# While I was out of school, my old school faves have gone to crap...HELP!



## HayaBuddha (Feb 18, 2007)

I used to sell/install high-end audio in late 80s and early 90s and stockpiled a bunch of stuff I knew I wanted to build a system out of...never did get components, though. Now that I find myself finally nearing an install on it, I need to find out what the hell has been going on with the front-stage part of the industry the last 10 years...I come back to find lots of companies/lines that have sold or cratered in quality, etc.

Speaking strictly from a front-stage standpoint and from what I've gathered, it looks like Morel and Dynaudio are still themselves, but a/d/s, Diamond and Boston Acoustics have fallen off. What has happened with Oz, clif and any other lines? Who are Rainbow, CDT and DLS? Any other recommendations? What is the current stance on Image Dynamics and/or compression drivers?

For reference, here's what I have ready to go in. Please note that all Soundstream is prior to their move to Blue Ravine, CA so they could throw all the bad product they started making into the ravine itself when it came back from the customer.  


 Soundstream Class A 10.0 amplifier to push (4) Soundstream SS-10R Velvet Hammers
 Soundstream Class A Picasso amplifiers (2) for front stage
 Alpine DigitalMax fiber-linked head-end
 -- 1310 Receiver/controller
 -- 5959s CD shuttle (quad Burr Browns)
 -- 3681 Time & Freq Processor
 -- 3362 EQ-XOver-Ambience Processor

I'm looking to match some components to this that will help me achieve an accurate, neutral-to-warm sound quality system that can still show balls on serious bass lines.

Any help would be appreciated!


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## 8675309 (Jan 8, 2007)

Cliff design "CD" sold out and now you have CDT audio. Still a great product but some of their stuff is pricey. Cliff recently came back into the market but I have not used any of it. 

You can do some searches on the other brands and find out more about them.


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## Fellippe (Sep 15, 2006)

HayaBuddha said:


> I used to sell/install high-end audio in late 80s and early 90s and stockpiled a bunch of stuff I knew I wanted to build a system out of...never did get components, though. Now that I find myself finally nearing an install on it, I need to find out what the hell has been going on with the front-stage part of the industry the last 10 years...I come back to find lots of companies/lines that have sold or cratered in quality, etc.
> 
> Speaking strictly from a front-stage standpoint and from what I've gathered, it looks like Morel and Dynaudio are still themselves, but a/d/s, Diamond and Boston Acoustics have fallen off. What has happened with Oz, clif and any other lines? Who are Rainbow, CDT and DLS? Any other recommendations? What is the current stance on Image Dynamics and/or compression drivers?
> 
> ...


What type of budget do you have for components?

Since you have very good old school amplifiers, picking components won't be a big deal. 

DLS and CDT make good speakers, but not quite in the league of Morel I would say. 

SEAS makes quality home and car drivers.....Scan Speak makes raw drivers that could be used successfully in a car. These two brands are up there...there is almost a near consensus that they are the best in car audio and even home audio *raw drivers*. 

Rainbow I've heard mixed reviews about......some of their stuff is supposedly elite (at least the price tags are).....can't say much about them. 

Focal makes/made a nice set called the K2P (not sure if it's still around)...probably their best value. Their utopia line can be a bit bright, and that might or might not be a problem for you.

I've heard the Polk Reference 6.5" set is nice...I originally figured they were of the Sony Xplod variety. ;-)

On this site, you won't hear a whole lot of mention of these commercial component sets. Guys on here like to assemble raw drivers together and run them active.

Brands you should familiarize yourself and do a search on include, Dayton, Peerless, Vifa, and other brands that are not coming to my head right now, hehe.

Given your experience you should be able to get quality sound out of a lot of speaker sets these days with the proper tuning and install. 

I don't have personal experience with everything out there, but I do know that the Morel Elates are clearly warm, based on the fact that I am running them for several months now with their stock passive crossovers with no EQ.

Only thing I'd say about the Elate is that you'll need a good amp/EQ to get strong midbass from them.......and/or run in a sealed enclosure. Also, unless you have a quality hook up, expect to pay between 1000-1300 for a 2 or 3 way set, maybe more for the 9" set!

Once your budget is released, we can help narrow things down for you.


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## MiniVanMan (Jun 28, 2005)

Welcome back to car audio. There are no easy answers to your questions. However, my first question to you is, how much processing power do you have available? Mainly I'm referring to active crossovers, and the ability to bi-amp a set of components with an active crossover. This question is key to really helping you. We can recommend component sets all day long like the other boards, but it won't do a damn bit of good. 

Crossover function that I'm really looking for is the ability to high pass around 2k-5k to run tweeters and a low pass around the same to low pass a set of midwoofers. A bandpass for the mids would also be nice to high pass around 70-80 hz. Anything beyond that is gravy.


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## Rbsarve (Aug 26, 2005)

That´s some nice stuff there, the amps especially.

Since you are looking at speakers to match, the question is what kind of setup do you have in mind?

Rainbow is German, DLS is Swedish both have a lot of history in the car audio maket. CDT is the resurrected Clif Designs. 

Compression divers has died out, time alignment meant that the imageing advantage they had to conventional drivers where erased, and most people couldn't stand the harmonic shortcomings of HLCD's.

In most cars a 3-way system makes the most sence, but it is alays a question of what you can get by with. 

I personally would probably combine your gear with an Genesis or Alpine F1 setup, or more likely the half priced DIY setup from Scan-Speak.


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

Those reference 10s may be my favorite subs ever. The new Alpine type x components are a nice set. Image is still making good subs and their comp set is pretty good as well.


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## 02bluesuperroo (Oct 31, 2006)

HayaBuddha said:


> Soundstream Class A 10.0 amplifier to push (4) Soundstream SS-10R Velvet Hammers
> Soundstream Class A Picasso amplifiers (2) for front stage
> Alpine DigitalMax fiber-linked head-end
> -- 1310 Receiver/controller
> ...


Can you clerify what the 3362 is capable off? If it has sufficient crossovers, I would definitely build yourself a DIY setup with raw drivers. You will get A LOT more for the money and can get yourself a set of drivers on par with any off the shelf component set on the market.


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