rainbow germ or other brands

[mefromfl 10+ year member]

I have a lexus GS 350, and I need some mids to go with my JL Audio 12W7 1sub. I was thinking of getting the Rainbow Germs. Are they as good as the higher end Focal and MB Quarts? And where can I get them. My car has 12 speakers to fill, should i fill it up with all the same brands and compoenent or what should i use to get my surround sound. I have a PPI amp for the mids. I would like to fill up my hold car in the price range of $1500 for all the mids.

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[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

Curiostity has gotten the best of me.....

You mentioned surround sound; what kind of H/U do you have?

 

[mefromfl 10+ year member]

I have factory mark levinston HU

and I think the factory amp is the surround sound processor.

 

[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

Gotcha. I don't want to comment about something like this in confidence, but are you sure a speaker upgrade will make a very huge difference off a factory amp?

Reason why I say this is because I was going to go that route with my VW's Monsoon system (factory speakers sounded like crap), but it turns out the real problem wasn't with just the factory speakers, it was also with the factory amp. The amp actually will vary the output frequencies so that no distortion occurs when the volume is up loud. Only problem is, there is almost ZERO midbass because of this. I could have put in $1000 speakers and they would still have sounded like factory.

Like I said, I don't want to say anything in confidence about something similar happening with the Lexus/Mark Levinston HU+AMP, as I have not had any experience with that factory unit. I just want to make sure your $1500 investment in speakers alone will be well worth it.

 

[mefromfl 10+ year member]

I am going to use a PPI amp for the mids witht he factory amp, i don't know how that's gonna be done, but the isntaller says that's what he has to do.

 

[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

Oh okay. It should sound great if a separate and more powerful amp is used, then. And yes, the Germs are a great choice!

 

[mefromfl 10+ year member]

The germs are better then those top of the line focal and mb quarts?

 

[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

I wouldn't say they are either better or worse. The only determining factor is going to be your own ears. Do you have shops around where you live that you can visit and audition them?

 

[headless 10+ year member]

I'd be suspicious of the guy saying he was going to use a PPI amp with the factory amp. Sounds like bullshit to me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif 12 germanium drivers would require some serious wattage btw..I run ~600w+ to a pair of 6.5 comps - 2 6.5's and 2 tweeters. I hope you've got a serious budget for amps, a lot of space and a bad *** installer. I'm assuming by 12 speakers you mean 3 pairs of components for a total of 6 woofers and 6 tweets. IF you go passive you'll save cash but you still need 6 channels of amplification even then, unless you want to run 2 pairs on a single set of channels from an amp running @ 2 ohms..... that'd be 450-500$ per set of germs*3 = 1500$ on the germs plus...lets say 400$ per 2ch amp times 3 = 1200$ in amps, now we're talking close to double your budget. Then wiring and installation for 3 pairs of spkrs and 3 (big) amps. if you find an amp that's 2 ohm stable and give up 2 channels of audio you could cut off one of the amps, but then you're not really getting the same surround. You do have a dvd player to use this surround sound with, and a DSP capable of driving 6.1 sound...right?

I really don't see the draw to so many drivers in a car but *shrug* good luck with it

 

[Igno 10+ year member]

I beat he does not have 12 stock locations for 6.5, on oem they can't coaxial's as 2 speakers also tweeters are counted, I may be wrong, but you might want to look into it more

 

[mefromfl 10+ year member]

No my car does not do 12 speakers with 6.5 size. It's arranged as 6.5 on door a 1" tweeter on dash on each side and a center in the front. Same thing in the back but without the center. So actually it's 13 speakers. My OEM amp does the 5.1 processining. I don't know much so that's why i'm asking for suggestions for whats best for my car. I am just thinking of maybe not filling all the speakers and going with just 2 components for front and back.

 

[DejaWiz 5,000+ posts]

$1500 for speakers would get you a set of Rainbow Powerline CS and a very nice sub stage. Couple that with a decent HU and amps, and you would have one sweet car audio setup.

 

[Gary S 10+ year member]

I would change the whole system. Those factory systems are not made to add aftermarket equipment to them, and aftermarket adapters don't work as well as advertised.

If you want Surround get a JVC or Panasonic Cd player with built-in circle surround. For speakers, front and rear 6.5" component speakers and a sub(s) are all that is needed. If you are not going to use surround, forget the rear component speakers.

 

[Igno 10+ year member]

I think he has nav and all built into his head unit, could he not just use a loc or clean sweep from jl, and then just change out his speakers and amps, Mark Levinson stuff is pretty well regarded in home audio not sure what all his head unit has

 

[TSC17 10+ year member]

I have an oem 5.1 surround system in my TL-S...upgraded just the front comps with Germaniums, and ditched the stock sub with a Rainbow Vanadium 12. The oem amp is running the center channel and rear surrounds. 5.1 music sounds very good now with the Rainbow upgrade, and I turn down the center and surrounds when I play 2-channel music.

Like in your car, my system is all tied in with the nav system, so changing it is not really an option. I just used LOC's on the front L&R channels, as well as the .1 channel. You could go this route, or use a Cleansweep or 3sixty.