Information: The ICE brand league table

[Tigz™]

Which brand? Brands to avoid and brands to aim for.

The following is a list of good and bad brands to look out for or avoid when you're out ICE shopping. Maybe you've seen something in a shop, and it's a brand you've never heard of before - Check here and see which list it's in!

The Good (`A-List`)

A/D/S

Alpine

AudioControl

Becker

Blaupunkt

CDT Audio

Clarion

Crystal

Diamond Audio

Digital Designs

Directed Audio

DLS

Genesis

Helix

Hifonics

JL Audio

MB Quart

Nakamichi

Orion

Phase Linear

Phoenix Gold

Pioneer

Precision Power

Rainbow

Resonant Engineering (RE)

Rockford Fosgate (RF)

Sinfoni

Soundstream

SPL Dynamics

TRU

US Amps

Viper

Xtant

Zapco

The Good (`B-List`)

Audiobahn

Fusion

Infinity

JBL

JVC

Kenwood

Lightning Audio

Mac Audio

Magnat

Maystar

The Bad

Aiwa

Berolina

Boschmann

Boss

Goodmans

Lanzar

Longmill

Megavox

Mutant

Purple Mosfet

Pyle

Shark

Sony

Vibe

... and the Ugly

SPLx

[Tigz™]

i work in the audio business... the high end stuff not halfrauds xD

ive had training sessions with JL Audio, Focal, the guys at BBG (the uk distributor for some of this stuff) we even had JL's Mini V2 demo car in the store i work in for a month... sweet

theres a couple of modifications id have made to the list and a few brands id include too.

this is from my own experience, if theres a brand on your list i havent actually dealt with first hand im not going to include it simply because i make no assumptions, car audio is a hell of an industry and u really have to get in there with your own ears to appreciate it!

divided into headunits and speakers/subs amps etc for better break down.

Headunits

Good a-list.

Alpine, Kenwood (higher end stuff, not screens thou), pioneer (again higher end but their screens and flip-outs are promising this year), Eclipse (pure Sound Quality headunits), Nakamichi (again mad quality), Becker (because they luvs the ferrari's!)

good b-list.

Sony (reliable as hell), Clarion, Blaupunkt (newer stuff), JVC (reliable if a bit boring)

Bad.

Goodmans, anything from argos or aldi and lidl!

Speakers/Subwoofers

Good a-list.

Focal, Morel, JL Audio, Diamond, DLS, Genesis, Hertz, Helix, Mb Quart, Rainbow, Phoenix Gold (ONLY there older stuff eg Titanium and Xenon series), Rockford Fosgate, MTX

Good b-list.

Alpine (higher end stuff), Pionner (higher end stuff), JBL and Infinity (same thing really except at highest end stuff)

Bad.

Fusion, Sony and Kenwood (these 2 just cant make good speakers... at least not even close to the above brands in terms of performance and price point), Blaupunkt (at least all their speakers iv dealt with personally), Mutant, Kicker (again, this brand cant compete with even the b-list brands for performance/price trade off.)

Amplifiers

Good.

Focal, JL Audio, Genesis, Rainbow, Phoenix Gold (again ONLY there older stuff eg Titanium and Xenon series), Brax, Audison, Diamond, DLS, Hertz

Not Good.

Mutant, Sony, Fusion, Kenwood, Vibe/Fli (parent and spawn... )

The Rest

Audiocontrol make the most amazing stuff for audio, digital crossovers, line drivers etc.

Stinger for power cables and interconnections.

Streetwires for power cables and interconnections also.

Dynamat for sound proofing, resonance control, and all the fun sticky things they make that makes your car sound better!!

after that, anything i havent listed here, i havent worked with... so im not gonna comment on it.