In high school we use to cruise with the boom box in the back seat............... "cruze for chicks" Anyways, I had this JVC boom box and it use to pound in the back seat of the car with 5" drivers. That's the recollection of this old man. I'm no expert but I'm doubting your comment regarding road noise eating up everything. Too bad you aren't local Paul........... we could go cruising by the local high school and test this theory of yours...... muuuuuahhhhh

But my comment stands with regards to cranking a small drivers volume wise and it falling apart in the low frequencies. If you want to get loud, get a sub to handle the lows.

 

Remember something from high-school maybe isn't the best point of reference (especially for an old-timer like you ).

When I was in high-school, I thought my dad's pontiac with an AC delco deck and stock Jensen 6x9's really "pounded" for a stock system. I thought the bass was great. After I got into car audio more and my dad still had that car I realized that my first impressions were . . . a little bit off. The bass was muddy, and unbalanced but yes, it was loud for a stock system.