i read through some old posts and threads and saw some talk about alpine type x's and some mention of infiniti references (cheap on crutchfield right now).

i had some alpine type r's a few years back and they were amazing but required a lot of power and had to have the mounting areas modified to allow the slightly extra large 6.5's to fit right.

i was curious as to if anyone has replaced their front speakers from stock (ML audio 04-06 ls430) to aftermarket without any additional amps or difficulties mounting the 6.5's in the doors?? what sounds good, hopefully better than stock, what fits easily, what won't eat up more than the stock amount of power?? thoughts and opinions please. i'm just a little worried that only replacing the fronts might throw off the balance,, not sure how much thought and science went into the ML system as it were.

btw my front right door speaker has a slight rattle (prolly on its way out) due to excessive volume usage lately

well, if you have ML you need to worry about ohm ratings. a lot of higher end stereos use different ohm rated speakers to keep you from swaping speakers. this could be an issue that can potentially cause amp overload, or something as simple as muted or very loud speakers in comparison to the stock. if you replace the front, i would replace all and bypass the stock amps altogether. you will need something like the rockford 3sixty.2 to keep the stock headunit but be able to blend in aftermarket amps and retain digital signal. i've been considering this for a while for my car. still debating. if i do it, you are more than welcome to be a part of, and i will in turn help you with yours.
as to speakers, i personally am a fan of boston acustics, but they use a harder dome tweet that some people think is too harsh. the set i have actually do not fatigue the ears at high volume, as they are not the traditional titanium or what not. infinity uses a soft silk dome tweet that is much more smooth, but i'm not certain if they still make the kappa series any longer. give me a shout as to what you want and we can put something together. i can call in a favor or two to help you out with the price on some of this stuff - the speakers i picked up retailed for 500 a set (of course i did not pay that)

yeah i know about the rf 360 digital thing and about boston acoustics first hand as well. i was hoping to just swap out the front 2 speakers and call it a day though. believe you me there is nothing more i want than to replace the entire system but at the moment i can't justify dropping like 4-6k on it.

so yeah lets say my budget is 200 for a set of front speakers

thanks ryan that does sound like a winning setup though.

lol - 4-6k is not necessary. i can hook you for roughly 2k, depending on what you need and what you have already. i have a 5k stereo retail that i paid 3k for, so that's the extent of my discount. that included a head unit, which you don't need. i understand about not wanting to shell out that kind of $$$. that's why i'm doing the install myself...can't see paying 750 to have someone else do it.

well in my infiniti in jp i had 2 rf hx2's (x2 dual voice coil 2 ohm subs each weighed about 50 lbs), a custom slot ported box tuned to some ridiculously low decibel (/sp?) and a true 1000 watt amp that hit so freakin low that setting off car alarms was an understatement (and could be achieved at easily less than half volume). about a month ago i went back through some old jungle (dnb techno with a twist of reggae/dancehall) cd's and put in a few old classics in my cd changer. well lets just say that i felt sad and almost shed a tear when my single jl12w6 on a 500.1 jl amp was unable to hit so many bass notes or ranges,,, it was like not even listening to the same tracks cuz so much bass was missing. this was just in my trunk and i had matching mids and highs in the cabin to match the amazing bass.

i really want to get back that missing bass but again not wanting to spend $3500 on the trunk alone plus i like being able to put stuff in the trunk with ease.

we will have to talk tonight though, hope it doesn't rain

it shouldnt rain. i definitely feel you as to missing what you had. i have boston pro series components on a kenwood 25th anniversary 125wx4 amp and two boston 12" g5 dvc's in a sealed box pushed by a kenwood 25th anniversary mono amp running close to 1300w that is .5 ohm stable. lol. needless to say, they move a little bit of air. this is what i want to put into my gs. all i need is the 3sixty to integrate the stock headunit. as to tonight - i can't make it. too much stuff to do around the house getting ready for a retirement party tomorrow. it would be close to 8 by the time i got there. anything going on tomorrow night? i will be in elkridge for the afternoon/early evening - free after that. oh yeah - i got all that and a center channel, 0gauge wiring and dvd headunit for 3k. if you decide you want to go with something, let me know and i will see what i can do for you.

0 gauge huh? that is pretty excessive is it not?? i would 1 gauge would be fine if you are running 0 gauge and a big *** fuse do you need another battery or cap then??

i didn't on my last setup, but i will on this one. i didn't push it near as hard as i could have.
and yes, it's a big fuse.
do me a favor and tell chris that i will stop by next week to grab my engine covers - they forgot to put them back on. i was hoping to grab tonight, but since i'm not stopping by...
thanks man.

will do... ^ ^ ^

still looking for any other recommendations on front door speaker replacements

kenwood. infinity kappa. boston acoustics. eclipse. focal. mb quart. stay away from xtant, mtx bought them and the quality has gone downhill.

so without doing a whole lot of investigating, what ohm rating are the front door speakers stock?? this should narrow down the playing field a little i guess.

My front door speaker is blown I think. It seems to flap. I didn't even have the radio up loud on my way home one night and the passenger side went out. Are these self-amplified speakers? A local shop sys they can't swap out the speakers if they are.

i'm not certain, but i would imagine not.

i don't think so cuz the amp in the trunk is like a 5 channel, 4 speakers + 1 sub...

See, that's what I had originally thought. But I asked my local shop since Stereo isn't something I'm a pro at. Ask me about engines any day, but radios... not chance.