[Computerpro3]

Alpine IVA W200 Dual Din touchscreen
Alpine PXA-H701 EQ
Focal 165 K2P Upgraded with TN52 tweeters
Zapco Reference 360.4 bridged to 180w x 2
Hertz Mille ML3000 Subwoofer with audison amplification
custom leather door pods
sound deadening everywhere

 

[briank996]

I spent a fortune on all McIntosh gear in my old BMW, only to find out that a car is a horrible place for Audiophile acoustics. Headphones are really where it's at.

 

[milagu]

I tend to like the smaller, more offbeat yet excellent brands like Alumapro, Image Dynamics, etc. I've got an old 10" Alumapro Alchemy in my car that will still pound your brains with only 400rms.

Some of the mainstream brands remain very solid on their mid-hi products though. JBL, MTX, etc.

 

[panda]

i think subs are absolutely dumb for use in a vehicle, there is very little air that you need to move and stuffing a 10" driver in the back seat is not practical at all.

i like:
nakamichi head unit
seas lotus tweeters
morel woofers
tru tech amp

 

[Fuzzy OneThree]

I only have the stock stuff for my Camry, but sooner or later I'll spend a little bit just to get decent sound. Nothing fancy, but decent.

Forget those last 2 sentences, I just really need a CD player!

 

[Lazarus Short]

My vintage Pioneer KP-500 has survived at least three cars, and still produces some of the best FM sound I've ever heard. I say that as a current owner of a Kenwood KT-8300, and former owner of a Magnum Dynalab FT-101 and Realistic TM-1001, all good/great tuners. My current ride has a JVC of some kind, but I don't care much for it.

 

[nsx_23]

The mark levinson systems on the current Lexus LS is excellent.

 

[Rednamalas1]

it's rather hard to install a stereo on my monster

but that engine scream is only music I need

 

[MD1032]

I put Boston Acoustics speakers in my car and an Alpine head unit. It sounds really incredible for the $400 I spent on the whole deal (four speakers and a head unit) and the head unit is fantastic.

Unfortunately, Boston seems to have some SEVERE problems with their QC. I would not recommend them for this reason. So far, I've had three of the original speakers that I purchased fail on me, all for the same reason (woofer fails... from the sound of it, the voice coil is coming loose from the woofers). The replacements are just fine, but it's been a complete pain to replace all of them myself. My '98 Civic is reasonably easy to work with, but the warranty replacement service (United Radio) took like a month for one speaker, and then the replacement was bad, too, so I had to wait another three weeks for the next replacement. Jeez...

Once everything is working, though, it's awesome. Definitely no subwoofer required here... just the way I wanted it to work out. The speakers definitely aren't truly high-end compared to my in-house stereo, but then again, it's a car and most of the details go away just with the engine noise. The thing I like about these speakers as aftermarket speakers is that the highs are reasonably smooth... most aftermarket speakers seem to suffer from severe brightness issues. The best feature is that I can hear absolutely everything even at extremely low volumes, even at reasonable speeds... that right there is priceless!

 

[chesebert]

car audio is a royal waste of money....you re NEVER in the sweet spot unless you are in the B#$%# seat, for crying out loud!

I go for the cheapest crap the manufacturer offer and use the rest for some real audio stuff.

 

[MD1032]

That sucks, sorry to hear that. My Civic works out really well. The way the speakers are positioned, the driver's seat is the sweet spot. The bass is crazy there.

 

[Spektrograf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nsx_23 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The mark levinson systems on the current Lexus LS is excellent.

Actually, I'm really not a fan of the ML systems in the Lexus'... including the LS. Just not my bag. IMHO, they're a far cry from ML's hi-fi products, and really do bring down the ML brand.

OTOH, I haven't experienced myself, but Tone Audio wrote two nice write-ups of the Bentley/Naim and Jaguar/B&W systems...

I'm running in my IS....

JL SSL > JL Cleansweep > Audison LRx 5.1 (active cross) > ...
...LRx Channel A > Hertz Mille tweets
...LRx Channel B > Hertz Mille woofers
...LRx Channel C > Hertz Mille ML2500 sub

Clean, well-executed install by Ernie and crew at Sound Innovations. Heartily recommend any in the Bay Area to pay them a visit.

 

[Zodduska]

I haven't bothered with car audio in almost ten years but my favorite brands were:

Pioneer Premier head units
Phoenix Gold and PPI amps
JL subs and a/d/s for mids/highs

 

[knights]

DLS,MB-Quart,Pioneer

 

[222HEAVY]

Alpine

Mark Levinson