Possibly controversial...name some stereo brands..

[Dcrasta]

My kenwood cd play sucks..

 

crap gets hot and starts skipping.  

[Robsweet87TSI]

I had to reply even though it's way late.

 

I have never had a problem with Kenwood equipment EVER! I have probably purchased about 10K worth of kenwood equipment car and home. I know like anything else if you go for the cheap line you are taking a risk however the TOTL

kenwood is awesome.

 

I'm going to ramble.. ;D ;D

 

I guess I'm old school 39 but i'll tell you the system I had that won me alot of crank it up contests in Savanah GA when I was stationed at Hunter Army Airfield in the late 80's.

 

I had 500W MTX big bullet tweeters in the dash which was powered by it's own hifonics neptune amp. TWO MTX 200 watt EA mids in each door and these were powered by a hifonics hercules amp. Two Lanzar 12's and two 8's powered buy a 1000w hifonics atlas amp. The head unit of course was a Kenwood(CD player not cassette smart a** ;D) I also had a kenwood passive eq that just gave you that much more room to tune over the built in. With installation I was at about six grand(In 1989) and it was installed in a 84 Z28.

 

I won about four crank it up contests hitting about 105 decibals without distortion.

Man, even then what an awesome tool to get laid ;D 8)

[ChadC]

Front/Rear stages:  MB Quart.  Clear as can be no matter how loud I play them.  I have the 8's, 5.25's, and tweeter set with musicomp crossovers.  All made in Germany and we all now how well German Engineers build stuff.  

 

 

i used to like MB Quart untill i bought a set. now i totally hate them. the midrange sounded good but the tweet was WAY too harsh. i had it mounted in the door next to the 6.5" and turned down as low as it would go in the crossover but it was still too much. that and in the year and a half i had them i went through eaight sets. i blew four tweets, three mids and melted one crossover all under warranty. for componets i now like Focal and Boston Acoustics Pro Series.

 

 

I like PPI aswell, I think their main HQ in here in PHX...

 

 

PPI got bought out several years ago by (i could be wrong) Orion. i know they got bought out, but don't remember exactly by who. who remembers the Art Series? i'm still running an A404

 

 

it's got dual 3ohm VC's!!

 

 

correction... it's got dual 1.5 ohm VC's

 

 

this weekend i'm ordering an Alpine CD MP3 unit. it is going to go through a Kicker KQ5 pre amp that is going to control a PPI Art Series A404 powering a Diamond Audio 6.5" component set in the rear and a Boston Acoustic Pro Series 6.5" components in the doors. to bring up the low end i have a Phoenix Gold M100 that is going to be bridged to 2 ohm mono (~1000 watts) thrashing at a single JL Audio 12W3D4. when that goes i'm most likely going to get a 12W7 bridged to 3 ohm mono. i just don't know what type of box i'm going to get yet.

[HobO89Quest]

I'm a big fan of everything JBL.  I've always wanted to deck out my starion in JBL but i'm not a millionaire.  I have Blanapunkt deck and sub 10inch dualvoice coil couldn't tell you the numbers off hand.  Nothing has gone wrong with either the deck or sub in 2 years. My 02

 

-kyle

[Sully]

Head Unit:  I only buy alpine.... I got a Sony in my truck but it was free and new

 

Amps:  Alpine again, maybe even JL Audio depending on the subs and I've heard some Mono MTX amps that ssound real good......  I also got a Sony Amp in my truck but it was new and free

 

Mids and Hi's: MB Quart... So crisp and so clean... I love em

 

Subs:  I like Alpine,  JL's have always been good to me..... I got 2 12" kicker Comp VR's in a sealed box and they hurt my ears even with the 600W 4 channel Sony amp and 2 channels bridged to run the subs and its only turned 1/2 way up

 

As you can see I prefer Alpine but of course I'm always up for a deal

 

And if your into Bling.... Audiobahn subs and amp sound decent, rather cheap and look good if you like all that chrome and flames

 

NEver did care for ROckford stuff because it seems like anyone that had a couple hundred bucks and some spare wire and electrical tape layin around wired into the stock radio... too redneck for me

[WOTDrifter]

Head unit: Definitely Eclipse, without a doubt. best sounding head unit i've ever had or heard. the 8 volt outputs are key. it's just alot more pure going out to the amps so you don't get the distortion from the head AND the amp, just from the amp. Only draw back with the eclipse is there aren't too many user features, but it makes up for with the best quality sound around.

 

Speakers: I have to go with polk. it seems like there wasn't any dispute about them being not that great, but for the price they are amazing i think. very clear and crisp, i've got about 400 amps goin to the front components and i get no distortion all the way to the limit. they're crossovers are very precise and separate frequencies very efficiently.

 

Subs: I have to go with polk again, only the MOMO series though. Their great cause they sound so smooth and precise. Not the most powerful sub i've heard but the quality is right up there. A couple of my buddies have had much more powerful subs with alot more power goin to them and they are impressive, but i've always gotten the same reaction from anybody: "that's just ONE 12" sub?" They are just so crisp and clear. I listen to alot of hardcore and metal type music, and when double pedal bass kicks in, it doesn't miss a single hit, where alot of subs will kind of mesh it all together, then i can switch it over to ghetto music and the bass will be so tight, i won't be able to breathe.

 

I'm not to into the overwhelming power and maybe that's why i like the eclipse and polk setup i've got. they aren't by far the most powerful system you could imagine, but the sound quality is superb. and for me, the quality is much more important to the quanity in regards to music.

 

other brands i like:

MB Quarts for highs and mids

Clarion for head units

Alpine for amps

Boston Acoustics for mids

Infinity for highs, mids, and subs(only perfect 12's though)

 

And i absolutely despise sony, they should never have gotten into the car audio business, they're home stereo stuff isn't even that great. They just need to stick to tv's and computers

[AndyW]

Hmm, ok hands down the best amp I'v ever run was an Adcom 4302.  Two channel 30Watts powering two JL Audio DVC 4ohm 12's.  Damn that setup would hit, I also have an Adcom 4702 sitting at home, thats one of the high end 3 foot long external power supply amps.  never ran it but it looks oooh so sexy  For highs I'm partial to Bostons, always liked them.  And headunit I sware by Denon, old school stuff tho, I have a tape deck with changer controlls and 10 disk changer under the seat.  Love that setup.

 

Currantly I'm just running a JBL bass tube powered by a Phoenix Gold M25.  I love the low powered amps that can be bridged down to nuthing to produce insane power  ;D

[83TechMaster]

i remember the PPI Art seires i ran 2 a6002's on 4 infinity beta dvc 10's in my starquest until they where stolen and all my window were smashed they are the best amps ever.

[ESi_R_Man]

Pioneer Decks: they do justice with all there EQ features, good preout voltages, very clear pioneer speakers blow

Polk/MOMO: amps are great clarity, dont overheat, crossovers die though.. speakers are great, very clear! subs suck, have too much excursion

Alpine: Great decks lack of flashy displays, Great speakers, Great Amps, Decent subs, low SPL

Eclipse: great decks, all i have used...

panosonic: very flashy displays, bad quality sound / distortion

JVC: lack of EQ options, very flashy displays, some distortion at loud levels.

Kenwood:alrighty decks, good speakers good amps, ok subs

Sony: decks burn out, amps burn out, speakers blow...(great home audio, horrible car audio)

please do not put these in your starquest,

BLITZ

Lightning Audio

Pyle

Pyramid

(you get what you pay for, if the speakers are 6000w for 10 dollars, they are gonna sound like crap)

[jeff_87tsi]

well i always was a Mac guy but for cars since i cant afford that i like eclipse, i have had great luck (a minority it seems) with highend alpine, infinity kappas 6" and 6x9, blaupunt dual coil 6x9 speakers, various amps, sony's toast, my eclipse amp doesnt seem as clean as my B&O.

i also have a lanzar deck (blackout) and it is rock solid,

 

jeff

[backslider]

gotta love mcintosh

[SHhhhh]

As far as in dash CD head units are concerned, I have had Alpine, Sony, Blaupunkt, and Kenwood. The only one that lasted was the Kenwood. All the rest suck in my opinion.

 

I think Kenwood makes the best head units.