Brands to stay away from?

[91Sunbird 10+ year member]

Ok, I know Sony, Jensen, Pyramid, Optimus, Legacy, and Audio Vox are all brands to stay away from. Any others that are hunks of sh*t? Is Pyle or Boss any good? I doubt it

Click to read more...

 

[wesleysh 10+ year member]

Sony's not really a brand to stay away from, its just overpriced for what it actually delivers. For a lot of people Audiobahn would fit into that category, as well as the self titled "God of all subwoofers" JL Audio W7.

Lanzar's got decent amps, but their other stuff is a little questionable.

 

[XtremeBass 10+ year member]

None of the above are any good.

 

[StallionAudio 10+ year member]

Every time somebody brings up "brands to stay away from", sony is almost always mentioned. I have to ask, has anyone ever dealt w/ some of the ES series. I'm runnin the 2100G ES and it is hands down one of the most amazing amps I have dealt w/. I have run that thing stable at .5 ohms for extended periods of time. It is rated @ 1000W max / 480 RMS @ 1 ohm w/ .01% thd which is pretty friggin good. Even though it is intended to be a full range amp (100W X 2 @ 4 ohms) I bridge the 2 channels to power my subs and it performs beautifully. In a bench test I sh** on the factory ratings. Try adding about 74 watts more rms each sub! Anyway, just had to get that off my chest cuz I always hear people puttin down Sony. I do agree though that they do have some weak stuff that tends to be overpriced, but then again many popular companies do as well.

 

[abercrombie2582 10+ year member]

no ones really dissing sony, its just bc sony has a tendency of having bad car audio stuff. Most of their receivers skip(a $300 cd player skipping over a simple bump), their subs aren't that loud or great and are poorly built, and their amps have a tendency to blow fuses. Im glad you like your sony, hope it keeps working for ya, but all I am saying is that majority of Sony car audio is junk, there is so much better for the same price or less!!!!!

 

[StallionAudio 10+ year member]

Some are dissin sony though... "None of the above are ANY good"(XtremeBass). Just shouldnt make such a broad statement b/c the same could be applied to any brand... even the much loved Alpine. They baseline decks, up to arround 300 are I think some of the most overpriced decks around. One could get a pioneer, kenwood, whatever w/ better performance and more options for the same price or less. Alpine is like sony in a way, they skimp on the baseline stuff and save the best for when you wanna get serious. I'm not out to start an argument b/c every brand has their weaknesses, I'm just makin a point. I can agree w/ that statement, that sony does make some overpriced stuff and you can get better for the same price... I find that their base line stuff is true to this. Once you deal w/ their ES line though it is a diff story, I think. Its like they skimp on the reg line and save the best for when you wanna get serious.

 

[blackgeltabs 5,000+ posts]

Iv used one pyramid amp and I had good luck with it so I wont dis on that brand. It was a 1400 watt crystal series 4 channel, I bridged each side and ran 2 RF punch hx2 10's off of it and hit 145db's Ported box also.

 

[ss3079 5,000+ posts]

Audiolife is gonna smoke you when he whips out his C-90 for sayin' Sony *****. The only reason why I think people think Sony ***** is because of their lower end stuff...experience the ES series and think again.

 

[StallionAudio 10+ year member]

Thank you ss3079 ... that's all I'm sayin'!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif And yeah that deck is unbeliveable.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

i dunno why people think everything is junk..you get a sony amp (regular explode) and run it 2 ohms mono then its gunna fry...90% of break downs are due to "user error" decks are just subject to their environment... i have had 2 alpines none under 600 bucks none lasted over 18 months do i say they are junk? no i just wont get another...my c-90 would smoke bout 95% of the decks you guys think are world beaters...there are differences in decks i see "experts" (hehe) talk about here that has nothing to do with sq... when building a system and you amp everything output power to speakers means nothing the driving capabilities (rca) dac (digital to analog converters) and so on make the differences. i see you guys cut and paste specs like slew rate flutter and other stuff but do you know what it means? what level does it really matter? or gettin real basic here how well do you know the fundamentals of human hearing? i like seeing people imply things that they read wrong or take as a "lean towards" effect to things that are said it kinda lets you see their mental..........

 

[StallionAudio 10+ year member]

hey audiolife, i don't know if your referring to me about "cutting and pasting specs like slew rate flutter" but most people in the forum dont know how to compare products in any other way. Your prob one of the most learned guys in here it seems, so you obviously care, but the technicalities of these products and how they actually work do not mean dick to some people! And yes, the source of the sound, the deck, is what truely matters. The sound is produced there so if you got **** for a deck then your gonna have **** sound. A great amp on a **** deck = **** sound. When one talks broadly about products, defects and random occurances (like your alpines) cannot be predicted so a prod. could get a bad rap w/ some b/c of it. I'm not startin anything, just tryin to set some stuff strait.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by StallionAudio hey audiolife, i don't know if your referring to me about "cutting and pasting specs like slew rate flutter" but most people in the forum dont know how to compare products in any other way. Your prob one of the most learned guys in here it seems, so you obviously care, but the technicalities of these products and how they actually work do not mean dick to some people! And yes, the source of the sound, the deck, is what truely matters. The sound is produced there so if you got **** for a deck then your gonna have **** sound. A great amp on a **** deck = **** sound. When one talks broadly about products, defects and random occurances (like your alpines) cannot be predicted so a prod. could get a bad rap w/ some b/c of it. I'm not startin anything, just tryin to set some stuff strait.

then dont make technical comparissions if you dont know how it works why it works why it breaks (hehee) then you shouldnt be making an educated guess or advice if you dont know what this or that means. plain and simple without the tech you the consumer gets no treat. sorta reminds me of customers that ask will this amp push a pair of 12's ,you say yes, week later he comes back saying you dont know sh!t cause the amp blew....we go outside look at this joke of an install -ghetto tech- look at the subs we see 2 10's 2 12's and a 15 ( the tens are floppin on their backs in truck boxxes...the 12's are in a real crappy prefab box with the horns takin out to make a "port" and the 15 is not even in a box....look at the wires they all tie in pos to pos neg to neg into 2 lines tied up very ghetto with tape....i said well looks like you have more than 2 woofers here to me installed very badly and you were running it at an impedence that the amp cant handle...he says you never said i couldnt hook up more than that..i return fire "guess you should have read your manual huh?" //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif i let it go through warranty one time after i talked to kenwood so i took care of him but just shows you how people are

 

[StallionAudio 10+ year member]

now your just gettin way off base here. first of all I've never nor would i ever hook up a ghetto rig b/c I'm not a ghetto tech as you put it. I have a genuine interest in car audio, have had for over 5 years. In fact, thats what I'm goin to college for, to be an electrical engineer and design new car audio products. So to say to me that i dont know anythin about this is pretty **** offensive. Especially when I DO KNOW, not all but I'm learnin, and I have done more than my fair share of installs myself. I would not have the audacity (spelling?) to give advice on something that I am not qualified to do so on, unlike many of the other members in this forum. So before you go makin assumptions, ask before you go shittin on people. I'm not at your level obviously, but I know more about this stuff than most people my age. This isn't a sob story, just lookin for a little understanding and respect. I'm just here to learn more, share opinions and help where i can, which is just as much if not more than most.

 

[RangerMan Premium Member]

Originally posted by StallionAudio now your just gettin way off base here. first of all I've never nor would i ever hook up a ghetto rig b/c I'm not a ghetto tech as you put it. I have a genuine interest in car audio, have had for over 5 years. In fact, thats what I'm goin to college for, to be an electrical engineer and design new car audio products. So to say to me that i dont know anythin about this is pretty **** offensive. Especially when I DO KNOW, not all but I'm learnin, and I have done more than my fair share of installs myself. I would not have the audacity (spelling?) to give advice on something that I am not qualified to do so on, unlike many of the other members in this forum. So before you go makin assumptions, ask before you go shittin on people. I'm not at your level obviously, but I know more about this stuff than most people my age. This isn't a sob story, just lookin for a little understanding and respect. I'm just here to learn more, share opinions and help where i can, which is just as much if not more than most.

Whew...I am not getting in on this arguement, it looks like the min. amount of words is 300...well, this will be the start of a debate...you are right though this is a good place to learn, share opinions and help...

 

[StallionAudio 10+ year member]

rangerman... thanks and yeah a GT-40 def. would. Have you seen the new model ford made to commemorate it?! that car is sick!