Hi... Just bought an Alfa Romeo 147 GTA..
I want to upgrade the sound system... I already have some things in mind, but I'm into the whole italian thing at the moment.. Just put some italian tyres on it and it would be nice if there were some good quality italian speakers around to do my sound upgrade.
My choices of head unit are somewhat limited because I want iPod and also want to keep my steering wheel controls, so I'm kind of stuck with Alpine there. (9855)

I do want good sound quality, and that will be my primary objective, so I won't put just anything in just to be all italian.. but I'm hoping there's a good italian brand around..

Thanks!!

Hertz and Audison may be your best bet if you're after italian only.

I'm sure there are a couple other manufactueres there but I cant name them off the top of my head.

Hertz being primarily speakers, and audison being amps and cabling.

Good luck with it!

Highly recommend Hertz and Audison

If you want to put together a cheap, tried and true and top SQ system, an Audison SRx3 amplifier, Hertz HX300D subwoofer, and some Hertz HSK-165 splits, plus some Audison Connection cabling, could see you with a full Italian setup for.... $2k installed, depending on complexity obviously.

i dont like audison or hertz, i have had way to many problems with them (2 hertz amps and 1 audison and all of them had problems)

audio system amps come from italy.



hosestly i think you should forget the whole italian speaker idea and buy something decent.


or buy some alphasonik gear

was sinfonia one?

forgot them

Sinfoni some pretty italian amps http://www.sinfoni.com/eng/start.html

And PHD. www.phd.it

you had any experience with sinfoni Rob?

nah unfortunly, i did look into them a few years ago.

very nice amps from what i hear around the traps

Quite a few speakers are made in Italy, off the top of my head:
Hertz
PHD
Zapco (American brand but speakers are made in Italy)
Ciare
ESB
MDS (Multi Dynamic Systems)
Audio System

Audio systems make amp's not speakers (well none that i have seen)

Zapco have there amp's made in italy (along with boston i belive) but there speakers are made by Ehmann & Partner in germany who also make speakers for rainbow and brax among others.

How about Clarion DXZ-956MC? they have I-pod support fromt he factory dont they? Likewise Eclipse CD8455 I think.

I had an Audison SRx2S, which i bought second hand. Accidentally had it set up wrong, running an IDMAX of 1ohm-bridge and used to put it up pretty loud as well. 3 or 4 months, and one fuse later, I found the problem, and fixed it. A year later, the amp is still running perfectly and is not going into my mates car.

Given the stress i was putting on the thing (it isnt even 2ohm-mono stable, let along 1ohm mono) the thing never died. Used to cut thanks to thermal protection, only at extreme volumes (94%+ on deck) with around 75% on gains. I think any amp would do that at such high volumes, gain settings @ 1ohm-bridge.

But, main moral of the story - the thing just kept on keeping on. Quite a nice sounding speaker amp as well, would serve as a perfect amp to run the HSK165 (180x2 rms) giving you plenty of headroom. Likewise at 1x600 mono, it would be perfect for a HX300 (rated at 600w rms).

So perfect matched setup:
Hertz HSK165 & HX300
Audison SRx2S x 2
Audison cable

In fact this is exactly what my mate is going with now.

Don't know of any italian source units though

Can understand your position given you experiences though, i'd feel the same way after that

Not bad amps, unless someone has taken them swimming. Then they seem to have problems..


Personally, I'd forget the whole Italian idea .. The only thing the Italians have done right is pasta .. everything else is questionable..

Pizza!!!
You forgot pizza remix, the bestest food ever!!

nah aussie/italian pizza is the crap, original italian pizza sucks bum!

...of course, Nastro Azzuro is better than VB


Audio System Speakers:
http://www.hificar.it/index.php?pn=shopArt...br=Audio+System

ESB build Zapco speakers:


I'm sure that ESB is still an Italian company?

Brax amps are also manufacturered in Italy.

hmmm very odd.

i got word from a friend who get's his speaker range made by Ehmann & Partner and he was saying he saw prototypes of the zapco tweeters there..

they could have designed them there and got them built in italy


i remember the audio system speakers now... i think i talked to hutch or bruce about them when i played with the audio system amps.

Philistines! The world has so much to thank Italy for.

Cars: Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, De Tomaso, Maserati. Let's not forget Pirelli, Magneti Marelli, Momo, and other component makers. Designers: Pininfarina, Giugiaro, Italdesign, Ghia, Zagato.

Food and drink: pasta, pizza, italian meats (prosciutto, coppa), salsiccia, breads, Chianti, Lambrusco, Nastro Azzuro, Pironi, Capuccinos and Italian coffees, Chinotto.

Art: Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, della Francesca, Donatello, Ghiberti.

Music: Verdi, Monteverdi, Donizetti, Rossini.

Fashion: Armani, Zegna, Brioni, Gucci, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Bennetton, Valentino.

History: The Roman Empire, the Renaissance, the Catholic Church (OK, maybe we shouldn't thank them for that).

Crime: The Mafioso. If it wasn't for them, the Godfather (best movies ever) would not have been made

I must confess I am a bit of an Italophile. One of my Italian friends told me that if I wasn't born Chinese, I would be Italian. Nicest thing anybody has said

And yes I can see the attraction of the 147 GTA. Awesome car, Italian to the core. Other cars might be as fast, but they are not Italian. Drive one and you will understand.

then you get italian electronics...
old italian cars that fall to bit's, rust and then the lights dont work..

but then again i would love to have an old alfa 33 boxer.

or any lambo. (no ferraris thanks)


oh and would the De Tomaso really be a great italian car? wernt they plaged with problems? (and they used an aussie built clevo for a while to )

You'd pick a car made by a tractor company over one made by a dedicated sports car company with racing pedigree?

nearly everything is better than VB

just make sure u listen to them first, i got hertz hsk165's because i heard they were very good but imo the tweeters are very harsh and unpleasent.

of course i would.

Ferruccio Lamborghini started building cars after he heard the noise the gearbox's were making on Enzo's cars, he went and said something to him and Enzo told him to piss off.

Ferruccio said fu&k you and went off and built the 350 GTV
and from then on spanked Enzo's bum with awesome cars.

look at the gallardo and how good it is.
every car mag has praised it, it won motors PCOTY.


anyway back on topic

I have a Ducati that i believe is the most beautifull thing ever built, will not part with it.

Anyway, what about Polk speakers, or am i mistaken?

Listened to some the other day, not overly expensive ones, didn't sound too bad IMO.

You mean the car designed by a guy named Luc Donckerwolke (real Italian there) and the car that shares quite a few parts with many Audis and is owned by VAG? REAL ITALIAN CAR!

Yet I see threads on here about audio manufacturers "selling out." Lamborghini has done the same. Ferruccio Lamborghini's last input was on the Countach, only some 30 years ago...

Back on topic. I praise the starter of the thread for not raping and pillaging Italian culture. Don't mind me, I'm an Italian driving a car made in Spain, designed in Germany wearing an Australian badge, with German speakers, American amps and a Japanese headunit

where did you get the idea of Zapco amps made in Italy?

Zapco speakers made in Germany?

Same goes for Boston Acoustics?

If you know then please provide the link or where to go and varify

After than I can call Zapco and Boston (have couple of good friends work at both places) and let you know who I spoken with and will reply back to you.

I'm no fan of Lambo's myself, but I think you will find that car designers are "international" but try to express the national and corporate identities of the cars through their designs.

The head of design of BMW was an American (Bangle) who has been replaced by a Dutchman (Van Hooydonk). SEAT's of Spain's head of design is Walter da Silva (an Italian). The guy who designed the Ferrari Enzo was a Japanese working for Pininfarina. The chief designer for Volvo is an Englishman, Jeremy Horbury. As for Korean cars, they have been farming out the design to all sorts of comers - Ken Greenley designs for Ssangyong, and Bertone has done some Kia, Daewoo, and Hyundai's.

Have you ever seen one in live?

If you did, you'd find that the door jam rubber gasket is from an Audi A6

Build quality? average at best.

I had a chance to see one torn apart at Image Dynamics in March of 2005 in their work shop, while they were installing our equipment and well as Zapco.

Motor Trend Magazine also named the 1972 Chevy Vega as the Car of the Year and that was lemon with aluminum block which they all cracked.

a rubber gasket from an A6.. that should bring the quality down now huh..

thats like saying the mac F1 is a POS cause it has only a BMW motor in it.

every car manafacture uses parts of another model.


and yes car mag's do get it wrong, wheels gave the car of the year award to the Holden camira, what a bit of quality workmancrap that was!

so your basing you opininons of the Gallardo on the door gasket huh.
should i base my opinions of tru tech amp's on the hammer i used a few years ago?

if that's the case then they all must be a POS that break down...

i dont need to know who you talked to.

i dont have any links, the Zapco speaker thing i was told by someone in the industry who is a speaker designer (and has been for i think he said 40 years)
i dont need to "drop names"
but that was nearly 12 months ago..

the zapco/boston made in italy is from what i have read many many times (i do have an email from boston at home that say's where they were made..)

but why should i verify it? i still dont have proof that your amps are "hand made in the USA"


anyway ill be quiet and try not to post anymore in thes thread..

LOL, gravitate to personal attackes will definietly get you know where.

Would you beieeve I speak Zapco on a regular basis?

HAve you ever thought that we might be good friends?

Have you also thought about my good friend was in charge of the BA project?

Sorry and can't help the fact that these two products (which btw are great products) we are talking about I have personal relationships with?

You on the other hand, Auh auh, I read it somewhere?

Nice try Bobby Digital.

I wrote this only to make sure our forumers got the info correctly.


As Moderators aleays say, Stick to the topic. Can You?

I tell you, you're a real piece of work coming from behind a screen.

Thanks:)

Oh really? Then I suppose when I speak to my friends who happends to wrok at these factories really mean nothing.

Name dropping has nothing to do with this.

Hmmm.. let's see

Bobby Digital "heard it from somewhere" vs. TRU Tech "Speaking to the owners"

No Point! Get over it

where are they made then?

this topic =

Give me a raging bull over a prancing pony any day. I had a mate with a 512BB, he went out to the car one morning, opened the door, and no joke, it FELL OFF. Not to mention, Ferrari bend you over if you go even slightly over your service mileage. I spose they have a right to though. I've heard of Ferrari owners complaining their car goes out of tune every time they drive it....

haha

i thought this kinda sumed it all up

If you own a $400,000 car you shouldn't bitch about how much servicing costs...

You speak Zapco? is that a new language?

Any of you guys who own a ferrari and have been convinced that they are crap, I will kindly take them off you're hands for free

I never said anything about costs. I'm talking about Ferrari being unreasonable about how close kilometre-wise you are to the service interval. Its all beside the point though. Ferrari's have always been highly strung. I'd just rather have something with a little less pedigree, and a little more tolerance for the human factor. EG, a Lamborghini, Audi S line, Kleeman or Brabus Benz...

you prefur a holdem camira

they won WCOTY you know
so they must be good

You buy the vehicle and accept servicing intervals/costs, insurance and other associated matters as part and parcel of the vehicle.
Its not Ferrari being unreasonable, its owners being:
a) lazy
B) tight bum
c) combination of a) and B)

Less pedrigree? You are talking to an Italian here!
Detuning a Ferrari for Honda Civic like service intervals would kill their market. Remember the typical Ferrari would cover under 5000kms per annum so intervals are based on time more than mileage. Also Kleeman and Brabus are aftermarket companies utilised to INCREASE "pedigree," not tuning subsidiaries of their marques so intervals would be MORE frequent.

Its like saying, "er, Focal should make Berylliums to reach efficiency on headunit power amplifiers because more people have head units."

are you intentionally being argumentative? Lets just agree to disagree.

You can buy Brabus complete car, complete with their own chassis number. They cost a fortune but. I'll take a Ferrari anyday then buy a honda civic for a daily drive.

I drove a 147 GTA, nice power, nice sound, interior finish is cheap, most powerful front wheel drive car, but geerbox was crape, tool light and car couldnt handle my driving style, which is hard on the car..

anyway, Zapco amps are made in USA? their speakers are rebadged italian speakers that is fact, which im hanging to listen too..

My 2c to this thread....

Ferrari > Lambo

Greeks > Italians


Thanks for coming B)

some wise man said a long time ago...

We came in planes, you came in chains hahahahahahaha

must of been confusious i think

I'd take german engineering any day, atleast they put up a fight in wars .. the italians just bail, like the french.

So, my $2.20 of minimum chips:

1) Porsche > Ferrari + Lamborghini
2) Germans > Italians + French.

While thanking Italy... where is Anthony Callea haha..

nothing beats the russian lada hahahahahahaha