# Brands in car audio that are underrated



## JH1973 (Apr 21, 2017)

It seems the more I study about car audio,the more that the main brands(Kenwood,Fosgate,Alpine,etc) are just average to guys who take this hobby very seriously.I've looked into different and much less known brands like SB Acoustics,Stereo Integrity,Sundown,Lanzar,Tymphany,etc and it seems like these companies are making very high quality products that produce great results,yet they are not mainstream and seem to be made in limited quantities.It kind of reminds me of the auto body industry whereas the mainline companies(Collision Revision,Gerber,etc)do a good enough job but the mom and pop shops do a superior job and are harder to find.

So am I way off here or is there something to my conclusions? Do brands like Sundown,SI and SB Acoustics really make a much higher quality driver than say Alpine or Fosgate? And if so, I find it amazing that these brands are relatively cheap for what they offer! I mean an average 6.5 driver in those brands is maybe $60 and I even seen a Tymphany for only $29 at Parts Express!What gives?


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## rob feature (Nov 15, 2015)

No, you're paying attention. Probably the big thing to remember is that very few vendors, if any, are good at everything. The big 3 mentioned above do some things very well - like Pioneer's head units or Alpine's amps. And yeah, I think it's fair to say that SI, Sundown and SB make nicer speakers than those guys for the most part - and at ridiculously fair prices. Money where mouth is - as soon as my TM65s get here, all of my speakers will come from the same building (Sundown & SI). 

There are some great values to be found in the lesser-known and off-marketed brands (marketed say for home use) such as Scanspeak, Seas, SB, Tang Band, etc that will outperform similarly-priced car-audio branded stuff as well at sometimes much lower prices.


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## JH1973 (Apr 21, 2017)

rob feature said:


> No, you're paying attention. Probably the big thing to remember is that very few vendors, if any, are good at everything. The big 3 mentioned above do some things very well - like Pioneer's head units or Alpine's amps. And yeah, I think it's fair to say that SI, Sundown and SB make nicer speakers than those guys for the most part - and at ridiculously fair prices. Money where mouth is - as soon as my TM65s get here, all of my speakers will come from the same building (Sundown & SI).
> 
> There are some great values to be found in the lesser-known and off-marketed brands (marketed say for home use) such as Scanspeak, Seas, SB, Tang Band, etc that will outperform similarly-priced car-audio branded stuff as well at sometimes much lower prices.


I'm very guilty of what I'm talking about btw.If I never heard of a brand my tendency would be to just skip over it or if I don't like the way a specific component looks I won't bother.For example,if a speaker is not pure black and has a light color I'll just disregard it and not even look into it.Ridiculousness when you think of it! I'll bet the best way to choose a component is to have a blindfold on and have somebody playing different brands so that you are judging each one by its sound to your ears and not prejudging it by looks,name brand,etc. I was actually going to do that the other day when at the local dealer.Close my eyes and have him play 6 or 7 different mid range driver/tweeter set ups.I'll bet I would be very surprised at the ones I liked the best.


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## Theslaking (Oct 8, 2013)

Dayton Audio for example. They have some absolute gems buried in their obscurity.


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## Symon_say (May 18, 2007)

Most of those mainstream brands have really great products in most of their lines, you can probably get a better product for your money with smaller brands, but those smaller brands sells to people like us, how tune a ser everything, mainstream sells to everybody and they need products that works fine in most circumstances and not in more specific things like boutique brands.


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## drop1 (Jul 26, 2015)

Something else to consider is some speakers though different brands, are made in the same build houses to different specs. I learned a lot about this building ar15's. 
Also raw drivers are more about picking the right driver for you're needs. I don't care how good a speaker is, if it doesn't fit into the system it's worthless.
That's the one thing I like about high end car audio brands. They've done the research and development to create well matched components, but you're gonna pay for it along with their badging and dressings.


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

Its sad that kenwood , fosgate and alpine are considered the main brands.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

in 90% cases people buy based on looks, it`s just about everything, food, technology, even health care. It`s human nature.
Some real gems sold for cheap but will outperform much better looking competition products. 
Only experience will teach you to separate wheat from chaff so to speak.

If business has to make money on what they offer they have to invest heavily in presentable looks of their product. having a great product at killer price often not enough. 

Branding is also important for resale, something people of this forum in particular really care about. when you switch stuff every week it became very expensive not to. 
Also beware of forum boners, often product doesn`t stand to overhyped presentation some reviewers post.


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## DC/Hertz (Nov 27, 2011)

The big names have to put money into marketing, paying many employes, large facilities

The smaller ones do not so more goes into the actual product. 
And some stuff is just ordered out of a chinesse catalog. Which I don't have any problem with as long as the price matches what you really get. 
Someone like AD Designs orders speakers straight from Alibaba and adds 400% markup is a issue. And they actually sell which shows how dumb people are.


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## percy072 (Feb 13, 2014)

miniSQ said:


> Its sad that kenwood , fosgate and alpine are considered the main brands.


Have heard it a few times that (for the $$) the Kenwood XR's are a very underrated mid. 

KENWOOD XR-1800P 7" 2-WAY EXCELON XR-SERIES CAR AUDIO COMPONENT SPEAKERS SYSTEM 19048203335 | eBay

No personal experience...but I guess it has surprised alot of guy's considering they look like Best Buy special's.


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## JH1973 (Apr 21, 2017)

DC/Hertz said:


> The big names have to put money into marketing, paying many employes, large facilities
> 
> The smaller ones do not so more goes into the actual product.
> And some stuff is just ordered out of a chinesse catalog. Which I don't have any problem with as long as the price matches what you really get.
> Someone like AD Designs orders speakers straight from Alibaba and adds 400% markup is a issue. And they actually sell which shows how dumb people are.


Pretty much what I was talking about with the auto body analogy.Lets compare it to food.If you go to McDonalds you'll get a product that is consistently descent tasting(for most,not you health nuts)but if you go to the grocery store and buy some ground beef,doctor up the patties with a homemade rub and put them on the charcoal grill you'll have a much superior burger.But that burger took a lot longer to produce and thinking you could do it on a mass level is just ludicrous.Mass production lowers quality,no doubt.


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## JH1973 (Apr 21, 2017)

The most ideal scenario would be to have a room with every brand known to man on display and ready to be cranked up and sampled.From Kenwood to Pyle and everything in between.An audiophiles paradise.People would probably go insane from indecision...LOL


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

JH1973 said:


> Pretty much what I was talking about with the auto body analogy.Lets compare it to food.If you go to McDonalds you'll get a product that is consistently descent tasting(for most,not you health nuts)but if you go to the grocery store and buy some ground beef,doctor up the patties with a homemade rub and put them on the charcoal grill you'll have a much superior burger.But that burger took a lot longer to produce and thinking you could do it on a mass level is just ludicrous.Mass production lowers quality,no doubt.


 Not necessarily, mass production lower the cost, balance between mass production and quality control is what makes all the difference. 

Return policy often replace QC, look at amazon, they do great replacing/refunding purchases,no question asked.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

JH1973 said:


> The most ideal scenario would be to have a room with every brand known to man on display and ready to be cranked up and sampled.From Kenwood to Pyle and everything in between.An audiophiles paradise.People would probably go insane from indecision...LOL


Go observe demo rooms at Magnolia, you`ll see that too many product often confusing... Now they separate products by price range, what would you listen to multi thousand dollars equipment if you can`t afford it anyway? 
So you`ll go to medium range room...


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## drop1 (Jul 26, 2015)

Victor_inox said:


> Go observe demo rooms at Magnolia, you`ll see that too many product often confusing... Now they separate products by price range, what would you listen to multi thousand dollars equipment if you can`t afford it anyway?
> So you`ll go to medium range room...


I always go straight for the high end room. Too many people don't have a good refer3nce to base their choices from. Besides, it's nice to occasionally listen to the best there is just for the sake of knowing.
Take that knowledge back into the mud priced room and buy what gets you most of what you're looking for.
Demoing the focal grand utopias is an experience I'll never forget!


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## RRizz (Sep 4, 2012)

lets not forget the markup for being branded as "car audio" gear.
One that comes to mind is the Scanspeak rebadge as "Alpine F1 Status".


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

RRizz said:


> lets not forget the markup for being branded as "car audio" gear.
> One that comes to mind is the Scanspeak rebadge as "Alpine F1 Status".


and that of course...


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## gstokes (Apr 20, 2014)

NVX got their start using SB Acoustics drivers then dove head first into the amplifier ring and so far they are enjoying lot's of success, they are priced lower than amps with less quality but their sound is top shelf, some folks may underrate them because of the low price..


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## JH1973 (Apr 21, 2017)

So here is a graph of a raw driver from Madisound.Can somebody tell me how to interpret this.The lines are indicators of some sort that show the speakers performance,right?


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## gstokes (Apr 20, 2014)

JH1973 said:


> So here is a graph of a raw driver from Madisound.Can somebody tell me how to interpret this.The lines are indicators of some sort that show the speakers performance,right?


Top line is the frequency response from 20Hz to 20KHz
Bottom line is Impedance curve


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

JH1973 said:


> So here is a graph of a raw driver from Madisound.Can somebody tell me how to interpret this.The lines are indicators of some sort that show the speaker's performance,right?


What driver is that looks like **** on blurry picture posted.


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