Audiobahn is one brand I wouldn't mind taking a look at. I don't know where they're carried in my area though. JL Audio is another good one, especially for subs. They carry good value ones to very nice high level ones, but you do have to pay for them. Their website is very informative and they carry both components and coaxial speakers. I haven't heard of Focal, but I guess I'll check them out. To show how crazy I am, I'm already doing research on how the soundsystem in my next car will be when I get it a year or two from now!

Be sure to check out some of the custom installs that companies do. They may give you some ideas on how to mount speakers. I've seen one somewhere in the JL Audio page that had the tweeters of a component set in the shape B&W teeters do, sort of like a horn. This was fastened to the dash. If it's placed right I could see it being possible to have this without damaging the car. I'll try to find it later.

Here it is Click on the "Check Out Our New GTI" link and scroll through the pictures, it's number 3. My description was a little off, but you get the general idea.

The GTI link looks interesting. It’s amazing what is being fabricated for custom auto installs. Here's one for Focal, I had read some independent reviews on their sound which made me want to hear these in particular (and a couple of other brands) for myself. The bottom 2 lines have some coaxial offered.
http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/car/

Morel is a Dynaudio licensee who makes ome products that might be suitable for autosound as well. They would be a bit more on the 'hi-fi' side rather than the 'boombox' mindset, so it depends on what you're after....

I just took a look at Focal and it looks fantastic. I'm going to give them a serious look, even if I have to "settle" for the Polyglass series. True reviews seem hard to come by.

Morel is a Dynaudio licensee? That’s very interesting, I know Dynaudio is Danish and Morel I believe based in Israel. It’s quite the interconnected world in AV. Morel was my second pick to hear in person along with Focal, although I’ve got to get the son on their web site, I’m not sure if they produced anything that he can make fit unless he eases his installation parameters.

I think I’m rubbing off on the son!!!. He seems to be becoming more focused on the quality of the sound than the volume these days. He’s even started pointing out to me speakers, which are distorting when pushed in certain cars we’ve ridden in. It will be interesting to see (when we shop) which way he lands.

Well, I'm not totally sure what the relationship is between the companies. I'm not even totally sure it's correct to say that Morel liscences any technology from Dynaudio. If they do, it's probably for the voice coils, which use "hexagonally wound" wires.

There's some weird stuff going on with Morel. There was a stink going around about them a little while ago. I think originally they were based in England (I could be wrong there). I think the Isreal manufacturing was having some QC problems for a while. Maybe someone else here has some more accurate info.

As far as their home audio drivers go, they are pretty good. Their mid/bass drivers haven't really changed much, and are no longer as "technically advanced" as they once were. Their tweeters seem to be held in higher regard than their mid/bass drivers.

Bear in mind that their car audio stuff isn't much different from the home audio stuff, so you really are looking at a product geared towards accurate sound reproduction, rather than "flashy cool looks". Same goes for Focal. I believe that Dynaudio is also selling auto speakers now. Vifa and Seas both sell auto drivers, but to my knowledge, they don't have complete systems (including crossovers).

Jason

Question? For my Halloween 'treat' last night after eating out my husband took me to the big new local superstore. They were about to close so I had just a sec to listen to 2 models of speakers in the mobile audio area. I asked for him to put what was ‘their’ top of the line coaxial Boston’s on line, (999 a pair) then asked to hear a 2-piece component, (Rockford-Fosgate) (299 a pair).

Funny sidebar, I had him go back and forth between the two, EVERY time he put the more expensive Boston’s on line he bumped the volume. When he went back to the Rockford’s each time he reduced volume.
These guys are really funny…..

The Boston’s had extremely objectionable ‘highs’, (could not stand them) very shrill and would drive me nuts in 5 min. As soon as I remarked on this, he stated ‘Oh, we’ve had some complaints about that’ but I know for a fact the Boston’s have adjustable crossovers and are set up wrong on this board. A minute later he said there I ‘tweaked’ it isn’t that better….(it was not).

Now I know acoustics are totally different in a demo room than in the difficult and variable install in the car. But if it doesn’t sound good on the board I don’t expect it to magically improve tone in the car.

Question for the day…Crossovers should affect the frequency gaps more than anything? Is this correct?
So assuming I screwed with crossovers all day long, though I might bring the mids and bass into a smoother transaction with the highs. I could never expect this to change a tweeter which sounds inherently shrill????

It depends on how they have the crossover set up. It is definitely possible for the crossover to affect things other than just at the crossover point. There are "EQ" circuits that can be used to reduce inherent "peaks" in a drivers response. Also, there will almost always be some form of attenuation circuit on the tweeter. For some reason tweeters naturally have higher effeciency, so they need to be "quieted down". This is usually just a resistor or two. If Boston was going to make an adjustable crossover, it would have been wise for them to make it possible to adjust the relative level of the tweeter, which in your case might have taken care of the "shrill" sound you were hearing. I've noticed this about their home speakers as well. One pair that was particularly expensive, and had an aluminum tweeter, about made my ears bleed. The silibance was soo horrible, I had to switch to listening to different speakers. Maybe all of their speaker designers are 70-year-old construction workers that don't have hearing left above 5kHz?

On a side note, the receiver in the car should have enough EQ ability to tame down most of the high end harshness. Once the car is moving, there is a lot of road noise, which dramatically affects your perception of sound. Maybe the speakers are optimized for that type of environment, and would thus sound very different when installed in a car? Seems to me like $1000 is an aweful lot to spend on car speakers...

Jason

Thanks to all for the help on this one. The son & I went shopping and he picked Rockford Fosgates.
The choices became extremely limited as he stuck to his severe install limitations. If he used even a 1” bezel to allow for more depth for install on his fronts (the Focals) he would end by tending to scrap speaker grill when he hits his clutch. Rockford was one of the only units we could find with the necessary shallow install depth required for the 6” fronts. He had unlimited depth for the back deck 6 x 9’s. He purchased 6” coaxial in the front and 3 way coaxial in the rear 6x 9’s. Sounds nice.
He spent half of what he had saved and budgeted for, and is wheeling and dealing to add this saving into our budget and purchase a Christmas sub setup for the car. This will cost him more than the 4 speakers combined. He’s very happy with it. Thanks again!