines specs are 45w RMS 180w Peak 101hz-20khz
The Hertz specs are 40w RMS 80w Peak 80hz-23khz

So in theory alpine should take more of a hammering providing I keep the crossover above 100hz but the Hertz should sound better, god I'm confused anyone with any experience in speakers care to chip in, or suggest a pair I have overlooked.
£75 is about the maximum I am willing to pay though just incase I explode them again.

 

[Stuey3D]

After doing a bit more reading up I think I am leaning more towards the Alpine as they are cheaper and the fact they claim to be designed for high power use is swaying me over the Hertz but then again I may be wrong.

 

[Stuey3D]

Bloody hell the more I research speakers the more I confuse myself, here are links to ones I have chosen

http://icedotcomexpress.com/speaker...-alpine-10c2-10cm-coaxial-speaker-p-3082.html

http://icedotcomexpress.com/speaker...finity-429i-coaxial-speakers-watts-p-150.html

http://icedotcomexpress.com/speakers-coaxial-speakers-10cm-hertz-1004-coaxial-speaker-p-5729.html

The infinitys look pretty awesome for the cash plus they have an adjustable tweeter, better frequency response and more power handling than the other 2 I saw before they may be the ones I'll go for.