Praufet

My roommmate last semester swore by patsexpress's home theater stuff even though its cheap. I figure their car audio must be the same way. Anyone have any experience with any of their speakers/subwoofers? I'm definately buying amps from them, the specs blow other amps out of the water and can't be beat for the price. I'm just wonder about their speaker. The pyramids, pyles, or ultimates. I know ma audio and blaupunkt are only decent, but know nothing about the rest. Input would be appreciated.

WSU4runner

Do they have a website? I'd like to check them out

ldivinag

trust me... i'd skip on pyramids...

when i started on car audio over 10 years ago.. sheesh... as a poor college student, i lived on pyramid components...

thank goodness some dummy stole them all...

Praufet

WSU4runner
partsexpress.com

ldivinag-
what about the ultimate platinum/titaniums or the phoenix golds?

WSU4runner

I've ran a Phoenix Gold amp and I liked it a lot. Seemed to have quite a bit of power too.

Duffdog

almost all the car audio in parts express is junk...and overpriced. for good deals on real car audio, try etronics.com. the amps in parts express are really swap-meet style products with no power and horrible sound quality. never buy any off brand car audio--its supposed to suck, thats why its off-brand.

T

ldivinag

want a tip?

soundstream REFERENCE series amps are some of the best amps ever made. unfortunately, they dont make them anymore.

FORTUNATELY, i found a dude who refurbs them with original soundstream boards.

i got a REF 604 amp from him for like $230. and this is a 37.5 x4 amp, in cheater mode or 75 x 4 in non cheater mode...

http://www.hometown.aol.com/jandrelectronics/

ask only for REF series.

or go to ebay for SS REF series amps. i have two REF 300 in the 4runner (which is a half a REF 604, since it's a 37.5 x2 amp). then for the STi, i have a single 604 powering the entire setup.

when i was a cheap/broke college student, i WANTED the SS amps so badly... now that i have a job, dang things went out of biz. actually SS went chapter 11 and (IMO) a lower end car audio company bought them and out and still continues...

but nothing will compare to the REF series. in fact, competitors in IASCA would remove the bottom cover of them and display the PC board since it's so clean and well made.

ldivinag

FWIW, only the original phoenix gold amps, IIRC, the MPS series amps were like the SS REF series and those are the only PG amps i'd get also...

if you notice, i have older gear for the entire vehicles too. i'm running sony MOBILE ES stuff, which hasnt been made in years. head unit in 96, changer in 97 and dig proc in 98...

in fact, i've been running MB quart 6.5 components that i got in 93-94.

only the subs are the newest stuff... oh wait, the sony XM tuner and the audiovox sirius tuner are th newest stuff..

ldivinag

i am running their fuse block and ground distro block...

dont need to buy a brnad name $40 fuse block that PE sells something similar for $9...

Cebby

I love hearing about the old school stuff. I used to compete with Alpine amps, then Rockford Punch DSM's. I have the same issue, now that I can afford the stuff, I have to buy used cause the "good" stuff is no longer made. I have an Alpine "Digimax" system and Rockford Punch DSM amps to go in my Runner. I still would like one more amp for my subs before I tackle it. Ebay is your friend...

When I first got into IASCA competitions, I met a guy who really fueled my interest in it. He had a light blue Pathfinder that was loaded with BIG SS Ref amps in a box that used most of the cargo bay (it was even in a magazine way back when). He ended up talking me into spending my Saturday's at his shop for the better part of couple of years helping him fabricate things for his rig and others.

Ah the good ol' days.

Bumpin' Yota

Don't be so quick to dismiss all "off-brands" as junk. Fact is most are, but some of it is of BETTER quality than the mainstream stuff. The key with offbrands is to do research on what you want to buy. Do NOT listen to people who have not owned the product you want to purchase....

But what are some examples of "off brand" equipment that will lay the smack down on "mainstream" stuff?

1. Focal - probably THE foremost name is SQ. Just like toyota = long life, Focal = unsurpassed SQ.

2. Adire - SQ matching and exceeding that of focal in terms of subs. DUMAX was used to design their motors to keep BL compression down and keep the BL curve as flat as possible. (Those two things are what make the JLw7 have such good SQ.) The Adire Brahma matches the w7's SQ ability and easily surpasses it in SPL. Very few subs can match the brahma in sq and keep up in spl....

3. Digital Designs - performance proven company whose products are targeted for the competition market - SPL. (How loud can you get?) This company holds the MOST spl records of any company in the subwoofer industry. However most of their subs are severly overmotored and thus have BL compression and BL lines vs excursion that look like a rainbow - but your average newbie won't hear the BL compression so he'd be happy... The also have two SQ subs that in their short 6month history have already built a reputation for sound quality (SQ.)

4. Resonant Engineering - built from the shadow of Adire. Basically a VERY VERY similar woofer at a much cheaper price. These subs are crazy cheap yet will match and exceed the SQ of any kicker product.

So basically you gotta do research on the product to know what you are buying or you stand a good chance of being burned. Here are some websites to do that research on:

1. www.termpro.com (my favorite - I have about 1700 posts there)
2. www.sounddomain.com
3. www.elitecaraudio.com
4. www.caraudioforum.com

So not all offbrands are junk - I love the reactions from people when they say, "That flea market junk won't get loud!" [In refrence to my Zapco 9.0s and 2 DD 9915s.] and then I go post a number that's 6-10 dB's louder than what they just did....LOL

Steve

ldivinag

good ol days indeed...

one thing that never changed is the sony MOBILE ES for head unit and changer for me...

back in 1987, 88'ish... got my first sony head, a 7400. non powered tuner/casette only. i alwyas believed that head units cannot cram a good amplifier section and still be that small. i also got my very first CD player. a cd changer, the cdx-a20. didnt even have one for the home... lol...

funny thing was, that high end stuff ran on pyramid amps and some mids and subs. used the oem front speakers from a plymouth trailduster (bonus points if you heard of that "suv" -- and i use the term suv very loosely there... )

stuff in that got stolen. insurance got next set of sony ES head and changer. by then, i got my 4runner in 1990.

i remember installing gigantic sherwood amps. ran some infinity tweets and again... pyramid subs in a POS box...

guess what... all of that stuff got stolen too!!!!!!

finally, the insurance wanted to pay for a replacement system, installed. so by then, it was almost an open checkbook.

would you believe a mid 4 figure ($$$) install came out of that?!?

competed in one IASCA event and got 3rd place. this was around 93-94. never won after another show and never competed since... mid to late 1990s, you were either a checkbook competitor or you had too much time on your hands... lol... plus, REG 9 of IASCA had 1 or 2 local events. others were like 6 hour drives...

by then, i just wanted good sounds...

when i got my subaru STi last year, i looked at all the stuff out there. sony has LONG abandoned its MOBILE ES line for the crappy XPLOD line and it's junk... i ended up ebaying head unit, dig proc and changer. all sony ES and at least 6 years old... ahhhh.....

the good ol days...


(sorry for the thread hijack...)

95_4X4Runner

I have liked Parts-express for years. MCM Electronics is another good one.

But, recently I bought a couple "Ultimate" 12's for my 'runner from Parts-express, and it turned out they were garbage. At only $70 apiece, you get what you pay for.

I recently built smaller boxes (.9 cu ft), and installed my old Pioneer Premier 10's that I got for about $150 apiece about 7 years ago, and they sound much better. I blasted the wife and kids out with my old Techmaster PEB CD...

I also have a bunch of old stuff, a Kenwood 921 (100X2) (~1991) for the subs, a new Kenwood 849 (50X4) Pioneer Premier CD Player (~1995), and a Sony half-din XEC-500 crossover from about 1990. My rear door speakers are Blaupunkt coaxials, and the fronts are a set of Blaupunkt 6.5 Components I got on eBay for about $75. I also have a .8 farad cap on the big amp, it was a used "freebie" I found while in the military. Not out to win anything, but I've always liked decent tunes.