Imaging?

Actually you want the front set to be directed towards the driver's head.  Are the rear set being used as "normal" fill (meaning simply faded lower than the front) or are you setting up a surround system? Support the12volt.com

correct me if I am wrong but I always thought that rear speakers usually did more damage than good to the imaging of the vehicle. I refuse to use rear speakers and havent for almost 4 years now, just never liked them and my vehicles never had back seats for passangers anyways.double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

I know this will sound like a cop-out answer, but it all depends.  :)  That's my standard answer for most all questions about subjective quality in the A/V world.  That's why I asked what he's trying to accomplish.  If it's a full-on competition car then yes, rears may do much more harm than good.  But if it's an every-day driver and you just want some rear fill then standard mounting locations are usually fine.  If you are putting together a surround system, then it's an entirely different ball game and depends on what kind of scheme you're using and what kinds of surround processors.  Plus then you have personal taste to consider, which often tosses all "conventional wisdom" out the window.Support the12volt.com

I'm not a pro, but from personal trial and error I can say that I prefer no rear speakers at all for stereo listening. I've never been able to get them to really add anything.  They've only taken away by causing hard to fix bumps in the frequency response and pulling away from my front stage. New Project: 2003 Pathfinder

i'm just using this for day to day driving. i'm what we call an audiophile. When i hear the slightest off par sound i try to fix it to the best that i can. What do you think about removing the rear speakers and putting in a 8 somewhere back there with the propper crossover so that the 12 hits the lows, the 8 hits the mid-lows, the 6.5s hit the mid highs and the 1s (tweeter) hit the highs. I just need to distiguish the specific frequencies.

If you are a true audiophile then rear speakers are almost always gonna throw off the sound and hence make it not meet your standards. Any decent set of 6 inch components properly installed in the front of the vehicle will be able to cover the range from where the 12 stops and up, the eights are unnessasary and are gonna pull your sound towards the back and for lack of a better phrase make the whole thing sound wierd. My advice is put in rear speakers if you carry passangers and just fade the speakers so that only your fronts and sub play when its just  you in the car.double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

Good advice.  If you want to emphasize your mid-bass, you'll want the speakers in the front, not the back.Support the12volt.com