I was lucky 4 yrs ago when I met Don, as I had him install a 2way alarm in my car to get a taste of Rainbow as he received his first set for his demo car from Arc Audio (rainbows distributor at the time) It was the Professional Vanadium set with Kickbass driver. Bastard had one the few Arc DXE's released at that time , set hooked up to just 2 chs of an Arc XXK4150- 80 rms per side.
This is the first hard dome set at the time that I though had everything I loved about Quarts, and didnt have everything I hated about them. Granted a very dynamic tweeter, but a hint of warmth to the timbre. The midbass is nothing like I ever heard before out of a 6.5". This told me instantly I needed to get myself more familiar with this Rainbow stuff. Once I ventured into their silk tweeters, I was completely in love.
Back to back VERY impressive (for me )simple drop in installs in two cars- ARC ACS components with the Cal25 tweeters in my Maxima, and a Rainbow Contour set in my younger brothers Toyota Celica.
I ended up doing 80 per side, 330 per side (bridged 4150), and 270 per side (xxk2500!!!) on those ACS's before I ventured off to an active setup. Someone right now from this forum inherited that set and its still kicking as s.
3 yrs ago this was, My brother now has the Contour set in his 3rd vehicle and my ACS's are rocking in a forum members car somewhere.
No offence to the brands I will mention now but- at the time Don was a big PG and Diamond dealer. The more I'd come around, I noticed the stockpile of Diamond HEX and M6 xovers and mids piling up, blown Hex tweeters, PG TiElite tweeters and Xovers and nothing Rainbow considering his sales to those products at the time was reaching a 2 to 1 basis and over time diminishing.
Ever see a a Hex or M6 mid blown? Not a pretty sight. And If you havent it looks like someone strapped an M80 on it and ran.
Well 4 years later, I've still yet to see 1 blown Rainbow mid out of hundreds of sets, most of which customers walk out of the shop overdriving them with large amplifier power.
Not trying to glorify the brand intentionally, simply sharing my experience. I believe in this product, and i like what them Germans are doing. They've put together lines of speakers with very distinct, unoffending, and natural sound, without sacrificing midrange dynamics(very important to me)- and spread it across~ 10 lines/10 different budget lines. No other company has such a catalog for caraudio speakers, that tells you off the bat speakers is what they are serious about. Its a solid product and gets my endorsement.
