【TOP】Best 4 inch Car Speakers 2022 » Best 4 Inch Car Speakers Reviews
Four inch car stereo speakers are pretty much ubiquitous, being one of the most widely used sizes in the car audio world. While many people opt to upgrade them to something larger, a full overhaul of the system within a car isn’t on everyone’s menu. If you’ve been looking for the best 4 inch car speakers around then you’re in the right place, let’s jump into the nitty gritty and then we’ll show you how to decide which is best for you.
See Also: Best 4x6 Speakers
Top Rated Best 4 Inch Car Speakers Reviews On The Market
Image | Product | Price | Rating | |
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Polk Audio DB401 4-Inch Pair Coaxial Speakers » Best 4 inch Coaxial Speakers | $$$ | |||
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Skar Audio VX4-ST 4-Inch 600 Watt High Compression Titanium Bullet Tweeter - Best 4 inch Component Speakers | $$ |
*Below, you'll find our more detailed reviews, but you can also click the links above to see current prices or read customer reviews on Amazon.
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#1- Editor’s Choice: Best 4 inch Coaxial Speakers
Polk Audio DB401 4-Inch Pair Coaxial Speakers
If you’re looking to pick up a great pair of speakers to drop in on your car’s stock audio, then you’ll be in good hands with these four inch coaxial speakers.
These speakers run at 135 watts maximum and 45 watts continuous which is a substantial upgrade over whatever stock option you might be running. On top of that, they’ll be easy to install for even an amateur.
They’re made of high-quality materials, and include a small tweeter so you can get the most out of the highs in your music.
They’re also fairly shallow, making them easy to drop into nearly any four inch speaker hole on the market, which is valuable for those who aren’t willing to get cutting in order to make their new speakers fit cleanly.
The only real issue is that you need to be careful supplying power to them. We’ve seen pairs blow with only moderately powered external amplifiers, so they’re best used as a stock upgrade instead of a component of an audio overhaul.
We recommend these speakers for anyone who’s looking for a substantial upgrade over their stock speakers. Pick up these Polk speakers for the easiest way to upgrade your car’s audio.
What We Like
- 45 watts continuous power
- High-quality materials used in construction
- 2-way with tweeter
- Easy to install
What We Didn’t Like
- Not component speakers
- Don’t handle external amplifiers well
#2- Runner Up- Best 4 inch Car Speakers For Bass
Rockford Fosgate Punch P142 4-Inch Full Range Coaxial Speakers
While not quite as awesome as our first pick, these Rockford speakers do well in their own right. This is a pair of coaxial speakers with 60 watts of peak power and 30 watts of continuous. That puts them at about twice the wattage of most stock speakers.
On top of that, they’re still easy to install coaxials. It’s a 2-way full range speaker and pushes out a little bit of bass along with the mid and high ranges that we’ve come to expect.
We didn’t think they were quite as clear as the Polk speakers that we ended up with as our top pick but they’ve got a wider range of sound. It’s really up to individual taste to decide which the best for your needs is.
Our deciding factor on these being the runner ups was the lower wattage, if you’re okay with that then you’ll like these quite a bit. They’re constructed of high-quality materials, contained within a respectable price point, and even put out a little bit of lows.
What We Like
- Quite a bit of bass for 4 inch speakers
- High-quality construction
- Much louder than most stock speakers
- Great price
What We Didn’t Like
- Not the highest wattage
- Not component speakers
If you’re not planning on spending a ton of cash on your pair of good 4 inch car speakers, this is a respectable pair from Kicker. They come in with a good bit of power, 120 watts for the pair and 60 watts continuous.
Unfortunately, they are budget speakers. They weren’t quite as loud as we were hoping and they seem to distort pretty heavily as you approach the continuous range.
On the other hand, if you’re not planning on bumping things really heavily then you’ll quickly find these to be a respectable upgrade over the stock speakers in your car. You just need to keep things down a bit compared to our other favorites or you’re not going to have great sound quality.
This is a respectable pair of budget priced speakers. They’re not the hottest thing on the market, but for the price they’re pretty awesome.
What We Like
- Great price
- 60 watts RMS
- Huge upgrade from stock speakers
- Super easy to install
What We Didn’t Like
- Doesn’t quite live up to power-handling rating
- Middling build-quality
#4- Best 4 Inch Component Car Speaker:
DS18 EXL-SQ4 4-Inch 3-Ohm High Sound Quality Speaker 260 Watts
If you’re looking to build a high-quality sound system, then you’ll love these four inch compoennt speakers with 260 watts of peak power. They’re pretty much the best we found without getting into ridiculously specialized competition speakers.
They’re also pretty cheap overall, making them a great way to push the most out of your speakers. They’re definitely up there when it comes to bass as well, putting them as one of our favorites overall.
The biggest thing about these is that you can either set them up as component speakers or coaxial depending on what you need. We favor the former option, but they make a pretty impressive upgrade for those who are on the fence either way.
If you’re looking for a high-quality pair of component speakers with great build-quality then you’ll be in the right hand with these. They can be run either way as well, just adding to the value at their lower price point.
What We Like
- Component speaker set
- Tons of power
- Extremely high build-quality
- Great price
What We Didn’t Like
- Prone to distortion at higher volumes
- Not great for bass
#5- Best Supertweeter:
Skar Audio VX4-ST 4-Inch 600 Watt High Compression Titanium Bullet Tweeter
If you’re looking for the best use for four inch holes in a vehicle with a complete sound system, you want to strongly consider installing tweeters. This is a 600 watt max four inch supertweeter which will help the highs in your music reach completely new… well, heights.
Keep in mind they “only” have 300 watts of continuous power. That’s more than enough for those who are pushing things with an external amplifier.
Despite the fairly low price, we’re convinced these are some of the best supertweeters on the market. Period.
With singing highs, they’ll add a lot to the full soundscape of your vehicle. Just keep in mind that they’re not the way to go if you’re just trying to get a quick upgrade for your sound system since they’re only focused on the highs.
If you want to ensure that you end up with some of the best highs possible, Skar’s bullet tweeters are one of the best options to make sure you’ve got an incredible sound from low to high.
What We Like
- Amazing amount of power
- Great price for bullet tweeters
- Slot into a four inch hole
- Sold as a pair
What We Didn’t Like
- Not suitable as a stock upgrade
- Takes some know-how to install
Who Needs Good 4 Inch Speakers?
Four inch speakers aren’t the right choice or everyone.
They make the most sense for two types of people.
The first is those who are looking to upgrade their stock speakers in order to end up with a more comprehensive soundscape. It’s cheap and fairly easy to install some good coaxial four inch speakers.
It’s a great way to upgrade, especially since they’re fairly common speaker types. A huge amount of vehicles carry the holes for these speakers and they’re fairly interchangeable.
The other type of person who will find the investment worth it is those who want to upgrade their entire system. In this case, your choice is going to fall between supertweeters and component speakers and which you go with will depend on the extent to which you’re modifying things.
If you’re running some serious subs, then it makes sense to also extend the high range with supertweeters.
Picking the Right 4 Inch Speakers
Making sure that you end up with the right speakers isn’t nearly as tricky as you think. There are a few different things to keep in mind, but once you know what you’re looking for it’ll be a lot easier than you think.
#1- Power
The power of the speakers that you’re sticking in is going to be measured in Watts.
The main problem which most people have when looking at speakers, however, is that they’re most often advertised with only their peak wattage instead of the continuous wattage. You’ll need to read into things a little bit.
Peak wattage is nice and all, but continuous wattage will let you know how loud you can get without experiencing significant distortion.
Higher is louder, but it also means that at a lower volume you’ll be able to get away with any distortion even as the sound peaks and valleys.
#2- Drivers
The amount of drivers in your speakers is a good way to determine how well they’ll serve through the whole range of sound.
Best 4 inch car audio speakers primarily serve mids and highs, with 2-way speakers having a tweeter instead of a woofer like you’ll be able to find in 6x9 speakers (View more: best 6x9 speakers). This is probably the best indicator of sound quality for your speakers.
2-Way speakers are probably the most significant upgrade you’ll be able to find for these kinds of speakers.
#3- Coaxial vs. Component
The choice between coaxial and component speakers is a pretty big one, as it’s what seperates an upgrade from a piece of a real audio system for the most part.
Coaxial speakers will be much easier to place in your vehicle. For the most part you’ll just tie them into the existing wire harness without having to fuss too much with things.
On the other hand, four inch component speakers can make a great addition to a much larger audio upgrade. They’re also quite a bit harder to tie in since each of the drivers is going to be controlled separately.
For our part, we recommend using coaxial speakers if you’re just looking for an upgrade but springing for component speakers if you’re planning on overhauling your car’s audio entirely.
>>>See Also: Best Car Speakers
#4- Sensitivity
Sensitivity is tied to power quite a bit, but essentially it’ll tell you how wide of a range of sound you’ll be able to cover with your speakers.
Sensitivity is measured in decibels. The higher the amount, the wider of a range of sound the speakers will move through. Higher sensitivity is highly desirable as a simple upgrade, since the lower powered systems will move through things without as much distortion.
On the other hand, if you’re using an external amplifier then you may want to look for something with less sensitivity.
Basically, higher sensitivity delivers more sound with the same amount of power.
#5- Tweeters
If you’re building an entire system in your vehicle, then you may want to replace your four inch speakers with tweeters.
Tweeters and supertweeters are dedicated to the high ranges of your sound system. They can make a huge difference in how clean things sound overall.
Don’t replace four inch speakers with tweeters if you’re not going to replace the whole system. Even more than component speakers, tweeters are super specialized and you’re going to be out a ton of money and disappointed with the results if you’re not in the process of replacing everything.
On the other hand, there’s definitely nothing wrong with extending the high range of your system, particularly if you’re into rock and other types of music without super booming bass.
Overall Reccomendations
If you’re just looking to quickly decide on what you need, then we recommend the following:
- Invest in a 2-way coaxial speaker in order to upgrade the stock system in your vehicle.
- Decide carefully between component speakers or supertweeters if you’re going to rework the entire audio of your car, particularly if you’re planning on running an external amp.
Conclusion
While four inch speakers, barring supertweeters, likely aren’t going to win you any competitions you’ll find that it’s easy to get a great upgrade over what you’ve got going on with the stock speakers in your car.
For most people, we still feel the Polk Audio DB401 4-Inch Pair Coaxial Speakers are the way to go. They’re simply the best simple upgrade for the vast majority of people.
You can even take things a bit further with component speakers or supertweeters as an essential part of your system’s soundscape. Making sure that you have the best sounding 4 inch car speakers just makes sense, so take the dive today and get the best good sound possible!