What is the difference between 2-way 3-way and 4-way speakers?

Answer 1

the number of speaker cones

2 way usually has a woofer and tweeter. The midrange has to be handled by the woofer so they won't sound as good as the 3 way.

3 way usually has woofer, midrange and tweeter so you get more segrated sound with each speaker reproducing what it knows how to.

4 way - not sure, probably just a more spaced out range.

2 way (and 3 way) work great in a system using a subwoofer where you have all low end (100Hz or 80Hz crossover) going to a subwoofer. then the woofer section of the 2 way works as a great midrange. Best thing you can ever do for a car stereo system - put in a subwoofer on its own amp and get all the bottom end equalized out of the other amp, so your main speakers dont' try to produce any bottem end at all. System will sound WAY better, even if you aren't turning up the sub and vibrating the car next to you, it just makes your entire system tighten up and sound better