Best replacement speakers???

Recomendations.........

You have a few choices here
Front: Component sets 6.5 - 2 way
MB Quartz Q series, high end but not too pricey $700-$800
Boston Pro Series, High end also not too pricey $ 400- 500
Rainbow component set- the Mclaren F1 of the group
$ 7500.00 a set, the decimal point is correct not a typo.
Rear doors: oem size 5 1/4 can be upgraded to 6.5 w/ mods
MB Quartz: Coax-Referenz Series
or Q Series Components
Boston Pro Series, the most easiest to install due to the
tweeter mounting brackets and accesories, coaxial
mounting, angled, flushmount or pod mounted and comes
with a very nice set of crossovers.
Rainbow speakers, need I say more!
Rear center channel speaker, do you really need this?
Subs-without an amp upgrade this will be very difficult, maybe it's better to leave it alone and just get some dynamat to keep the resonance and noise down a bit. Or better get a Deflex pad for the rear of the subs.

Reply to your questions......

Deflex pads are similar to Dynamat but different in function. Where in Dynamat will help soak up the vibrations or resonance from metal, plastics or any surface you can attach it to, the deflex pads absorbs standing waves from the rear of your speakers to help control the movement of the cones. I hope that is accurate, but from my understanding that is how it works. You usually get a size up, meaning if you have a 10 inch speaker you use a 12 inch pad. This material is usually use in competition systems. You can get them at high end car stereo shops.
The A-pillar installation is involved take a lot of time and patience. Use clay to hold the tweeters in place, you can always move the tweets around easily if you use this method. Play around with the set up aim it towards the windshield, straight accross each other, be crazy, sometimes the craziest set up works the best so try everything. My set up is installed a little above the dash, a little higher than the oem door pillar tweets aimed high towards ear level, crossed near where the rear view mirror is. This set up would be a little more accurate if you use a laser pointer attached in the middle of each tweeter. I am looking at designing a fully adustable set up via power mirror motors but I suspect the tweeter housing will stick out too much from the pillars but who knows until I try it.

I too asked the same question and went to Circuit City, BestBuy, and the Good Guys to listen to the different speakers. I also did a little bit of research online to compare some specifications.

My objective: I wanted to change out speakers without getting an amp. The brands I looked at and heard were Alpine, Kenwood, Sony, Pioneer, Boston, JL, JBL, Polk, Infinity, and a couple of other brands that were new to me. Though most of the brands have different series of speakers, I needed something with high sensitivity to be the most effecient with the factory stereo power.

Spec comparison: the Kenwoods seem to have a broader range than most of the others that have a 92db sensitivity.

My preference: The type of music I listen to is Contemporay Christian Music. The sound I was looking for was speakers that gave me clear strong bass (lower frequencies). IMO, the Infinity Reference 652I seemed to sound the best. Also, from searching through this forum, I knew that those reference 6.5" speakers would fit in both front and rear doors with minimal modifications to the rear plastic weather guard that houses the rear speakers. *There is a wanna-be woofer in the rear so bass might not be what your looking for but to me, it enhances the experience of the music I listen to.

I think I did well... For under $200, I got front and rear speakers, speaker adapters, and 8 sq. ft. of dynamat extreme...