After careful research, much of it done on this and other internet forums, I ponied up the money for a pair of Infinity Reference 5x7's for the Screw, using head unit power only.

Must admit to being very disappointed in the general sound quality of the speakers. In my opinion, it is a wash between the factory spaekers and the Infinity's. Bought them from Circuit City for $96, but they can be purchased for $66 from The ZEB online. I did not reverse the polarity, but they sound out of phase, punchless, and have lower sound output than the factory speaker. In fact, I put the factory speaker back in the right front door, and compared it to the Infinity in the left door. The difference in sound certainly doesn't warrant an extra $100 , in my opinion.

Any similiar sad tales like mine out there? Is this speaker too power hungry for the power provided by the head unit? It's starting to look like a power amp and separates for me.

The good news is that the door panel removal on the SuperCrew is a snap. And since it looks like I'll be doing it again, I am not unhappy about that.

 

You can quickly turn around your disappointment by adding an amp,
Crewzer. The Infinity's require power. They're stiff and need power
to move that mass. You get amazing clarity and brilliance in return.
That HU can hardly push the sucky stock whizzer cones. Why would
you think it can adequately provide for fine speakers?

 

That's a Roger, Sundog. I went back to Circuit City and had the highly trained sales profesional there fire up the Reference speakers with an Alpine V12 amp. Mucho difference! I am a little surprised that the Alpines are that power hungry. I guess I'll just suffer through with the stock speakers until I can buy an amp and separates. Someone told me that the Infinity perfect speakers are outstanding.

Thanks for your reply.

 

I just upgraded my Screws sound system, factory HU with (2) RCA converters, Profile Clarus CL440 amp (50W x 4) Infinity Kappa (2 way) in front and JBL GTO's (3 ways) in rear. The sound is as good as the Mach system ( had a 98 EB Expedition) with out the sub. Will be adding a 8" Kicker sub in the center console (GenIII) and at that time will change out the rear JBL's for The Infinity Kappa's.

 

I feel your pain, Crewzer. And, even from this distance, can detect a bit
of drool forming on the corner of your mouth as you glom over the
variety of choices before you in all the car audio stores you've visited. Truly
a sad thing to have to wait for. How well I know!! The great thing is
that you don't HAVE to spend a lot of jack to get excellent sound.
I put my $$ into front components. And I got a great deal on them as
well. The amp driving them is only 60w, but the sound is terrific
because I sprung for quality speakers. As for your rear stage,
take it from me........Just throw in some tweets and let the HU
drive them. It's not worth the extra diff to buy good speakers for
that location.......especially if you've purchased good components.
The tweets will give you some added ambiance and clarity, but that's
all you'll need.

 

Thanks for all the input!

I must admit to being a bit spoiled with my former system. My other vehicle has ADS 320i separates driven by a very clean PPI amp. So... in the meantime, I will stuff cotton in my ears and listen to a lot of "books on tape" and talk radio until I can fund a new system. The choices are way better out there than even 5 years ago, so it should be a lot of fun car stereo shopping.