High End Audio

[Howaitonaito]

Hey looking to put some good high end brand name audio in a V-series sedan. Kinda like along the lines of B&O (bang & olufsen), Harmon Kardon, Mark Levinson and so on.

Was looking at high end Rockford Fosgate/Alpine but they're a bit too common.

Any ideas?

[Chris Rogers]

DLS, ARC , Dynaudio thats a start.. depth of pockets is a good indicator as well.

[Carbon 34]

Sorry to fart in the post chris

DLS , ARC are mid range at best DLS splits ok subs no

ARC top of the line subs ok

And alpine and rockford top of the line are made / designed by one of the below companies (mids and tweeters) crossover parts are where a lot of the cost increases , some caps cost 25 bucks retail for top of the line direct from company

So its easy to dump 300 bucks just on a crossover if you go OTT and package it nice

You dont always have to spend a mint to get good sound that sends chills up your neck, the install setup makes a big difference , a 200 dollar splits sounds just as good as $2000 when installed average and tuning is off And i can vouch for chris he will do it right , maybe a dozen shops in oz i could say that about !!

My choices for hi end SQ speakers ( a sample )

Dynaudio, Vifa, Morel, Image dynamic horns / subs ,SEAS, polydax and audax (same company ) peerless , hybrid audio , Scanspeak

B&O, Linn, Mission, Thiel & Wilson all use SEAS brand drivers

Vifa is also used in B&O, Mission, Paradigm & Vandersteen

Boston, JBL, Klipsch, Polk, PSB, Snell, Sony & many others use POLYDAX

Dont overlook Hertz top of the line ,new pioneer SQ stuff , MB Quart 3 way splits , GoldSound mids and small woofers , Orion HCCA subs are beasts in the right box and can sound good still

Earthquake "holeEshit "subs if you want some monster spl bass in a big car , to much for skylines due to weight

You can buy the parts from a few companies way cheaper and a expert installer can design the crossover to exceed just about anything you can buy off the shelf since it will be for the car/speaker relation response , or run active xover tri-amp power

There are a few other brands but the cost and availability turns insane $20k for a pair of 3 way splits and require massive mods cutting steel and panels to fit and a thousand watts per channel available for dynamic range

Like having a f1 car but able to be driven daily , in case you need the power lol

To give you a rough idea , mine is near 7,000 watts max power , 2,000 to front speakers alone

some of the brands above come in 100,000 dollar plus home speakers !!! and one is used to recreate sonic booms for space craft / shuttle tiles when it was being used

And then you need amps , processor and headunit to make it sing

[Howaitonaito]

I drove an A8 LWB fully loaded with the full B&O sound and it was incredible!! All I've got in the car now is four speakers and two tweeters. It's good but it has me yearning for clarity bass and all round great sound, like a theatre inside my car. I don't care for doof doof or epic amounts bass. Would like to add more speakers.

Sorry to fart in the post chris

DLS , ARC are mid range at best DLS splits ok subs no

ARC top of the line subs ok

And alpine and rockford top of the line are made / designed by one of the below companies (mids and tweeters) crossover parts are where a lot of the cost increases , some caps cost 25 bucks retail for top of the line direct from company

So its easy to dump 300 bucks just on a crossover if you go OTT and package it nice

You dont always have to spend a mint to get good sound that sends chills up your neck, the install setup makes a big difference , a 200 dollar splits sounds just as good as $2000 when installed average and tuning is off And i can vouch for chris he will do it right , maybe a dozen shops in oz i could say that about !!

My choices for hi end SQ speakers ( a sample )

Dynaudio, Vifa, Morel, Image dynamic horns / subs ,SEAS, polydax and audax (same company ) peerless , hybrid audio , Scanspeak

B&O, Linn, Mission, Thiel & Wilson all use SEAS brand drivers

Vifa is also used in B&O, Mission, Paradigm & Vandersteen

Boston, JBL, Klipsch, Polk, PSB, Snell, Sony & many others use POLYDAX

Dont overlook Hertz top of the line ,new pioneer SQ stuff , MB Quart 3 way splits , GoldSound mids and small woofers , Orion HCCA subs are beasts in the right box and can sound good still

Earthquake "holeEshit "subs if you want some monster spl bass in a big car , to much for skylines due to weight

You can buy the parts from a few companies way cheaper and a expert installer can design the crossover to exceed just about anything you can buy off the shelf since it will be for the car/speaker relation response , or run active xover tri-amp power

There are a few other brands but the cost and availability turns insane $20k for a pair of 3 way splits and require massive mods cutting steel and panels to fit and a thousand watts per channel available for dynamic range

Like having a f1 car but able to be driven daily , in case you need the power lol

To give you a rough idea , mine is near 7,000 watts max power , 2,000 to front speakers alone

some of the brands above come in 100,000 dollar plus home speakers !!! and one is used to recreate sonic booms for space craft / shuttle tiles when it was being used

And then you need amps , processor and headunit to make it sing

[Carbon 34]

More speakers doesnt make better sound ( unless its a THX theatre or concert )

The goal should be attention to detail in the install, quality drivers , lots of dynamic ( damping factor of 250 or more @ 4 ohms ) clean power , and possible time alignment with drivers and processors if required , tight fast bass from a 8 or 10" in a custom box designed for the car, driver and music source

Some of the best systems use 5 speakers , 2 tweeters, 2 mids and single sub

quality cables

Clean amp power ( digital amps make bucket loads of power but not as clean as class A or A/B )

Audison bit one or ten processor ( digital in and out if you have the amp for it)

Alpine imprint

Audiocontrol

a few others are decent but the ones above excel

the speakers in most cases are imports ( voided warranty buying overseas in most cases) and lots of install costs ( local shops dont cut it Only top installers with skills and tools to do it right) dont drop the car off and expect it back the same week !! To do it right takes time dont rush em

and set the rules ( cutting ok not ok , hidden system or show ? , music tastes , source ie mp3, dvd etc , $$$ you can spend on it ) and buy a great alarm/ immobilizer first !!! And insurance If you dont have those items already

Remember some of those tweeters are 4 -5 inches or horns a foot acrosss and only fit umder dash or heavly modified locations

Expect the best part of 5-10k +to buy and install all of it to perfection and at least a week of time solid

in the end you will be amazed , its like someone washed the windows after a mud bog in comparison , and it will smoke anything from a factory twice over if done right

In SQ comp you would grab trophies galore And it would rival a 20,000 + dollar home stereo easy

[Howaitonaito]

When I asked for help I didn't expect this much, thanks mate. Just looking for a decent system without spending a fortune, like I am willing to pay for quality but my pockets ain't deep

[Carbon 34]

Oh well its my brain bump of shite lol someday i should bag that poo instead of dumping in public

Your welcome

now you Decide if you want to go nuts a little at a time or just drop the budget down and get good quality sound still

just about everything is made in china / asia except the above items but you can get some decent sound still If its installed right , if i get some time i might draw up some idea /plans / diagrams etc for people to get ideas and have a visual idea of what is involved , not brand specific either

[Howaitonaito]

I think I'm just going to buy little things at a time and have it installed all at once.

Trying to avoid "made in *instert Asian country here*"

[Howaitonaito]

Decided on Polk Audio, friend of mine has it in a Mk3 golf and he swears by it.

[Carbon 34]

Best of luck with it , they have been around a while

Made in china but look at it this way , they were made in mexico before So its better quality now

R&D is still in usa if i remember right baltimore maryland

[Howaitonaito]

Where is a good place to source Polk audio

[Carbon 34]

Nobody i know buys polk audio ( vw people do for some reason, same in usa? )

But this should help you

http://www.polkaudio.com.au/html/where_to_buy.html

I would import from usa , save a ton of money just dont get raped on shipping

Hate to say that but a few of the shops listed i would never recommend

Crutchfield sells them in usa mail order and lots of other people but watch it

Warranty void and some usa dealers are dodgy as hell

Or find a listed shop and let them install ?? Your call

Best o luck

[Howaitonaito]

Thanks for all your help man. Will let you know how it turns out