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Which speakers? Let the people decide.

  • Infinity 3002cf

    Votes: 6 25.0%
  • Boston Acoustics S35

    Votes: 18 75.0%

Front Speakers - Infinity or Boston Acoustics?

11K views 21 replies 17 participants last post by  EdT 
#1 ·
I'm looking to upgrade the dash mounted 3.5" speakers and, after a little research, I have whittled my choice down to either:

Infinity 3002cf

Boston Acoustic S35

Does anyone have any experience with either of these speakers, or these two manufacturers?

BTW: I have the extra amp and door speakers fitted.
 
#3 ·
I just picked up a pair of Infinities on eBay for a song. Look around an there are some good bargains to be found. I bought a pair of eclipse 3-1/2s for my daughter's 900 that sound good too.

I went with the Infinities because it is easy to upgrade the caps. I'm going to upgrade the stock caps with some better quality audio film caps whenever the fall maintenance work is finished.
 
#4 ·
Munki said:
I'm looking to upgrade the dash mounted 3.5" speakers and, after a little research, I have whittled my choice down to either:

Infinity 3002cf

Boston Acoustic S35

Does anyone have any experience with either of these speakers, or these two manufacturers?

BTW: I have the extra amp and door speakers fitted.
Munki, I had a very similar set of Infinity 4" 2-way kappas fitted in one of my c900s, and they sounded great, though the rest of the sterero in that car was pretty horrible. Boston makes a nice product as well, though I dont have much firsthand experience with these.

IMHO, the difference between these two speakers will be pretty minimal. The Boston has a bit higher RMS value, which, considering that the sensitivity of both speakers is 92dB (looked up the infinitys as I though they had similar sensitivity), would mean that the Boston's can get a bit louder without distorting.

What is the RMS output of your amplifier? You generally want an amplifier with an rms value of at least that of your speaker, so that the amplifier has a clean output when the speaker is making the most noise :D

Now, what does the infinity counter for the Boston's extra loudness? Well, it has a bigger frequency response, starting at 85Hz and going to 21kHz, while the Boston goes from 100Hz to 21kHz. If you're filling in the bass with a sub or larger speaker in the doors, then as long as these speakers can fill in at least a bit above 100Hz, then you should be ok with the Bostons. The human ear cant hear much over 20 or 22 kHz at it's best, and I've heard that generally an adult cant hear much over 16kHz, so the upper limit wont matter too much in the real world anyways...

I'd likely say go with the Bostons, as you definately need to fill in the bass with something other than a 3.5" woofer anyways, and you hopefully have an amp that can supply enough power.

Good Luck Munki, and I can tell you that the Infinitys did outlast the car, though it only took a year or so to do that:lol:
 
#5 ·
The Boston's you show there look like they might be the newer replacement for the FX-3's I put in about a year ago. I like mine, but you will not go wrong with either brand. In fact they spec close enough together that I would decide based on price. You will probably roll them off at 100 - 150 Hz or above anyway? 6.5 in door mid-bass drivers should give plenty of energy up to 200 Hz, so you won't be making a big hole in the freq. resp. curve if you cross them over at 100 or 150 Hz.
 
#6 ·
Saaboheme said:
You will probably roll them off at 100 - 150 Hz or above anyway? 6.5 in door mid-bass drivers should give plenty of energy up to 200 Hz, so you won't be making a big hole in the freq. resp. curve if you cross them over at 100 or 150 Hz.
As I understand it, the factory amp for the speakers in the doors has a low-pass filter in it and the crossover is spec'd as 100Hz (-3db). This would sit nicely with the freq. resp of the Boston's.

Sadly though the output of the stock head unit is rather paltry (about 12W per channel in real terms). I am trying to get the best sound I can without replacing the head unit and rewiring the entire vehicle.
 
#7 ·
Munki said:
As I understand it, the factory amp for the speakers in the doors has a low-pass filter in it and the crossover is spec'd as 100Hz (-3db). This would sit nicely with the freq. resp of the Boston's.

Sadly though the output of the stock head unit is rather paltry (about 12W per channel in real terms). I am trying to get the best sound I can without replacing the head unit and rewiring the entire vehicle.
Are you sure that the 'door subs' are set that low? If this is the case, I'd say that you'll get better coverage with the infinitys. You see, if the Bostons are high-pass filtered at 100Hz (-3dB) and the sub is Low passed as you say, then there technically be a bit of energy lacking right at the 100Hz mark. The -3dB mark is a common way to denote a filter, saying that the energy of the signal has diminished by 3 dB by at that frequency. Meaning both speakers will have a diminished response at 100Hz. Yes, 3dB sounds like a small amount of something, but this is a logarithmic scale, which means for every 3db you have a reduction of actual sound energy by HALF.

Combine that with the Infinity's lower RMS value, meaning your stock amp will be "closer" to adequate for the speaker, and I'd change my vote from boston to infinity.

The Bostons will have extra power handling you wont need or even come close to using, smaller frequency response leaving a small potential hole in the response, and the same sensitivity (a measure of loudness v. input wattage)

Plus, who can argue with an aluminum finished speaker cone?
 
#8 ·
Crutchfield didn't show the BA S35 fitting in the dash of my 900. So I went with the Apline Type S 3.5" speaker. I got it for $19.77 (they priced it WAY wrong!) so I'm not going to complain. I am quite impressed with how the Apline's performed.

I wouldn't spend too much on a 3.5" speaker as I don't think you'll be able to hear much of a difference, especially if you are using the stock deck.

- Anthony
 
#9 · (Edited)
Don't know if you saw these. Waiting for mine:-

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_4763.html

Removeable tiny tweeters and proper crossovers. Plan to split and fit both under the dash grilles.

I couldn't get the exotic 4" Morels in the front. Made plates and replaced the 6*9s in the back.
 
#10 ·
Agreed all the way around.
I know the factory amp has its own built in low pass filter but I have never bothered to look into where it occurs. What occurs to me however, is that both the Boston and Infinity should have a broader frequency range than the cheapy factory units. Stated another way, I doubt the factory units will go as low as either of the potential replacements. So I dare say, both will work fine. Add to this the tendency of the human ear, especially in middle-aged men, to be sensitive to mid-bass frequencies, and it is possible that some drop-out at around 100 Hz may have an equalizing effect. Also, we don't know what order the low pass follows (how steep it is): is it akin to a 3rd, 4th or 5th order Butterworth at 6, 12 or 18 dB per octave or what? This will affect the magnitude of any drop-out at the point of the cross-over. It would also be useful to know what the resonant frequency of the door mid-bass units is or is going to be. Quite a few 6.5 inch drivers hover in the 80 Hz range, so there is significant extra energy still present by 100 Hz. This gives the warm quality to male vocals in a number of speakers using 6.5 inch drivers.
And the 3.5 inch speakers do make some difference, but smaller so than the others. I know that extended frequency response up top, over that provided by the factory units, is definitely noticeable and welcome, especially in verts with the top down.
IMHO, given the cost of decent quality 3.5 in. upgrades, they are a good bang for the buck as an audio upgrade. When not upgrading amplification, I use sensitivity as my first criterion, overall frequency response as number 2, reputation of the manufacturer and my affinity for its other products as number 3, and cost as the deciding factor when it gets down to a two or three way tie. (It is assumed that as a first order of business one has already determined the proper nominal impedances which will be satisfactory and anything not within that range has been rejected).
I know I used to agonize about stuff like this when I was younger. It is easier now. Free market competition has weeded out the truly incompetent and the basics are well understood and executed by all the major players. And I do not care as much as I used to. My experience has been that, following the plan above, most name brands will swap in and give some noticeable improvements.
 
#11 ·
Well so far this has all been good and interesting advice.

However, I am not upgrading from the stock speakers. I currently have a pair of Sony XS-A826 speakers up front. These were a cheap and cheerful option that I put in a couple of years ago, they are now sounding 'splashy' and confused at the upper end of the spectrum and they lack weight in the lower end. With the recent installation of the door speakers I have the upgrade bug again and I am looking to even out the sound.
 
#14 ·
there really is no point in trying to match a speakers RMS power to a amp, it just doesn't matter!!!! Just buy a quality speaker be it from Infinity, Boston, Polk etc & there will not be issues


You can blow a 200w speaker with a 10w amp just like you can with a 500w amp! If the speaker is getting a bad signal it will blow no matter what the wattage is! On a small speaker like a 3.5 you are more limited to the excursion of the cone/voicecoil & not the power handling abilities thus getting it crossed over properly is more importans :)


I have always been a huge fan of infinity. Their SQ is a little on the bright side vs Boston which is a softer sound usually thus it's really what you prefer.

That being said, why not go with the infinity kappa C32.5cf? That's what I will be doing to my viggen
 
#16 ·
back when I had an Accord I had a 1300 watt 8 speaker 2 sub set up with all the components except for the subs being BA. It sounded amazing. Had a dedicated 500 watt amp just for the components and a second 800 watt amp for the two subs. Ended up being too much boom (I listened to rap for about a month before I decided I like classic rock a lot more and didnt need the boom :cheesy:) so I eventually went to a single smaller sub.

The BAs in the cabin were amazing and never gave me a lick of trouble even in summers in triple digit temps. I highly recommend BAs! Only system in a car I have ever heard sound better was the Logic7 system in my 545, but that may have just been a much better equalizer/processor.
 
#17 ·
I have had both speakers hooked up to an alpine amp and have to say that the infinity speakers are way too harsh for my ears. Flutes screeched and pierced my years. Techno was way to scratchy to listen to and my system eventually became unbearable to listen to. I even had the tweeters attenuated down as much as possible on the speakers themselves and turned the upper frequencies down with tone controls and still had the same issues. Some people like that kind of sound, I personally hate it. Switched to BA and that issue went away. I can finally listen to music without my ears feeling like they are about to blow up.
 
#20 ·
I am also interested in replacing my front speakers and possibly my rear doors speakers. The factory speakers are apparently 2.5 ohm according to angry kitchen appliances. If i replaced these four speakers with 4 ohm speakers would the new resistance hurt the amp or would it still be safe? I have found a pair of 2 ohm 3.5 inch speakers from infinity but they are very expensive so i could only afford to do the front two. please help, thank you.
 
#22 ·
I suspect they would be 4 ohm, and anyway 4 ohm replacements would be fine. If you want extra reassurance, pop one out of the dash (the other one should be the same). The impedance will be stamped on the magnet, and you can use it to make sure that the aftermarket speakers will fit (easier if you shop at a real store).
 
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