Can't deny that high end sometimes has benefits, many outside sound quality, like durability, warranty, install flexibility, etc. What I was aiming at are some of the comments I see here and other places, like 'Kicker can't give good sound quality' or 'I use JL, your stuff can't sound as good as mine'...we've all seen them.

I had a guy bring in a van fitted with JL, Audison, and Focal...it didn't sound very good at all. Speaker placement is questionable, crossovers and gains were set wrong...this is what I could tell from 5 minutes of listening. Oh yeah, the guy was also feeding it with an Ipod full of low bit MP3's. Point is, brand is often less than half the battle.

I had a kid come in here with a pair of W6's, on a crappy beat up MA amp, in a really bad box he and his buddy built, using the stock head and speakers. For what he spent on the W6's alone, he'd probably be on his way to a decent modest system, but he had to have JL. Lucio Proni probably has hearburn as I type.

As for SA picking up JL, I'm sure it was an excellent decision. I'm actually a little upset that JL went big box, but it was a business decision for them, as well. Now, if they'd just clean up the internet, and get rid of some of the low end woofers (that's what Total is for), I think they'd do better.

Toby

 

Very close to my point...I'm saying that lots of people would snub a great sounding system, just because it doesn't say Alpine, or JL, or whatever. I think this leads people to make bad decisons.

Toby

 

There is way too much reading here for me, but Im sure everyone knows my opinion already

Audiobahn is horrible and overwhored
JL Audio is overpriced and overwhored
Hifonics amps are good for the money and power. I dont care what anyone says....I know a lot of people running hifonics amps and for the money/power I have not heard one complaint
And I have yet to hear a good bandpass setup

 

Yeah but there's a reason for that. From my experience, the people who are looking at name brand alone are also usually audio illiterate. The majority of audio enthusiasts out there are very on top of their game, just look into some of the larger audio forums. There's always threads on great bangs for the buck. The reason people don't like certain brands is the same reason why people do....reputation. Once a company gets a bad rep, it's extremely hard to reverse that no matter how good of equipment they release afterwards.

 

Yeah, but that could be associated with any system. Comparing properly tuned and installed cheap equipment to a hack job using high end equipment is like apples to oranges. Put the same amount of time and tuning into each system, and then compare the two.

 

I'm not trying to compare the two...I was just giving an example of where striving for the ultimate brand came up short.

You're actually making my point...properly installed cheap stuff can be better than poorly installed good stuff. From my first post:

Further, I think that install quality (integrity, placement, crossover choice, etc.) plays a much more significant role in sound quality than brand.

This is what's known as violent agreement.

Toby

 

i dont care haw well you intall a boss/pyramid/or what ever cheap crossover - it still will give you noise!!!!!
there is still alot to be said for the higher end - known brands, they cost more because they do use better parts, and yes you do pay for the name but someone is paying for r n d and then the cheap companys just copy them. now can the average person really hear the difference between apple to apple quality brands - i dont think so, can i maybe - maybe not. and yes install has a great deal to do with performance, sound quality, staging, or amount of and tone of B A S S.

 

But you're orignal argument was brand vs. brand. To make an accurate thesis, you need to keep all the variables the same, namely install. I don't think a single person on this forum would argue that properly installed off brand equipment could sound better than poorly installed high end equipment. It's not a fair debate if you start handicapping the said better brand. What's next..should we compare blown JL subs to brand new Pyramids?

 

best thing to do is find a company not well known.. TOTAL MOBILE AUDIO who is owned by a big very well known company JL, you have all the R & D back up but there cheep b.c no one knows about them !

 

Well, maybe that's how my original thesis came across, but what my feeble mind was aiming for was...

As long as you stick with a reputable brand, specific brand is not a big deal. Installation plays a much bigger role than brand a vs. brand b, provided both are quality brands.

In other words, properly installed rockford can sound just as good as properly installed kicker, alpine, JL, etc.

Later, I did expand this by using an example of poorly installed quality equipment, compared to properly installed, lesser (but still quaility...no pyramid or pyle) equipment. This was just an extreme example, but did get off point.

Again, this was aimed at people who just say 'Kicker and sound quality don't go together'...I believe this was actually posted recently.


Is this any clearer?

Toby