Car Speaker comparisons

[riteshcarla]

Just bought an 05 Tacoma with the TRD Tow package. Get it end of June. Looking to upgrade the sound. I have an 04 4Runner Sport whch has the Kenwood doule din reciever with Boston Z6 fronts and Boston Pro 60 rears. This all sounds great with the 12" sub and extras that were added to it. I like the sound BUT i also had a BMW with MB Quarts and the sound was good there as well. Now, to add to the loop.... I was looking at the Focal Utopia 165W's and they look pretty good as well...soooo..
1: Boston Z6
2: MB Quart QSD 216
3: Focal Utopia 165W

What do the pro's out there think? I'm more concerned with sound then volume. I have an alpine MRV-F545 unit to run these speakers.

As for subs, again...ideas? I have an Alpine SWX 1242D Sub. Not sure if this will fit...Custom Fiberglass box off course.
Power will come from an Alpine MRD-M1005 unit.

Any help would be appreciated! Also, if someone feels there's something better as well, please do let me know. Also, if anybody has seens reviews for any of these or comparisons, I would love to know.
Thanks

[cam2Xrunner]

All three of those Component set's are awesome. Out of those I'd be hard pressed to pick one, but I'm guessing I'd go with the Focal Utopia's.

What is your budget that you are working with and what kind of headunit do you plan on using?

[Tommy]

Ive heard some people say MB quarts sound harsh, but im not sure what that means...Ive never had the pleasure to hear anything that high end, (i guess this is highend stuff) What is "harsh" and what about them makes them like that?

[riteshcarla]

Cam2Xrunner:

no budget.. What ever i feel like throwing in.. I spend a lot of time in my vehicles so i figure keep it all top notch. Not sure about the head unit yet. As I haven't recieved my truck yet, i'm still open to ideas. Like I mentioned, my 4runner has the Kenwood DDX7015 with the Dolby Digital Processor. Not bad as I wanted a double din unit. I'm not fond of fold outs but could live with one. I'm not sure I like the reviews on the new Pioneer AVIC-D2 so the search continues. What do you think?

[cam2Xrunner]

If I was going with a Double Din unit I would be all over the Eclpise AVN-5495. I'm going with a custom 10.4" Screen in the CD player area myself, but if i wasn't doing that, I'd be saving my pennies for the Eclipse.

One thing though, the dashkit that is coming out from Scosche and Metra, I'm pretty sure those are going to be single DIN. So if you want to go double din it is probably going to have to be custom.

Not sure if you want to go this route, but what I have planned for myself is installing a Xenarc 10.4" Monitor in the space where the CD player is. It should be easier than making a trim kit for a double din.

Then you can do a custom Carputer

Here's my planned setup


I'll also be using a Pioneer DEH-P860MP headunit as well.

Back to the original ? though, check out the Seas Lotus Reference
http://www.mobilesq.com/products/get_product.php?id=1
http://www.seas.no/Lotus/default.htm

For my system I'll be using Peerless XLS 8" Midbass/sub in the doors(there's plenty of room for it)



That's a DLS Iridium 6.5" Mid, there is plenty of room for an 8" if you like alot of midbass.

For the midrange and tweeter I'll be usingthe Seas Excel 5" midrange and I think I've decided to go with LCY 130 Ribbons.

Some other options to consider that will definitely be awesome is the DLS Iridium 8.3 Component system
http://www.dls.se/english/speakers/Iridium83.htm

A Dynaudio Sytem would be awesome.

Morel would be another name to go with.

It all really depends on how and what kind of install you are going with. If you want to use just a 2 way component set using the stock locations, you'd want to use a 7" mid as opposed to an 8" to get better midrange response. And if you are going to be using the tweeter in the stock location you'd want a tweeter that works well off-axis.

There's so many good choices out there, you need to evaluate what kind of installation you want to do, then go into researching different components to see how they work in different situations.

Check out these forums
www.elitecaraudio.com and www.diymobilaudio.com

[88 LE]

Originally Posted by Tommy

Ive heard some people say MB quarts sound harsh, but im not sure what that means...Ive never had the pleasure to hear anything that high end, (i guess this is highend stuff) What is "harsh" and what about them makes them like that?

Their tweets are to bright for my liking. And their mids are to punchy sounding (IMO anyways).

[OHWJaJae]

Originally Posted by Tommy

Ive heard some people say MB quarts sound harsh, but im not sure what that means...Ive never had the pleasure to hear anything that high end, (i guess this is highend stuff) What is "harsh" and what about them makes them like that?

The tweeter on their lower lines is very tinny and overbearing. On their higher lines the tweeter still has the MB Quart tin feel to it, but it's a bit less obnoxious sounding... still overbearing though. The overall sound quality is good, but not for me. I wouldn't run MB Quart again.

The Boston's sound great. Their lower lines are clear, but in my opinion sound a bit flat and lack the highs. Their higher end models fix this problem and you're left with a speaker that sounds great, however, in my opinion they still feel like they're lacking something. What it is I can't put my finger on...

I haven't heard the Utopias unfortunately, however, and I wish I had. I've heard nothing but great things about them. If I had to go with the three choices listed I'd go with these even though I've never heard them. They're reputation preceeds them and I'm just not a fan of the above listed models for the price. If you're down to these three I'd go with the Utopias.