I was going to write this as a reply in another thread where brand loyalties came up, but thought maybe it might be worth its own post.

Do you have a brand loyalty at all? Why?
Do you think you have no brand loyalty at all?


Personally, I have brand loyalties. A bit loyal to Image Dynamics, thought I think I'm ready to begin plaqying around elsewhere in the subwoofer department. Most likely will eventually go back to their horns though. .

A team member a few years ago had me at him home for the weekend to teach me to fiberglass/car audio basics and still turnes my car free (priceless). I like their products, love companies like theres that are very present and helpful on the boards, and well...theres something cool about calling for tech help on a sub or horn install and being patched over to the company president or the other head guy that designed the speaker (Eric Stevens or Matt B). I've used all threee versions of the IDMAX, IDQ's, the Chameleons a while ago, and their horns in varios installs in my cars over the years....

So I am biased towards that company though obviously they're not the end all be all brand/product

 

I think this could equate to the subject at hand. The eBay searches I always do involve:

Infinity Beta
Soundstream Reference
Image Dynamics
Kenwood KAC-923
Directed / DEI

Those are basically my "budget" searches (aside from ID) where if there are any results, they are usually cheap, don't have a ton of bidders and I have experience with all the equipment to know that it sounds good and lasts as long as you will treat it well.

I'm also a long fan of Alpine, but for no other reason than I got used to the ergonomics of Alpine's volume ****. ***** were very hard to find in headunits in 1993-1995ish.

Other than that, I feel I'm willing to try almost anything (except Kraco and Pyle).

 

Second Skin Audio - Great product, fair price, EXCEPTIONAL customer service.
Arc Audio / Rainbow
Knukonceptz - Beautiful wire that does not drain your wallet in the process. No BS, just fair pricing.

 

Yeah, I guess I oughta include raamat Didn't even think of that. Raamat cause it's good stuff at a good price and the owner is also a good guy, helping out on forums.

I like Zed amps, but I guess I wouldn't say I'm loyal. I'll pick up the old school ones for cheap....Again, you can call Steve Mantz (designer of all zed made amps..old school hifonics/ESX/Rodek)on the phone and have him talk your ear off about a bunch of stuff I don't understand (his amp design philosophy and whatnot) and I think it's just no nonsense decent power at a good price. The new amps, of course are at new prices but are still considered by some to be a good contender for strong amps for the price. Definately inexpensive if you're one of those "made in the USA" amp lovers....

His marketing, IMO, leaves A LOT to be desired, but he's seems to be an amp maker (elect.engineer whatever you'd call it) first and foremost.....

 

I give a lot of credit to Planet Audio. Though i haven't heard or don't know that they make very good speakers but I've been very impressed with their amps. The name might not stick out, but the underrate their amps and they are very fairly priced. There customer service is also excellent. Informative and Friendly.

 

My favorite headunit brand is Pioneer because of eye candy,price, and features.
Amps I would say Coustic, good power and reliablity.
Speakers/components: Mb Quart, they sound sweetest TO ME.
Subs: Pioneer for reliability, rms power handling, and price.

There are better sounding companies, but for my price range these are the ones I like. Alpine is up there too, I'm very impressed with their items but never owned any, their stuff sounds pretty clean though.

 

You sound like a rep for BB or CC. Those are all very mainstream products.

 

97-2000 Planet Audio's were made by Zed. Donno if thats the models you hve experience with, but if so...there ya go

Steve Mantz (Zed's) history: http://members.shaw.ca/pferlow/steven_mantz_history.htm if you don't care to read a long biography, look towards the bottom when it enters the 80's-90's.

And after building amps for everybody else, he's now building them under his own companies' name....here the current stuff....

http://www.zedaudio.com/products.html

He doesn'thang on the forums much, but he was on elite long enough to take recommendations, and thos recommendations are what is leading him to make the two beasts that are getting released towards end of summer....a 4x200 and a 4 x 100 WITH 2 x 200....4 ohm ratings....yum

 

Diamond, performance/warranty>all others.
Stinger, quality products, particularly thier Expert Roadkill, Wiring kits, and distribution systems.
DEI, The best alarm/remote start package I have ever owned.
Eclipse, high quality, HU w/ high voltage pre-outs. Easy to use HU interface. Etc..

These are just a few of the companies that I have had above average experiences with. I would recommend them w/o hesitation to other potential buyers.

 

If anyone ever had to ask me who I'm loyal too... then they've never seen my truck

Memphis- I have never had anything go wrong for the 4 years I've been using their stuff. (plus the M-Class subs looks awesome) I wasn't a too big fan when they were running their depth charge line. But any company can work it's way to respectable position. (look at what lightning audio is up to)

Polk- IDK why. but I've always liked Polk db series.

Jensen (amps) - they have some the nicest setups for tuning

Clarion (speakers) - offer excellent highs for filling in with a subwoofer system.

 

hmm...

adire audio because they make some damn good sq speakers/subs. i had a taste of what xbl2 enabled drivers are capable of. then there's sound splinter. mike seems like a very cool guy, and kept in touch with me after my purchase to make sure everything is going well with the RL-p. he'll help as much as possible to satisfy his customers. can't forget boston acoustics! i love the overall tone and balance of their speakers.

arc audio...well that's to be determined

 

Where would this post be w/o the mention of Don. Although not a product by definition. It is a car audio machine. It is always helpful. One of the best.

 

Or never seen one single post of yours on the org.

 

ah yes..i think someone mentioned "the Don" in one old thread. "The Don" is rather helpful

 

You guys sound like a bunch of suckups.

 

In the old days I was a big RF fan. I still have an old 200X2 that has run many different subs in my daily drivers for at least seven years....and I bought it used too. However, I don't care much for my new 15" stage 3 sub. It performs but is way overpriced.
I have always had pioneer h/u's too and never had much of a problem until my most recent one. It is a pain to get through all the settings in order to get the music to sound right. There are sooooooo many functions that tweak the sound that it is hard to find one that works for all types of music. I prefer straightforward operation and reasonable price when I buy audio equipment or believe me, I would have bought a much better system by now. I have an old eclipse h/u that was pulled out of my sister-in-law's old car but I don't know if it was done professionally or not. I know those have a feature that disables it if it isn't taken out in a certain way so I don't know if it would power up or not if I tried it. Im about sick enough of this pioneer to try it though.

 

The "CD key" feature ....ask your sister if she knows if she/installer ever set a key security CDand if so what it is.....Sounds like this is what you're talking about.....

 

After I clean this crap off my nose, I will address your comment.......

 

I know that she doesn't know anything about it because she asked me to hook it up in her new car once. I mentioned that it had an anti-theft system that I wasn't familiar with and I wasn't sure if it would work or not and she just looked at me with a blank stare....she was probably thinking that I was just b/s'ing her because I didn't want to do the install....

 

I have the Memphis Logo as my Avatar on the NissanFrontier.org forums

 

I LOVE Sparkomatic. Thin paper cones, shiney plastic whizzer cone/dust cap, mad high powa handling, and bright orange colored surrounds. Be banging yo. With the added Optimus amp and new Funky Pup 15"'s, they boom like soooo.

 

poineer h/u's

 

Is that because that's all you've owned, or because you've tried other brands and prefer Pioneers. Could you please justify why you are so partial to them? What (if any) others have you tried?

 

Play nice chris

And big +1 to why pioneer h/u's. The thread is your favorite brands/loyalties AND WHY. Explain please.

 

I've yet to fit into a H/U that I REALLY liked. I've used Alpine, JVC, Jensen, Panasonic. So far the JVC has been my favorite. Of course my stock deck in my truck has been doing really well.

 

....

 

lol.... High School days. Actually the cheapy $90 Wal-Mart Jensen worked fine for over 2 years. (other problems forced me to trade in my old D21) So I never got to find out how much punishment it could take

 

It happens to the best of us. I was lucky to inherit a CDA-7839. I added two JBL 12s in a bandpass box as my first system when I had just turned 16.

 

Arc Audio...Top notch customer service as well as product. Several times overnight/Saturday morning delivery at Thier expense. Gives Tons of dealer "extras". I gave alot away at the meet..

Alumapro/Rainbow...Excellent products, slightly lacking on the Customer service/invetory

Illusion Audio (still new) but Excellent customer service and great product.

Eclipse..of course great product, quick returns on the minimal of defects that I had, always gave me great support.

Stinger..Always has items in stock, shipped to me the same day, always gave "extras"

Diamond Audio the best warranty, excellent dealer support and accomidation plans.

I also MUST add K40 electronics..super great dealer support, regular phone calls from Maryann, but NOT to push product, but to see how they can help me and how Im doing..

Im sure theres more, but its a starter.

 

dam my high school days, i was pushin a type R12 in a ported box tuned down to 28hz, a mrd -350 amp, Type R comps powered by an eclispe amp, alpine cdma 9823 hu. but i guess that was junk and a waste of money

neways thats highschool, so im hoping my college years would be better~

i have to say though, that kicker cvr sub kicks ***, i love that sub soo much..

oh and to my first sub, which has had many years of pounding on it, and still is pounding in my boys altima

the old rockford punch the one that says DVC on it.. that **** pumped for a 10

 

I was having too much fun with free air at the time. I had 2 pioneer 10" stuffed underneath the seats of my pickup. Then stuffed 2 12"s behind the seats. Had a very nice thump.

Worst part was... I was just beginning my audio adventure at the time... and I let the 10" get too close to my ECU

 

Kicker (subs) - I've had a pair of 10" Comps for at least 10 years and I've never had any problems with them. I'd keep them if I wasn't concerned with trunk space now and my strong desire for an L5...

Pioneer (HU) - Absolutely love it. I've had Clarion back in the day, and I loved them too, but the Pioneer has my full attention and respect. I also have a 9-band Pioneer graphic equalizer that I really like a lot too.

HiFonics (amps) - I currently own a pair of Profile California amps that I got VERY cheap from eBay, but I had a pair of HiFonics amps back in the day, and I absolutely LOVED them! I had a 6-ch that got stolen out of my old Honda Accord (that was my absolute favorite amp). Replaced it with a 4-ch and a 2-ch that my homie bought from me. Very good quality and sounded great!

Stinger (wire) - Very good RCA's - love the way they look, and they're pretty durable. I transferred these RCA's from one car to the next with no issues so far! I also have Monster Cable for my subs, which is pretty good stuff too. My power wire is KnuKoncepts 4ga and I love it. Very well made stuff. The speaker wires I'm going with this time around will be Acoustic Research (I got 100' of the stuff from Best Buy for $20). Looks like good stuff - we'll have to hear it though...

Directed Electronics - I just bought a 7" monitor/DVD player combo for $200 from Best Buy. I liked the color of the screen that I saw on display versus the Sony that was sittting right next to it, plus the model I got has a removable screen, which is a really nice feature that I was very pleasantly surprised this system had - now to get it installed...

I don't even know if they still make them, but I had a Clifford Alarm back in the day, and it was the best alarm I'd ever had. Excellent quality and very few false alarms.

 

my hifonic amps and sub... man i loved those things but my hifonic speakers were okay. The price of hifonics is my most favorite part of the amplifiers.

 

Arc Audio...and you gotta love a company that makes quality everytihing (but head unit)..speaks/subs, amps, processing...and they seem to be supportive of the car aduio community...

I thought Rainbow was more tied in with Arc than anyone else...?

My main question now is about Illusion audio....So apparently they've started back up...and it seems you're a dealer? Are the speakers THE SAME as the old illusion audio? They making the same ND series? They used to make an ND-8 freeair version that just cannot be found. Is it back? I've been hearing some talk about (when talking of buying Illusion ND's used) that some were made in teh US and some India or China. Just wanted to know if the speakers are of the same quality as the old ones. The subs are supposedly (if they're like the old ND's) up there with the best as far as SQ goes....

 

Not only is it back, Don has the Nd8i's in his front doors ...

I'm jealous.

 

I know it. I can't wait to fill my doors with the Nd8i's. Is it bad that I want to use my financial aid to pay for the upgrade. I def think I have a car audio related mental illness.

 

Nope, just a consumer, I fell in love with Pioneer when the 9200 came out with the animated displays and was hooked ever since, especially since they have the built in crossovers in the hu's other brands are now putting this in theirs(crossovers and fancy graphics), and Coustic because I got a 801db of ebay for $160, 800 watts class d. B stock or not that amp hits, not to mention it was my first class d.

 

Class D can do well as a AB. It just sometimes lacks that big booming factor. But personally I prefer crisp hits and excellent SQ over big boom.

But if you want to have some boom with the class D. Just do like I did and throw in a few more subs

 

My loyalty lies with:

Old Precision Power Art Series amps (1990-1996 era)
MB Quart speakers
JL Audio Subs
Pioneer HU's - The most bang for your buck

 

Best amps PPI ever made.