Speaker selection advice request

[JHZR2]

Hello,

I have an 85 MB and a 91 BMW, both of which I desire to keep the stock headunits for original look.

I figure that I can help myself out a bit by improving the speakers.

Money is not an issue within reason, I dont mind spending $500-1000 to maintain an OE look and optimize the sound. I dont want a huge install, but am not adverse to installing an amp or doing whatever else it takes to make the system the best it can be given my desire to use all original speaker grilles, original headunits, etc.

So, my question is, what kind of specs should I look for to determine which speakers will go best with wimpy OE headunits? I listen entirely to music, mostly oldies, some harder rock too. I never listen very loud.

I would imagine that key is to look for speakers that have high sensitivity, as they are more efficient in turning low power into sound (so I guess I want no less than 90???), and then also for speakers that have as low a power requirement as possible (i.e. a speaker with 2-35W input is better for me than a 5-125W speaker, given my issues). Is this a fair thought?

Now, one other question: both my BMW and MB have headunits that have one din/euro speaker connector, which then goes to the fader on the dash. Both systems are NOT common ground, they have +and - to each speaker. Would it be smart for me to utilize this line-level output from the headunit into a low-power amp to drive the front and rear speakers? I know that I would give up the fader, but I have little use for it now, its always at center. if things need to quiet down, Ill turn the volume down... So, would it be smart ot bypass the faders and utilize an amp to take my one input and power two sets of speakers? Would this change what sorts of speakers I ought to look at?

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks!!!

JMH

[deerefanatic]

Sounds like you're on the right track with feeding the amp and letting it drive the front and rear speakers.......

[JHZR2]

OK, great, thanks!

Any sugestions on a 2 or 4 channel speaker level input amp that would work decent?Any sugestions on speakers that fit nice into a w123 dash and rear deck?

Thanks!

JMH