This is going to be a stictly sq thread. I have been in love with car audio, and it is my 2nd obssesion next to the 7 of course. Anyways, I have had all kinds of sets, and by far the nicest comp set I have ever owned was my rainbow pros. My new setup, should run circles around them, which will consists of a carputer, Seas Reference tweeters and Morel MW168 to go IB in the deadened fd doors. All going to be ran actively via a pxa-h701 processor. Going to put focal uptopia subs in the back, and this should be one hell of an sq setup. Also by using a carputer should give me greater flexibility to fine tune my system, although the h701 is more than enough. Here are some of the other systems I have heard that I really liked.

Dynaudio 2 way setup
Morel Elate
Dls Irdium
Focal Utopia( wont fit if the 7 not even close, 4in mounting depth!)
Various DIY components, hopefully mine will exceed all of these.

Anyways post what you have heard and what you find to be some of the best comps you have ever heard. Although sound is SUBJECTIVE to everyone, I think it would be nice to have one thread to share all our personal expirences, to link to the thread that gets post every week about what is the best speaker.

 

I love the Focals in my P5, but Utopias won't fit into our doors(like you mentioned). Have you tested Rainbow speakers? A buddy of mine has a set in his car and they really sound nice...sorta like the PolyKevlars in my car, but a little less "bright".
Not sure of the mounting depth, though. :/

 

6 inch alpine type r component speakers in front and back, with the tweaters mounted in the pillars, and roof in back, 2 solo baric L5 12" woofers with a MTX 700 watt amp.

for my 2ed gen i thought it sounded pretty good. Until everything was stolen. *sigh* Murder.

 

Best sound in an FD ever: my Boston Acoustics Z6 Audiophile components, front & rear, front set up as components, rears set up as midbass. Run off a 4 channel amp, to control gain to the front & rears separately.

Best I've EVER heard period? My best friend's 1998 Volvo C70, STOCK Dynaudio 12 speaker pro-logic sound system. A M A Z I N G. Not just the speakers; Dynaudio had a hand in designing the panels of the car, and thus engineering the placement of the speakers. It WILL blow away any and every sound system out there (in sound quality), hands down.

~Ramy

 

for smooth and accurate tonal reproduction, old school A/D/S 320is, Boston Acoustics Pro 6.x, B&W MASS, Canton Pullman Set 200/300. Just so musical.

The new stuff is nice but i find them very clinical and sterile...not much warmth. I just auditioned the Focal Utopia Be series powered by an Audison amp. It's ok...nice details but I found the mid-tones muddy when lots of instruments played together. The imaging at that point got lost. And at CAD$5500 a pair, I think I'll pass. :p

 

Hedge, what do you mean by clinical and sterile?

 

Best That I've Owned Was Infinity Kappas In Front (4") And Rear (6.5") Powered By A Very Nice Pioneer With Proper Adjustments-infinity Kappa 300x1 Amp Powering A Jl Audio 10w3 In A Spec Built Ported Box. All In My Fb, This Set Up Was Loud,clear, Precise And The Bass Flexed The Rear Window By The Roof!

 

Yeah, i owned the rainbow pro cs230, they are actually for sale. They were by far the best components I have ever heard, although I heard dynaudio 3way once, and I think those were a tad bit superior, but those were three way. The rainbows had a mounting depth of 2.1"!

 

If anyone thinks there's is the best they have ever heard they don't listen to much else. Somebody else always has a better sounding system, people are just used to their own so they tend to prefer it. As much time as I've spent around audio it still may take a couple days to notice differences if the system was excellent to start with.

Next diy experiment for me: a line array. If I like it I'll have the eternal audio nut problem of too many speaker and not enough listening rooms

 

My uncles Chevy Silverado, almost complete w/ Pioneer DEH-P6700MP, 6010cs Front and rear Infinity Reference Compent. Rear 5010cs" Infinity Reference Component. 1 Infinity Kappa Perfect 10" DVC. All Door Speakers powered by Old School Rockford Fosgate Punch (forgot amp). Subwoofer by another Old School Rockford Fosgate Punch (forgot amp).

 

Didn't Dick Sequerra (of Marantz 10b and Day/Sequerra FM Tuner fame) do that a whole ago. My bro-in-law has his line array tweets on top of the Met7 and woofer base. Great imaging....esp, on staged vocals like Belafonte at the Carnegie recording.

Planars are similar sounding, no? Apogee, Magnepan?

 

They don't sound musical. We call it the boom and sizzle effect. Reproduce certain frequencies well to impress the untrained ear and sell tons of products. MB Quarts are notorious for that. But as a whole, is not as good as advertized/claimed (altho Quarts aren't bad by any means).

But like DamonB sez, there's always something better and each person's musical taste will affect speaker decisions. I have B&W home speakers and love them...most will like them. But if you're into big thumpers or heavy metal they may not be right for you.

So I guess i mean clinical and sterile as in very synthesized. Not natural sounding.

 

If you say so. I don't know that guy I'm changing my attitude about using a bunch of small drivers instead of a few larger ones. With many drivers none of them need as much xmax for a given output level so they sound cleaner and faster since they must not travel as far. I'm contemplating doubling up on my subwoofer drivers for the same reason.

The room my equipment rests in has the garage on the other side. I think I could build a half wave transmission line for a 12" or 15" sub in there and just dump it into the listening room

I'd say similar, yes. I like planars with some music but they seem to me to sometimes lack the impact and attack of cone drivers. With voices and midrange they sound wonderful though. I can't think of better words to use but the line array IMO sounds like the offspring of a cone driver and a planar Its physical sound is certainly cones but at the same time the stage is huge like a planar.

I got to listen to these years ago and really like them:

http://www.gr-research.com/discontinued/alpha.htm

My experiment is going to start on a much smaller scale at no more than a couple hundred bucks. If I really like it I'll perhaps go all out at some time much later.

 

Yep. Most people think the sub in my car is "weak" because I actually have it adjusted to balance with the rest of the speakers. They think it lacks boom. Once I turn the sub level way up and then hit the bass boost to get that nice muddy distortion all the kids love they think it sounds much better

There are many local radio stations I hate listening to because they eq the music so bad it sounds like crap on anything other than a walkman or a boombox.

I never go overboard with car audio. You can get nice imaging for a car but that still falls way short of what a proper home system can do. For a car my only goals are to get as flat a response as possible and be musical. If any component can't do something well then I won't ask it to try. I'd rather go without some property in the sound than constantly have my attention drawn to something that tries and fails.

 

no kidding?

 

I have always used MB quarts, for like 15 years they ran the IASCA. I also am partial to Soundstream, but then they changed a lot of their products. I have one of their best things they ever created and that is the 12" Tarantula Spl DVC 1200 RMS sub. It is extremely loud with incredible musical reproduction quality. It really has so much to do with the amplifier. I run a class A D'Artagnan 5.1 car theater amp. It is top notch and am curious with the staging and tuning how it would do in a contest. So I might go and find a stereo compitetion to lay the smack down. Should be fun

 

I'd say the BOSE system in my dad's 2002 Volvo S80T6. In a close second... is the Dynaudio system in the new 2006 Passat's 3.6 liter version with sport suspension. I work for VW so i get to play with them whenever i want. I've NEVER tried to take the volume past half on the VW meter because you just don't need to.

 

Ah yes, the other maxim. If it's really loud then it's really good! Actually that explains a lot: fart cannons, open intakes, loud BOV's, 1000W stereo systems...

 

I always thought the Nakamichi system in the RX300 sounded great, considering it's a stock system.

I'm a fan of clarity and trebel not so much big bassy sounds.

 

The mcintosh system in the ford gt is incredible, although its a $5000 option!

 

 

Best system I've heard was in my old Accord.. ran Focal components front and back with Focal subs. Nakamichi Head unit and Mcintosh Amps for everything. Crossover and EQ by Ashly. I still have taht system but I am building a new one.. will probably stick with Focal speakers, but I'll be using Adcom amps and other goodies