 macro
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Posted: 8/9/2012 7:59:13 PM
THE IMAGE ABOVE IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT I was VERY into higher end car audio custom installs back in the 80's and 90's. Back then, when MB Quart came out, I use their separates for most installs. I've used a ton of different subs (JBL, Soundstream, Image Dynamics, etc). I'm staring down the barrel of my first install in at least a decade. I see that Quart is still selling speakers....and I see a ton of brands that I've never even heard of. I'm looking to buy separates....probably 6 1/2" and tweeter set. Want quality and I'm not too worried about the cost. Mostly for rock music, but needs to handle EVERY genre....I listen to literally everything, from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Beethoven to John Coltrane....with a little Pantera and Skinny Puppy mixed in 
Just did some quick searches and found a reference separate set from Image Dynamics for around $500....I love their subs but I know nothing about their regular speakers. So....if you are into making noise, and do it with quality, audiophile grade stuff......whatcha usin'? |
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:04:38 PM
I've been running CDT HD series in my lub machine for the past 10 years. They're ok. Great soundstage, but can be a little heavy in the mid ranges. I probably would have liked Focals better.
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macro
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:08:24 PM
One other thing.....I LOVE highs.
I'm the guy that brings the 10k band of the EQ up at least 3-6dB and sets the tweeters on the highest gain setting on the crossover. I like well rounded mids with insanely crisp highs. If I am listening to piano, I want to feel the tinge of the right side of the instrument...when I hear drums, I want to be able to tell the difference between a hi-hat and a muted cymbal crash. |
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:10:13 PM
[Last Edit: 8/9/2012 8:11:14 PM by VBC]
Originally Posted By macro:
One other thing.....I LOVE highs. I'm the guy that brings the 10k band of the EQ up at least 3-6dB and sets the tweeters on the highest gain setting on the crossover. I like well rounded mids with insanely crisp highs. If I am listening to piano, I want to feel the tinge of the right side of the instrument...when I hear drums, I want to be able to tell the difference between a hi-hat and a muted cymbal crash. Then you would probably prefer titanium tweets, like MB Quarts have vs. silk dome tweets which have softer highs. |
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macro
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:20:18 PM
Originally Posted By VBC:
Originally Posted By macro:
One other thing.....I LOVE highs. I'm the guy that brings the 10k band of the EQ up at least 3-6dB and sets the tweeters on the highest gain setting on the crossover. I like well rounded mids with insanely crisp highs. If I am listening to piano, I want to feel the tinge of the right side of the instrument...when I hear drums, I want to be able to tell the difference between a hi-hat and a muted cymbal crash. Then you would probably prefer titanium tweets, like MB Quarts have vs. silk dome tweets which have softer highs. Any experience with the Focal speakers you mentioned? They were coming into their own around the time I was getting out of the game. Still good stuff? |
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:23:44 PM
[Last Edit: 8/9/2012 8:24:11 PM by VBC]
Originally Posted By macro:
Originally Posted By VBC:
Originally Posted By macro:
One other thing.....I LOVE highs. I'm the guy that brings the 10k band of the EQ up at least 3-6dB and sets the tweeters on the highest gain setting on the crossover. I like well rounded mids with insanely crisp highs. If I am listening to piano, I want to feel the tinge of the right side of the instrument...when I hear drums, I want to be able to tell the difference between a hi-hat and a muted cymbal crash. Then you would probably prefer titanium tweets, like MB Quarts have vs. silk dome tweets which have softer highs. Any experience with the Focal speakers you mentioned? They were coming into their own around the time I was getting out of the game. Still good stuff? No personal experience, but they were considered the Tier 1 car speakers 10 years ago when I was spending all my money on audio. They still cost the same.  |
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:36:48 PM
RE has been mentioned for subs. Old brands like orion i guess suck now.
I'm still jamming almost 20 year old boston subs and components. |
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:44:53 PM
The Focals are by far leading the market as far as high end separates. The SQ they reproduce is out of this world.
I saw mention of Orion sucking these days. Granted, I wouldn't take a free Orion amp or mid/highs, but they did just reintroduce the HCCA subs a couple of years ago. They are insanely loud, but the SQ definitely leaves something to be desired. For a good mixture of SPL and SQ, JL Audio W7's or the Alpine Type X subs are the way to go. For amplifiers, I'm still partial to Kicker. Even their lower line DX series stuff sounds good, and is producing great numbers from a tiny package, without a massive amperage draw. Everyones ears are different, and of course this is just my $.02, YMMV. |
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MillerSHO
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:45:59 PM
Check out the Hertz high energy line.
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pcsutton
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:46:53 PM
I'm a fan of JL Audio....JMHO.
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:48:06 PM
I have some old Orion XTR separates that I bought used a long time ago and those things have the best mids and highs I've ever heard.
They also have air-core inductors and polypropylene film caps in the crossovers, which is probably the reason they sound so good. |
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MrMojoRising
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:48:23 PM
If you're that big of a tweet freak just go with horns.
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:49:10 PM
Originally Posted By macro: I like diamond for the front and boston for the sub but I LIKE my music very bright, I'm 1/2 deaf.Looking for current feedback from some modern day audiophiles.... I was VERY into higher end car audio custom installs back in the 80's and 90's. Back then, when MB Quart came out, I use their separates for most installs. I've used a ton of different subs (JBL, Soundstream, Image Dynamics, etc). I'm staring down the barrel of my first install in at least a decade. I see that Quart is still selling speakers....and I see a ton of brands that I've never even heard of. I'm looking to buy separates....probably 6 1/2" and tweeter set. Want quality and I'm not too worried about the cost. Mostly for rock music, but needs to handle EVERY genre....I listen to literally everything, from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Beethoven to John Coltrane....with a little Pantera and Skinny Puppy mixed in Just did some quick searches and found a reference separate set from Image Dynamics for around $500....I love their subs but I know nothing about their regular speakers. So....if you are into making noise, and do it with quality, audiophile grade stuff......whatcha usin'? |
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:50:11 PM
You'd be hard pressed to go wrong with anything alpine. If you like highs I'd probably recommend Infiniti door speakers, they're notorious for their highs. I personally have a set of infinity kappa's all the way around with an alpine type R to fill in the lows. I'm running a Rockford fosgate 4 channel to the door speakers and an alpine mrp-m500 for the sub and couldn't be happier with the result.
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macro
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:51:33 PM
Originally Posted By MrMojoRising:
If you're that big of a tweet freak just go with horns. Ive seriously considered it in the past....for this install I'm going with a factory stock look....using the factory location for the tweeters (because it's optimal) Payed with horns before...I definitely love what they do....but the form factor won't cut it on this job. |
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macro
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:53:11 PM
Originally Posted By octaneairforce:
You'd be hard pressed to go wrong with anything alpine. If you like highs I'd probably recommend Infiniti door speakers, they're notorious for their highs. I personally have a set of infinity kappa's all the way around with an alpine type R to fill in the lows. I'm running a Rockford fosgate 4 channel to the door speakers and an alpine mrp-m500 for the sub and couldn't be happier with the result. My last 'upgrade' install was replacing factory speaker with the kappa series....I agree...they had a really nice sound. My only complaint was that the mids and mid-lows were lacking. The highs were exactly where I want to be though. |
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:56:09 PM
Infinity Kappa component set up. Imho
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MrMojoRising
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:56:37 PM
Originally Posted By macro:
Originally Posted By MrMojoRising:
If you're that big of a tweet freak just go with horns. Ive seriously considered it in the past....for this install I'm going with a factory stock look....using the factory location for the tweeters (because it's optimal) Payed with horns before...I definitely love what they do....but the form factor won't cut it on this job. I can't remember the name of the guy now but he competed with an older Buick I think. The entire dash was modded for the horns. Ahhh the 90s. |
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MrMojoRising
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Posted: 8/9/2012 8:57:07 PM
LOL, found it....
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Posted: 8/9/2012 9:06:25 PM
I was impressed with the Focals I listened to. but they were a little out of my price range.
I'm not an audiophile though, so take that for what it's worth. |
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macro
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Posted: 8/9/2012 9:07:32 PM
Originally Posted By MrMojoRising:
LOL, found it.... http://www.usdaudio.com/sw/cars/buick/buick-dash.jpg I feel like vehicles were so much easier to modify back then. Stuff now is so electronically integrated. I used to love taking out the heat gun and molding the stock panels to 'fit' whatever audio solution I dreamed up. A buddy of mine made a custom sub enclosure out of fiberglass...designed to fit into the jump seat of a pickup truck.....wild stuff. Did a dB drag vehicle once.....a VERY custom Bronco.....8 15's......4 per enclosure. It was about the most insane thing I've built.....until we did 6 15's in a slammed mini-truck
Dmn I miss those days. |
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Posted: 8/9/2012 9:10:46 PM
Originally Posted By macro:
Originally Posted By octaneairforce:
You'd be hard pressed to go wrong with anything alpine. If you like highs I'd probably recommend Infiniti door speakers, they're notorious for their highs. I personally have a set of infinity kappa's all the way around with an alpine type R to fill in the lows. I'm running a Rockford fosgate 4 channel to the door speakers and an alpine mrp-m500 for the sub and couldn't be happier with the result. My last 'upgrade' install was replacing factory speaker with the kappa series....I agree...they had a really nice sound. My only complaint was that the mids and mid-lows were lacking. The highs were exactly where I want to be though. Yeah I kind of agree with you there. If you were looking to do a little more with the mids I might say look at some Polk's or some of the higher series Alpines not necessarily the type X but the type R's or maybe even the S's. I got my best friend a set of Polk's for his jeep and I was really impressed with how full they sounded compared to my infinity's. But I'd say if you liked the kappa's and just want a little more mid range check out the kappa perfect components. . |
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orion251
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Posted: 8/9/2012 9:43:29 PM
[Last Edit: 8/9/2012 9:52:10 PM by orion251]
Originally Posted By MrMojoRising: LOL, found it.... http://www.usdaudio.com/sw/cars/buick/buick-dash.jpg The car phone
I think his name was David Clark, or something like that. It was a Grand National that had the custom horns in the dash, 2 8" speakers in the kick panels and 2 15" subs in the trunk using some type of a membrane instead of a box. 3 alpine amps powered it I think. The car was sponsored by Speakerworks and had a good bit of pro level sound processing in it, like Rane eq's.
All of that was from memory and is probably wrong......
Edit, yep I was wrong on many points. http://www.usdaudio.com/sw/cars/buick/
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macro
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Posted: 8/9/2012 9:46:18 PM
I saw a nice Quart set for under $400......and I saw some Focal sets that were well into the thousands!
How is MB Quart quality these days? I don't mind spending some bucks, but $3500 for a pair of 6 1/2's ain't happening.......ever. Side by side, Quart vs. Focal....at the same price point, who wins? |
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Posted: 8/9/2012 9:58:51 PM
I have had Focal's in my car's, and I have Focal home speakers. They are exceptional. Even the lower priced are pretty nice.
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MillerSHO
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Posted: 8/9/2012 10:11:34 PM
Originally Posted By LudwigLoewe:
Infinity Kappa component set up. Imho I have a pair of Kappa 6x9's and they're def one of the better 6x9's. |
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