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What's best for performance, an audio system with a lot of speakers or one with just a few? What's your experience? Many say it's better to have less. Image Dynamic came up with a horn speaker that can play tweeter and midrange frequencies so there is no need for tweeters in the system. Many say that the fewer the source points of sound the better the performance. What do you think?  

I agree from a sound quality aspect that the fewer the source points of sound the better. If a person wants a sound stage and imaging in their vehicle. Although from my experience  there are some people who just don't care about that in a car no matter how much you try to educate them. They just want it loud. It's a shame but it's their car and their ears.
Personaly I'm not a big fan of high compression horn tweeters (This is not a knock on Image Dynamics, they are a great company). In my opinion a set of component dome tweeters and mid-drivers joined by a couple of good crossovers will do a better job of evenly distributing the range of tones in music. I have found in my experence that horns tend to beem certian tones at the listener which make the music sound not so lifelike. Speaker placement is another consideration when choosing speakers. A person could find it hard to find a good spot for compression horns in a car. Ultimately listen for yourself and do what is best for you and your vehicle.
 

indianjay wrote:

I agree from a sound quality aspect that the fewer the source points of sound the better. If a person wants a sound stage and imaging in their vehicle. Although from my experience  there are some people who just don't care about that in a car no matter how much you try to educate them. They just want it loud. It's a shame but it's their car and their ears.<br /> Personaly I'm not a big fan of high compression horn tweeters (This is not a knock on Image Dynamics, they are a great company). In my opinion a set of component dome tweeters and mid-drivers joined by a couple of good crossovers will do a better job of evenly distributing the range of tones in music. I have found in my experence that horns tend to beem certian tones at the listener which make the music sound not so lifelike. Speaker placement is another consideration when choosing speakers. A person could find it hard to find a good spot for compression horns in a car. Ultimately listen for yourself and do what is best for you and your vehicle.<br />

I just sold my 94 amigo to an old friend. We had built kicks and installed some JL Audio XR650-CSI components in them (Tweeters mounted low and in front). I now drive a 05 Nissan Pathfinder. I have no plans to upgrade the audio system until the Pathfinder is paid for in full and at that it will be a modest upgrade. My wife and I just had our first child and the littleone comes first.
I will miss my old Amigo. It sounded sooo good. At first I had all Alpine in it but I was dissapointed in the reliability in the CDA-7949. It pooped out on me in just over a year and it never played recorded discs very well. That was such a shame because it sounded and looked relly clean. I ended up with a Sony CDX-MP80. It did not sound as good but with the stiff suspension that I had I needed something that would not skip when I went off-road. The amps were Alpine MRV-1507 on four type R series 12" subs mounted in the rear cargo area in a sealed box and a MRV-F407 on two 8" S series subs and the mids and highs. The 8"s were mounted in a front fireing fiberglass enclosures on either side of the rear seats and x-over between 80Hz to 160Hz. I went with the JL components because I liked the sound of aluminum dome tweets better than Alpine's silk dome. Expert series road-kill was uses throughout. I guess I am bragging but I kinda miss it.

 

indianjay wrote:

I just sold my 94 amigo to an old friend. We had built kicks and installed some JL Audio XR650-CSI components in them (Tweeters mounted low and in front). I now drive a 05 Nissan Pathfinder. I have no plans to upgrade the audio system until the Pathfinder is paid for in full and at that it will be a modest upgrade. My wife and I just had our first child and the littleone comes first.<br />I will miss my old Amigo. It sounded sooo good. At first I had all Alpine in it but I was dissapointed in the reliability in the CDA-7949. It pooped out on me in just over a year and it never played recorded discs very well. That was such a shame because it sounded and looked relly clean. I ended up with a Sony CDX-MP80. It did not sound as good but with the stiff suspension that I had I needed something that would not skip when I went off-road. The amps were Alpine MRV-1507 on four type R series 12" subs mounted in the rear cargo area in a sealed box and a MRV-F407 on two 8" S series subs and the mids and highs. The 8"s were mounted in a front fireing fiberglass enclosures on either side of the rear seats and x-over between 80Hz to 160Hz. I went with the JL components because I liked the sound of aluminum dome tweets better than Alpine's silk dome. Expert series road-kill was uses throughout. I guess I am bragging but I kinda miss it.<br /><br />

Some friends of mine helped me with most of the work. building the box for the 12"s was a pain. We had two of them fire forward and the other two in a downfire wedge towards the front. I was surprised that it sounded as good as it did the main benfit was that even with the convertable top off  I had a good amount bass inside the cab.
I still love Alpine as far as their speakers, amps and subs are concerned. The CDA-7949 headunit was very nice while it worked. It was developed by Alpine in 1998 for release in 1999. It took around 6 months to design. (According to the product guide in 1999). The trouble with playing recorded discs did not bug me much but after our first harsh winter it was never the same. It skiped all the time.
Since then I have looked at what Alpine has released for product from year to year. The models in 2000 were horrible. In my opinion they must have felt that looks where more important than performance. They tried to copy Panasonic because of the success of the Star Trac look (that's what I call it). Alpine just fliped the buttons the other way and hoped nobody would notice. Whoever came up with that idea should have gotten fired. After that they went back to the little square buttons (thank god) and also put time correction and center frequency control in their headunits. (Good idea)
The best thing about Alpine headunits was how user-freindly they were. Well that went down the toilet last year. It's not much better this year either. At least in any headunit over $300.00
Now I still love Alpine don't get me wrong, but the guys over seas that design their headunits need to wake up and get back to building for sound quality and durability (better eject mechanisms) rather than trying to look flasher than the other cd players on the display board.  

Some friends of mine helped me with most of the work. building the box for the 12"s was a pain. We had two of them fire forward and the other two in a downfire wedge towards the front. I was surprised that it sounded as good as it did the main benfit was that even with the convertable top off  I had a good amount bass inside the cab.
I still love Alpine as far as their speakers, amps and subs are concerned. The CDA-7949 headunit was very nice while it worked. It was developed by Alpine in 1998 for release in 1999. It took around 6 months to design. (According to the product guide in 1999). The trouble with playing recorded discs did not bug me much but after our first harsh winter it was never the same. It skiped all the time.
Since then I have looked at what Alpine has released for product from year to year. The models in 2000 were horrible. In my opinion they must have felt that looks where more important than performance. They tried to copy Panasonic because of the success of the Star Trac look (that's what I call it). Alpine just fliped the buttons the other way and hoped nobody would notice. Whoever came up with that idea should have gotten fired. After that they went back to the little square buttons (thank god) and also put time correction and center frequency control in their headunits. (Good idea)
The best thing about Alpine headunits was how user-freindly they were. Well that went down the toilet last year. It's not much better this year either. At least in any headunit over $300.00. I hate that menu button.
Now I still love Alpine don't get me wrong, but the guys over seas that design their headunits need to wake up and get back to building for sound quality and durability (better eject mechanisms) rather than trying to look flasher than the other cd players on the display board.  

indianjay wrote:

Some friends of mine helped me with most of the work. building the box for the 12"s was a pain. We had two of them fire forward and the other two in a downfire wedge towards the front. I was surprised that it sounded as good as it did the main benfit was that even with the convertable top off  I had a good amount bass inside the cab.<br />I still love Alpine as far as their speakers, amps and subs are concerned. The CDA-7949 headunit was very nice while it worked. It was developed by Alpine in 1998 for release in 1999. It took around 6 months to design. (According to the product guide in 1999). The trouble with playing recorded discs did not bug me much but after our first harsh winter it was never the same. It skiped all the time.<br />Since then I have looked at what Alpine has released for product from year to year. The models in 2000 were horrible. In my opinion they must have felt that looks where more important than performance. They tried to copy Panasonic because of the success of the Star Trac look (that's what I call it). Alpine just fliped the buttons the other way and hoped nobody would notice. Whoever came up with that idea should have gotten fired. After that they went back to the little square buttons (thank god) and also put time correction and center frequency control in their headunits. (Good idea)<br />The best thing about Alpine headunits was how user-freindly they were. Well that went down the toilet last year. It's not much better this year either. At least in any headunit over $300.00. I hate that menu button.<br /> Now I still love Alpine don't get me wrong, but the guys over seas that design their headunits need to wake up and get back to building for sound quality and durability (better eject mechanisms) rather than trying to look flasher than the other cd players on the display board.

Tough question about the top three head unit manufacturers.
Some manafactures do a better job of building head units but don't market as well.. Should I take that into consideration?
Some brands do a better job of service and support than others also.
All time or just this year?
High End units or total lineup?

Ok here is my list based on this year's line up
1. Kenwood / Wow never thought it possiable but the base line up is easy to use, priced
                      right (Good for common folk), dependable, and feature packed. The eXcelon
                      line up has the 24bit burr brown DA converter, and they got the amp control
                      link designed so it wont cost an arm and a leg for cables. & 2yr warranty
2. Pioneer /  Built to handle the abuse from the  average teenager. Will play scratched discs
                   better that any brand I know. They even put a fuse on the ground trace in the
                   circutbord. They have units at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and your local Pro shop.
                   They even have different model numbers for each place they are sold. For
                   example DEH-47 at Wal-Mart, DEH-4700 at Best Buy, DEH-P470
                   (PREMIER 2yr warranty) hopefullly at the Pro Shop. They build units that
                   range in price from $110.00 to $800.00 and they have many features for the
                   money.
3. Alpine / They have the absolute best sounding player made in the world the F#1 STATUS
                DVI-9990. Big price tag but worth it if you have the will to save or spend the
                money. They also have a cd player with sub level control for about $140.00.
                Very good sound and their lower end units are user friendly. More exclusive than
                the other two brands but that has some advantages. 1yr warranty and bad eject
                mechanisms put them this low.
Honorable mentions are Eclipse, Sony Speciality Series, Nakamichi, JVC Arsenal series, and Clarion
 

crap that is gonna be hard to read  

indianjay wrote:

Tough question about the top three head unit manufacturers. <br />Some manafactures do a better job of building head units but don't market as well.. Should I take that into consideration?<br />Some brands do a better job of service and support than others also.<br />All time or just this year?<br />High End units or total lineup?<br /><br />Ok here is my list based on this year's line up<br />1. Kenwood / Wow never thought it possiable but the base line up is easy to use, priced<br />                       right (Good for common folk), dependable, and feature packed. The eXcelon<br />                       line up has the 24bit burr brown DA converter, and they got the amp control<br />                       link designed so it wont cost an arm and a leg for cables. &amp; 2yr warranty<br />2. Pioneer /  Built to handle the abuse from the  average teenager. Will play scratched discs<br />                    better that any brand I know. They even put a fuse on the ground trace in the<br />                    circutbord. They have units at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and your local Pro shop.<br />                    They even have different model numbers for each place they are sold. For<br />                    example DEH-47 at Wal-Mart, DEH-4700 at Best Buy, DEH-P470<br />                    (PREMIER 2yr warranty) hopefullly at the Pro Shop. They build units that<br />                    range in price from $110.00 to $800.00 and they have many features for the<br />                    money.<br />3. Alpine / They have the absolute best sounding player made in the world the F#1 STATUS<br />                 DVI-9990. Big price tag but worth it if you have the will to save or spend the<br />                 money. They also have a cd player with sub level control for about $140.00.<br />                 Very good sound and their lower end units are user friendly. More exclusive than<br />                 the other two brands but that has some advantages. 1yr warranty and bad eject<br />                 mechanisms put them this low.<br />Honorable mentions are Eclipse, Sony Speciality Series, Nakamichi, JVC Arsenal series, and Clarion<br />

Yes sir. haha  

I can answer the "top 3 amps" question. Since I believe Sparkomatic is out of business, the top amps are as follows...

3. Audiobahn - Not only a great amplifier, its a great heater for your car too! Hows that for value?!?
2. Jensen - Kick *** stuff! These are some of the best amplifiers in the world. I hear the man      that created the Sparkomatic "booster" amps created Jensen Electronics.. Thats where the real quality was at.
1. and the BEST amplifier ever... Legacy - These bad boys are stable down to a 1/64th ohm load. You can get a 2400 watt amp for only $65!! Thats the Shizznat my friends! JL, ALPINE, KENWOOD... None of them have *** on these fine amps!
 

ImTawdBeotch! wrote:

I can answer the "top 3 amps" question. Since I believe Sparkomatic is out of business, the top amps are as follows...<br /> <br /> 3. Audiobahn - Not only a great amplifier, its a great heater for your car too! Hows that for value?!?<br /> 2. Jensen - Kick *** stuff! These are some of the best amplifiers in the world. I hear the man      that created the Sparkomatic "booster" amps created Jensen Electronics.. Thats where the real quality was at.<br /> 1. and the BEST amplifier ever... Legacy - These bad boys are stable down to a 1/64th ohm load. You can get a 2400 watt amp for only $65!! Thats the Shizznat my friends! JL, ALPINE, KENWOOD... None of them have *** on these fine amps! <br />