While i was surfing the net to get some info on which brands to choose for my car ICE since i am still a noob. I realised that there are too many different brands to choose from and dont know how each brand would deliver. I m sure many of us here face this prob. I know some say that u hv to test n c which 1 u like or suits u best. I agree with this statement as well. But dont u think it will be almost impossible to actually test each brand.

So, i found a list of brands that fall under 4 different categories. How far its true, i really dont know. Plus, i belif the people from this forum are not from Malaysia. So, their opinions might be different than ours since the products they get there could be different that what er get here. Correct me if i m wrong. So, i hope all of us here could use this as a guideline only. We would also love to hear your experiences using certain brands. Some brands mentioned here may not be available here. N some brands may have been missed out. I'll keep updating the list based on your experiences. So, tell me which category does the brand fall in.

Ok. Before i start, let me remind u that this is not based on my own research. I found it on the net.

So, the 4 categories are:

Horrible brands - avoid these brands at all cost, they are a total waste of money.

Entry level brands - good for the first time car audio enthusiasts, you get a great sound for a cheap price.

High quality brands - these are more expensive than entry level, but not ridiculously expensive, since you get execellent sound that will be louder/cleaner than entry level brands.

Competition brands - these brands are the mother of all brands, prices are very expensive but if you can afford it, these are the brands that win sound competitions at car shows.


HU = Head Units
A = Amps
SW = Subs
Sp = Mids/Highs
M = Multimedia
All = Entire Line


Stay Away

American Pro (All)
Audiobank (All)
Blackmore Mobile Electronics (All)
Blitz (All)
DHD (All)
Diesel Audio (All)
Kenford (All)
Kole Audio (All)
Legacy (All)
Majestic (All)
Performance Teknique (All)
Phase Linear (All)
Pyle (All)
Pyramid (All)
Rockwood (All)
Sherwood (All)
SPL (all)
Solid Audio (All)
Sound Storm (All)
Street Edge (All)
Ultra Linear (All)
XFile Audio (All)


Entry Level

Alphasonik (All)
Alto Mobile USA (All)
Alumapro (All)
Ample Audio (All)
Audiobahn (All)
Audiopipe (All)
Audiovox (All)
Autotek "SS Series" (All)
Bazooka (All)
Blaupunkt (All)
Boss (All)
Bostwick (All)
Cadence ("All" tough decision just shy of high quality)
Cerwin Vega ("All" except Strokers which go in Comp')
Clarion (A, SW, Sp)
Clif Designs (All)
Concept (All)
Coustic (All)
Crossfire "P Series" (SW)
Crunch (All)
Cutting Edge Audio (All)
DB Drive (All)
Diablo Audio (All)
Digital Audio (All)
Dual (All)
Dub Mag Audio (All)
Elevation Audio ("All" except EX Series (SW) which go in Comp)
Emerson (All)
Harrison Labs (All)
Hifonics "Zues Series and lower" (All)
Hollywood Sound Intl. Corp (All)
Infinity (All)
Interfire (All)
JBL ("All" except ??? Series which go in Comp')
Jensen (All)
JVC (All)
Kenwood ("All" except Excelon series which go in HQ)
Kicker "Comp/Comp VR" (SW) "RS Series and under" (Sp)
Kove Audio (All)
Lanzar ("All' except Opti Drive series which go in HQ)
Lightning Audio (All)
MA Audio ("All" except larger/upper model HK Series amps which go in HQ)
Matrxx Audio (All)
MB Quart (SW)
Memphis "PR Series" (All)
MTX ("All" except 9500 Series (SW) which go in HQ)
Niche Audio (All)
Phoenix Gold (SW)
Pioneer (SW,Sp,A)
Planet Audio (All)
Polk Audio (All)
Power Acoustik (All)
Powerbase (All)
Profile (All)
Rockford Fosgate ("All" except Power Series which go in HQ)
Sanyo (All)
Scosche (All)
Sony (All)
SoundStream (All)
Swiss Audio (All)
US Acoustics (All)
Visonik (All)
Xsite (All)


High Quality

A/D/S/ (All)
Adire Audio (All)
Alpine (All)
American Bass (All)
Ascendant Audio (All)
AudioControl (All)
Audison (All)
Avionixx (All)
Boston Acoustics (All)
Brax (All)
CDT Audio (All)
Clarion (HU, M)
Critical Mass (All)
Crossfire "W Series" (SW) "VR Series" (A)
Crystal (All)
Diamond Audio (All)
Directed (All)
DLS (All)
Dynaudio (All)
Earthquake (All)
Elemental Designs (All)
Eclipse (All)
Focal (All)
Fusion (All)
Genesis (All)
Helix (All)
Hifonics "Brutus Series" (All)
Image Dynamics (All)
Incriminator Audio (All)
JL Audio ("All" except lower W series (SW) which go in Entry)
Kenwood "Excelon series" (All)
Kicker "KX/SX Series" (A) "L5/L7" (SW) "SS Series" (Sp)
Lanzar "Opti Drive" (A)
MA Audio "HK2000/HK4000" (A)
Massive Audio (All)
MB Quart (Sp)
McIntosh (All)
Memphis (MC Series) (All)
Milbert (All)
Morel (All)
MTX "9500 Series" (SW)
Nakamichi (All)
Orion (A,SW,Sp)
OZ Audio (All)
PHD Audiophile Sound System (All)
Phase Evolution (All)
Phoenix Gold (A)
Pioneer (HU,M)
Powerbass USA (All)
Precision Power (All)
QAS (All)
RE Audio ("All" except MT Series (SW) which go in Comp)
Rockford Fosgate "Power Series" (SW,A)
Seas Lotus (All)
Sinfoni (All)
Treo Engineering (All)
TRU Technology (All)
Tube Driver Blue (All)
US Amps (All)
Xtant (All)
Zapco (All)

Competition

Alpine F1 (All)
Atomic (SW,A)
Autotek "MM Series" (All)
Cerwin Vega "Stroker" (SW)
Digital Designs (All)
Elevation Audio EX Series (SW)
Hifonics "XX Series" (All)
JBL "JBL/Crown Series" (A) "G TI Series" (SW)
Kicker "Solo X" (SW)
MMats Professional Audio (All)
MTX RFL (SW)
Pioneer TS-W5000SPL (SW)
Rainbow (All)
RE Audio "MT Series" (SW)
Team RF (SW)

This post has been edited by zilole9729: Nov 1 2008, 08:28 AM

u agree with this list?

thanx for the update ckmoy. the list from zth is more or less the same. so, its good. thanx alot.

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Added on November 1, 2008, 9:13 amyes i think so.

This post has been edited by zilole9729: Nov 1 2008, 09:13 AM

bafukie, y not u tell us. thats wat this thread is all bout. i like ur suggestion but do not hv the knowledge to do anything bout it. thats y i m calling all sifus to join in n share.

there u have it. better info here by one of the pro. hope other pros can share on comp, amp, sw n others.

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Added on November 1, 2008, 8:37 pmbtw how much is the Eclipse 7200 mkII HU?

This post has been edited by zilole9729: Nov 1 2008, 08:37 PM

valuable info. thanx alot to ckmoy n bafukie. u guys r really contributing to this thread. it really helps me alot. hope soon i will be more knowledgeble in ice. what would be ur suggestions for an ideal HU = good quality + good sound quality + reliable + usb + dvd + vcd. dont need bluetooth.

hope they will join in. can i invite them or smtg?

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Added on November 1, 2008, 11:23 pmwhich category does it fall into?

This post has been edited by zilole9729: Nov 1 2008, 11:23 PM

ok. wat i meant by category here is whether its entry lvl, competition or ...

seriously stellar worst? oh yes. early forgot bout these brands. actually, i remember reading somewhere, the winners of the competition actually compete among themselves. ameron n pegasus is from the same dealer if i m not mistaken. so, they have their own competition. but how good or how bad i really dont know.

i belif cap ayam is in the worst category.

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Added on November 3, 2008, 5:12 pmanyway cap ayam is easier to be identified cuz i m sure it has some funny name n not famous.

This post has been edited by zilole9729: Nov 3 2008, 05:12 PM

hehe. sorry. so, where does oz audio fall?

ok. wat bout addzest? quite hard to get these brands in acc shops. only in forums.

sure anot pegsasus in competition list? one of the acc shop guy in seremban recommended me pegasus for sq. but not so sure la. heard from some ppl its not really as wat he claims (i think u told me this rite?) cuz hardcore ice enthusiast keep a low profile n thats y they win competitions. pegasus doesnt even appear in the list. n i read somewhere that most competitions that they win r competitions where only pegasus users compete against one another. anyone using pegasus to clarify this?

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Added on November 5, 2008, 10:04 ami tot this list was for sq n spl. can anyone here give the list for spl as well?

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Added on November 5, 2008, 10:07 amwhat about ameron? is it a competition brand as well?

This post has been edited by zilole9729: Nov 5 2008, 10:07 AM

do u mean all the brands in the list is for sq only? i tot spl n sq. i tot each brand either go for sq or spl only. i must have been wrong. but will be glad if some1 can post the the spl list as well. at least, both sq n spl lovers can use it.

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Added on November 5, 2008, 6:48 pmok. but maybe pegasus is in the high quality category la...... takkan la Malaysian standard so low rite

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Added on November 5, 2008, 7:05 pmfinally u joined us. one of them forumer said dat u hv a lot of ice knowledge. glad u joined. thanx man.

i think u hv got point here. i think its better if v can get a list of the models of each brand in the low, mid n hi category. at least, we will know which is which. hope u, ckmoy, bafukie n the rest will help to come up with the list. truly, it will be very useful to all newbies like me. tq tq.

precision power n elemental designs r in the list. both under hi quality brands. dd linear u were talking bout is digital designs rite? if yes, its under competition brands. if no, its not in the list i think.

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Added on November 5, 2008, 7:14 pmi think the pro's here can help us by doing smtg like this.

brand

HU
hi: XXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXX
mid: XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX
lo: XXXXXXXXX

Amplifier
hi: XXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXX
mid: XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXX
lo: XXXXXXXXX

Component

Subwoofer

Speaker

n others if there is any.

in a bracket maybe u can state whether that particular model is for sq or spl. maybe v'll juz ignore cap ayams cuz i dun think they have different models to be put in the hi, mid n lo category. this is juz a suggestion. any1 wif better ideas?

pro's, i know there is a lot of unnecessary work here. but all ur contributions will really help all of us here in deciding our ice setup. anyway, juz ignore it if this is simply useless.




This post has been edited by zilole9729: Nov 5 2008, 07:14 PM

no pls dont get me wrong. i m not trying to classify pegasus with the others. i juz tot that maybe v can put in a brand n then, based on each of their series or models, v categorise them under hi, mid or low. anyway, its ok. i know its actually quite troublesome. n i actually agree with u.

thanx for making me n others understand wat was the list all bout.

i m not so sure but i think Eclipse subs are not as good as their HU.

yes. mods should pin this up.

i think judging from bafukie's setup n expetise, i bet his sq is damn good. plus, i think he also has the $$$ for it. hope to sit in his car oneday.

ckmoy, dunno how ur future system would sound like but looks great with all those brands man!! how much u planning to spend bro? i guess it will be close 2 15k.

lol... maybe i'll juz copy ur setup la. but u everywhere oso got lubang to get stuff cheaper than usual. but me, i think i would hv to pay almost twice the price u pay. hehe.

u wanna use 3 way active for ur front rite? but ur setup shows different brands n models. so, its not a compnent is it?