An ideal speaker setup for your car: 2 way vs 3 way speakers

You like music, or you might like audio teaching programs or the soothing and calming noise of gentle rain falling. You need a good speaker set in your car. Maybe your family likes it quiet in the car, but you love loud or soft music. Nonetheless, you must get a nice set of speakers for your car.

Let’s discuss the types of speakers that are available and what kind of speaker would be suitable for your car. When you choose a speaker, you must keep a few practical points in your mind. The speakers must be able to work for long durations if need be. The speakers must be able to play loud to soft music to your liking. And the speakers must produce good quality sound.

In this electronic world of loudspeakers, there are a lot of electronic components that make up a speaker. Different kinds of speakers use various components in different combinations and arrangements. The less expensive type of speaker uses fewer components or cheaper quality components. It’s a little bit confusing, especially if you have to ask friends, acquaintances, or shopkeepers. People will be biased and will have their preferences that they will defend and vouch for.

First, we will concentrate on the types of speakers that are used in vehicles. Commonly used speakers for a car are component speakers and coaxial speakers. We will be discussing coaxial speakers first. The coaxial speakers come in two forms; a 2-way coaxial speaker set up and a 3-way coaxial speaker set up.

We will endeavor to bring all the relevant information that will help you determine the most suitable type of loudspeakers for your car.

The coaxial speakers in detail  

The 2-way coaxial speakers

The 2-way coaxial speakers are not as sharp as the latter coaxial speakers set up. It is, of course, depending on how sensitive you are about the sounds you hear. Some people want to listen to some music or sound, and the quality does not matter to them. As for cost, the 2-way will be less expensive as there are fewer components used in them.

These are standard speakers that are made up of woofers and tweeters. They are also referred to as drivers. The woofer component of the speaker handles all frequencies that are low to near medium levels. While the tweeter component deals with frequencies that range from medium levels to high levels. The woofer has to handle both low and medium frequencies while the tweeter has to produce the medium and high frequencies. There is a crossover effect as the mid-range is partially covered by the woofer and partially by the tweeter. It sacrifices some of the quality of the sound. In simple words, you will be getting just an okay deal with the sound. But if you know anything about music, you will not appreciate this system. For ordinary folks like us, this system will work just fine. If you like heavy, hard-hitting drums and bass sounds, then this system would not satisfy you.

The 3-way coaxial speaker in detail

In a 3-way coaxial speaker set, you will have a woofer component, a mid-bass component, and a tweeter component. All three drivers are housed in one single box or the soundbox. Unlike the component speakers that have separate boxes for each driver. The coaxial speakers are also called full-range speakers. The woofer deals separately with the full range of low frequencies. The mid-bass component deals with all frequencies related to medium to low ranges or the mid-range of sound, and the tweeter component handles the frequencies dealing with all high pitched sounds. Thus this system produces very sharp, clear audio. This system can handle a wide range on the Hz spectrum, from around 20,21 Hz to nearly 2000 Hz and up.

What are component speakers?

In this set-up, all the components have their separate casings or sound boxes. The sound quality produced by this set-up is much better, very distinct and sharp, in comparison to the sound of the coaxial speaker set up. But this system is harder to properly place inside the cabin of the car to get the best sound effect. The system will take up more cabin area in the car. And it is more expensive than coaxial speakers. Both a 2-way and 3-way component speakers are available. The advantage is that with these speakers you can determine which frequency gets to you first. You can also determine how loud it should be by placing the woofers closer. You will experience low frequency sounds first, then the higher sounds coming from the tweeters.

Which music system is perfect for your car?

Now, this is completely subjective. You know some details about all the different parts that make up these speakers. The different parts, what they do, and how they are arranged has all been explained to you. You can understand why one system can be more expensive compared to another; it has more components or housed in another box, and this will cost more. The cost factor will also go up depending on the brand of the speakers. The quality of the speakers is also vital; how strong the speakers are and what is its sound quality.

Please note down this too. Your speakers should be able to handle Hz ranging from around 20,21 Hz to 2000 Hz. And the Decibel should be around 80 to 85. 90 as above this range would be dangerous for your ears. Especially if you are using it for a longer time.

But basically, the 3-way component speakers are the best. All the sounds that come from this type of set will be so distinct and audible that the 2-ways don’t have a chance to stand. All the sounds of a 3-way coaxial speaker will come at you the same way and will hit you together. It is not the case with a 2-way component speaker set-up.

Nothing can beat a professionally installed 3-way component speaker set-up for an optimum sound effect, except how expensive it can be compared to setting up some ordinary speakers yourself. In the end, you have to decide for yourself what is best for you, and this is determined by how much you can afford for your passion for music or for any other audio entertainment you like.

Final Words

We sincerely hope you have found this article helpful and interesting. We have provided you with all the information that is relevant to car speaker systems that are ideal for any type of vehicle. Just remember this last but important point, the larger the cabin of your vehicle is the stronger the speakers should be for a good sound effect. Regardless of whether you are using the component or coaxial speaker set-up or using a 2-way or 3-way configuration.