Looking for opinions from people who've used these. Are the BA's worth more money than the Polk? Specificaly I'm looking at Boston Acoustics SL60 vs Polk Audio MMC6500. The BA's are $50 more. Also looking at an Alpine MRV-F345 for an amp at $400 better choises for the money out there? And an alpine SWR-1242D sub. thoughts? Not sure of hu yet open for suggestions. Actualy trying to bring this all in for less than 1k installed. Any substitutions for less expensive would help. The BA's are $350 and the Amp $400. I can get the sub for $78. But it wont mean squat with a crappy sounding HU. I dont need a bunch of features in an HU just quality clean sound w/cd of course. Or should I save money and go with Polk db6500's for $199? This is what I've come up with: Kenwood EZ-500 CD/Receiver $229
Alpine MRV-F345 4 channel amp $257
Boston Acoustics SL60 componant speakers $349.99
Alpine SWR-1242D sub $78
StreetWires PS08BI 8 gauge Amp Wiring Kit Blue with Patch Cable 39.99
StreetWires LN250 Low Noise 2 16.4-ft. Stereo Patch Cable 16.99

any suggestions appreciated. Want clean crisp deep powerful system.

 

mmm. If i were you i would consider
Head unit - eclipse 8445 - 299 - ebay shipped
Mid/High - Diamond audio Hex Comps Silk or aluminum - 310 - shipped on ebay
and amps i would go with two... and i would look for older u.s. amps pre 00 and zapco amps on ebay that 2 can be had to handle a whole system for a few hundred. alpine isnt a vary good amp...if you wanted new... i would look at the newer jbl amps or maybe even kicker kx series amps...
as far as the older us amps and zapco's they are vary under rated and you wouldnt need much of a beefy amp to power some comps and a sub....for a sub i would go with a JL 12w3v2 or look for a RE sub on ebay.... good luck tho... for the comps go to a local shop and isten to the speakers before ya decide

 

Thx for the help. Like to go with all new. Found a phoeinix gold xenon 200.4 for $309 or a kicker kx650.4 for same price. Been disuaded from the BA's from others as well, now looking at Polk MMC6500 or Diamond M661's but heard from someone else of having tweeter failures w/diamonds so not sure about that. Believe it or not I'm looking at hu's until last. I figure my biggest expense is going to be amp then speakers.

 

BA home speakers are better than car speakers IMO. I would listen to MB Quart, Diamond and Focal. I chose the MB's. Diamond was a close 2nd.

 

think I found my head unit Sony CDX-GT400 CD signal-to-noise ratio: 120 dB . plus 3 band equalizer. Going to be sending it all through and amp so I dont need a powerful hu just a clean sounding one. Any thoughts?

 

Ok the Hu is the Sony CDX gt-400 for $169, cd signal to noise ratio of 120db is the best I found. Llus it will play anything I burn on my pc
The amp will be the pheonix gold x200.4 at $310 it has a better signal to noise ration than the Kicker. Keeping it clean is important.
The speakers are still in research mode..lol have heard mb quart before and do like but they are very expensive. Polk seems to be in price range at $300 but Infinity kappa perfect 6.1 's are in range at $400 by not spending to much on the HU. So that means I need to re-look at mb quart's. Only thing left is the sub and enclosure for it.

 

These are the MBs that I have. The place I got them a year ago, now has them on sale. For < $300, I dont think you will find a better speaker. I think these retail in the $600 range.
http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?...roduct_ID=1207

 

I was looking at those (same place actualy) but in order to handle the same power as the Infinity or Polks though I'd have to go with the qsd 216 which is beaucoup bucks. Amp pushes 200 or so I think. A closer look shows that there isnt a peak listed for the mb's wh is that?

 

I used to run MB quart only, their newer speakers arent as good as the older ones. I had three sets of components fail on me two were oce series 6.5 comps and the last was qsd series 6.5's the customer service i got was trash... im now on my second vehicle with the diamonds and have never had one problem. i also feel the sound quality is wayyyy better...but speakers are really a thing you gotta go listen to in real life to determin witch one you want...Take a trip toa local high end audio shop and listen to them... make sure you use same head unit and amp and you will be able to tell what you like...also ask if you can see the phisical speakers...from the box... take a look at the diamonds and you can tell quality is their main concern. the focals are over priced in my book but to each their own...and to make a comment on the head unit...i wouldnt put something i can find in walmart(sony) in any of my systems....last sony head unit i had got stollen and i was actually happy that it did... get a low end alpine off ebay for $170 and you would be happy...

 

The thing about the Sony is the fact that is has the best cd signal to noise ratio. A lot better than the Alpine. I looked at both of them and sound quality should be better with the Sony. My price range for an HU is actuly 200-300. Sony was in on the invention of cd's in the first place. I dont care if you can buy it at Walmart I want quality sound and I dont need all the frills. I dont care about display or ten thousand features I'm not going to use. Why didnt you like your Sony is the question? Its just a HU and doesnt need to be powerful its going thru an amp so sound quality and cleaness is the issue. As far as Diamonds go I've heard about failures on the tweeters as well. I'm looking at thier M661's. Your the first I've heard knock Mb Quart.
Straight up numbers comparision says the MB Quarts have a better range as well. 38-32000 as compared to 45-22000.

 

i didnt like the sony due to sound quality and ease of use issues...those numbers arent the correct ones to look at when ya look at the head unit or speakers... as far as range goes on the speakers...your sub is going to take care of the low's so frequency range isnt really the issue...i wouldnt personally have either set crossed under 120-200hz those are just what the speakers are capable of producing. start listening to them at a decent level and the low's are going to get wayyyy too nasty....I personally have not heared a bad thing at all about any diamond comp's on the net or in person yet but have come across quite a few people who had xover issues with the Mb's. I'm in no way saying they are a bad speaker... i still have their stickers all over my garage im just sayin after $1500+ in speakers down the drain in 2 years i personally decided to go with diamond from then on and have been nothing but hapy with them...even over powered them quite a bit and they took it like a champ and clearly drown out two 12w6v2's. With the head if you had the money id go eclipse 8445-8454 on ebay... you can get them nib.. and they are not about looks or extra's they are about pure sound quality and ease of use...i really encourage you to go check some of these out at a local high end shop to actually hear the diff in the brands on head units and speakers....I assure you that you will be able to hear quite a diff in them...i dont retail any brands and have nothing vested in them so i have nothin to gain just givin some friendly advice that i have learned in my personal experiances... check the reviews out.. lots of people who switched from mb to diamonds

http://www.carreview.com/cat/car-aud...3_1805crx.aspx

anyways good luck with the system i hope it comes out great...

 

Thx for your input its greatly appreciated(I'm not arguing with you just trying to understand it all) Last system I bought was a Kenwood and an ADS power plate w/ yamaha 6x9's back in the 80's . I will listen to them before I buy. There was only one eclipse on ebay when I looked and the new models dont have the same series numbers. I was looking at the lower end Diamonds but I can get those Hex's for 300 from what I've seen so far. Problem is my budget was only 700-900 to begin with. The amp is $320 delivered and with $300 for speakers that leaves $280 for an HU and a sub and I need an enclosure for the sub as well. Not a realistic budget or to expensive taste. Nothing is set in stone and I need input like yours to make an informed decision.

 

Spoke with a friend about amps and we decided to switch me to the Kicker kx850 for about $315 delivered instead. Found the Hex's for $320 delivered but will wait to hear them before buying. Then its trying to find the HU and sub w/enclosure as well as paying for cables and instalation. Looking like a $1200 project. $390 shipped is a lot of cash for a head unit. Is one of the newer models just as good but cheaper?

 

i actually think you should be able to get an eclipse 8445 on ebay for like $326 shipped... i just got another in the mail a couple days ago for a friend... The KX850 is a good powerfull amp i actually am about to sell one on ebay kx850.2... what are you going to use the kicker amp for? probably better to decide on sub setup and speaker setup before ya get an amp... you wanna make sure that you match the sub/speakers to amps for the correct load of ohms..
heres a 8454 i just found on ebay for 315 shipped... I have personally used this head unit and can say its one of the two best i have ever used... its a model from 04 but well worth it..
http://cgi.ebay.com/Eclipse-Cd8454-8...QQcmdZViewItem

buy your wire/cables on ebay and save a ton over shop prices and install yourself.. its really easy to do specially with such a simple system. If you can build a computer or work on a car then you can do it and it shouldnt take too long.plus in reality shops take shortcuts and dont do as clean of a job as you can do for free at home. Sub setup depends on what type of music you like and how you like it to sound of course. A vary good and rather cheap option is the jl w3v2 subs they dont require a ton of space and produce clear loud and deep bass... word for the wise... run an extra set of rca's in case you decide to add some rear fill down the line some time... knuconcepts on ebay sells vary nice quality rca's for a good deal...perty much any rca if fine as long as it isnt radioshack cheap style ones for home audio....50 feet of 12 guage speaker wire would be good to get for around $20 on ebay and i would run 2 guage power minimum of 4 guage and get about 17 feet for power and 3 feet for ground. also a circuit breaker is good instead of fuse blocks it makes life really easy when working on the car. and some 8 guage wire for the sub... like 10 feet or so depending on sub/amp location... ebay has decent boxes for our cars for under $100. may also consider some sound deadener for rattles depending on how much ya plan on spending and how much bass you end up going with...fatmat on ebay is cheap takes a long time to ship but is cheap and good quality....

 

Awesome info dude you rock! Well being slightly impulsive I ordered the amp last night kx04 850.4. Its going to power the Diamonds and be bridged for the sub. It was a good deal but if you think its wrong I can still cancel the order. Looking at the 8445 on ebay as well. I saw that one last night but it scares me that its used. Its almost 100 less though, but I really am nervous about buying used stuff on ebay. I was told the phoenix I was looking at is a sub amp too. IS the kx going to be the full range that I want?

 

ok your only problem is that the kx850.4 is 215x4 @2ohms stereo. All the comps your looking at are 4 ohm setup's so that amp alone would power the comps in a mono load of 4 ohms at 425w per channel. but you would have nothing left on the amp to power the subs. And you could technicly do it but its unsafe for the amp and an advanced wire up. also you would need to introduce a cross over to the system for controll.i would personally recomend waiting on the rest of the system to be decided to get amps that would match the system. heres a eclipse 8445 on ebay for $310 shipped from the same guy i have gotten two of them from so far. they have been perfect and came vary quick
close to the 8454 but the 05 model.
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-ECLIPSE-CD84...QQcmdZViewItem

 

Man yesterday I could only find the one. Today I found them all. Actualy already bought one from that same person. The amp is on back order so I can cancel it if I want, and will. I thought I read it to be at 4ohm stereo. Amp search is back on.

 

Rawb what do you think of the Phoenix Gold x200.4, was my frist choice but was told it was just a sub amp.
Number of Channels 4
RMS Power (4 ohms) 200 watts x 4 chan.
RMS Power (2 ohms) 200 watts x 4 chan.
RMS Power (1 ohm) 200 watts x 4 chan.
Bridged RMS Power 400 watts x 2 chan.
Peak Power Output 1600 watts approx.
Min. Impedance Unbridged 1 ohm
Min. Impedance Bridged 2 ohms
THD @ Rated RMS Power <1.0%
Speaker Level Inputs No
Amp Preamp Outputs Yes - 1 pair
Built-in Crossover HP (40 - 400Hz), LP (40 - 400Hz)
High-Pass Crossover N/A
Low-Pass Crossover N/A
Subsonic Filter N/A
Signal-to-Noise Ratio >90dB
Channel Separation N/A
Bass Boost 0 - 18dB(45Hz)
Bass/Gain Remote N/A
Fan Cooled Yes
Fuse Rating 120A
Warranty 1-year SE

the hype:
Review written by Brandon from Prescott Valley, AZ

Have this running a set of Diamond Audio HEX Components and all I can say is wow! Also used the rear channels to power a jl 10w3v2 and it popped it within in a day of hard use. I would have to say PG amps are way underrated!

 

i have yet to use any PG amps since about back in 99 before they out sourced. I'm sure they are good amps still though.i would give them a shot. lots of power for a good price...maybe run a set of comps on them and a dual voice coil sub like the 12 or 10 JL W3v2 and im sure it would be a nice sounding setup... be sure you got a 4ohm DVC sub though and you would need to introduce a crossover to the system to cross the 1/2 seperatly from the 3/4 channels...

 

Heres the links to the specs. It says built in cross over. Is that what your talking about or no?
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_2750.html
I just cant seem to find any other hi-power 4 channel 4ohm amps. Should I be looking at a two channel and a mono instead? Space is an issue though.