Hi,

I was hoping to get some opinions from the experts in this forum about car audio brands. In my old car (not a Maxima) I had done quite a bit of research about 2 years ago on what's the best out there and I went with the general consensus along with my research and came up with the following:

Headunit: Eclipse 55040 (8v deck)
Components: MB Quart PSC216 2-way (mids, tweeters, xovers)
6x9s: Eclipse 8393 3-way
Subs: 2 x Eclipse 8815 15" aluminum cone subs
Amp 1: Precision Power PPI6600 600W 6-channel
Amp 2: Soundstream Rubicon 1002 1000W 2-channel amp

Now I have a Maxima and I am considering selling off all that old stuff. I might do my car up with audio later on. But when I get to that point, are the brandnames for each component mentioned above still one of the best, if not the best in the market? Or are there any new names and brands out there now?

Thanks.

 

Obviously with time things change.....but you had good stuff then and should still be fine now. No need to go and sell it ,then buy new when you already have good. A little bit old? Yes, but not bad. Use what you have, and gradually change as you go.

Just my $.02

 

Any idea what's good in the market today for those components? What websites or forums can I check to find out?

I'd also appreciate some of your audiophile opinions from this forum.

 

u wanna sell those subs??

 

Eclipse is still top of the line, Componets are gay

 

Eclipse is still top of the line. As far as components I like Diamond Audio. I use all Diamond for my front rear and subs. Although I do have to endorse what I sell

 

BTW Diamond Audio components were rated #1 this month.....

Read on ....http://aolsvc.soundandvision.aol.com...aid,120,00.asp

 

I would also consider JL Audio. I have them all around in my system!!

XR-650CS up front 6.5" component set
XR-650CX in the rear 6.5" coaxial
10W3-D2 Pair in the trunk

For pics, check out my CarDomain site!

 

Yes, good quality. I sell them too

I actually have JL amps now.

 

Yes I would consider selling my subs for now since they used to be in a Camry and now with the Maxima I am going for performance mods first, before audio. I could use the money.

 

Audiophile opinion, huh? Well, here goes:

Nakamichi CD-700 head unit
Dynaudio system 360 (8-inch mid-woofer, 3-inch midrange, 1-inch tweet)
Brax amplification (ditch the Dynaudio passive xovers and use the active ones in the amps)
Subs? Well, I'm totally undecided on this subject at the time being, but since you have a 95 Max, I say go with a JL Audio Stealthbox.

Anyway, those are what I would choose if I had the considerably large amount of money it would take. And without going into detail I should mention that none of the above products are going to live up to their potential without a good, well thought-out install.

Do you use Outlook Express for your email? If so, the best place I have found to discuss car audio is on the rec.audio.car newsgroup you can find on Outlook Express. I have a considerable amount of car stereo knowledge, but some of the guys there make me feel downright stupid.

Tony

 

just my experience.. i had diamond audio m5's in my front and rear. the front set cause me nothing but problems.. i changed my headunit and interior amp thinking it would solve the problem, but it didnt go away until i swapped out my front set of m5's for studio drivers. im much happier with the studio drivers up front , but i still kept the m5's in the rear(you can barely hear them anyway). imo, the studio drivers are a much cleaner sounding set, but in defense of the diamond audio's, i didnt have the hex models.

 

Some people have trouble with the diamond components because there is a safety device in the crossover. If it detects a clipped signal coming from the amp, it shuts off the tweeter. I have HEX mids and silk tweet actively crossed over and amplified. I don't have any problems and have never blown, or heard distortion from the tweets. But there are better speakers available. But if you take your time on the install, it will be difficult to tell $50 speakers from $7000 speakers.

Components and tweets: Focal, Dynaudio, Illusion, Image Dynamics, Seas, Accuton, Eton, Morel, and a few others.
For HU's I like Alpine and Eclipse - I have owned Nakamichi and wouldn't install it in my own vehicle again if they paid me.
For subs Adire Audio, for ultimate SQ the Brahma.
For amps Brax, Zapco and Arc.

 

You had some awesome suggestions, jmax. What don't you like about Nakamichi?

Tony

 

I had an MB-100. It had horrible sound quality. There was a point on the volume **** where the unit actually cut off it's output. And this was not at high volume. It sounded like a CD skipping. As it cut on and off. My dealer ordered a replacement and it did the exact same thing. He was a prefferred dealer and couldn't get a response as to what caused the problem It took them more than 30 days to decide it was incurable, and I lost 30% of my money as a "restocking fee". Pretty bad when a $1000 CD HU fails to perform as well as a tape deck from a SQ perspective. Then the manufactuer won't even discuss the problem and refuses to give a full refund. The dealer later told me that the HU in his vehicle had to be replaced twice to get one that worked.

I heard a month or two ago they were bankrupt. I was not disapointed.

 

Just to understand properly...the dealer went bankrupt correct? Or was it Nakamichi themselves?

 

I have an mb100 in the max since we built it, Ive only had one problem, it froze and had locked the cd's in it...Bad yeah but not to uncommon, but it happend to somone else when they had the car so It probably was user error. But the sound q seems to be great but then again I only used the outboard da peice for about a month, now I just use the changer alone.

 

What you have isn't too bad...My suggution is to keep the head unit, maybe the subs; unless you want some smaller ones, and get some new componets for the front and new amps.

For amps I like: zapco, diamond, pg, arc, brax, jl audio, and id for a few.

Componets, eclipse, quart, diamond, focal, or maybe alpine.

But overall there is just so much stuff outthere, and peoples opinions vary so much that I think you need to stop reading this crap and hit some stores, and ask to hear each piece...keeping in mind the stuff i ment for the car not the board.

 

Well said ! I also love to see when ya put Diamond in there. Thats my whole car.

 

your equipment is still good man....I would maybe suggest trying different amps but yours are very good...only drawback is that there are amps out now that are much more efficient power wise than the one's you have now..PPI and Soundstream are both very good amps but you can probably run 2 class d's for the draw that 1002 has..definatly 1k to 1k anyways..I have had soundstream amps for over 10 years and just changed to a "underground" line called monitor 1 they are made "in house" with zapco and designed by some of the people who started arc audio..
quart's and eclipse's are good if it was me, maybe upgrade the quarts and lose the rear's..
I say try what you have, if you aren't taxing your electrical system and "you" like the sound of what you have, save the money for something else...........

 

The dealer is doing fine. But I don't think he makes any attempt to sell Nak anymore. I heard that Nak was having trouble. It's no wonder considering there total lack of customer service, or respect. There ain't much point in getting a great DA converter if it doesn't work. And that's the whole idea behind the Nak MB-100.

I never had either of mine long enough to load 6 CD's. They sounded so bad I kept using my Sony tape deck instead.

 

I hear that! When I dealt with Nak they had extremely poor customer service. Whenever someone was interested in them I tried to redirect them to Eclipse. I just didnt weant to deal with Nak at all at that point. I had no idea of thier money situations though. Thanks for the info

--Don

 

Is there a noticeable difference in sound quality if you run subs off a class D amp?

 

nope........none that you will be able to hear anyways....

 

I don't think you will hear an SQ difference caused by the class D amplification unless you have a really good SQ sub like the veloldyne or Adire Brahma. Things like damping factor, slew rate, stability in complex impedances, etc. will be more noticable.

 

What if I had the Eclipse Titanium cone subs?

 

still a nope speedemn...if properly setup, you won't be able to tell class a/b to a class d at all...that's why so many mfgr.'s are making d amps now..but as usual, you get what you pay for as well...some say you can hear switching in some of the amps like a lanzar vibe or jbl.I have heard the jbl and haven't heard this problem actually....but there are several other "higher end" mfgr.'s making d class also....zapco(class t actually but same effect),JL audio,xtant.memphis,mtx,crossfire,mmats,soundstrea m has a couple now as well(haven't had experience with new tarantula line yet)along with several others but having a brain fart all the sudden...chances are that any mfgr your interested in with the exception of PPI I think maked a d amp now..oh yea phoenix does too now I think

 

Yeah I was considering a Soundstream class D amp for my new subs if I go ahead and get them. Would that be a pretty good top end amp?

Total wattage (RMS) would be 1500W between the 2 subs.

 

I honestly couldn't tell you speedemn...I haven't had any experience with their D class amps yet...I would think they would be fine only thing is, there are others that are just as good for less money...soundstream is new to the d design, not that it is really a big deal, but with all new designs from a mfgr., I like to wade it out to see if their are any defective problems..

 

What other top end brands could I consider for less money then?

 

to be honest, i'd keep what you have...you have 2 very good amps now.
but if change is what your looking for, hmmm...mtx,jl,autotek,crossfire...then their is companies like arc audio,zapco,xtant....these are all companies that make matching class d's and a/b's say you went with mtx, they have the 81000d and then you could get the 6304...the last 3 are pretty much cream of the crop but will hit your wallet too..autotek are some very clean amps that are under rated in a consumer aspect...not many people use them...I have a 5750 running my whole system in my work van...does 775x1 at 1 ohm and 90x4 at 4