vetten76

I agree with this. On my C5, I went with an economy build. I used an in-line amp from Alpine and a small Kenwood amp for the sub. The sound was incredible! It all worked. On my C6 I went all out. Two huge amps. Expensive speakers. Big money. It sounded like crap. I tried a few things but could never get it to sound like my C5 did. The audio specialist that I had listen to it said I was crazy and it sounded great. Sound is personal. So now I’m hesitant to build a system in my 19 C7, though it’s killing me not to try. Lol. I still love audio and have been building systems for 46 years now. I was hooked at 16.

Theres nothing better than a clear, perfect blend of mids and lows in a car stereo. Boston up loud! Wonderful.

Rdgdawg

Not sure what happened on your C6. Wes talked me out of Alpine Kappas and JL (like previous set-ups) with Hertz and much cheaper with superior sound. Pioneer 12" sub was 3rd Pioneer I've had. Everything else was Hertz so they're all like components/speakers... maybe that was the issue???

I have man cave and living room theaters in my house (inexpensive and sound great) and 10 speakers out on deck/backyard. You gotta have sound....

vetten76

I had the opertunity about 10 years ago to help launch a new car audio line. It was so much fun except the owner of the company wasn't realistic about prices for this swap meet quality equipment. On that journey, I learned a ton about components and the manufactures. My friend went to China to see the process. He said the building had different brand names on each corner. That said, I started to recognize the same stuff with different names. I bought one amp from a no name company that had all the stats of the best amps made, but at a swap meet price. I still have that amp in my C3 and its fantastic. Then there was the dealer costs. That got me. Alpine speakers, component sets, were under $30.00. Amps were $45.00 then marked up to nearly $300.00. I didn't buy ANYTHING for months! lol. A complete weed wacker two stroke engine was $4.30. BTW, I replaced the Infinity speakers I had in the front of my C6 with a $18 pair of speakers a fellow forum membor recommended. It was an 8 inch paper mid range. It sounded just as good as my expensive speakers. Every part of my car was covered with Fatmat, including all of the inside of each door and each door skin. It was a very quite C6.

I think I will do my C7 after all this discussion! I can't stand it. I'll start putting together my wish list. After the caravan though. I need the rear luggage space. lol..... Gotta have sound, like ya say!

Rdgdawg

Can't wait to see what you come up with...best of luck!!!!

JMII

Correct. There are only a handful of companies (almost all in China these days) making this stuff. Thus many "brands" are just labels and under the covers you'll find its all the same parts. Also many companies as subdivisions of others, thus they share components, design and engineering. For example Harmon Kardon owns JBL, Infinity, Mark Levinson and several others audio brands. Just like Maxxsonics is MB Quart, HiFonics, Crunch and AudioTek. No different then GM with its brands like Buick, Chevy, GMC and Caddy which all share parts. In many cases generic speakers like those offered by Dayton Audio are just as good as the high-end popular name-brand units that sell with huge mark ups.

Rdgdawg

UPDATE- Sound has really dialed in now, and curiously, Sirius XM (which I renewed) sounds best over MP3 zip and regular radio. Truest bass from XM although newer MP3s really thump. As stated previously, love my guitars and XM does not disappoint. Have taken the top off and stored in back over sub and no real sound change on sub performance but obviously outside/wind noise means cranking it up... oh well

Overall, couldn't be more pleased and again, kudos to Stereo 1.... hello summer!!!

JMII

Interesting... must be the compression or bit rate on your MP3s because Sirius XM is heavily compressed and thus sounds pretty bad to me in comparison. However my audio collection is in the AAC format which is what you get from the iTunes store and tends to be better then MP3. I haven't listened regular radio (AM / FM) in forever expect maybe a quick check of a local football game on rare occasions.

Rdgdawg

Agreed, I was stumped... my $.02... Sirius XM is HD and my MP3s are older iPod Nano with old compressed tunes... HD radio stations dramatically different than standard. Newer tunes on Nano a bit better than XM but XM more consistent across the board (less sound adjustments). Midrange most dramatic change when adjusted... bass is thru sub and more a volume difference. Sub is dead center in back so going to play with moving to one side to see if there's a change and increase space in back.... other than that, I'm good and "Livin' After Midnight"...