SXS

Especially their new Xenon range? What would the audiophiles amongst you say is the:

1. best manufacturer for amps
2. best manufacturer for subs
3. best manufacturer for midrange speakers
4. and best manufacturer for tweeters?
5. also - whats the best power cap out there?
6. and then on top of all that - whats the best auto split charging system out there?

I'm new to the audio scene, and what I know is based on what I knew back in the 90's... I guess things have changed now... so any help greatly appreciated!

howierd42

I started competing on the car audio circuit more than 10 years ago. Honestly not much has changed since then as far as who makes the best stuff. Anyone in the know will probably tell you something close to the following:

For amps and subs, check out JL Audio. The guy who started Precision Power and Xtant now runs JL. They had the best subs before he started running the show, now they have the cleanest sounding amps on the market too.

As far as PGold, yes they are clean sounding amplifiers, but remember this: they started out making power equipment (alternators, caps, etc.) so their amps are going to want more juice than your car is going to be able to deliver (stock).

Mids: MB Quart or Focal are hands down the best.

Tweets: who can top a pair of titanium MB Quarts hitting 32kHz? Although the human ear can not hear that high and your cross-over will cut out anything over 20k (at least it better), the tweets will remain flat well beyond what you will ever need them to produce.

As for charging systems I would look at Street Wires. If you are competing they have sharp looking stuff up to 1/0 guage cable (which is enough to wire a bus for well over 1000 watts). If you are not competing, they offer good looking and good sounding kits to get you set up with what you need for a decent price.

Hope this helps.

VinMan2

iTrader: (1)

The pheonix gold stuff has slipped waaaaay down the line. I would stick with the JL stuff as well. as far as MB quart, I used to be a strong supporter of theirs but as of late last year they are owned by rockford foreskin. Most of line is supposed to be the same but I don't believe everything I read.

maddboost

iTrader: (11)

Actually JL Audio outsourced the amp design by the engineer who did Precision Power amps. As far as cleanest sounding they are great but not the best. I would say they win for their price range.

maddboost

iTrader: (11)

Rockford does own MB Quart but it is a run like a totally seperate division. At this point they arent downgrading any of MB Quarts stuff. Actually they are using MBs stuff to upgrade some of Rockfords. Mostly Rockford is the bank for MB Quart to do some new things. That is how they were able to start selling amps. I talked in depth with a local MB Quart rep and he assured me atleast at this time Rockford isnt whoring out the line and doesnt have and plans to.

SilverWS6_2002

JL AUDIO. Their subwoofer line is incredible. Their slash series amps are incredibly clean and powerful. Plus you've gotta love the fact that they have regulated power supplies. I am a huge fan of their component speakers too. The top of the line XR series are produced in the same plant in Germany as the MB Quarts Q's. They utilize an aluminum dome tweeter instead of the titanium dome. That is where the cost difference comes in. In my opinion, the titanium is just too harsh. Oh wait, plus they just released the ZR components with the same cooling technology as the W7 & W6V2. JL ROX!

blackls1maro

iTrader: (2)

I have a JL Audio 10W3v2 sub and 250/1 amp. The quality is unsurpassed, both constructionwise and soundwise. I am very impressed with my JLs, to me, it is worth the extra $$$.

jmil1974

You need to ask yourself one question first: What's my budget?
and work within that.

Best amps? SQ biased group but here:
McIntosh, Brax, DLS, Helix, Genesis, USAmps, (old) a/d/s/, TRU, Arc, Diamond,
JL (more power biased but still clean)

Subs?
Adire Audio, Image Dynamics, JL Audio, Elemental Designs, CDT, Resonant Engineering, Diamond, Focal, Boston Acoustics

Speakers?
Morel, Dynaudio, CDT, Focal, Diamond, DLS, Boston Acoustics, Adire

Charging? hell if I know, Dual Optimas, Big alt, big wiring, one cap, no issues
though I hear good things about Alumapro caps

Can't go wrong with any of these brands - flavors of ice cream.

clotus

what about cadence guys??

SXS

Who has more than 2000 watts RMS running in their beast? and how much power does she suck when on full blast?

maddboost

iTrader: (11)

Who needs 2000 watts RMS? Unless you are planning on making yourself bleed from the ears you dont need that powerful of a system. Choosing a stereo is just like building a car. Dont get set on components or numbers. Find out what your goal and budget is and build around that.

howierd42

There is no way you could get a true 2000 watts out of your car. You would need more amperage than you could buy and thicker cables than you could run in, through, or under your car. And even if you could you could not sit in it long enough to enjoy it. Quality means MUCH more than quantity. Let's be realistic.

Christos

What is a true 2000 watts? All a/b class amps?

I don't think 2K is out of line, providing some of that is coming out of a class D amp or two.

My system is a 500 RMS a/b Orion amp for my component speakers, and (i'm sure it's a) class D 600 RMS Xtant for my woofer. That's 1,100 watts right there. If I added another like-woofer and used another 600.1, that's getting close to 2K already.

Wildman

PG Tantrum and Titanium series amps are really good, and their Titanium speaker line is excellent too. Are the the best bang for your buck, probably not. But you won't go wrong buying them either.
And I also vote that the "Q" series MB Quarts are very good. Again, probably not bang for the buck.
I am biased though.
JMO,
Good luck.

SSactionLs1

zapco amps
Eclipse head unit
Focal mids
Diamond subs

thats what i would do with COMMON brands. MCintosh would be nice

2MuchRiceMakesMeSick

Everyone has their own opinion on which amp is better. PG makes a good amp if your looking for SQ. If your going for competition/SPL/DB Drag. I would look at PPI, Rockford, Linear Power. I have also seen people have good luck with US Amps but due to the 1/2 ohm (heat and almost a direct short) they tend not to last very long. They had a demo where they welded tin cans together with their biggest amp. You will get lost of opinions on what is better, ususaly what that person has.

02Z28LS1

iTrader: (2)

ah, one of the basic misconceptions about power ratings....

just becase your amp says it can run 500 watts RMS and 600 watts RMS, absolutely does NOT mean that it runs that all the time. the vast majority of the time, you are only using a small fraction of the amp's full capability. if you listened to your stereo for about 15 minutes with it pumping out the full 1100 watts, your ears would start bleeding and you'd probably go deaf.

what howierd42 is trying to say is that there's no way you could run a stereo at the full 2000 watts for any amount of time, without seriously endangering your hearing

think of it the way you do dyno results....just because your car may make 400HP @ 5300RPM, does not mean that your car is putting down 400HP @ 1500RPM......the more throttle you give your car, the more power it pushes....in a stereo, it's the same way, the volume **** is the throttle

Christos

Hey, that was a great way to clear that up. Thank you.

SXS

First things first, I have an Optima Yellow top already in there as starter battery.

So does the following seem like a good plan (for first stage):

200amp Alternator
Hellroaring Battery Isolator
Deep Cycle battery as auxillary placed in the boot
Front alternator to Isolator main fuse replacement with time delay 40A fuse
1 Guage positive wire to auxillary battery from isolator
4 Guage negative wire to auxillary battery from isolator

So once the powers available in the boot, then from then on the installers can do whatever they want, without needing to go in the engine... (I like to keep prying eyes away from under the hood)....

I think I'll go for Phoenix Gold Xenon setup, 2 x two channel amps to drive cabin six speakers, and a mono amp to drive the sub, I'm not looking for MEGA MEGA sound output, but just enough to wake up the street, but keep the quality in phase...
I'll also go for Phoenix Gold mid-range speakers... and a 1.5 farad Phoenix Gold cap.

so, honestly, what are the best tweeters out there, I'm getting many mixed opinions on this one, money isnt an issue (but not silly money, afterall, its only a car)....

And I'll need one big 15" sub? which one? Cerwin Vega?

Wildman

MB Quart "Q" series speakers, or the Focals horn stuff. But thats when you start spending mulah.