The driving experience can be improved with a good sound system, and high-quality 6×8 car speakers are a foundational part of that. The quality of the sound system in our cars is usually based on the amount of money we paid for our car. Most cars are equipped with sound systems that are simply adequate to hear music. Very often a relatively small investment (less than $100) and some time (from 30 to 90 minutes) can change our listening pleasure to an amazing degree. We simply replace the factory installed speakers with a new set of 6 x 8 speakers.

There are many manufactures of 6 x 8 car speakers; Pioneer, JBL, Kenwood, Polk, Infinity, Rockford Fosgate, Boston Acoustics, just to name a few. Before we make any decision as to which set of speakers to buy, we really need to do some important research. Regarding the size of the speakers, most cars have factory installed 5 x 7 or 6 x 8 speakers. Usually the speaker holes will allow the 6 x 8 speakers to replace 5 x 7 speakers. We can go online to sites like Crutchfield and find which speaker sizes will fit our car. In terms of speakers, size does matter. Identical 6 x 8 speakers and 5 x 7 speakers produce different results. The larger speakers will produce crisper highs, clearer mid-ranges and richer bass sounds.

The single most important step in buying the right 6 x 8 car speakers is to be certain that they correctly match the output of our music source, often called the head unit (HU), (radio, CD player, MP3 player, etc.). If we buy speakers that have an RMS wattage capacity that is greater than the RMS wattage output of our system, we may blow up our system trying to drive those speakers. The general rule of thumb is that our HU should have twice the RMS wattage output as our 6 x 8 speakers RMS wattage capacity. It is better to have a little more output power in reserve to deal with peaks without creating distortion.

Once we have matched the system and speakers in terms of power, we will want to decide what driver configuration we want. The driver configuration will have the greatest impact on the quality of the reproduction of the music. Music is simply organized audio frequencies. The frequencies are divided into three ranges: bass (from 20 Hertz [Hz] to 1K Hz), mid-range (from 300 Hz to 7.5K Hz) and treble (from 1K Hz to 17K Hz). Yes, there is an overlap in those ranges. The 6 x 8 speakers typically come in four types: one-way, two-way, three-way and four-way. One-way speakers are rare because they produce poor music quality. A two-way speaker is a combination of a tweeter (treble range) and woofer (bass range) drivers. A three-way speaker has a tweeter, mid-range and woofer drivers, so all three frequency ranges have their own driver. A four-way speaker is a three-way with a sub-woofer driver. A sub-woofer emphasizes the lower bass range. Now find out the RMS of your HU and go to your local radio store and try a system with a little less power than yours on some 6 x 8 speakers. You are ready to buy.

1. Installation of 6 x 8 speakers can be made easier if the manufacturer includes Mastersheets (specific instructions for a specific car) with the speakers.
2. Installation of 6 x 8 speakers can be made easier if the manufacturer includes harnesses (straps to secure the speakers) with the speakers.
3. Many times the factory installed speakers are single cone full range speakers. This means they have only one drive (device) to try to reproduce all frequencies (notes). Upgrading to only a two-way 6 x 8 speaker system (one tweeter and one woofer) improves the quality of the music dramatically.
4. Most speaker holes in cars are made to accept 6 x 8 speakers. Even if the holes are for speakers that are one size smaller, the 6 x 8 speakers will still fit properly.
5. If we upgrade to 6 x 8 speakers with a greater wattage rating, it will allow us to upgrade our source unit (radio, CD player, etc.) to a more powerful system as well. By upgrading both, the quality of the sound of our music will improve tremendously.
6. We will get better sound and protect our speakers better if we fit them into a baffle when installing them. A baffle is a protective shield that helps to decrease vibrations while keeping water out of the speaker behind a car door panel.
7. When we properly match our upgraded 6 x 8 speakers to our source unit the unit will perform more efficiently. This means that we will reduce the work load on our source unit while increasing the quality of the sound.
8. The 6 x 8 speakers reduced distortion. We can easily recognize the reduction in distortion when we can hear the words more clearly in a song and we can actually hear the individual instruments being played.
9. When the 6 x 8 speakers are correctly matched with our system, sometimes we may experience what is called sound imaging. This is best understood when we are listening to music, we close our eyes and we can actually point in the direction where different instruments are playing. We will sense that the drums may be directly in front of us while the bass guitar is off to our right. The lead guitar may sound as if it is coming from our left while the backup singers may sound like they are coming from our right. This is not just an effect of stereo recording. It is a combination of excellent microphone placement, mixing, and our quality 6 x 8 speakers.

Head Unit (HU): this is often used when referring to the source of the input to the speakers. That means the radio, CD player, MP3 player or whatever is sending music to the speakers.

OEM: this is the abbreviation for Original Equipment Manufacturer. This is sometimes called the factory sound system. These terms are used when referring to the audio equipment installed in our cars at the factory.

Sound system output: this refers to the amount of power our source unit has available to send the music to the speakers. The power is measured in various ways. Some of the measurements are very important to consider; such as nominal wattage (see definition). Other measurements are less important and often misleading; such as peak power (see definition).

Tweeter: the driver (device) in our 6 x 8 speakers that is created to reproduce the higher notes in the music range.

Mid-range: the driver (device) in our 6 x 8 speakers that is created to reproduce the middle notes in the music range.

Woofer: the driver (device) in our 6 x 8 speakers that is created to reproduce the low notes in the music range.

Sub-woofer: the driver (device) in our 6 x 8 speakers that is created to reproduce the lowest notes in the low range.

One-way, two-way, three-way and four-way speakers: these phrases tell us how many separate drivers (devices) are in the speaker. A one-way 6 x 8 speaker (or single cone full range speaker) has only one driver (device) that is required to reproduce all notes in the music range. A two-way 6 x 8 speaker (or tweeter woofer combination) has two drivers (devices) to produce music. The tweeter produces the high notes and the woofer produces the low notes. The two combined overlap in producing mid-range notes. A three-way 6 x 8 speaker (the most popular style) has three drivers (devices) to produce music; a tweeter for high notes, a woofer for low notes, and a mid-range for the middle notes. A four-way 6 x 8 speaker has four drivers (devices) to produce music. It has the same drivers as the three-way and adds a sub-woofer which specializes in producing the lowest notes in the music. This gives it more of what some music fans call boom. Two things should be obvious from these definitions. The first point is that the more drivers in a 6 x 8 speaker the better the quality of the sound. The second point is that the more drivers in a 6 x 8 speaker the higher the price.

Ohm: this is a measurement of electrical resistance. The only interest we have here is that our speakers and our source unit have the same Ohm rating. Most 6 x 8 speakers are 4 Ohm rated. It is better if our source system is 4 Ohm rated as well. The system will work with mismatched Ohm ratings but not as well.

Watts: this is a measurement of power. The higher the wattage rating of a source system, the more power it has to send the music to the speakers. The higher the wattage rating of the speakers, the more power the speakers can take. Higher wattage does not only have the potential to produce louder sound but, even more importantly, it has the potential to improve the quality of the sound from our 6 x 8 speakers.

Nominal wattage: this is the process of matching the wattage output of our source system with wattage rating of our speakers. If the wattage of our speakers is much higher than the wattage of our source system, we could blow up our source system trying to get the speakers to perform well. The reverse is true as well. If the wattage of our source system is much higher than the wattage of our speakers, we could blow up the speakers by turning the volume up too high.

Peak power: is a confusing method of measuring speaker and source system performance. It is usually much safer to use wattage ratings to put an audio system together to perform optimally.

These definitions should be of help when researching your best choices for 6 x 8 speakers. Enjoy the music.