Stereo Equipment List

Saw this list on another site...thoguth it was interesting.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly *or* Is this brand any good?--------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----
These are some pretty generalized groupings and also very subjective. We've simply based our experiences with the products whether they are direct installs, personal property or extensive research. You should always physically listen to a product before purchase because you are the one who will determine whether or not an item "sounds good" or not.

This topic, while being controversial, is simply a generalized guide meant for beginners in the hobby. Many brands specialize in certain items, ie. better amplifiers than speakers, better mids than subs, etc... Also almost all manufacturers offer entry level products as well as high quality lines. As I stated before, this is a GENERALIZED guide. It is your responsiblity to research and audition every brand before you purchase anything. Good luck with your decisions.

We've broken this section into 4 catagories:
1: Bad
2: Questionable
3: Good
4: Highly Recommended



Bad
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American HiFi (Rockwood)
American Pro
Audiovox
Automobile
Audiobank
Becker
Boss
DHD
Hollywood Sound Labs
JDL
Jensen
Kenwood (speakers)
Kraco
Kronik
LA Sound
Legacy
MA Audio
Mitzu
Optimus (Radio Shack)
Planet Audio (Boss, by any other name)
Power Acoustik
Profile
Pyle
Pyramid
Rockwood
SAS Bazooka (amplifiers)
Sherwood
Sony (anything by Sony)
Sound Storm
Sparkomatic
SPL Audio
Thump
Targa
Ultimate Sounds
Visonik
Volfenhag


Questionable
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Alpine (lower model speakers)
Autotek
Audiobahn
Audiopipe
Blaupunkt
Aiwa
DB Drive
Crunch
Hifonics
Hollywood
Interfire Audio
Kenwood (amplifiers, head units)
Lanzar
Lightning Audio
Matsui
Morel Acoustics USA
MTX (subs)
Onyx Mobile Audio
Panasonic
Phoenix Gold (ask on specific models)
Pioneer (amplifiers and speakers)
Precision Power (PPI) (newer non-US made amplifiers)
Planet Audio
Phonocar
Kole Audio
Rockford Fosgate (current products)
SAS Bazooka (all products)
Ultimate


Good
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Alpine (amplifiers, Type-R speakers and subs)
Altec Lansing
Alumapro
Ample Audio
Audio Development
Avionixx
Cadence (current amplifier products)
Cerwin Vega (subs)
Clarion (head units)
Coustic
Crossfire
Crystal
Directed (DEI)
Earthquake
Eaton
Elemental Designs (eD)
Helix
Illusion
Infinity
JBL (amplifiers)
JVC Digifine
Kicker (amplifiers, subwoofers)
Memphis Audio
MTX (amplifiers)
Monsoon Audio
Phoenix Gold (some models)
PHD
Polk Audio
Rockford Fosgate (some models)
Soundstream
USAcoustics
TREO

Highly Recommended
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a/d/s
AD
Adire
Alpine (head units, signal processors)
Arc Audio
Audax
Audio Control
Brax
Boston Acoustics
Butler Audio
Celestra
CD Technologies (CDT)
DLS
Diamond Audio
Digital Designs (DD)
DynAudio
Eclipse (Fujitsu Ten)
Esoteric Audio
Focal
Harrison Labs
Image Dynamics (ID)
Infinity Kappa/Kappa Perfect components
JL Audio (subs, XR components, slash series amps)
KEF Kar components
Kove
Lunar
Luxman
Tru Technology
MB Quart
Mmatts Professional Audio
McIntosh Laboratories
Morel (Israel)
Milbert Amplifiers
Nakamichi (Cd and Tape transports)
Ohio Alternator
Orion
OZ Audio
Pioneer Premiere (head units)
Precision Power (PPI) (Art series amps, old)
Rainbow
Resonant Engineering (RE)
Rockford Fosgate (older 80s and 90s models)
Sinfoni
Streetwirez
Stinger
US Amps
Wrangler Alternators
Xtant
Zapco

Id have to mostly agree with the list. Pretty accurate assessment.

Yeah, I thought it was going to start some interesting posts and flame wars from people who just love Sony's Xtreme line (heh heh), but I pretty much agree with it, save for one or two.

yep, I agree with the list too.

Man, I just did my whole system in BOSS!! I thought it was the best stuff out, at least that's what the guy at the pawn shop said....

Damn it! I just installed a Targa HU, Sparkomatic speakers, Pyramid subs, Legacy amps and an Optimus sub amp in my bass boat. Yeeaahhh.......I got the shiznit of systems!! You guys just don't get that crackle and twang a quality system like this does!

Who's jealous now?!?!? That's what I thought!

These days name brands don't really mean that much. I know for a fact that one of the JL speaker lines rolled off the assembly line right next to Pyle speakers! Most of the name brand companies are really owned by holding companies or marketing companies.

I really don't see that much difference between this thread and a MC vs. CC vs. Malibu thread.

I also see quite a few brands in the "highly recommended" category that I feel are just not appropriate for boat use. Speakers with a nice flat response curve are just not a good fit with boats. We need bright, colorful, boomy systems to drown out the wind and water noise in our surroundings.

a/d/s in a boat... what a waste.

my opinion.

I yanked this off another site....it can be somewhat useful to somone w/o any knowledge. Granted most people aren't going to put mcintosh amps and focal components throughout their boats, but in genral it helps the guy who doesn't know the difference between Jensen and JL, it's his/her job to perform the due dillegence. It woudlnt' suprise me one bit that alot of this stero equipment is made right next to each other, but just b/c it's "next" to it doens't mean it's the same quality/components ect. This is not about the differnces between $50-60K luxury boats , it's between amps you can buy off ebay for $50 and amps you can only purchase thru autorized retailers in excess of $2k.....it's alot different than MC vs CC vs Malibu, IMO.

My original sony deck lasted 4 years and currently resides in a friends boat till he can get a mp3 deck. Current sony was one of few on the market that had everything I required for the boat deck. Skips only under the roughest conditions in the bay that you wouldnt catch many V drives in. My sony ES sub is still kicking also, same amount of time?? Ive had more problem with my new soundstream tower speaker amp cutting out and my infinity boat speaker voice coils seperating from the cones (more then one speaker did this). My rockford amps are also 4 years old and have been rock solid, since I added external fans a couple months after installing them.

Bob, I agree sony among a few other are in the wrong category , IMO.