What's up with these brands I have never heard of?

[YoungBloodM50 10+ year member]

So I AM newish to the car audio scene, and have been doing a ton of research. But as soon as I got on to this forum (I read a little on another forum), I started hearing about a whole bunch of brands that people are raving about. So my question is, are they all entry level? Disposable after a short amount of time? Or just good quality brand that people don't care about, because they aren't "alpine" or "Rockford"?

Some example brands I am referring to are MB Quartz, HiFonics, and Pheonix. They seem so inexpensive to be good quality. But hey, I am looking for a new Amp, so if they are really that good, I will be getting one of these. Any other suggestions for "not so big box brands" are welcome for discussion.

Sorry for my lack of knowledge. But thanks for all of your help.

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[mxer69 10+ year member]

look at AQ (Audioque) for quality that will last without costing an arm and a leg

 

[daboyfrumdabx 10+ year member]

Rockford and Alpine, as well as the others you mentioned above will all have entry level equipment as well as better equipment. Compare MB Quarts entry level to Alpines entry level, MB Quart will likely take the price. Also from a price standpoint. For 200 dollars you can have 1500watts from MB or Hifonics, to get that from alpine, you're looking at double the price. People do care about these brands, its the people who use Best Buy as their resource that don't care about them. If you're really serious about putting a nice system together, I suggest you stay away from mainstream brands, you'll get much more for your money and can still have all the warranties and such as you would with mainstream brands.

 

[o. l. t. 10+ year member]

What's up with these brands I have never heard of?

Some example brands I am referring to are MB Quartz, HiFonics, and Pheonix.

Making Jesus cry.

The problem is you don't know WHICH of these brands to get. See companies like MB Quart won every major championship award through the 80's and 90's, then ****-o-rama from 2k forward.

Then Hifonics..... The amp that was first at everything except the amp. first amp over 300 watts, 600 watts (Colossus), 1kw, first 4 channel and the first 6 channel with Onboard Xovers. The king of old school, and everybody else came to be after Hifonics was already on the throne and had been for a long time. THen like so many other companies the 2k year came and ........ ****-o-rama. Thankfully not QUITE as bad as some have gone down, but still way too far to recover and save face. Same story with PG.

So the answer is buy old school brands before 2000 if you want quality. However new or not, you can't have been reading MUCH and not know about these brands, or you're reading the wrong stuff! Let me give you something to read. Click this: Zed Audio Corporation

 

[DammitJames 10+ year member]

Your going to learn a lot here on this forum. Mainly that all the "mainstream" brands that all your buddies love really are not that great(some are if you want to overpay). Its funny when someone sees my subs and think they are trash because they have never heard of them before, but I change their opinion real quick when they get a listen. Just sit back and do some reading on here and you will learn a lot about car audio brands.

 

[YoungBloodM50 10+ year member]

Thanks for the info guys. I will read that. Your wrong about me not reading MUCH. BUT my main resource was crutchfield.com. So apparently I was reading the WRONG stuff. Thanks again, oh and you have now doubled my audio research homework.

Looks like this place is going to save me money in the long run.

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

Crutchfield was pimp reading material in 1993 but now is equilivent to Amazon.com.

 

[daboyfrumdabx 10+ year member]

Crutchfield I like for researching head units. Just don't buy from there as you'll be paying 100 dollars more than anywhere else.

 

[skylineTT 10+ year member]

those brands are more mainstream than brands that we toss around here. youre right about reading the wrong things though.. if you spend a few weeks and read threads here, youll learn about RE Audio, RD Audio, RW Audio, Digital Designs, AudioQue, Sundown, Soundstream, Zapco, Soundigital, Audiopipe (which i thought was trash a while ago but their big amps are good), Memphis, DC Audio, American Bass, Argent Audio, Diablo Audio, KnuKonceptz, FI Audio, and others. there are even custom subwoofer builders like Team PSI, SSACKETT, and other guys on here that will build a sub for your specifications. all of those brands though are great brands with great products and will in most cases be cheaper than Alpine, RF, Kicker, etc.