High End Brands

I think I'm actually starting to gain some useful knowledge about car audio stuff, using and looking at this site for the past couple of months now. Right now, I'm in a situation where I basically need to totally redo my entire system in my Towncar, and I'm thinking that I'm probably going to end up using a lot of different brands to get the job done right. The only piece of high end quality equipment I have right now that I will be using in the future is my Audiobahn A1500HCT Monoblock Amp (stable down to 2000w RMS @ 1ohm $1000 MSRP yada yada). I'm willing to buy expensive equipment, just not anything that's absurd (ex. - $2000 for HU)

What brands do you highly recommend (especially talking to you installers and people w/ years of experience). It might be useful to know that  I want a SQ/DB comprimise - I want it all from good companies :) I know I'm requesting a lot, but thats what this site is for right?

1. Top 5 High End HUs 2. Top 5 High End Internal Speakers (including Tweeters)  3. Top 5 High End Subwoofers (12" and bigger please)

I know very little in comparison with these other experts, but when I was choosing my HU I wanted one that played MP3's so I searched long and hard to find that compromise between cost and quality. I played with the Alpines and loved them. Clarion had a nice one out, but I didn't care for the overall look. The Sony's were ok, but didn't grab me by the nards, if you know what I mean. The Kenwoods met my budget, but were difficult to use. I ended up with a Pioneer Premier DEH-550MP that not only looks good, plays my MP3's without any of the hiccups that I had read about from previous HU's regardless of manufacturer, delivered a very clean 22 wrms, but ultimately met my price, although I did get it for a $100.00 cheaper than what you can find in a store. Check out www.IKESOUND.com to save yourself some money. They offer free shipping which is a huge plus since you can roll that extra cost right back into the item that you are wanting to buy. There's one thing that I have learned over the years when buying electronics and that is the more moving parts that you have, the more likely it will break down, so I went simple. The face of my HU manually drops down to allow me to switch discs, instead of the more high dollar units that mechanically moved down to open up for the removal or insertion of a disc. They look awesome, but are more prone to break and I'm not excited about throwing my hard earned money away.  Keep in mind that a higher price tag doesn't make it better. If I had the money to blow, I would have purchased one of the HU's with a built in HD. You might want to consider that. Sony and Pioneer both manufacture a unit that has a built in HD.

As far as speakers go, the best that I have heard to date are MB Quarts. There might be a few of you out there that disagree with that, but I am extremely picky about my sound and the MB Quarts deliver. I'm considering replacing my JBL's upfront with an MB Quart component set up in the near future, because of how impressed I am with them.

I can't comment on subs, but I'm sure one of these excellent people in this forum will advise you properly there.

Good luck!

Razorbacx

I don't know what kind of subs you are looking at or how much air space you are dealing with but if you want subs that can handle that much power you might want to look into Cadence (wild beast), Rockfordfosgate HE2/HX2, Kicker L7's.

As for head units Pioneer, Kenwood, Clarion are my choices...  owned them all never had problems with them.  Don't care much for alpine have had problems with them skipping...

As for High End Internal Speakers that is really a matter or choice.  I recently heard Pioneers Rev series and they were awesome for the price...  Other speakers that I think sound good are MB Quart,  CDT audio,

MB Quarts are, in my opinion, some of the best speakers you can buy.  They can get pricey but they sound amazing.  Also Focal, Diamond, and Infinity get my vote.  I have not heard the Pioneer Rev series yet but I have heard some people raving about them.

There are quite a few very good head units out there, and if you intend to push your speakers with a head unit's built-in amp, I would recommend going with one of the alpine v-drive models, or a pioneer/premier with the mosfet50 amp chip.  The alpine one in particular will go pretty darn loud before distorting, but if you're trying to have an SQ type system you might want to consider using an external 4-channel amplifier anyways.

Technically the motorized faceplate models are more likely to give you problems down the road, but in general if you take good care of the head unit and use common sense (i.e. don't try to force it closed or open/close it repeatedly) you shouldn't have a problem.  Also, most of the head units that you'll be considering are probably going to be the motorized faceplate type, so you might not have a choice in the matter.

My personal favorite for head units has always been Pioneer.  The last few years they have come out with some really solid head units with a lot of innovative features, and they really do last a long time.  In terms of the little nit-picky things like ease of use and button action/movement they have always been right up there with the best of them.  These may sound stupid and insignificant, but after daily use they become pretty important.

I was going to suggest the Premier DEX-P9 (with the DEQ-P9) but you said $2,000 for a head unit is absurd....but hey we can all dream, right?  Depending on where you bought them, the two together would probably run you around $1800 total.  When used together, they will provide amazing sound quality and give you COMPLETE control over equalization functions/settings.  It's fun stuff, let me tell ya.......

Also of note is the Eclipse CD8053...haven't heard this one yet but the specs certainly scream "SQ."  16 volts for a preout is kind of silly, but the preamp DSP feature looks pretty cool.

I think that as long as all of the equipment is 100% properly installed (wires routed properly, components grounded properly, shielded RCAs used, optimal subwoofer enclosure sizes used, etc.), most of the difference in sound will depend on the speakers and on what type of subwoofer enclosure you use.  I'd be more concerned with those two things than with specific head unit models, because as long as you stick to the main high-end brands and models, ground the unit properly, and use an external 4-channel amplifier, they will in most situations all sound pretty much the same.

From there it's just a matter of choosing one that has the features that you want and that will fit your budget.

These are some of the brands at the top of my list

as a total newbie, who will be spending money to upgrade my "base" system, I find this thread incredible.

please, keep the comments/suggestions flowing...

THIS is what the internet was made for!!!

Head Units: Alpine or a Nak

Subs : Boston Acoustics ( for subs, stick with 12" as 15's are hard to control for SQ and require alot more power to deliver the optimum amount of power )

Amplifiers : Xtant , Zapco or McIntosh

Processors : Audio Control or Alpine's PXA-H900

Speakers : MB Quarts, Boston Acoustics or Focal