i know theres a couple of ICE experts here...!?

What car is it going in?

I thought sony car kit was thought as 'rather gash'? :/

*n

Sony = gash x1000. They may rate high but the sound quality is often awful, lots of distortion, trebble overloads very quickly.

This is my experiance of Sony HU and speakers too.

Narsty.

They have made some good gear in the past, and some of the high end stuff is nice, but stay away from any of the chavster Xplod badged cack if you want anything decent.

Listen to Spazdaguy. I about ruptured my spleen sitting in his car one time (Cerwin Vega stroker with an enclosuer which about filled the rear half of a Fiat Brava...) with bassy music, and with Nine Inch Nails on jesus that was percussive and about shook my eyeballs out.



Bose has a bad rep as well, never used any of their kit except the OE stereos in a couple of yanks cars. The saying is "no highs, no lows, it has to be Bose" though. They don't do any competion grade gear either. Not as I've seen anyway.

Blaupunkt make nice headunits, they do good amps for average users but nothing with any serious power. Their subs are hard to find and lightweight. Their speakers usually sound muffled to me. Blaupunkt own the Velocity brand, or did last I checked and I have been much more impressed with their speakers. Again they don;t have anything that exciting, its all mid range stuff.

Audiobahn are either the best bang for your buck or the worst curse word ever made depending on who you speak to. They have had some quality control issues in the past, no idea if they got over those, but I came across a lot of peeved customers with blown subs and amsp that go into protect all the time. Yet OTOH I spoke at length with a couple of guys running competition installs in the USA hitting good numbers and verypleased with the kit for the money.

Most companies manufacture in the far east anyway. A lot of them use comon baskets, spiders, PCBs, even heat sinks...

Decent German made kit will be expensive. I can't think of a decent German brand for street bass or SPL either. But then I'm a bit out of touch with these things.

Seems that if you are looking for SQ then British, Italian, German brands are of interest - but for SPL you look more to the Yank and J brands.

I'm sure Spazdaguy knows the fella but there was a chap I was talking to a bit a while back who was doign well into 140s with a pair of cheapish Pioneer 12" subs and Pioneer amps. Secret was a well tuned slot port box. In a Mk6 Escort that made the roof ripple. Weird stuff.

Installation and such stuff as sound deadening are more of the job than most people realise. Also car harmonics, although I don't understand that so well, and Fiat Pandas seem to be weapon of choice for that reason...

I have a 15" Cerwin Vega, it aint smooth and it aint pretty but really shifts air and has lasted really well.

Trying to keep it all the same and from Germany is going to make life a lot harder though.

Try looking at the second hand stuff on the Car Audio Direct forums, some great bargains to be had.

thanks folks, now we're getting somewhere!

akku, as regards car harmonics, i have an advantage with a large capacious, fairly boxy rear with a well sloped rear screen. gives an advantage over normal hatches anyway.

the sony HU I'm using looks about period in the '92 rat! old sony only - although i know a fella who built a very good setup with x-plod gear, but then hes a dj and knew what he was doing 100%.
and thanks for all the other info. especially mentioning cerwin vega, id been tying to think of that name. its between them, vibe black air and kicker solobarics now i reckon, with MTX getting a shout in if i find owt.

charz all.