According to crutchfield I can go with 5.25 components or 6x8's. I am kinda new to car audio can anyone give me some suggestions on brands and series to throw in the front and the back doors. For speakers I am willing to spend around 500-600 dollars.
excellent price range Jason. there is really quite a bit to choose from in that range that would sound remarkable with the proper install.
DLS Dynaudio Morel Focal CDT Rainbow Scanspeak SEAS
the best place to find the high ends of these lines would be online. otherwise, your looking at closer to the mid to 3rd quartile of the product. just as a reference, i got my DLS 3-way Iridiums for just under 600.00, which would have otherwise been 900-1000.00
at any rate, there are plenty of "tastes" in components and it really depends on the ear. but here is a remarkable breakdown jonathan made a couple months back:
"COMPONENTS As far as the components above go, I'll try to give you an idea of how they sound.
The Focals can be very neutral, but being an inverted dome, the tweeter has odd dispersion and is very difficult to get the installation right. Another thing that boils down to installation. Midbass has a lot of output and is stronger than a lot of components, not as airy and natural as others. Midrange is clear and liquid sounding, very pleasing.
The SEAS components are excellent and the midbass is one of the most detailed out there, but low end extension isn't quite as good as others and bass tends to be a little dry. Upper end requires a notch filter to tame the resonant peak of the magnesium cone. Good news is the x-over does the work for you. Somewhat neutral sound, not harsh at all, accurate midrange reproduction, and neutral tweeters (even the metal dome) to match it. Drivers are very dynamic. (Notch filter is a LCR circuit that is designed to take a "notch" out of the frequency that the driver resonates at. The component values are determined by the DC resistance, resonant frequency, and the Electrical and Mechanical Q of the driver. Simply put, in this specific case this is a circuit that is used to tame the resonance of the magnesium cone, it dampens response at that frequency so that the resonance of the driver doesn't affect crossover operation (and result in fatiguing midrange resonance, even past the X-over frequency)).
Dynaudios are very warm, airy, and neutral. They are also quirky with their install, while they will work in doors or other locations, to bring out their best requires custom mounting and experimentation. Their strong point is the transparency of the drivers. They can disappear better than nearly any car speaker out there, and don't color the music as much as most others do. All the detail is there, but they aren't aggressive with the detail as others are, it doesn't jump out at you. Lower bass is performed well and is very accurate, but it is more airy and not as authoritative. Most of the general population would prefer a punchy midbass.
DLS is smooth and natural in their sound reproduction, similar to the Dynaudios mentioned above, but a bit more lively. Upper midrange tends to be a bit dark due to a rolloff, but not by a lot. Bass reproduction is strong and accurate. Tweeter is very smooth. Set isn't harsh by any means either.
Morel is similar to Dynaudio, which makes sense as they license a lot of Dynaudios technology. Sweet and warm sound, very strong bass performance. Overall very neutral performance, similar to that of Dynaudio.
CDT is also known for natural sounding speakers, they use mainly Vifa drivers in their component speakers. Their crossovers are what make the systems what they are, they are very good sets for the average installer, especially the braxials. CDT is geared more for people that want great sound, but don't want to do an extensive installation to get it. Not saying that a custom installation won't bring that much more out of them.
MB Quart makes great components, but as Focal, they are controversial because they are difficult to get the tweeter right. Smooth, detailed midrange reproduction, tweeter is very detailed, but bright by many people's ears.
The Rainbows, overall, are very natural and dynamic. Think Focal Utopia with a soft tweeter for the upper end models. If you've ever heard the SEAS excel home drivers (paper coned ones), then you'll have an idea of what Rainbow drivers sound like. They're very clean and neutral, strong bass output, accurate midrange and smooth tweeters. Seems to be characteristic of all high end sets.
All in all, though, the end result is determined by the installation. Installed optimally, these components will sound similar to one another in the fact that they will give clean, detailed sound reproduction and good imaging. The overall sound character is determined by many factors, the surrounding vehicle and installation location determines it more than anything, though. While all the speakers have a different character, you have to determine whether the components you're considering will work well in your application. You'll get better results choosing components that work well with your installation than you will just choosing what sounds good. There are many methods to get great sound, and that is the reason these manufacturers have different engineering principles. What sounds harsh or dull in one vehicle may be just right in another, determined by the environment and also the ears."