I've seen that term used before.

What are "component speakers?" Are they the same as "regular" speakers? What's the difference?

 

Well, components are speakers. Speakers is a general way of describing something mechanical that moves air to make sound when a voltage is applied. Co-axial and tri-axial speakers have multiple speakers fitted into one housing (midbass and tweet, or midbass/midrange/tweet). Components have each speaker separated into separate "components" (hence, components are sometimes referred to as "separates")...so you have a separate woofer and a separate tweeter. The nice thing about components is that you don't have all the frequencies coming from a single location (you can place the tweeters and woofers in specific locations for better separation). Also, most co/tri-axial speakers have the tweeter wires going thru the woofer cone, sacrificing some strength, rigidity, etc. factors of the woofer cone. Also, components usually come with separate active x-overs so that the woofers handle the frequencies that they handle best and the tweeters do the same. Some well designed co/tri-axial speakers can sound very nice also and some even come with active x-overs as well.

 

In general, is it fair to say:

A 3 way speakers is a "Component"

A one way speaker is a "Speaker"

Or am I missing something there?

 

No, not really.

Components have separate woofer/tweeters...they are actually separate speakers so a pair of component speakers would have 4+ pieces.

Coaxials are when the woofer/mid/tweeter are in the same housing.

The Integras have components up front...separate woofer/tweeter.