CDT Components are they as good as some people say??

[Hebrew Hammer 10+ year member]

I am not so certain that HH is worthy of the deference people show him. I am not saying he is an evil person, I just think that it is a little silly for him to take the position that you can't buy a decent set of speakers for
bottom line is this....I've been around high end home/car for almost 20 years now...once you have listened to the best...and truly get a picture on what great sound is....then you can cry all you want when I make these claims...I wish at times that I wasn't such an audio snob.....but you boys have allot to learn if you truly think that CDT is anything close to what hifi sounds like....I get tired of the "it's good for the money" .... and that's basically all that it will ever be.... I don't go out of my way to bag on peoples equipment...infact on any forum I'm on, you'll never once see a post were I bag on sombodies choice of equipment....now a thread like this asking if CDT is as good as people say...I'm going going to put my 2 cents in....

so...the challenge is...anybody talking smack....my car will be open for demoing at ESN in south carolina, august 11th....bring your CDT's I'd love to hear them //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[WhoSayWho? 5,000+ posts]

bottom line is this....I've been around high end home/car for almost 20 years now...once you have listened to the best...and truly get a picture on what great sound is....then you can cry all you want when I make these claims...I wish at times that I wasn't such an audio snob.....but you boys have allot to learn if you truly think that CDT is anything close to what hifi sounds like....I get tired of the "it's good for the money" .... and that's basically all that it will ever be.... I don't go out of my way to bag on peoples equipment...infact on any forum I'm on, you'll never once see a post were I bag on sombodies choice of equipment....now a thread like this asking if CDT is as good as people say...I'm going going to put my 2 cents in....
so...the challenge is...anybody talking smack....my car will be open for demoing at ESN in south carolina, august 11th....bring your CDT's I'd love to hear them //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

I don't know that anyone is "talking smack." I don't hear anyone saying that CDT sounds better than speakers costing 10x more.

What you are doing is somewhat like a Mercedes - SLR McLaren dealer stepping into a conversation about whether the Toyota or Honda is a better value and offering the opinion that neither approaches the quality or performance of the Mercedes he is peddling. Yeah, we know that. It really is not an issue.

BTW I would love to listen to your sound system (especially with the car sitting still). I am sure that it is wonderful. I am also sure that if after I listened to it I would laugh in your face if you asked me if I thought it was worth retail.

Dimininshing returns HH, diminshing returns.

 

[Pickzilla 10+ year member]

Pickzilla-HH is not a tool, there is no need for a personnal attack on HH. He has tons of knowledge. I am not trying to personnally attack HH, just asking him a question. I like HH just sometimes he is overbearing. Unless you have tons of knowledge be careful about challenging HH. He is very well respected on many other forums. He just has access to some of the worlds most expensive and exotic stuff.
I hope no one to include HH took what I said as a personnal attack on HH because its not, I was just trying to reason with him.

No, no, youre right. A personal attack was uncalled for, and I do apologize.

Just seems HH is always there to put in a "bash your equipment" reply, so it is very easy to assume he is one of these 16 year olds who just wants to be annoying. Lets face it, no one goes to a car audio forum expecting to hear from super-educated people... more like prepubescent kids.

Anyhow, HH, just for my own curiousity, what brands would you recommend which would sound better than my $399 Eurosports? Please keep the price below $700. And I do wish I could audition your car, but alas SC is a bit out of the way.

 

[focused313 10+ year member]

Hebrew Hammer-If I use your perspective on this thread-Then this would be true correct.
I do not know any of the people named below personally-Have I sat in a couple of the vehicles on the list or heard them in the last 17 years yes. Do I know people that know these people yes. Does that make me cool, "NO". Means I was at the right place at the right time. WOOT

MB Quart-Awsome-Many world Final titles

JBL-Gary Biggs-World Titles buy them

Rockford Fosgate-Mark Fukuda, Wayne Harris-World Champions-Great stuff

Focal-Our Very own SQChevy-Multi world titles

Oz Audio-World Titles

Bob Johann-PPI, Xtant, JVC, MTX

Harry Kimura-USD

Richie Inferrera-a/d/s

Tommy Clark-PPI

Richard Clark-Alpine(I pretty sure this is correct from back in the day)

David "Fishman" Rivera-AudioControl, Clarion

The list could go and go-Pioneer, JL, Dynaudio, Image Dynamics.

You could find brands that people are in shock that where in cars that won.

I mean just look at how many car's Spearker Works built with different brands in them. How many legedary cars came out of there.

I mean hell I think ever major brand has been in a car at one time or another.

I mean s**t I can google search and find tons of brands and people that have won with all kinds of different stuff.

There are many brands that have made it to the finals. The list would fill up a page.

In your thought process it would mean any brand having world SQ titles is at the top. We both know this is not true. I would bet that anyone of a multitude of world champions, expert tuners/installers(Look on the list above) could take just about any quality product, install it properly, apply good processing and win. Does it take more work with some brands than others.IMO "YES".

We could even do a list for sound deadners.

Is CDT the best no, is it the worst no-Don hit on the head "It is ALL overpriced and over hyped"

All these manafuctures have access to same materials, designs ect. Hell look at Alpine and the F1 comp sets. If we do not take other things into consideration other than just brand then this should be true right. I should all be able to take any of these brands and throw them in my car and win JBL-Seas-Dynaudio ect.

We both know no one is just going to buy a gret brand throw it in a car and win a world title.

I have had brands that cover the spectrum to some extent.

I think just about almost any brand(I said almost any) can win a show-I believe 75% is in the installers hands and the other 25% is having the expertise to tune it.IMO

I can take a perfect set of comps through them in a door. I can take a great quality comp set, deaden, place them in better locations and it will sound better.

I am no expert at all and Hebrew you could kill me at doing any of this stuff but come on. You bash almost every brand out there. Right now its just CDT.

If someone wins with CDT then following what you say. CDT would be one the best around correct.

I bet if I ask your opinion on Dynaudio this conversation would go a very different way. I am not trying to argue with you so please do not take this the wrong way. I am just trying to understand all the bashing of so many different products.

I am no where near as experienced and knowledgeable as most of you, but I have to say this was a great post. As much as "we" fight about best this and best that, I believe that it's all opinions. There is no way to officially test how great something sounds to YOUR ear, you just listen to multiple setups, then you pick what's best for you. I can't say I know what great sound is, I just know that I've really liked the sound in some cars I've rode around in. It can't be official because it's not like I heard the same song, from the same cd, at the same quality being played in the same environment in the same vehicle. Those are all....controls, or variables, that play a big part in what you get to hear. Lastly, I think that the setup/location of speakers and the tuning of the equipment is the primary reason why "good speakers" sound like good speakers.

I started to LEARN how to listen for good sound in cars by taking cd quality songs played by orchestras and testing them out on my computer. I isolated various notes, frequencies, etc... so that I could hear every instrument playing. I noticed that in my car, I couldn't hear all of those instruments anymore, but in other cars I could almost hear everything, and others...I just hear loud tubas, horns, and drums.

 

[W8 a minute 10+ year member]

[

I think just about almost any brand(I said almost any) can win a show-I believe 75% is in the installers hands and the other 25% is having the expertise to tune it.IMO

According to your math then the win is 100% in the installers hands since most installers do the install AND the tuning.

We'll use guitars and musicians for a comparison. The guitar being the "speaker" and the musician being the "installer".

Stevie Ray Vaughn can make a Wal-mart guitar sound better than I could make the worlds most expensive guitar sound. We agree the installer makes the difference.

The problem is this:

You can tune 2 different guitars to play the exact same notes. But they will never have the exact same sound.

Now when you enter the world finals it's similar to pitting Stevie Ray against another Stevie Ray. There are a lot of great installers represented there. If you were Stevie Ray and knew you were going to a contest against another Stevie Ray would you show up with a Wal-Mart guitar or the best guitar you could find?

I don't think you need to spend 600 dollars to find decent comps. In fact I've heard some 200-300 dollar comps that blew away 600 dollar comps before. But those 600 dollar comps were CDT's so..... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/hilarious.gif.02a037aad04aa96f19982b298a3d70a8.gif

 

[WhoSayWho? 5,000+ posts]

According to your math then the win is 100% in the installers hands since most installers do the install AND the tuning.
We'll use guitars and musicians for a comparison. The guitar being the "speaker" and the musician being the "installer".

Stevie Ray Vaughn can make a Wal-mart guitar sound better than I could make the worlds most expensive guitar sound. We agree the installer makes the difference.

The problem is this:

You can tune 2 different guitars to play the exact same notes. But they will never have the exact same sound.

Now when you enter the world finals it's similar to pitting Stevie Ray against another Stevie Ray. There are a lot of great installers represented there. If you were Stevie Ray and knew you were going to a contest against another Stevie Ray would you show up with a Wal-Mart guitar or the best guitar you could find?

I don't think you need to spend 600 dollars to find decent comps. In fact I've heard some 200-300 dollar comps that blew away 600 dollar comps before. But those 600 dollar comps were CDT's so..... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/hilarious.gif.02a037aad04aa96f19982b298a3d70a8.gif

You do realize Stevie Ray Vaughn is dead? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[W8 a minute 10+ year member]

You do realize Stevie Ray Vaughn is dead? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

LOL. Yeah, but for the life of me I couldn't think of any modern "great" guitarists that everyone would know. I can name a few great jazz guitarists but I'm one of the few that actually likes that stuff.

 

[WhoSayWho? 5,000+ posts]

LOL. Yeah, but for the life of me I couldn't think of any modern "great" guitarists that everyone would know. I can name a few great jazz guitarists but I'm one of the few that actually likes that stuff.

True story -- not long before his death I saw Vaughn get turned away from Cheetah III's in Atlanta because he did not have a shirt with a collar on. Could not beliieve it.

BTW, Peter Frampton is a helluva guitar player who is still alive (pun somewhat intended) -- don't know how many would know him though.

 

[XHiFiX 10+ year member]

To summarize for those who don't want to read all that...there is a guy called HH who is the Audio God and if you own or like anything CDT, you must be a stupid fool! Sorry. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif Oh, and everyone needs to go listen to his car. It is the reference standard by which ALL car audio is judged! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsupwink.gif.129404938effda6ad9cca39e7f4b58a3.gif

 

[genxx 10+ year member]

According to your math then the win is 100% in the installers hands since most installers do the install AND the tuning.
We'll use guitars and musicians for a comparison. The guitar being the "speaker" and the musician being the "installer".

Stevie Ray Vaughn can make a Wal-mart guitar sound better than I could make the worlds most expensive guitar sound. We agree the installer makes the difference.

The problem is this:

You can tune 2 different guitars to play the exact same notes. But they will never have the exact same sound.

Now when you enter the world finals it's similar to pitting Stevie Ray against another Stevie Ray. There are a lot of great installers represented there. If you were Stevie Ray and knew you were going to a contest against another Stevie Ray would you show up with a Wal-Mart guitar or the best guitar you could find?

I don't think you need to spend 600 dollars to find decent comps. In fact I've heard some 200-300 dollar comps that blew away 600 dollar comps before. But those 600 dollar comps were CDT's so..... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/hilarious.gif.02a037aad04aa96f19982b298a3d70a8.gif

You missed what I was trying to explain entirely. Here let me break it down in simplier terms.

Any brand can win on any given day and have.(I don't even have to prove this people already have). Just look above at just a few brands I listed. I am not saying CDT or any other brand is the best. I have heard to many different cars then asked what are those and was shocked when they told me. No way those are brand x, no f**cking way. Sure enough they where what a shock it was.

I think there is a lot of great and decent stuff out there in a wide range of brands and cost. I am just not brand loyal at all.

I do understand what you are saying though. I would say you do have a valid point but to generalized. Also you do not like CDT. However, your anology could be used and applied to any brand. Also you say "I don't think you need to spend 600 dollars to find decent comps. In fact I've heard some 200-300 dollar comps that blew away 600 dollar comps before. But those 600 dollar comps were CDT's so". Did the same installer install both brands and optimize the install for both brands? They would of had to back up some of your statements correct?

 

[Hebrew Hammer 10+ year member]

To summarize for those who don't want to read all that...there is a guy called HH who is the Audio God and if you own or like anything CDT, you must be a stupid fool! Sorry. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif Oh, and everyone needs to go listen to his car. It is the reference standard by which ALL car audio is judged! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsupwink.gif.129404938effda6ad9cca39e7f4b58a3.gif

come on now....all of you who make this funny snide remarks are those who just wanna make themselves heard..plain and simple.... I doubt many people in our sport have owned....tested....listened to the equipment I've owned and sold...so when you have...and you have a/b'd what I have, then comment...

 

[Hebrew Hammer 10+ year member]

You missed what I was trying to explain entirely. Here let me break it down in simplier terms.
Any brand can win on any given day and have.(I don't even have to prove this people already have). Just look above at just a few brands I listed. I am not saying CDT or any other brand is the best. I have heard to many different cars then asked what are those and was shocked when they told me. No way those are brand x, no f**cking way. Sure enough they where what a shock it was.

I think there is a lot of great and decent stuff out there in a wide range of brands and cost. I am just not brand loyal at all.

I do understand what you are saying though. I would say you do have a valid point but to generalized. Also you do not like CDT. However, your anology could be used and applied to any brand. Also you say "I don't think you need to spend 600 dollars to find decent comps. In fact I've heard some 200-300 dollar comps that blew away 600 dollar comps before. But those 600 dollar comps were CDT's so". Did the same installer install both brands and optimize the install for both brands? They would of had to back up some of your statements correct?

yes installation is the most important thing...then tuning....but you can only tune in or tune out so much...and that is the issue with the cdt drivers... they do not and will not articulate and seem to always add their own sonic signature in the midrange..once again..if you were to a/b these next to a scan...dyn...skaaning...focal be....rainbow plat/ref..... you would then realize how apparently wrong they are....

 

[XHiFiX 10+ year member]

Hmm looks like the pot calling the kettle black. There's obviously one person here who really feels the need to be heard (and acknowledged, and praised, etc).

HH, I don't doubt your expertise with high-end, super expensive audio gear. I just think your 'holier than thou' and 'better than you' attitude rubs people the wrong way.

Just because something isn't to your liking or your personal preference (or price point), it doesn't make it ****. That's what car audio is all about...there's something for everyone to enjoy.

But anyway, peace dude!

 

[Igno 10+ year member]

True story -- not long before his death I saw Vaughn get turned away from Cheetah III's in Atlanta because he did not have a shirt with a collar on. Could not beliieve it.
BTW, Peter Frampton is a helluva guitar player who is still alive (pun somewhat intended) -- don't know how many would know him though.

you, you, you, oh sorry don't know him , how about Buckethead