# good deal on these speakers?



## kevmo (Oct 16, 2003)

MB QUART's 1" tit tweeter and a 5 1/4" tit coated midrange... for 265/pr good deal?


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

Quarts are the BLOSE of the car audio world.

That said, they make like 5 lines so it would be cheap for the top of the line one but too much for the cheapos.


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## HW (Dec 24, 2001)

what's the speaker rankings of the mainstream brands in car audio?


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

HW said:


> what's the speaker rankings of the mainstream brands in car audio?


IMO you need to get out of the 'boutique brands' to get into something noticeably better, at least in the separates area. The same is generally said for home audio speakers too. That means pretty much anything you can get at a Circuit City type place (or equivalent in Canada like A&B or something) is OK at best. If you're not trying to fool yourself into thinking that Bostons, say, are the cream-of-the-crop and are happy with them, nobody's gonna stop you. One place you really shoud stay away from, other than the obvious garbage are Japanese brands. I don't know why but aside from some high-end domestic market home speakers, they just can't get speakers right. The last time I heard a truly good set of Japanese car speakers were the DDDrive Alpines, which have since been discontinued.

If you look around on Fanatics at the stuff the 'high-end' people are installing, you'll see brands like Dynaudio and Focal. Though I gotta say that Focal is starting to put out some less-than-stellar performers lately. I'd hate to see them go the way of Quart. I wish some British companies would get into the market, as I really like the way many of their home designs sound. KEF made some nice car audio bits but they got out of the market years ago.


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## kevmo (Oct 16, 2003)

they are originally 550... but tweeter has a 50% off deal


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## nealh (Oct 4, 2003)

kevmo said:


> they are originally 550... but tweeter has a 50% off deal


Kaz..you are the first person that I have heard say such negative things about the MB quart speakers...I have to disagree with you

Kevmo: what model are these ..if these are Premium line..that is a good price..are they this year or last years model

I just got MB Quart Premium PCE 213 5.25" 2 way component set..I thought they sounded very nice..if you pm or email I send you info from a person in Tampa who may be able to get you a nice price..


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

nealh said:


> Kaz..you are the first person that I have heard say such negative things about the MB quart speakers...I have to disagree with you


Take a look around in some of the car audio forums around. I'm sure you will find this view about Quart to be in the majority in the last several years. The heyday of brands especially MBQuart and Boston Acoustics are, unfortunately, over.


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## nealh (Oct 4, 2003)

Maybe so..but the forums I have seen..like roadfly have said nice things about the speakers..I guess nothing is perfect and you need to follow your ear...


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

nealh said:


> Maybe so..but the forums I have seen..like roadfly have said nice things about the speakers..I guess nothing is perfect and you need to follow your ear...


Well, I meant car audio forums, not car forums.


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## nealh (Oct 4, 2003)

Kaz said:


> Well, I meant car audio forums, not car forums.


I realize that...

True audio enthusiast is willing to spend much more than me and has a better ear for sound variations..compared to BMW stock...these are a ton better...I compared to JL audio speakers which I liked as well but they had fuller full range sound IMHO...

Many of the installers I spoke thought they were very nice speakers as well...so for me it works...I am sure there are better(obviously much better) but I refuse to spend more money...

They are being installed today and tomorrow with my JL audio 500/5...


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## robj213 (Nov 2, 2002)

Kaz said:


> Take a look around in some of the car audio forums around. I'm sure you will find this view about Quart to be in the majority in the last several years. The heyday of brands especially MBQuart and Boston Acoustics are, unfortunately, over.


Thats exactly what a local shop told me about MB Quart, they are going down the drain, they stopped carrying their products now. So what would you recommend as a good car speaker company now?


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## HW (Dec 24, 2001)

robj213 said:


> Thats exactly what a local shop told me about MB Quart, they are going down the drain, they stopped carrying their products now. So what would you recommend as a good car speaker company now?


: popcorn:

re: mb's, i find that the tweeters are too sharp for my taste.


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## nealh (Oct 4, 2003)

HW said:


> : popcorn:
> 
> re: mb's, i find that the tweeters are too sharp for my taste.


The local shops in Tampa(in fact the high end installer Sensuous Sounds where I had my install done in Tampa strongly recommend these over the JL audio series of speakers..they sell alot of MacIntosh stuff, they did the 5 series audio install seen on MacIntosh website....of course if I was willing to spend several thousand $$$ there are much better components) have said the opposite..I was told the tweeters were made to be less bright with the new models this year...

I am getting my car back today...

BTW can someone please expalin in lay terms what being too bright or harsh means...


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## HW (Dec 24, 2001)

nealh said:


> The local shops in Tampa(in fact the high end installer Sensuous Sounds where I had my install done in Tampa strongly recommend these over the JL audio series of speakers..they sell alot of MacIntosh stuff, they did the 5 series audio install seen on MacIntosh website....of course if I was willing to spend several thousand $$$ there are much better components) have said the opposite..I was told the tweeters were made to be less bright with the new models this year...
> 
> I am getting my car back today...
> 
> BTW can someone please expalin in lay terms what being too bright or harsh means...


 i don't think i can afford to put macintosh or any high end stuff in the car. i was thinking maybe under 150cad if i get tweeters only or under 350cad for component fronts. i was thinking that nearly any aftermarket tweeter was better than the stock ones.

to describe the mb titanium tweeters, they sound a bit too piercing and sharp for my taste. some call that harsh and too bright.


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## LmtdSlip (May 28, 2003)

Ok, since we are on the car audio topic I have a question.

I have a vert so the rear speakers are in the side panels vs the rear deck.

I need new rear speakers. I can figure out the dimensions etc. however the stock speakers are a two way affair with the tweet and mid seperated in a plastic frame which is screwed to the panel of the car. This frame has a foam ring which seals the frame against the outsider cover which fources the sound out the grills. (see pic below)

My question is: If I simply replace the speakers with aftermarket two ways will the sound be worse than stock because I am not able to replicate this seal with the outside covering?

Is it necessary to replicate the seal?

Any other thoughts?

I don't intend to make any major upgrades to my system, but want it to sound at least as good as stock (shouldnt be hard :tsk: ).


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## HW (Dec 24, 2001)

you have a pix of the back? just curious what it looks like.


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

LmtdSlip said:


> I need new rear speakers. I can figure out the dimensions etc. however the stock speakers are a two way affair with the tweet and mid seperated in a plastic frame which is screwed to the panel of the car. This frame has a foam ring which seals the frame against the outsider cover which fources the sound out the grills. (see pic below)
> 
> My question is: If I simply replace the speakers with aftermarket two ways will the sound be worse than stock because I am not able to replicate this seal with the outside covering?
> 
> ...


Eek, what happened?

If you want something you can just 'drop in,' you're gonna have to get another OE unit. Notice there are 4 wires coming into this module. This means each speaker is powered separately, which is the way all US-spec systems are supposed to be. You're not going to swap in an aftermarket unit directly, that's for sure.

If you're lucky, you could cut out that panel and find a way to get a biampable set of 4x6 plates to mount in there and hope for the best.


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## HW (Dec 24, 2001)

if there's no way the mid/bass drives can be removed, then you need some complicated custom job on the speaker mount.


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## LmtdSlip (May 28, 2003)

Kaz said:


> Eek, what happened?
> 
> If you want something you can just 'drop in,' you're gonna have to get another OE unit. Notice there are 4 wires coming into this module. This means each speaker is powered separately, which is the way all US-spec systems are supposed to be. You're not going to swap in an aftermarket unit directly, that's for sure.
> 
> If you're lucky, you could cut out that panel and find a way to get a biampable set of 4x6 plates to mount in there and hope for the best.


Well that has been sitting in my messy garage for a while so it is dirtier than normal. What happened I think was that the heat got to the foam around the cones and it deteriorated. Thus gave off a nasty buzz.

So, from an ease of use perspective it would be best to just go OEM?

How difficult would it be to go aftermarket? Suggestions?

And based on the responses, I would need to maintain the seal that the frame provides to get decent sound?


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## EdCT (Mar 14, 2002)

Kaz said:


> IMO you need to get out of the 'boutique brands' to get into something noticeably better, at least in the separates area. The same is generally said for home audio speakers too.


Kaz,

This is true in the pro audio world as well. It's either boutique stuff or old stuff that's been refurbished (and constantly maintained).

I didn't know dynaudio made consumer gear, their studio monitor speakers are really nice!

Ed


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