Best / Worst companies list, add your thoughts!

akillj
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With all the people who are 'just getting back into it' all coming to car audio sites like this for advice, and not knowing what companies are good / who to trust / who used to be good, but now is crap.. The likes.. I think there should be a dedicated post for them to reference.

I'd like to order companies by the quality of their products, so it's easy to see who makes the best products, who prices the most, and best bang for your buck, ect. I'll need suggestions as I can only think of so many off the top of my head, so add a company + where it should be placed and i'll edit the post as it comes in.

This is just my opinion based on reviews / products i've had over the years, if you feel something should be changed, please let me know. Many companies mentioned sell more than just car audio. So please only reply with opinions on companies' car audio lines to keep it clean.

Best quality:

- JL Audio: Car Stereo, Speakers, Subs, Amps, Home Theater

- DD Audio | True to the Source

- http://www.audison.eu/

- http://audisonhertz.com/

- http://www.morelhifi.com/

- http://mosconi-system.it/

- http://www.daytonaudio.com/index.php/

- http://www.illusionaudio-america.com/

- http://focal-america.com/

- http://www.trutechnology.com

Good, solid companies:

- Alpine Electronics of America, Inc.

- DC Audio - Home

- Welcome to Sundown

- http://www.incriminatoraudio.com/

- http://store.ficaraudio.com/

- http://www.b2-audio.com/

- http://store.crescendoaudio.com/

- http://www.tantricsounds.com/

- http://store.soundsolutionsaudio.com/categories/sub-woofers/ascendant-audio.html

- http://tcsounds.com/

- http://www.cdtaudio.com/

- RE Audio- Car Audio Amps, Amplifiers, Speakers, and Subs, Subwoofers

- http://www.polkaudio.com/

- http://www.imagedynamicsusa.net/

- http://www.arcaudio.com/

- https://www.mtx.com/

- http://www.clarion.com/us/en/top.html

- http://www.c2audio.com/

- http://www.zedaudiocorp.com/

- KnuKonceptz Home

(KNU Mostly sells wiring / electrical components)

- http://www.infinityspeakers.com/estore/inf/us/index.jsp

(Infinity is up here for their speakers / coaxials, good quality.)

- Rockford Fosgate® | Car Audio for Fanatics

(RF still makes good products to this day, i'd stay cautious of their subwoofers though)

- Pioneer USA, Car Stereo, Speakers, Home Theater, Navigation, DJ | Pioneer Electronics USA

(Pioneer arguably makes the best headunits, but their subs/amps are mid-tier at best)

- Livin' Loud | KICKER

(I put kicker in here, because of their amps. Their wiring kits are also

oversized, which is good. Avoid their subs and speakers though.)

Bang for your Buck (Without sacrificing quality):

- Welcome to [soundQubed] - [ Your source for Clarity, Quality and Anything Car Audio.]

- American Bass - Home

- Official JBL Store - Speakers, Headphones, and More!

- http://precisionpower.com/store/

- http://amperecaraudio.com/

- Kenwood

- JVC USA

(JVC and Kenwood merged in 2008, for those who don't know)

Companies that are okay:

(Some of these companies used to be great, but switched over to cheaper components which effected quality)

- Hifonics Home Page

- MB Quart Audio

- Welcome to Skar Audio | High End Amplifiers, Subwoofers, Speakers, and Car Audio

- Cerwin Vega - Pro Audio, Home Audio, Subwoofers, Speakers, Amplifiers

- Audiopipe - Complete Line of Competition Car Audio Products

- http://www.orioncaraudio.com/

- NVX Car Audio and Headphones

- http://dbdrive.net/

Companies to AVOID:

- Home Audio | Car Audio | DJ Speakers | Pyle Audio

- Pyramid

- Lanzar

- Boss Audio Systems | Entertain Yourself

- PowerAcoustik

- Jensen : Home

- CT Sounds | Premium Car Audio Equipment

- Sky High Car Audio

- Autotek Car Audio

- SOUNDSTREAM

Also avoid any company that obviously is playing on other companies names. EG: Kenford, Rockwood, Sound Storm, ect

This is meant to be as much of a community-post as possible. Reply with what to change, and what to add (And where on the list to add it to). I will do so as soon as I can. I started it off with my OPINON, so calm down there nut huggers.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mmk. Anybody got input for Hifonics? I was really torn with that one. They used to be great but their new stuff just seems very cheap quality.

 
One thing I notice here in the Chicago area is everyone jumps on the same wagon. Most of the cars out here have kickers and hifonics amps. So hifonics amps are very popular but they never caught my eye. I look at hifonics like upper end of the lower end amps, if that. Just my 2 cents... JVC has gone down quiet a bit in popularity but at one point back in the early 90s they were up there with kenwood and alpine. I don't know if the quality is low now adays or if it's under rated, some the HU's are nice looking but I won't be trying any out. I like my pioneer DD and if I move it might be Kenwood, I like the Garmin GPS.

 
SoundQubed, Sundown, Ascendant Audio, Incriminator Audio, SoundSolutionsAudio, C2 Audio, American Bass, DC Audio, Powerbass.

Move/Add them to the "Better then the rest pick one that's in your budget" Category. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fro.gif.c695f1f814b01c4ad99fe7f8cccadd29.gif

 
Kenwood and JVC are the same company they merged a while back fyi

And CT sounds, SKAR, and Sky High ? Need to be in a "at your own risk category"

Agree with DDtc move JBL up and Rockford down

And new RE audio is budget gear on a good day, and complete marketing BS the rest of the time

 
Move SHCA down as mentioned, add IA to the list up close to the top, add toolmaker (sometimes you have to wait a little), I would just put all those maxxsonics companies you listed, at the bottom for their current gear they are producing. Oh and DD has seen better days but still fairly solid, I think they declined a bit.

 
Alot of companies have higher end / lower end gear which is subjective to alot of people . Just quickly browsed over and i may have missed seeing them ... Crescendo Audio / PPI /ORION

 
JL needs to stay up top. They are the only real intivative mainstream brand that still builds a lot in house. Yes they have entry level equipment and you pay for the name but the higher lines are still very high end without the high end price tag. JL competes with the best in the world and still manages to beat them

 
JL is definitely not your typical speaker. Nothing I've ever had sounds like it. I've learned to respect the brand name and won't be looking back to any other names .

 
LOL @ Soundstream and Power Acoustik being in different categories. Somehow putting a picture of a spider on power acoustic makes it jump up a tier? You do realize it's all the same thing with a differerent logo on it right?

Also I think you should make a separate tier for premium quality/innovative such as Zed, Zapco, JL, Mmats, Audison, etc. AND you could probably break the list up into types of products. For example Pioneer makes arguably the best head units on the market but you wouldn't put their amps or subs anywhere above mid tier if you were generous. Rockford's high end amps are terrific, but their woofers have been pretty mediocre since the TRF and TC build Lightning Audio.

 
LOL @ Soundstream and Power Acoustik being in different categories. Somehow putting a picture of a spider on power acoustic makes it jump up a tier? You do realize it's all the same thing with a differerent logo on it right?
Also I think you should make a separate tier for premium quality/innovative such as Zed, Zapco, JL, Mmats, Audison, etc. AND you could probably break the list up into types of products. For example Pioneer makes arguably the best head units on the market but you wouldn't put their amps or subs anywhere above mid tier if you were generous. Rockford's high end amps are terrific, but their woofers have been pretty mediocre since the TRF and TC build Lightning Audio.
Alright I made the edits people asked for. Some of these companies i've never even used, so i'm just going off word of mouth. And I completely agree with the pioneer headunit stuff, i'll add notes so people understand. I want to keep it as clean and straight forward as possible.

 
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