The Best Car Speakers For Music Lovers 2024

Tired of boring, lackluster audio in your car, truck, or SUV? Why not get an immediate improvement in audio reproduction with our selection for Best Car Coaxial: Focal’s EC 165 KE 6-1/2” 2-way speakers? Focal’s sound gurus blend unique materials with advanced technologies to deliver a truly superb sound experience. Focal’s K2 Power line was recently revamped for even better sound quality than their predecessors. We found it hard to believe that you could have improved upon the original speakers, but we were wrong.

The Kevlar/glass fiber-cone woofers can deliver some truly impressive midrange and midbass response thanks to their sandwich cone design. In case you’re unaware of this “Kevlar/glass fiber sandwich cone” technology, allow us to explain: Focal’s engineers place a thin layer of Kevlar between two ultra-thin layers of glass fiber to ensure unparalleled rigidity. These woofer cones are then connected to the aluminum basket via Focal’s TMD (tuned mass damper) rubber surround to further eliminate distortion potential. The built-in woven aramid fiber inverted dome just plain sings those high frequencies. Seriously. You’ve never heard music so good from a car coaxial speaker!

Hook up the EC 165 KE speaker kit to an amplifier that pushes them around 80 watts each (at 4 ohms) and you will hear your favorite tunes in clarity you’d never expect in your vehicle. We were thrilled with these speakers’ imaging and clarity when we first hooked them up for their inaugural test drive. It’s about time that you started enjoying those early-morning drives, isn’t it?

Pros:

• Superb sound quality
• Premium materials

Cons:

• Deeper speaker baskets can limit installation applications
• Won’t run well off radio power

Kenwood’s KFC-X174 6-1/2” 2-way car coaxial speakers sound incredible and, more importantly for the folks looking for a simple, but noticeable, audio upgrade in their vehicle, they don’t need gobs of juice to perform well. The injection-molded polypropylene woofer cones couple quite well with the 1” soft dome tweeters for well-balanced, natural sound. You can throw anything from classical music to heavy metal, and these speakers will perform quite well. We think you can see why we believe they should own our Best Value Car Coaxial Speakers title. If you're still a tad unsure, please read on!

Kenwood put thought into the fitment of the rear part of the speaker, too. Measuring only 2-1/4” in top-mount depth, this speaker system should have no issues being installed in virtually any vehicle. A pair of stylish protective grilles are included in case you need them, too. The KFC-X174 speakers handle a wide-range of power - up to 80 watts of continuous power handling, to be specific. This means that anywhere from a factory-installed radio to an aftermarket amplifier can be used to drive these coaxial speakers. You’ve got a future upgrade path, if you decide to add an amplifier in the future for even better sound quality!

Pros:

• Big step up from OEM speakers
• Included grilles for custom applications
• Two-year warranty

Cons:

• A tad deeper speaker basket compared to its competitors
• Midrange can be a little thin-sounding

If you're looking for a truly outstanding pair of 6-1/2" 2-way coaxial car speakers, check out Focal's 165AC Access-series kit, the speakers that won our Best Car Coaxial Speakers Under $300. Boasting dual fiberglass structure (DFS) woofer cones that deliver some great midrange and midbass response coupled to an aluminum inverted dome tweeter that sounds plain gorgeous, you will not be able to find a better solution to your audio dilemma.

We want to talk about the tweeter a bit more as it is quite unique to a coaxial speaker design. The tweeter in the middle of each speaker is in an angled mount atop a rotatable post. This means that you're able to spin this tweeter post to get the tweeters to project their sound towards your ears. You will hear more detail in every bit of music you listen to!

This 4-ohm speaker kit can handle up to 120 watts of peak power (up to 60 watts RMS), so your choices are wide: power them off the existing audio system or add a small, robust amplifier to make these things really sing! Each speaker's ABS/fiberglass basket is only 2-1/2" deep, so you should have no install worries in most vehicles. If you're not planning on using the existing speaker grilles in the car (or they don't exist), Focal has some in the box with these speakers.

Pros:

• Selectable tweeter firing position
• Strong midrange reproduction

Cons:

• Midbass can be a tad thin
• Treble can get a little bright at loud volumes

Kicker has designed their 46CSS654 CS-series 2-way 6-1/2” car component speakers to be a hefty upgrade over what’s installed into most cars, trucks, and SUVs today. A lot of research and development went into these speakers to ensure that they sound good and last a good long time. Woofer cones crafted from polypropylene are attached to the speaker’s durable stamped basket via ribbed polyester foam surrounds and 3/4” titanium tweeters all but assure you that they are truly great-sounding speakers, which is what you see them winning the Best Value Car Component Speakers title.

Boasting a woofer mounting depth of only 1-13/16”, you should find little installation woes in your vehicle of choice. Even the included crossovers are compact enough to tuck away into a door or under the dash for a discreet location. If you need some protection for the speakers, Kicker thoughtfully included some grilles for this very reason.

This 4-ohm car component speaker kit will handle up to 100 watts of continuous power and then up to 300 watts of max power, so you have a few options for powering them: factory-installed radio, aftermarket radio, or an amplifier. Well, what are you waiting for? Click the “Add to Cart” button and start your journey to better-sounding audio today!

Pros:

• Improvement over factory-installed speakers
• Low power requirements
• Compact crossovers

Cons:

• Treble can get bright at moderate-to-high volumes
• Midrange can be thin with certain genres of music

If you’ve done any research on upgrading your vehicle’s speakers, there’s a very strong chance that you saw Focal’s name pop up a time or two. That’s because they are darn good at what they do and their Auditor-series ASE 165 6-1/2” 2-way car component speakers show the incredible value you receive from the French speaker manufacturer.

Smooth midrange and tight midbass response are delivered via the polypropylene woofer cones while detailed high-frequency response from the Mylar inverted dome tweeters make the nuances in your music emerge effortlessly. Simple, but efficient, compact crossovers are tasked with the duty of separating the incoming audio signal and sending the appropriate audio information to the proper driver (midrange and midbass go to the woofers while highs go to the tweeters). We love how small these crossovers are because it makes the installation of the system so much easier! Also making the installation easier is the 2-1/2” mounting depth of the woofers – that type of depth should fit in virtually any vehicle. All of the aforementioned criteria is why we awarded them the Best Car Component Speakers Under $200 title!

While the ASE 165 speakers are designed to thrive in a low-power environment (such as running off a factory-installed or aftermarket stereo), you will get the utmost in performance if you team them up with a 60-watt per channel amplifier. In doing so, the speakers will achieve better sound quality as well as playing more loudly. Win/win, we believe.

Pros:

• Big improvement over OEM speakers
• Low power requirements
• Compact crossovers for easier placement

Cons:

• A tad thin with bass reproduction
• Treble can get harsh at loud volumes

The ISU 165 6-1/2” component car speakers are hands-down one of the best options available if you’re looking to upgrade from a rather dull sound system in your vehicle to a better-sounding experience, which is why you see them under our Best Car Component Speakers Under $500 header.

The woofer cones are made using Focal’s polyglass technology, which is the result of adhering micro glass balls to a pulp cone. This allows the woofer cone to have a fair amount of rigidity without weighing much. This improves mid-range and midbass response while limiting distortion potential. Aluminum magnesium inverted dome tweeters deliver smooth high-frequency response and are protected from harmful frequencies by the slim in-line crossover Focal supplies.

The ISU 165 speakers can handle up to 70 watts of continuous power (and up to 140 watts of peak power), but thanks to their 4-ohm impedance and 93dB sensitivity rating, these things will sound wonderful even running off a factory-installed radio. If you add an amplifier to power them into the fold, they will sound even better. With a mounting depth measuring only 1-15/16”, the woofers will fit into almost any location imaginable. Please note that Focal does not include speaker grilles as they expect the ISU 165 speakers to reside behind existing grilles. So what are you waiting for?

Pros:

• Great sound for the money
• Low power requirements
• Ultra-compact crossovers

Cons:

• Tweeters can be a little large for original tweeter locations
• Not as much tuning available through crossovers like others offer

Kicker’s 46CSC654 6-1/2” 2-way car coaxial speakers sound incredible and, more importantly (for the folks looking for a simple, but noticeable, audio upgrade in their vehicle), they don’t need gobs of juice to perform well. These were HUGE points in determining that these Kicker speakers deserved the Best Low Power Car Coaxial Speaker award. The polypropylene woofer cones couple quite well with the PEI dome tweeters for well-balanced, natural sound. The tweeter on each speaker boasts zero protrusion, so you don’t have to be concerned with the tweeter hitting the inside of the door panel when you’re putting everything back together after the installation.

And speaking of installation, Kicker put a lot of time and thought into the fitment of the rear part of the speaker, too. Measuring only 1-11/16” in top-mount depth, this speaker system should have no issues being installed in virtually any vehicle. A pair of stylish protective grilles are included in case you need them, too. If you’re looking for even better sound, consider adding a small amplifier into the mix to enjoy these car speakers even more!

Pros:

• Big improvement over OEM speakers
• Zero-protrusion tweeters sit easily behind existing grilles
• Low power requirements

Cons:

• A tad thin in midrange reproduction
• Polyester foam surrounds aren't as durable as rubber surrounds