Good Buy!Making a car audio buying decision is tough! For the average consumer who is designing a system for a vehicle it just seems like there is too much to choose from - and that might be at just one store. Research and a lot of visits to the local shop(s) are in order. Or better yet, try to get to a local stereo competition event to see and hear what other enthusiasts are using and how they are setting up their systems. I, too, suffer from buyer indecision....because I want it all! It's almost becoming the running joke in the office that my choice for a front stage has as many acts as a vaudeville theater. I finally narrowed my options to a group of three 2-way components systems and, uh, contemplated them for maybe three weeks. Most of you are thinking that since I work at the magazine I just get the speakers and get on with it! Well, it couldn't be that simple, could it? Anyway, I have other considerations, like making it worthwhile for readers, too! Good excuse, huh? On top of all that I don't have the time away from the mag that would allow me to concentrate on my system. Time and the production schedule are not on my side.
You know how the story goes for installers (theirs are the last cars to be worked on, much less to be finished). Same holds true for us magazine geeks. But on top of the three choices I had for a component set, along came another contender that cropped up after a bit more surveying and research. Let me back up a bit and give you some of my parameters on how I am trying to design my system. First off, I am going for sound quality. I like to hear what the recording engineer actually put on the CD, not an exaggerated or out-of-control version that's being distorted because the speaker some component is exaggerated or out of control. "Adding" or altering the intended sound - "tarnish coloration" - is not the desired effect. I like my midbass to have plenty of punch and volume, so I am thinking about 8" mids. I have 6" mids mounted free-air in the door now and would like to have a bit of a tighter midbass. Also a move to the next level with kick panels has been in order for quite some time. I have recently seen some very serious 3-way systems using 10" subs in the doors with 8" drivers and tweeters in the kick panel. I don't think I am going to get this serious. On the other hand...