6.5 or 6x9 speakers?

Looking to replace the factory speakers. I've done a fair amount of research but there isn't a clear winner online to the question - Which is better, 6x9 or 6.5 speakers? I know that it is subjective but most of the speakers that I have seen installed here are 6.5"s instead of the 6x9.

Who has installed what, and why did you choose one over the other?

 

i went with 6x9 components

i think maximizing piston area is important. mine will play a fairly narrow pass-band

 

I'm personally not a 6/9 fan but like the others said, they do have a "bass" advantage over a 6.5 due to more cone area

 

6.5 front and rear I have 2 sets of FOCALS FS 350.00 Shipped

 

Response is what matters most, and of course the 6x9 theoretically should have the better response down low where most like to have some front door thump and deep voicing. Problem is the location low in the doors does little to help with the upper extension hindered by a speaker already beaming before the average tweeter can take over. A 6.5 can help alleviate this issue but it's not much better.

A good suggestion is to get a beefy midbass down there and instead of a small tweeter, opt for a small midrange/fullrange to fit in the tweeter location. Then add a small tweeter in the sail panel, a-pillar, or dash. If not, you need to find a low resonance tweeter for the door to aid the midwoofer down low.

 

IM playing with some tweeters right now that can play down to 800hz .... cant wait for the snow to go away so i can get to work

 

I'm use some xbl soft dome tweeters with a low resonance. They can be crossed fairly low, but still must be done so in a manner to avoid distortion & damage. Essentially I think I have them around 1.8khz @ -24db. Mids are crossed around 1.6khz due to top end issues. What's more important is the acoustic response which is fairly decent for now though I'm about to switch amplifiers to squeeze in more channels in the same space to add small mids. This will help clean up the sound by not playing drivers towards their outer limits.

 

Yeah, i won't be crossing them over at 800, i will be playing around with them down to about 1khz on axis in the pillar

 

Still pretty bold. What tweets are they?

 

You won't know them, but i can direct you to them. They are the GIP TDA-29. There will be a TON of testing done, but most importantly the response curve will determine where i cross them over. If the response curve indicates that they are lacking @ 1khz then i will make the appropriate changes. Its just nice to know i have the ability to at least be open to it.

Their a SQL type tweeter made for super loud setups not the traditional SQ tweeters. For my truck I'm going for Loud but honed in by install, imagining and processing to obtain the sound I'm looking for whilst being able to keep up with 150DB bass install. Im running 2 tweeters and 2 8s per door active

My rav4 is the SQ car and that has a COMPLETELY different setup