Polk Audio db6501

Need Power!

Awesome speakers, but they need to be amped! Head unit power will not be enough to show what these speakers can really do. In fact, it will make you not like them at all! Amp them and you'll love em! I installed them in my F150. Needed adapter plates and with a little dremmel work, they ended up fitting fine. I ended up installing the crossovers inside the panel under the window switches which worked out great. Polk is very good quality for the price. Just don't forget to feed these speakers power or you will not like!

Excellent Speakers

This is the first set of component speakers I have ever purchased, and I must say, the sound quality from these Polk component speakers is absolutely incredible. The Polk 6.5 component speakers replaced a set of aftermarket 6.5 coaxial speakers, and the Polk speakers are just so much better sounding. The power handling is pretty impressive, and I have yet to be able to make these speakers distort. The bass response is just so much better than you get with coaxial speakers. I know they are a little pricey, but I have found the sound quality to make them well worth the extra money. I would buy these again in a heartbeat if I had room for them...

Great set of components for the price

Even with the horrible base stock stereo in my jeep, these speakers made a dramatic leap in sound quality. Then upgrading my head unit to a jvc and adding an Alpine amp (KTP-445U), these components sound great. I have had some very nice sounding systems in previous cars. For the price, the Polks are a great buy and would be very difficult to beat.

My only advice to Wrangler owners, if you are going to place the tweeters in the tombstone, be ready to get out an exacto knife and sand paper. It took a little trimming/sanding/muscle, but well worth it.

Power hungry

I bought these speakers and installed them in an 03 avalanche.
I spent all night installing them with a decent 4 ch. kenwood amp pushing them. When I finished they sounded decent but I still heard distortion when I raised the volume to max. The next day I pulled the kenwood and put a pioneer 700 watt 2 ch. amp on them. I kranked the volume all the way up and the sound was incredible. No more distortion and and it is so loud now I want to close my eyes when I turn it all the way up. I won't be turning the volume more than 2/3 of the way up anymore unless I just want to show someone what they can do!

So SICK!

Put these in a friends car and the first day they dont sound very good. No speaker does right out of the box. They take a little breaking in. The next day BOOM! The car is shaking! Especially paired with some sound dampening material these speakers along with the db651 coaxial is just amazing! Really rich highs and very surprising that with just a head unit giving out 52 wats per channel and with no amp the amount of bass is crazy! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Polk Audio db6501

great speaker for the price, Not as good as my Alpine Type R components but did the job

Very clean and crisp

I installed these to replace the stock speakers in my RAV4. It was almost shocking to feel the difference in weight between the light plastic/paper stock speakers and these heavy metal/poly ones. The old crossover was marble size and these ones are more like a deck of cards. I was already impressed.
Installation was easy--I cut out the old tweeters and the new ones flush-mounted into the stock brackets with enough room to put the cross-over behind it. Wiring was simple to strip and tighten in the terminal strip. I had to drill one hole for the mounting bracket in each door but that's not all that bad, all things considered.
I'm still using the stock head unit (this will be fixed soon) and I noticed a huge difference. The stock speakers had a lot more low-end but tended to be very muddy with a lot of definition lost and no staging. These polks have a much more open feeling to them with crisp, well-defined highs and mids and a very neatly defined stage.
My criticisms of these speakers are twofold. First, given the robustness of the rest of the system, the relatively flimsy plastic brackets surprised me. I can't imagine putting real power to a speaker with such a weak support. Second, while the sound is a lot cleaner, it lacks the lower end now. This is a big surprise because the old speakers were 5.25 and these are 6.5 but maybe it's just they are now under powered with the stock HU.
All in all, I'd say this has been a huge improvement and, with more power and/or bass enhancement (think sub), it'll be audiophile level.

Really well made and accurate speaker set up.

Absolutely love these speakers. Bought these for an upgrade on my 2010 Scion tC they fit right in and sound amazing. I have them hooked up to a MB Quart QA1100.5 5 channel amp that was an absolute chore to tune and will be removed shortly but they still sound amazing. They are heavy and sturdy in construction and give adequate wire and extra hardware . the crossovers have a tweeter -3 db, neutral and +3 db setting which is great i suggest playing with that before you seal the x-over box behind something. And the mounting brackets that came with fit my tC without buying aftermarket speaker brackets!

Great! But power hungry!

I bought these speakers for a 2003 Avalanche.
I replaced the factory with these using a decent 4 ch. kennwood amp. I mounted the tweeters flush with the supplied housings. When I was done I was a little disappointed with the sound. When I raised the volume I got distortion. I was sure I just needed more power. The kennwood was probably putting out about 100watts per ch. (it was given to me & wasn't in great condition)
The peak on the 6501's is 300 so I swapped the amp with a pioneer 760 watt 2 ch. I left the gain all the way down and tried it. The sound was incredibly loud! No distortion and I couldn't stand being in the truck with the volume all the way up! I wanted to close my eyes and cover my ears. I read someone's review saying they can't handle power. It's a lie! They can handle it! If you want the most bang for your buck a head unit by its self won't do it. My stereo does 80 x 4 and didn't do the speakers half the justice they deserve.
Keep in mind the location of your tweeters makes a difference. Drill your holes big enough so they are free enough to swivel. If you have to fight them in your holes too small.

phenomenal speakers

Received them as a gift on christmas. I installed them in my jeep grand cherokee. Im using a Phoenix Gold 4-channel amplifier too power the Polk Audio component speakers. Before I had the Polk Audio, I was using Rockford Fosgate coaxial power serieries 6.5 speakers. the Rockford sounded nice but the sound was coming from my knees. The tweeter on the Rockford was not as bright or clear as the Polk Audio but of course due to the fact that the Polk Audio is a component speaker and it has a crossover. I was able to mount the tweeter on my dash so the sound was bouncing off my front windshield making the sound much fuller. the Polk Audio are wonderful speakers they sound amazing. they are the only component speakers I ever had so its hard for me to compare the Polk Audio two other component speakers. But I was debating on the Polk Audio or the infinity component speakers. FYI the crossover is small enough to mount in the door.