"Focal is one of the better speaker brands out there period. Another brand to look at that directly competes against Focal is Morel. Both brands are not really "bang for the buck" kind of brands. I would highly recommend either one of them. Focal-more detail higher top end, smaller sweet spot. Morel-Smoother sound, less efficient."
good point. Morel is top notch stuff with CDT, DLS, Rainbow, etc. but the Focals will be a MUCH better choice because those bright highs are what your speaker will need to produce in order for you to hear it over road noise or a nice exhaust system, which our cars usually have. You are right to consider road noise when deciding which speakers to choose. Also you have very good taste in speakers. One thing that both Morel and Focal do, that "most" other brands dont do, is manufacture and build all their own drivers. "If you are looking at more "bang for your buck" kind of brands, look at JL Audio and Diamond. Again two really solid speaker lines, that can sound pretty darn good if matched up with the right system."
JL is def. not a "bang for your buck", sorry to challenge your authority. the ZR series are like $800 and are LESS superior than a Focal k2P which can be purchased for half that. JL's XR line (next one down) is in the $400 range, but a Focal Access (<$200) will still outperform it IMO. No problem at all, I liked to be challenged when it comes to audio. When I say bang for the buck, JL Audio starts off at about $150 for their coaxials, where as Focal starts off at close to $300. Yes the Focals are much better, but twice as good? Maybe to you and I who know a lot about audio, but to the average consumer, maybe not. I am also going off of retail, as they will need to be compared equally.
"Im also not a huge fan of 8" woofers for subs. Just not big enough, and cant move enough air for "real" bass. I would at least go with a 10" driver for your sub."
agreed/stated already.
"Again another one of my opinions, stay away from Kicker. Their Solarbaric subwoofers are decent if you are looking for an SPL woofer, but they are not musical at all. Also they need a refigerator sized ported box to maximize their potential."
Kicker isn't that bad. Many people hate on them because most of the people who use them are the high school kids who want the loudest but not best SQ system, or real gangsta ass homies who put like twelve 15" subs in their suburban lol. In reality though, an L5 or L7 can and will produce nice tight, clean bass. My friend has two 10" in a sealed box and they get obnoxiously loud, but still produce a nice clean sound. I dont "hate" on any brands. I just know too much about Kicker to recommend them. Kicker has been around for a long time. I sold it for many years. It use to be a specialty brand, but now it is a mass produced "best buy" brand. You are right Kicker isnt "that bad". They just are not that good. Kick solobarics are made for SPL. Yeah they can sound half way decent, but they are "made" for SPL in mind. Also they are recommended to be mounted in huge ported boxes. Have you ever seen an L7 in Kickers manufactured box? It is so big, it wont even come close to fitting in our Turbo buicks trunks. And our trunks are friggin huge!!!
"Some subwoofers that I like that are reasonably priced, and are musical, and can pound if needed: JL W6, Alpine Type X, JBL GTI. Theres more out there, just 3 that came to mind first."
JL w3 will work fine. w6 is overkill IMO especially if you're not lookin for rap/hip-hop sound. screw alpine and JBL, these are mainstream brands you can buy at Pep Boys these days (even though Kicker is just as bad). JL, mmats, Kicker are the best brands to stick with that you can come by fairly easily. If you wanna know about some underground stuff, BOY do i have equipment for you! JL W6 may be a little overkill. I was just comparing to the Solobarics. Are remember that the W6 and W7 are very musical woofers. They can be used for an SQ system. Actually they are built for SQ in mind. Just look at JL Audio's new Fathom home subwoofers. They are winning all kinds of awards. The W3 are way underrated. They dont look like much but they can pound hard, and sound very musical. Alpine is a little mainstream. Im not their biggest fan, but I have to admit, their Type X woofers are pretty nice. Its funny that you say screw JBL. JBL is one of the oldest speaker manufacturers in the world. Movie Theaters, Concerts, recording studios all over the world use JBL. None of their car audio items are sold in mainstream stores like Best Buy or Circuit City. They are a very solid company, who has been around forever, and use amazing engineers. They are way "underrated" in the car audio industry. Especially by the younger crowd, who didnt grow up listening to music on a JBL system. Remember the company that owns JBL, also owns Infinity(which you recommended), Mark Levinson, Revel, Crown, and others. Most of you probably havent heard of some of those companies, but we are talking about the best of the best in high end audio period.
Sorry for the history lesson on audio. Im just a purist who has owned just about every piece of audio equipment you can think of, and just want to pass my knowledge to those who need it. Ive also worked in the audio industry for many years.[/U][/B]
