Brands - What's your favorite

[Shadowen925]

I'm not planing on building a major system into my car, I just want quality sound/performance.
I'd like to make a thread with peoples opinions on what their favorite brand's. I would also like to hear of any good or bad experiences you have had that are brand specific.

Thanks

[truckkid42]

Hyfonics is my favorite brand for speakers and amps. they look great and sound great too.

[h8crew]

Alpine make nice stuff. Also enjoyed my Kicker CompVR's when I had them. Currently also using some parts from SPL, a smaller company and so far so good :) Check them all out and see what your taste is... just please don't go with no name. Been there, done that, FAIL.

[Shadowen925]

just please don't go with no name. Been there, done that, FAIL.

I understand that...
Brands tend to show an overall rating that can be used to help decide on the product. Not all products from one brand are going to be the same. A product with one brand name can perform %100 better then a different model product of the same brand. Also, there is not going to be one brand that is "the best."

I guess I'm more looking for some sort of a baseline to follow.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

[h8crew]

I definitely understand that. Are you looking just for speakers? A new deck? And are you wanting a sub too?

[chasingsafety]

My entire system consists of pioneer deck, all infinity speakers/subs and mtx amps and I love every bit of it

[Shadowen925]

I definitely understand that. Are you looking just for speakers? A new deck? And are you wanting a sub too?

I've got stock everything. I'm looking for a quality HU and I'd probably end up getting infinity speakers since I've had good experiences with those. I don't plan on getting a sub but I may get an amp for the speakers if it will help/is needed.

I have a 10 disk changer in my car now. It came with it when I bought it from the previous owner. I rarely use the changer and would much rather have a HU that can just read an mp3 cd/dvd. Also looking for quality Aux in.

[j0hnZ]

Eclipse, kicker, polk audio, focal, infinity, alpine, hyfonics

[Shadowen925]

Eclipse, kicker, polk audio, focal, infinity, alpine, hyfonics

Any good/bad stories or issues you have had with those brands?

[j0hnZ]

No bad ones, obviously.

They have all worked for me :shrug:

[Larka]

Right now in my ZX2 and Tracker, almost everything I'm running is Dual. That's cause the stuff was presents... LOL.
Amps I usually go with Kenwood or MTX (I have a Kenwood in my ZX2 and an MTX in my Tracker.)
Speakers I usually go with Sony or Polk.
Headunits I just go by whatever has the best specs, looks cool and I can plug my iPod into.

Only issues, complaints-
Kenwood- More customer service than quality. The amp that used to be in my Tracker was a Kenwood. Something broke inside of it, through no fault of my own. Kenwood refused to do anything about it, despite the warranty on it. "Oh, you can send it to us. We might be able to fix it. If we can't fix it, we're not giving you a new one and not sending you the old one back to take elsewhere."

Lightning Audio- cheap in price and quality. Listening to them you could tell they were cheap speakers. I think they might have actually been worse than stock. Then one of them physically blew up. Had little yellow pieces of speaker all over my car.

[sleeperzx2]

head deck is pioneer. fronts are pheonix golds 2 way components. and rear are pheonix gold as well. the amp to all this is a 250w precision power. When i was running my subs which are for sale i had 2 JL 12" W3s on a 1600w pheonix gold amp. all this stuff works great. just if you run tweets try to get a set of bass blockers i learned the hard way and literaly smoked my tweeters

[dareall]

factory ford premium sound FTW!! Been in the car for 10 years with no problems :)

[TreystaHANN]

Boston acoustics... IMO the best speakers

[somethingmore]

Since I'm on a roll in this section I figured I'd revive this with my brands...

I use Hifonics for amps, Earthquake or Atomic for subs IF I can find them, and if I can't I usually don't bother because I love those too much to compromise unless I can find something for a great deal... As for speakers/tweeters and such I've used Blaupunkt, Earthquake and MB Quart... Blaupunkt have been the best IMO... I use Clarion for head units... For stuff like wires I like to use Typhoon but it doesn't particularly matter unless you're getting into some really high fidelity stuff... But for power wire if you can find some extra wire from your local electric company that stuff works GREAT... I had a buddy who used to work part-time for our electric company in my hometown and he "acquired" some of their 4 gauge wire, that stuff was almost like a solid bar of copper wrapped in rubber, it was hard as hell to route because it just wouldn't flex and we had to get some uber cutters from his work as well just so we could trim the shit down to size...

[CJW]

Old but I don't care

My favorite amps are all old school because they were built better. Old US Amps, Old Hifonics, Old Rockford Fosgate Power series, RE 12.1, Cadence, Phoenix Digital, etc and so forth.

Today's amps:
High end of all of the previous mentioned brands. Elemental Designs, Kicker, and a handful of underground brands that are used by all the major competitors. Too many to really list.

As far as speakers go...Rainbow, and Focal. That's it.

Subs: Well...none of the brands anyone who isn't an audio nut would recognize. Basically, anything good that holds it's recomended power. Which is none of the subs you can buy at any major retailer with the exception being the L7 and Type-R. The last 4 subs I have used were all custom made for me made from TC Sounds motors. One I had custom made is being used by gotmilf(Matt). It is a 10" sub, carbon fiber dustcap, 12 spoke frame, 3hp tc motor, aluminum flat wound dual 2 ohm coil, 4 stiff spiders, 12 gauge leads, and capable of holding 3000rms....PS he loves it(in case you didn't already know).


My gti is about to get a never used US Amps merlin amp from 1992 rated at 25rms per channel ;-). With a 15" infinity beta sub from 1995 in a infinite baffle setup using the rear deck lid. I bet that boggles you mind. lol

[98zx23369]

for the HU pioneer flip out 7in touch screen,amp-kenwood 600w rms cheater amp (because it says 600 they think it is 600w max power, it is actually at 1200w maz power),speakers-rockford punch, subs- 3 rockford punch p3s- 2 -12in punch p2s and 1 15in punch p2, and 3 rockford 1800w amps, the encloser for the 12s and 15 are were the back seats were and the 10in p3s are lined in trunk

[ZXtreme2Fast]

Pioneer head units, kicker subs, and alpine amps or kicker amps is what i would go for, n i like pioneer door speakers too

[Midwestzx2]

Head units: pioneer, eclipse, nakamichi, and clarion
Speakers: Infinity, clarion, old mb quarts, and focal.
Subs: old school rockford, massive audio, and infinity
Amps: Hifonics, Directed, and massive audio