When adding or upgrading the speakers in your vehicle, you need to make sure that they are going to fit with the mounting depth. This is especially important in classic cars. With flat or mostly-flat door panels, you need to make sure that the window glass and regulator are not going to cause issues. You also need to make sure that the door itself is thick enough to accomodate your speakers. In new cars, where speakers come in the door panels, this isn't that difficult. There are so many spacers and adapters available, and the speaker tucks behind a factory grille where the cleanliness of the installation isn't as important as when the entire speaker is visible and you use the speaker grilles that come with the speakers.

$629

These are the ultimate low profile speakers. If you are building a higher end classic car and you want to add speakers to a custom interior, but you are limited on space, look no further. These speakers have a .7" mounting depth. There isn't anything close to this thin that you would actually want to listen to. The thing with these speakers is that they also sound incredible. The Morel Virtus Carbon Nano Integra speakers use a silk dome tweeter and use a carbon fiber cone for incredible sound quality and accuracy. The power handling on these speakers is also incredible given the mounting depth as they can handle 130 watts RMS. The Morel Virtus Carbon Nano Integra speakers use external crossovers and you can adjust the tweeter output up or down 2dB. You will need an external amplifier to power these. We like the Audison SR series amplifiers or the JL Audio XD series amps to power these speakers.

$249.99

The Hertz Cento CPX 130 are 5.25" inch speakers that have a mounting depth of 49mm. Hertz is known for their high quality, great sounding speakers. The Cento series 5.25" speakers use Tetolon, soft-dome tweeters and paper cones for bright, musical output. These speakers do not come standard with speaker grilles, but the speaker grilles from the Hertz Dieci line fit them, are available, and give you a simple, black-mesh speaker grille. The Cento speakers handle 100W RMS and also need an amplifier. We like the Audison SR series amplifiers to power these. Hertz is the speaker side of Elettromedia while Audison is Elettromedia's electronics side.

$249.99

Prior to Hertz releasing the Cento line, the Audison Prima speakers were our favorite low profile speakers form Elettromedia. Like the Cento, the Audison Prima speakers are 5.25" speakers, yet they fit in the openings of our 6.5" kick panel speakers. The Audison Prima 5.25" speakers feature Audison's Triple Wave surround and a concentric, point-source tweeter for consistent, in-phase response. These speakers are ideal for off axis listening (where the speakers aren't facing your ears), and give you the soundstage of components in an easy-to-install, coaxial package. With these Audison Prima, APX5 speakers, the speaker grilles are sold separately and they handle 50W of RMS power. We recommend using these speakers with an amplifier. If you don't give them the power they want, you aren't going to hear the sound quality difference that you are paying for.

$249.99

The Kicker KS series, 6.5" speakers have silk-dome tweeters, they fit in virtually any and all 6.5" openings, they sound great, and you can't beat the price point. The KS series speakers are the "go-to" high end speakers from Kicker outside of their Q-Class offering. Unfortunately the Q-Class speakers are pretty deep and we wouldn't consider them "low profile." The Kicker KS series 6.5" speakers handle up to 100 watts RMS and are efficient enough to work with or without an amplifier, although we typically recommend you use an amplifier with these speakers. There is nothing bad to say about the Kicker KS speakers and this is probably why they are so popular. Among our "step-up" low-profile speakers, these are probably the most popular due to the brand recognition, product quality, and price point.

$89.99

The Kicker CS series speakers are the step-down or little brother of the KS. The CS speakers uses PEI dome tweeters instead of silk dome tweeters, they have lighter cones, and they perform better in low power applications. The Kicker CS speakers are among the best selling speakers in the world. They feature lightweight cones, they have a crisp, bright sound profile, and they work well with an amplifier or when powered directly by your radio. The Kicker CS speakers are extremely versatile and can handle up to 100 watts RMS, that same as the KS, but if you are using an external amplifier, we like the KS better. They are just richer, smoother, warmer, and more balanced speakers.

$99.99

The Rockford Fosgate Punch, P152 and P16 are the two low profile speakers from Rockford Fosgate. The Punch series speakers use unique sized baskets so the P152 is closer to a 6" and the P16 is similar to a 6.5", but Rockford also has a true 6.5", the P1650. The sizes of the Rockford speakers are all messed up. The key thing to know is that the P152 and the P16 are both pretty shallow. The P152 is the low profile speaker we use in our Rockford Fosgate kick panel speakers. These speakers have a PEI dome tweeter for crisp, bright, highs. The P152 handle 40 watts RMS and will work well when powered by the radio and sound even better with an amplifier. The mounting depth on these speakers is 1.81" (46mm).

$99.99

The Infinity Reference speakers have silk-dome tweeters, a 3 ohm voice coil, and a stylish, copper and black appearance. The Infinity name is synonymous with sound quality and these speakers live up to the name. These speakers measure only 1.75" (44.6mm) deep which allow them to fit in virtually any 6.5", standard speaker location. What really separates these speakers from the others is the +1 Woofer Cone technology and the 3 ohm impedance. The +1 Woofer Cone technology means you get an oversized woofer cone on the speaker for better bass and mid-bass response. The 3 ohm voice coil delivers more power to the speaker than a traditional, 4-ohm voice coil. While most radios are only 4 ohm stable, when you take into consideration the speaker wire diameter and length, the radio is seeing a 4 ohm load. The difference between a 3 ohm and a 4 ohm load is 50% more power. If your head unit is putting out 40 watts RMS at 4 ohms, that means it is putting out 60 watts RMS at 3 ohms in most situations. The diffence in power means that the Infinity Reference 6.5" speakers play louder, cleaner, and with more clarity tha a traditional 4 ohm speaker. If you put an amplifier to these speakers they sound even better and they look great when installed. Match them up with a pair of Infinity Reference 6x9 speakers in the rear.

$89.95

The JBL Stage3 6.5" speakers handle 45 watts RMS and measure 1.90 inches (48.5mm) deep. These speakers have an edge driven, hard dome tweeter and a simple, black mesh grille with a JBL exclamation point over the tweeter. The JBL Stage3 speakers and the Infinity Reference speakers are both made by Harman. The Infinity Reference is a step up over the Stage 3 in terms of price point due to its increased power handling and the silk dome tweeter. Like the Refernce speakers, these JBL Stage 3 6.5" speakers have 3 ohm voice coils for increased power output from your radio or amplifier and louder, cleaner, sound output. The JBL name is synonymous with quality and reliability and these speakers are no different.