Next emerging Car audio brands

[slim2fattycake 10+ year member]

I'm not saying crescendos out to make a name for themselves for innovation but they will be around for a while as long as they do what they do now.

And you have those companies that have ridden their old *** innovations like its a new thing for way too long and their prices don't show as much as the nut huggers like to think.

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

I'm not saying crescendos out to make a name for themselves for innovation but they will be around for a while as long as they do what they do now.
And you have those companies that have ridden their old *** innovations like its a new thing for way too long and their prices don't show as much as the nut huggers like to think.

They will be around a long time until another company goes to the same build house and plucks the same parts off the shelves. Could be any day, any month, or any year. They need to improve. If they dont they arent the next big company.

 

[sundownz Pro Seller]

since sundown is moving more towards dealer based stuff... that does sound like a logical thing with obsidian.. but who owns obsidian? is it jacobs.. or he just doing stuff for them/with them? someone inform me.. sigh i'm behind on the times.

It's a partnership with Nick and myself -- Nick runs the sub side and I will be doing the amps.

Despite popular rumors there is no artificial ceiling on what will come out of Obsidian.

 

[Mitch86 5,000+ posts]

sounds like a limit to me

The only "limit" is staying within what the company was intended to be... I was just pointing out that they arent limited to keep them from being better than Sundown products. Just limited to being bang for your buck products. Hell I could be wrong, maybe one day they'll come out with a monster $500 subwoofer...but at this point, thats not the intentions of the company from what I've gathered.

 

[Electrodynamic 10+ year member]

i think what he was saying is OA will only be as big as Sundown ALLOWS them to be. They have a ceiling

OA was created to be the equivalent of Sundowns online only company as Sundown moves more towards dealer only. Also meant to be cost friendly. I dont think Jacob will "limit" what OA can do, but stay within the original goals of being "bang for your buck" type equipment. But thats not saying thats to limit OA products from being better than Sundown products.

since sundown is moving more towards dealer based stuff... that does sound like a logical thing with obsidian.. but who owns obsidian? is it jacobs.. or he just doing stuff for them/with them? someone inform me.. sigh i'm behind on the times.

It’s always interesting to read what, and how, people conjure up without any real concrete information. It’s one thing to assume but ask and verify (the correct way to go about it) than it is to come up with an erroneous assumption and tell everyone that said erroneous idea is the way things are. The only statement in this thread about how Obsidian Audio operates that is true is the one I highlighted from Mitch86. All you have to do is ask – both Jacob and I are pretty nice and will respond to any queries without malice.

As to the question of who owns Obsidian, the answer is posted on our About Us web page here (Obsidian Car Audio) and also on our Facbook page here (Log In | Facebook). //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif It is a joint venture between myself (Nick Lemons, Owner of Stereo Integrity) and Jacob from Sundown Audio.

Im thinking the only problem with obsidian is that they are designed partially by jacob from sundown and people might try to compare them to the sa. The sa is rated 600 watts and I've seen people put 4k into them. I have yet to see anyone do that to an oa,and they too are rated at 600 watts. Obviously build parts are different and for good reason--the oa is an affordable, efficient spl/sq driver which im sure will surpass most in its class and they seem absolutely awesome. I just hope no one expects an sa for that price.

The subwoofers are completely designed by me, not Jacob. The Obsidian subwoofers that are currently on the market were designed with the end user in mind all the time. A defined set of parameters for who the customer is, I don’t imagine just a single person, and what they want is a must. Once that is established the design process proceeds keeping performance, looks, and price in the picture. Obsidian’s 600 watt subwoofers were not designed to compete with the likes of the SI BM mkIII, Exodus Shiva-X, Sundown Z, Nightshade, or DD Z. They were designed to offer the best performance for a specified price point (sub $140 to the customer for the 12’s and sub $160 for the 15’s), and the Obsidian “600 watt” subwoofers hit the target square on the head! The Obsidian subwoofers are not an SA subwoofer, so exact same performance should not be expected. The Obsidian’s cost roughly 1/3 less than what the SA’s are currently priced at and they offer stellar performance to anything in their price category. They are a very good sounding subwoofer that handles a lot more power than what they are rated at, work in any alignment you can think of (sealed, ported, IB, bandpass, etc), play very deep, and possess the capability to be very loud.

Tommy K tested our prototype 12” Obsidian subwoofer and showed how it was louder watt-per-watt than an Fi Q and was within 1.5 dB of a DD 9512 up to ~2800 watts (Car Audio Classifieds).

There are a few items that the Obsidian’s share with the SA’s, but a short list of what is different between the two drivers is as follows:

Surround material

Surround shape

Cone thickness

Basket type

Top plate OD

Top plate ID

Top plate thickness

Magnet grade

Magnet OD

Magnet ID

Magnet thickness

Backplate OD

Backplate ID

Backplate thickness

Backplate machining

Pole ID

Pole height

VC cooling method

VC winding width (winding height)

VC OD (both D2 and D4 are different from the SA)

VC former vents

Enclosure requirements

Thermal power handling (SA has the advantage)

On the TL the SA's are between 0.5 dB and 1 dB louder

F3 in specified enclosure sizes and types (OA's play a smidge lower)

Both drivers do use a Nomex spider, flat sewn-on leads, and a triple joint reinforcement advantage.

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

someone needs to blow 1 and send to me so i can check it out //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[R34P3R 10+ year member]

Well I was going to quote Nick, but I'd rather not post that bible a second time. But from the looks of it, the new OA woofers are taking a large chunk out of what was Skar's user base. I've seen a lot of SA vs Skar threads and it always comes down to the skar plays lower but with less output. I look at your outline for the OA woofers and it just so happens to look a lot like a Skar (performance wise) but at about half the price.

I see what you did there.

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

Im gonna jump in and say that Ive been impressed with just about whatever Audiopoop puts out esp for the price.

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

I'm interested to see where OA goes from here and what will be out shortly. Depending on the goals and build houses I can see some good things in the future for that company.

However, as always, time will tell all.

 

[twistedchild420 5,000+ posts]

Not at all. My argument is they are just another off the shelf company. Maybe their price is good, but they arent great products. Anyone else who has a company can go to the same build house, pick the same parts, and offer the same price. There is nothing special about them. I used their components as an example. Everyone nut hugs this company like its the best thing since sliced cheese when in reality its just like hundreds of other companies out there. If they dont improve and do R&D they wont be the next emerging car audio brand. They will just be another mediocre company that joins the rest of them.
I am one of those people who do believe you get what you pay for to a certain extent. Take an Audiopipe amp for example. Cheaply made, cheap parts, does rated power. By this forums theory its a great product simply because it does rated. Issue is only part of that power is useful. There is a reason Sundown is more expensive. Customer service and R&D come at a price. You think Audison is just expensive because? You think Zapco is just expensive for the heck of it? Doubt it. There is a clear reason they are expensive. They use superior parts to 99% of the off the shelf products you can get anywhere else. They have parts that are within closer tolerances. They use parts with less resistance. They use parts that are made out of quality materials themselves.

How are they not? And why hasn't anyone else if it's that easy? Find me any amplifier in their price range that will do similar power ...legitimate power. And believe it or not almost ALL amps use off the shelf parts....designing new electrical components is VERY expensive...let alone tooling new heatsinks....

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

How are they not? And why hasn't anyone else if it's that easy? Find me any amplifier in their price range that will do similar power ...legitimate power. And believe it or not almost ALL amps use off the shelf parts....designing new electrical components is VERY expensive...let alone tooling new heatsinks....

No reason to keep arguing about it though. Every one has there opinions. I think they are doing what works right now and like almost all companies will change to what works later when needed.

Now if DAD would just grow a bit and send me some things to test we would all be happy //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/sneaky.gif.7189749b3a3f769e8815b47e8ae87f88.gif

 

[denim 5,000+ posts]

Guess that must be why JL is so expensive for the past decade with no new technology.
The only people that knock on crescendo are those that bought the same thing at higher cost.

Its also funny that audiopipe gets brought up. I think of high value and cost differently I guess. I need to get my hands on another ap3k so I can oscope and clamp that bitch or I could waste 150 dollars and get the SMD distortion thingy so it can detect down to the 1% distortion that NOBODY can hear a difference from .1% or .01%.

They are constantly developing. The shallow mount is one of the best on the market, new amps etc.

 

[loudwhat? 10+ year member]

what is it that you are referring to that " outlines" as the same? they have different specs, look majorly different (if you actually put your hands on them both) and they sound different... if i recall correctly they both (skar and OA)had different goals in how they sound and perform and that yes all subs are similar they all make some sort of noise and yes all subs have some motor that also looks like another sub that has been made or will be made at some point in time. for instance the TSS vs the DD9500F they all look the same but next to each other they are different. in about every way and as we all know they don't perform the same. the real problem here is to many people assume and that is the mother of all f*ck ups

 

[R34P3R 10+ year member]

what is it that you are referring to that " outlines" as the same? they have different specs, look majorly different (if you actually put your hands on them both) and they sound different... if i recall correctly they both (skar and OA)had different goals in how they sound and perform and that yes all subs are similar they all make some sort of noise and yes all subs have some motor that also looks like another sub that has been made or will be made at some point in time. for instance the TSS vs the DD9500F they all look the same but next to each other they are different. in about every way and as we all know they don't perform the same. the real problem here is to many people assume and that is the mother of all f*ck ups

Both subs have the exact same goals in mind. A "600" rms woofer that was developed to get moderately loud and low for a modest price. Are they not? I'm not saying they are anywhere near the same woofer, just that their targeted market is identical. This is a brilliant business move if I do say so myself. Make your biggest competition in the market to be yourself and there is no way you can lose.