Toru

Couple of questions here regarding adding tweeters.

I have replaced my factory speakers with Infinity 5752cf in front and 9603i in the rear.

I was wondering about adding tweeters to the "sails" behind the side mirrors (like the factory ones on newer Pros).

First question: Piezo tweeters, good, bad or ugly? Also, how are you supposed to hook these things up? Can they be run parallel to the coaxials in the door without lowering the impedance?

Second: If using a non-piezo, what about the hookup/impedance question?

Third: What are the factory tweeters? Are these true components (i.e. the door speaker is a woofer, not coaxial)?

The 5752s have a nice sound on their own tweeters (pointing up and back on their pivot mount thing) so maybe I am wasting my time looking to add more up top...

The whole thought process started because I ordered a wiring harness adapter and it comes with a pair of cheap piezo tweeters. (How cheap? Well, the adapter was $3 and the tweeters were "free with order" , how good can they be?)

Poseur

ignore them... adding tweeters is generally abou the worst thing you can do. I mean you can always try it and see, but it's not generally the best of ideas... The factory tweeters are a good thing in a way basically because the stock paper whizzer cones just sort of lack and detail, and the added tweets really brighten them up. Thatsaid as soon as I got some real speakers, I ditched the tweets. For one thing multiple tweeters make your music get confusing FAST. Basically, you've got some VERY directional VERY strong sounds that reach you quite rapidly. add another source for these in a different place and all of the sudden your mind can't Locate the sound and furthermore, seeing as they're different distances from your head, the sound will reach you sooner form one than the other creating an echoey effect which you may not even notice, just that it sounds "muddy" This is the same reason why alot of ppl run just a strong FRONT soundstage and more or less either disconnect or leave the rears very low level.

Technically speaking generally, yes you just hook the exra tweeters in Paralell with your current speakers. The only physical problem isthat this will essentially pull more of a load form your headunit (4ohm speakers, plus generally 6ohm tweeters) it'll add up to more of a 3ohm kind of load, which your HU should be able to handle alright, but really wasn't designed for, and with as small as HU amps are to begin with this could be problematic, and might lead to a premature failure.

demoninvictus

not to mention piezo tweeters are of very low quality and 90% of the time are used in small electronic/computer cases, NOT car audio. they're basically crap. the other problem you run into (even with titanium and silk dome tweeters) is simply by splicing them in line with a normal 4 ohm speaker, you're more succeptable to clip the tweeter and damage it, as it's not really meant to recieve frequency's say under 5khz.. leaving yet another problem. your only GOOD solution is to run a component set where the frequencies can be split up via cross over, saving your tweeters and giving you some killer midbass up front if you amp them. so in short, buying a new set of 5x7 front component speakers is your best option.
peace

Toru

Yeah, too bad I just installed the new 5x7 coaxials. Had I known, I probably would have bought a 5x7 component set instead.

I know the tweeter needs a filter/crossofer to eliminate low frequency, and I know that non-piezo tweeters will affect the impedance.

What I wanted to know is will piezo affect the impedance, since they are not based on a coil?

Poseur

Peizo being a thin electro-magneticall active plastic film of sorts. It basically IS it's own magnet and driver. Same thing different way of accomplishing it. It'll affect your impedance, like I said, they'r egenerally 6ohms. which won't present as dangerous of a load as adding another 4ohm speaker would. and additionally it'll draw a bit less load than your main speakers which is good in a way. The other thing with those generic piezo tweets is they all generally have a small cap already installed on them, take a look right next tot he inputs, theree shoudl be a littel filter installed there already.

Either way, you're good to go as you are. Nothing wrong with a good set of coaxes. Sure you can do better, but they sound good, right?

Toru

Ok, I have these tweeters and I'd like to try them out on the upper doors to see what if any difference they make.

Maybe they will suck - so be it.

What I need to know is will they hurt the HU amp???

The package states they are four (4) ohm.

If I connect one of these in parallel with the four (4) ohm 5x7 coax in the door, will that be harmful to the HU amplifier?

I have seen long, drawn out discussions elsewhere about frequency being a factor in impedence, so it's not necessarily a simply parallel division forumula as it is with resistance.

I'm just looking to see if anyone knows for certain.

onehawaiian

piezos are good for sirens.
don't skimp on tweeters. these are very important.

Poseur

Hmmm... I was pretty sure that factory ones were 6ohm, I could be wrong, though. As for it being safe to run them.... I would say try it and find out, but a blown HU isn't worth it. and I assure you the sound difference will definately not be worth it. I know you've now got tweeters sitting around and it'd be cool to use them for something, but at this point, I'd highly recommend you just forget about them, or find something else..

Toru

Ok, ok, I'll put the cheap piezo tweeters down and slowly back away...

So what if I wanted to get some real tweeters? Wouldn't I be in the same pickle impedence-wise? (Adding them in parallel to the coaxials.)

Poseur

You'd still be adding to the wrong part. Even if you set all of the imaging issues aside (highs being the most directional of all, it will confuse the hell outta your ears trying to "see" where the sound is coming from, not to mention that seeing as it'll be traveling different distances, it will be off-beat and "muddy" up your sound in general. Honestly, coaxially mounted is a VERY good way to be. And you got some pretty nice speakers. The advantage of high end components is primarily in the crossover network. All that aside, extra tweeters are a surefire way to kill your hearing quick and just plain be painful.

Instead of buying new tweeters, get yourself an amp to push your front speakers with and be blown away by what adding a little bit of power to the mix does for you. I have always contended that simply replacing speakers on a stereo is really not even worth it unless you're gonna amp them. It's THAT big of a difference. Think about it, factory speakers are designed to handle exactly what the deck puts out, nad thusly are very lightweight, have small magnets and soft suspension. Your speakers are designed to handle 30-80w or so. THe advantage of this is that they've got stiff cone material, nice big magnets taht have better "leverage" on putting the speaker wher eit needs to be, and rubber surrounds that won't crack or go bad being pushed toofar. Now the downfall of this is that now your speaker is MUCH harder to move meaning that while your sound is now cleaner and more accurate because the speaker is nto distorting, there's suddenly not as much of it because the same power that used to shove that lightweight paper speaker around with authority doesn't quite have the oomph to push the polypro cone with rubber surround.

If you just want to have the seperately mounted tweeter look, go ahead and install your piezo thingys, just don't hook them up.

As far as the quality of piezo's. THey get a bad rep because there's alot of cheap ones out there, but look at a company like Eclipse. They've got a $1000 set of 3-way components that uses a piezo midrange... Heck infinity used to make a $200 kappa rectangular flat piezo tweeter that looked kind of like a glade plug-in. However your free ones. ARE indeed crap. Not even half the speaker that's mounted on the post in the middle of your refrences.

Poseur

In the end, do what you want, I'm just trying to save you time and money. I too have been down the extra-tweets=better path before.... boy was I wrong.

Some of the best stereo's I've heared have only had 3speakers total. (well 5 if you count the tweet and midrange as a seperate speaker) You cna always add mreo and more, but that's not always the best path. Good quality and less confusion is the best way to go for clean sound.

Cellerator

You guys are crazy. I would leave the P5 speakers alone unless they blew and I'd rather spend money on a nice comfy chair and a good set of speakers at home such as the B&W Nautilus 801 driven by 2 Mark Levinson No. 333 Amplifier and the Sony SACD Player 777ES. All that would sound 1000% better than any system in a car.

rubixcubix

sure thats fine if all you do is sit at home, i spend way too much time in my car, and the protege is so fun to drive, i want damn good sound to go with it. I plan on replacing the speakers in mine but keeping the HU stock for appearance purposes, I hear it makes a pretty big difference. I'd love it if the HU had better equalizer controls, but i guess you have to aftermarket if you want real control of your sound.

rustychops41

How to get 500% better sound out of your Protege Stereo in one easy step. Ditch the stock speakers. Throw them away. Dont' even "keep them for when I sell the car." Worst OEM speakers made since the Earth Cooled.

Poseur

umm, prettymuch they're the same as any other OEM speaker, actually they're a step up form some that I've seen. I say if you're staying with deck-power upgrading buys you nothing.