I decided on sony since my girlfriend has a pair of 6x9" xplods in her car and they have alot of bass! I need bass so I think I want some 6.5"s but there are about 8 different models. What are the differences? They all basically look the same, the only difference is power handling, and its mostly 140W, 180W, or 200W. Any tips?

 

Uhm.... Just as an opinion.... Sony car audio as of about 5 years ago is uhm.... how do I say this...

CRAP!!!!

There is much better equipment for the price out there, or just a little more that will blow away any Explod.

Check out the following:
Infinity Reference and Kappa Series
CDT
Pioneer
Kenwood
Alpine

There are others out there, but those are the ones that have a decent speaker for the price or a little more than the Sony's... check Ebay for pricing too, there are some awesome deals on there. Look for the seller ikesound, he has a store, www.ikesound.com, I've had GREAT luck and service from them.

 

I have to disagree with the Infinity Reference Series recommendation above. I had a set in my car originally. Even with them hi-passed at 80Hz @ 18dB/octave the woofers would distort badly when turned up loud. I replaced them with Boston Acoustics Rally Series components and haven't looked back since.

I DO agree that SONY is pretty poor these days.

 

Really? I had a set of reference's, although they were older, they sounded pretty good for the pricing.

But then again, I haven't heard the Bostons...

And now I'm an Adire Koda guy myself...

 

Yes, really. They sounded great at low levels. I especially liked the tweets. Much more than the Kappa Series tweets. Then again I never have liked hard dome tweeters. As soon as I started to crank the Refs up the woofers would distort something awful.

 

The problem is that I don't trust anyone here since I don't know them. I own some expensive pioneer aftermarket 6x9"s and they have no bass so if I took other people's advice I'd be out another $60-$100. I am getting Sony because I have tested them and know its what I want. I'm looking at getting 6x9"s because my girlfriend has them and its the sound I want. I'd much rather have 6.5"s but I don't know how well they will sound and the local stores charge double what the speakers should cost so I only buy online.