Had to reminisce back in the day and think on what really got me into car audio...Seriously into it...Prior to this i was buying whatever people pointed to. In the everlasting pursuit of 140dbs...Who remembers when 140 was the number to get???
What I knew at the time and some of the bad deals I got into. I traded my first JLs for a set of usd waveguide full body horns, 8 inch mids, that i had to cut the power window arms to fit the magnet in the doors, and an xtant amp.
The amp was the wildest thing id ever seen, with a wind tunnel down the side and a big shiny cover it looked like something out of battlestar galactica. Was lowd but no matter what I did I could never get the rear gain to match the front (Turns out the chip you insert automatically dials down the outpout ). In a series of bad moves I traded the xtant for a phoenix gold xs series shiny chrome amp (Cause it was shiny, hence the reason I hate audiobahn to this day ), the waveguides my dumb *** traded for a set of MB Quarts because the guys at the shop i was part timing at SWORE that horns could only sound good with more work than I could give (Due to the placement of my compressor inside the car, I couldnt get a good angle on the passenger side), so i swapped. The mids made it alot longer until i killed one.
Upon leaving life only got better as i did end up with some high quality old school power...
Eclipse 5303 was still the hottest radio out, and i was the first one in the area with it. Those lil men doing jumping jacks and running was the HOTTEST DISPLAY AT THE TIME. THat AND the high voltage output that wasnt .5 like pioneer was offering at the time made it the JOINT. Would have been better if i didnt run it into a pioneer full din 7600 EQ i believe the number is (May have been 7200 back then) and just completely trashed the output, as that maxed out at the same .5 volts as the pioneer deck.
Needless to say it went from eclipse to hifonics, and by the time I left I was the proWd past owner of a zapco 500 (Panama deployment TDY was good to me) which i traded in on 2 fosgate 200x2s, 1 100, 1 60 and 1 40. That was when fosgate made REAL audio> When you could cook bologna on one of your amps and it wouldnt trip the protection light. When you could run test tones through your TransAna or DSM amplifier with a speaker terminal grounded out and it kept outputting wattage. Now its all a thing of what the multimeter says, back then it was all about how many woofers you could hook up to an almost nonexistant load. Who remembers the red orions running 16 12s on one amp? Made me get the orion xtr 2150 to run my xtrs. Led to me later going to a Phoenix Gold 600TI when they became the new hottness to run 4 Fosgate DVC's (Who remembers these as the best speakers fosgate ever made???The powers took more watts, but they had tinsel lead problems that they tore the leads out, so you only went with the dvcs if you knew what was good for you. if you didnt you bought powers...

Ill end here, which was my FAVORITE SYSTEM EVER
sealed box, 2 optima yellows in the spare tire well, 2 1 farad caps, 1 zapco amp wired on 2 trios of 10w6s. 6 10s. Pure audio nirvana to a 21 year old cruising around back in california, talking funny from his 3 years in NY. Girls loving you cause you had the noisiest car in the city, but hating that they couldnt stretch their legs cause the kicks were too big...

sigh...Back in the days when i was young....

But needless to say I copped an xtant 5 channel and it sent me back down memory lane...

Post your old thoughs, im feeling old today

 

Ehh, my first system ever is in my max now:
Eclipse CD8454 (might be up for sale next year)
Rainbow Soundline comps
Rainbow Soundline coax
Rainbow 10" Vanadium sub
Arc Audio XXK5150

I already feel the need for something better, but this will do for now (Don, I am not shelling out more money till I get another car!!)

 

Haha first system: Cerwin Vega 6 x 9's in teh back and pioneer 6.5's in the front doors, each off their own Alphasonic amp. Then upgraded to Kicker comp 15's...Man I loved Kicker...

Gosh so many crappy systems I've been through...a few decent ones...

 

LOL I know the feeling... I didnt figure out what "REALISTIC SOUND WAS" until i took my physical and i was missing alot to tones i heard previously. Scared straight is the best way to put it. I remember when vegas were the JOINT, and ALPHASONICS lol...damn im getting old...

MAC
You messed up, you admitted weakness in this thread, don will make you buy something

 

I already shelled out so much money with him.....hes already got me considering a new HU.

 

Lets see, my first system was a all Pioneer, head unit, 2 6x9s, 2 5 1/4s, 600 watt 4-channel amp(dont ask why 4 channel), and 2 15's, cant remember the model numbers but they had a 600w max and were the grey ones with the diamond tread design. All that stuffed in an 87 civic sedan. I was looking for deeper bass so i sold one 15 and put the full power to the otherand built a box that literally took up the entire trunk. That amp started acting funny and didnt like lows too much, so I got a good deal on a Power Acoustic 600 watt 2 channel, ran that to the 15 and then the pioneer to my highs. Got a legacy x-over and rattled my front tags and rear view mirror off. Aldo had to stuff cardboard between my roof and overhead liner so it wouldnt make the sheet metal flex noise. That got stolen.

A few years pass----

Got my Jeep cherokee and had all sony. Went with the specialty 12 and 1000watt amp. Built a custom box so i would still have cargo space. Sounded nice, but not too good with the real deep bass. Was looking at changing everything and someone stole my system, oh yeah and my jeep was attatched to it. Then got my 95 Max. Found my jeep but of course eerythings gone. Even my prom picture that was posted on my dash.

Now I'm gettin ready to go back to all Pioneer. Im getting the premeir deh-p860mp head unit (on the way). All 4-way 6.5's. Premeir TSW2504SPL 10" woofer. Pushing that will be one(and later on two) Premeir GM7150M 800x1 amp. Then maybe an amp for my highs too. Im going to biuld a custom enclosure that wont take up too much room and will basically be a built in trick box. I want everything to look as subtle as possible. Nothing visible, everything has to be hidden. Hopefully it all turns out good. I'm not looking at breaking any sound records, just want something that sounds nice to me.

 

lol my first system was a power acoustic amp i got from my boy, with a 10inch Punch DVC in a bazooka box, sony xplod hu with 10 disc changer...

 

First 'real' system was..

Sony 660/10 disc changer
RF Punch 200.2? X 2
RF Power 1000
Kicker F12s Rear deck
RF 15s IB against back seat
OZ comps
Soundstream active crossovers and I thought I was the ****.

This is all Circa '91

 

Ravi....You WILL upgrade !

 

first system...

stock deck
pioneer 4 x 6
pioneer 3-way 6.5s

no subs at that junction...then got caught up in Fosgate stuff. only thing i have now that is fosgate is this amp i'm using to power my front speakers....soon to be replaced though

 

FIrst system put together at

Installer Institute Long beach 2001.

1 Clarion Drx 9675z
Pair Focal Utopia 6.5"
No rear speakers
Rockford HX2
Powered by 1 rockford 800a4 (the trapezoid one)

All courtsey of American Express

 

When I think back to the first real system I had, I would do it again. I had an Orion 425 HCCA, and a 2100 HCCA running MB Quart 6 1/2 separates, Kenwood 6X9's, and I had 2 Orion 15" XTR DVC. I had the Eclipse touch screen tape deck, and was running Orion phantom power to a 3 band Orion parametric EQ, and the 3-way Orion crossover. This was all installed in a 1971 Pontiac Grandville. I had a 455 cu in engine, and could do about 145 DB. I think it was alot louder than it metered because it didn't have b-pillars, and there was no real seal for where the front and back windows met. I also had the Alpine 8070 alarm installed with back up battery, and three additional sirens. This was probably 1990/91.

 

Oh man, first system consisted of an old Alpine HU (forget model number, but before they started (re) doing *****. 4 x Infinity Reference 602II's, sherwood POS 4 channel, Kenwood KAC-923 2 channel running 3 x JL 8W1's in a folded horn box. This went through many morphs in my 1990 Accord including swapping out amps for Soundstream Class A gear, swapping HUs to various Alpine models and finally ending up with a Soundstream 6.0 running an Infinity Beta 15.

My friend and his older brother got me into car audio in around 1992/3 when they had serious competition grade systems in their sh!tboxes including the likes of Soundstream Class A gear, Canton separates, 4 sub isobaric configurations, 2 sub free air configurations, etc. I have them to thank for starting me out and TeamROCS (www.teamrocs.com) for furthering my knowledge along the way.

What a long, strange trip it's been.

 

First system was Optimus 10 inchers, mobile authority amp, swapped the optimus to rockbox mobile authority speakers. All fed through a Denon cassete deck with cd changer combo I was a moron.

The first decent system I had was when I got my 240sx. Pioneer headunit with 4 volt pre-outs, it was the 6 series I think deh-p6200 well before the mp3 decks. Rockford fosgate power 400a4, 2 cerwin vega vega 104's in a bandbass LOL. Pioneer speakers all around. Boy was it loud, just not as nice as newer stuff I have or have had.

 

Pioneer DEH-3300 or something similar
mb quart discus 6.5 front doors
mb quart discus 5.25 rear deck

rockford fosgate amp

about 5-6 years ago

 

First system:

'84 Cavalier
Blaupunkt Pheonix cassette (when blaupunkt was still good)
Alphasonik PMA amps
Old Blaupunkt 6x9s and 3.5s
Old Rockford Punch 12s

upgraded to:
Clarion cd
Alphasonik BAS-1 (bass kick/eq)
Alphasonik HCX 2050 and 2150
Blaupunkt Velocity 12s

'81 Z28 (probably best quality sound)
Clarion 9175 cd
HCX 2030 and 2050
Soundstream 5.25 components and 6x9s

'86 RX-7
Clarion 9175 cd
EQH5100
Alphasonik HCX 2030
Stock mids (never got around to replacing)
Soundstream Reference 10.0
Soundstream Reference 10"s

'96 Volvo 850 Turbo (random system)
Old Blaupunkt New York cd
Xtant 3300x
stock speakers
one Blaupunkt Velocity 10"

now for the '99 max (soon to be installed)
Clarion dxz835mp
Clarion EQS560
HCX-4040 and HCX-2050 (one channel on the Xtant stopped working, may fix)
Nakamichi 6.5 components
JL Audio 6.5 6W0 subs (interested in how these will sound in rear deck)


pretty much the history

 

i've really been out of the stereo scene for a few years. what happened to soundstream? they suck now. still love the old school soundstream and alphasonik though.

 

back to the pass lol

 

They started making too many lower series amps. Once you step up to the d'aratgnon/tarantula/human reign/xxx series amps you step into a totally different ball game.

 

i thought i read somewhere that they were bought out by audiovox or something.

 

Haven't heard that but I still do think they make a quality product.

 

Power Acoustik, not Audiovox.

 

Not even remotely close to what they used to. Going Way back to the Reference amps. (Early-mid 90s)

 

that's what i'm talking about!
i had the 10.0, a beast!!!
and the 405 was perfect.

audiovox, power acoustic, same thing. both are worthless.

 

Hahahahaha buy more!!!!

 

In that case I guess I'm mistaken. I didn't realize POS acoustik bought them over. It doesn't say it anywhere on their site. I guess I better stay away from now on, not like it matters.... [COUGH] Arc Audio [/COUGH]

 

my buddy ran 2 soundstream spl 12's, dual 4ohm, off the sub channel of a soundstream 405, in parallel, for years and it sounded awsome and never had a problem with that load. never disappointed.

 

what's arc audio?

 

I ran 2 6.0's and 2 3.0's ... simply awesome amps. Also owned a Reference 300 and Reference 500 (NOT the "s" series). Reference 500 was a brute.

 

www.arcaudio.com

Youd be hard pressed to see even the Reference hanging with them. All Zeff designed/Engineered products.