I am going to upgrade my stereo soon and would love the opinion of those who currently use Focal speakers. I am trying to decide if I should put the 165V3 three way speakers up front, or if I should put the 5WS subs in the doors and a pair of separates in the dash. I am not looking to add another separate subwoofer enclosure in the car, as I am trying to keep the upgrade fairly simple (new head unit and amp and some speakers in oem locations).

I am really trying to figure out how the 6 ½ woofers from the 165V3’s will compare with 5WS subs in the doors.

Thanks for the advice.
Adam

 

I've got the Focal 2 way components w/ 5.25's in the door enclosures and tweets in the dash locations. I also upgraded the rear speakers to co-axial 5.25's (a pain but not too bad). No sub in my system, yet. Overall, I'm very happy with it. It has very good imaging and reasonable low end responses. I'm still lusting over the aidesign sub that Newport put in his car....

 

Well, you are probably better off with the 165v3 setup. I ran these and was pretty happy with them but had to add a sub for my tastes. The 5ws likely won't sound great in the doors and will be difficult to match up with your other speakers, I hear they are pretty finicky and can sound pretty flat if enclosure isn't right or if source isn't great.

 

Also take in consideration that the 165 V3E will have a 3 way crossover so you can power the doors and the dash speakers as a stereo pair. If you get a 2 way system, you will have a 2 way crossover and thus need to run the door speakers on a seperate vhannel of the amp...meaning you now may need a 5 or 6 channel amp if running rear speakers vs. 4 channels. Or you will need to buy a Focal 3 way crossover seperately. Either way thats more money. I think either way you go, its not gonna sound like its very heavy bottom...Now before I got my sub I ran the 165 V3E's with no sub and it sounded way better than stock and the low end wasnt horrible...just not great...It was very clean.

 

I have the 5WS in the doors, and the two ways in the front and rear. The bass from the doors is great! I used stock enclosures, and SEALED, siliconed all around so no air can escape, it's amazing how the 5" pump