http://www.caraudioa...showtopic=67770
This is a list of companies, *commonly recommended/discussed* on CAA...
Its a fairly comprehensive reference.
By no means is it complete, theres a lot of exotic brands, who are not included.
There are brands generally only available overseas, not included.
Think I missed something that deserves inclusion? Pm or comment.
This list will grow over time especially the "Cheap as Chips" category.
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The Players
These are the high-quality names that aren't particularly well known on the street, compared to the mainstream players.
Brands you should be aware of, know a little about, try and audition but may be a little harder to track down.
These companies either manufacture car-audio components (amps, speakers, cabling)
exclusively, and if not, are nonetheless regarded as producers of extremely high quality in-car gear (ie, JBL).
You should note, most manufacturers have multiple product lines, pitched at different budgets and thus, quality.
Sometimes quite sharply. Alpines F1 status gear, for example, is right up at the top of the sound quality chain,
while their more marketable gear (lowest range) could be called overpriced.
The Mainstream
These are the brands that everybody's heard of. Brands heavily advertised, and easily obtained.
Some fantastic brands fall into this genre (Alpine, Rockford Fosgate, etc), and may suit your ears more than the above.
Brands in this category are generally more readily available in stores nationwide.
It should be noted that many of these brands make some GREAT top-end stuff.
Their inclusion as "mainstream" brands is not meant as a reference to "inferior quality".
In a few cases, brands in this segment are more "Average" in quality, but certainly not all.
Exotica
The even rarer. The even more expensive. The even better. Brands again, not commonly heard of.
Perhaps not really worth your time tracking down to listen to unless you have a massive budget,
and quite simply, want the best of the best. It should be noted, some of the "players" and even "mainstream"
companies, make some extremely high quality product lines (such as alpines F1 status, or the Hertz Mille, or Morel Supremo)
that aren't well known even by people familiar with their more popular gear.
"Cheap as Chips"
Generally dont perform as advertised.
You find these in "bargain basement" packages, or being hawked on ebay for outlandish profit.
Great for people with less than $100 for a set of speakers, who dont want to buy secondhand, or have
absolutely no sense of quality or taste in their music. Sure, they'll make noise, but not for long, and not very loud.
Some brands, such as BOSS, have a reputation for literally blowing up. Steer Clear
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The Players
μ-Dimension
A/D/S
Aerpro (Car Audio Accessories. Cabling, etc)
Adire
Alphasonic
ARC Audio
Audiocontrol
Audison
Audison Connect (Car Audio Accessories. Cabling, etc).
AudioSystem
Axis
Brax
Boston Acoustics
Calibre
Cerwin Vega
Crossfire
Diamond Audio
Digital Designs
DLS
Dynaudio
Earthquake
Eton
Focal
Hertz
Hifonics
Image Dynamics
JL audio
Kicker
Lotus
Mb Quart
Memphis
Morel
Orion
Oz audio
Peerless.
Phass
Pheonix gold
Polk
PPI
Rainbow
RE Audio
Scanspeak
Schneider
Sinfoni
Soundstream
SoundSplinter
Stinger (Car Audio Accessories. Cabling, dash facias, distro's, etc).
Streetwires (Car Audio Accessories).
Treo
Tru Technology
US-Amps
VDO dayton
Vibe
Vifa (strictly speaking not car-audio specific, but becoming more commonly used, tweeters in particular).
Xtant
Zapco
The Mainstream
Alpine. (Great headunits, Top of the line F1 status gear, is divine, but very expensive).
AudioBahn
BlauPunkt
Cadence
Clarion
Coustic
Eclipse (FANTASTIC headunits, amps, speakers).
Fusion
Infinity
Jaycar
JBL
JVC
Kenwood (very average headunits. Some nice double-din screens though)
Lightning Audio
MTX Audio.
Panasonic. (Make average headunits, speakers, etc).
Pioneer. (Make great headunits. Ditto alpine, great top of line gear, but getting up there in price).
Rockford Fosgate
Sony. (>2005 models fine, Old School pre-xplod gear <2000 great, see notes below about 'xplod')
Exotica. The really expensive, really good, and/OR really rare.
AudioQuest. (amps)
Becker-energy. (Amps.
Beyond Audio
Butler Audio.
Genisis. (amps)
Mcintosh Labs.
Milbert. Extremely high end amps
Nakamichi. Extremely high end "purist" SQ headunits.
Alpine's F1 status components. In a league of their own from the regular alpine gear.
Pioneer's ODR components. Ditto.
Valveaudio. Hand-made amps.
Cheap As Chips.
STAY AWAY from these brands, wherever possible.
Altec. (note, NOT Altec Lansing, which is half-decent, but dont make car audio).
American Boss
AudioLine.
AudioPipe.
Boschman.
Boss audio. (Aka, fire hazards.)
Daewoo
DHD.
Fly Audio
Focus.
Funky Sound
Jensen.
Kingwood
Legacy
Marriola
Pyle
Pyramid
Rampage
Rockwood. (Cheap "rockford fosgate" / Kenwood" ripoffs).
Sanyo.
SoundSTORM. (soundstream rip-off)
Sony 'Xplod' (2000-2004 models only, see notes below about 'xplod')
Super Sound.
SPL
US audio
V12.
Valveaudio ON EBAY ONLY (speakers etc. cheap ripoff. Valveaudio handmade amps, are very exotica).
V-tek
Yokohama
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Regards to sony
sony: <2000 (pre-xplod) = decent gear, the best sony gear was from this era IMO. (ES range, the series under the ES range, etc etc)
sony 'xplod' (red): 2000-2004 = cheap, nasty, dodgy, stay away
sony 'xplod' (silver/grey) 2005 = got alot better IMHO
sony 'xplod' (still silver/grey) >2006 = getting ALOT better, new S-Series speakers are very nice for the money, amps alot better, decks are also better...
thats my 2 cents, but in all honesty, as far as sony is concerned, u cant beat the old school sony gear from pre-2000, BEFORE they opted to market 'xplod'...
- mad89
Regards to categorisation of brands.
S
the mainstream stuff is stuff that any idiot with a set of fully sick 6x9's knows about and rates highly. eg pioneer, alpine, kenwood and IMO rockford and MTX. This is stuff that is advertised everywhere and can be optained very easily.
The player stuff is not necessarilly better stuff across the board (there is still very good mainstream gear) but it is a little less known and not as heavily marketed.
Kind of like music. Nickelback are mainstream and that doesnt make them better or worse than any other band on the planet, just means they are more well known. (its there lack of talent that makes them worse laugh.gif
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Enjoy!
Please dont repeat comments from the previous thread on this subject in here (tutorial section).
Constructive criticism/suggestions only
Edited by Liquidity, 02 August 2006 - 05:45 PM.
definately worth taking them out of the bad name and putting them back in the mainstream (cos having them in the dont touch pile... even though i dont like their old stuff ... is unfair to them... as a salesperson i get lot of customers going "eww i heard sony is crap" and im like "dude for 150 bucks ur not gonna hear a better pair of splits!!!")
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