When I first put a system (if you can call it that) into my camaro, my intentions were small....decent deck, one 10" sub to give me something, and an amp to support it. I went with all sony xplode because I was a poor senior in high school and my buddy worked at Best Buy.

After the first month or two, the amp burnt out. It overheated wayyy to much from the get-go so it was replaced under the best buy warrenty....the new one worked fine.

So skip ahead a couple of years to a few months ago when (after taking out from winter storage) I noticed that whenever I'd go over hard bumps, the sound would cut out from the speakers. I assumed it was a loose cable somewhere and the fact that I redid my suspension and tightened it up significantly would cause these vibratons/bumps to be the cause of this. So then I made the decision that the car needed something professional (as it's becoming a show car) and I could just slap all this into my winter car just to have something in there.

So today I bring everything to BestBuy to have it installed (Im not the most mechanically inclined when it comes to audio).....they hook up the deck and tell me that no sound is coming from it, and essentially it's a bad deck. They said possible causes were a burnt out 'inner amp' in the deck, or it just went sour. (hence why I heard it cutting in and out this summer).

Sorry so long, but what the hell is the deal? I never messed with the setup (and know I didnt uninstall it wrong...that I know how to do). I properly maintained everything (not letting wires get crinked, overheated, and everything was a professional install). Am I just having bad luck here, or does sony have a rep for crappy car audio. The thought of spending 300 bucks on a deck that wont last more than two years pisses me off....and though I didnt plan on going the sony route in my camaro this time through, it would have been nice to toss it in my winter car.....very pissed today

 

Sony's head unit quality seems to have made a turn for the better this year, but everything else, and all prior years of head unit since the X-Plod line came along is trash.

 

Personal experience is that sony = = crap. Personally, for head units i'd go with (in order) - Eclipse, Alpine, Kenwood. Subs: Eclipse, Xtant, high end jl (w6 or w7 series), Rockford, Alpine. Components: Eclipse, MB Quart, JL. WIre i'm a fan of monster cable - personal preference. Amps: McIntosh, Eclipse, Xtant, JL, Memphis, MB Quart.

Brands i wouldnt buy if my life depended on itL Pyle, Pyramid, Sony, Lightning Audio, anything found in walmart/target. ... hope that helps a little for ya.

 

Believe it or not, but the higher end Lightning Audio subs are actually very good. A couple of them are rebadged rockfords (ok, so that alone means it's not "very" good, but for the price they're very good) and their real high end Storm series with the replacable motor assembly is a very good sub. I believe it is a TC Sounds design, or at least a design from a very well respected US-based driver manufacturer. I think it's TC though.

The problem is that the Lightning Audio name has been polluted with the chinese made low end garbage that you see at Wal Mart.

 

Sony=Bad

 

see and Ive only recently started seeing stuff with the Eclipse name on it....looks like good (but expensive) stuff. I know my subs will be jl's, because Ive already been working with a shop to fab up a custom box to fit them. Ive obviously got time to think things over, but I just wanted to see what the general opinion was with sony.....bastards

 

However, if you don't have the cash to spend, low end can cut it.

And as for Sony, I'd also agree with the comment made the decks not being so good after the X-Plod.

I had an X-plod head unit when they first came out, it was doing great until some jack a$$ broke into my car and stole it. I wonder if it is still doing good, I hope it died on him the next day!!!!

 

suprised you didn't say memphis or audiobahn anywhere in there....i have a 90% memphis system in my car and it's AMAZING quality, i just need to dynomat the whole car but i have no $$$ for that right now

 

Memphis and Audiobahn are two very different companies. Memphis produces high quality products, especially their amps.

Audiobahn, well, their chrome plating seems to be pretty nice.

 

rofl

i was thinking the same thing... memphis's mojo line is awesome. i love their amps, so compact, and elegant looking. not to mention such clean power. don't they also have regulated power supplies?

and the storm is made by tc, i can't remember which sub exactly it is, but i think it uses the same LMT technology as the soundsplinter rl-s. whatever it is, its a nice sub.

 

What about the high-end Sony's? like the Sony CDX-M9905X

That would be awesome to hook up a DVD player.

I wasn't impressed with the sound-shaping, and non-detachable faceplate... but the screen is by far, the best I've ever seen.

Take that screen, make it removable, put it on a pioneer, or eclipse headunit, take out the internal amp of the headunit, and give it to me for free, and I'll vote for ya.

 

This year's sony stuff seems to be getting better. I've heard a ton of good things about the CDX-F7715X especially. Burr Brown DACs in a deck that you can find for under $200 is impressive. It's not too high on features, but for a basic deck, it seems to be a fantastic choice for the sound quality crowd.

It's also not stupid looking like most of the stuff out there. If I could have gotten it with a red display instead of blue, it would be in my Corvette instead of my Kenwood XXV-01D.

 

i think audiobahn is underrated...i know a few people that have audiobahn amps and subwoofers and they sound amazing...

 

I agree, a few of my budies have some nice higher quality audiobahn subs and amp, and it does sound great. It also pounds like no other.

 

other than mine, or anyone elses setup who knows the difference between average and high quality audio equipment.

 

hey JIM, I couldn't find ANY differences between the XXV-01D, and the kdc-mp928! Except like $50! Any ideas? Actually I think the 928 had a few more display abilities, but that's it.

Best Buy doesn't get the 928 in until nov 18th though, so I am SUFFERING.

 

The XXV-01D has a higher color display, 24dB/octave filter slopes (The 928 only has up to 18dB/octave) and a couple of useless bells and whistles.

I bought it essentially because I preferred its appearance and I wanted the 24dB/octave slopes.

Oh, I'm glad you guys like your Audiobahn, but it is ANYTHING but under-rated. Their amps don't make rated power. Their subs do get pretty loud, but they're one-note-wonders and have absolutely no detail. They're fine if you just want to pound out the boom-boom-boom of rap music, but when/if you find yourself interrested in a system that offers the detail to really let you get inside the music, you'll be shopping for another brand.

 

what benefit is the 24db/octave over the 18db/octave?

also looks like you get the burr-brown DAC

but what's up with these units only having a 4-band EQ? Is it not comparable to a regular EQ? It's parametric with independent front/rear, Quality Setting (how wide the band is?) and center frequency.

other than that, I think they are identical... same tuner and everything.

 

Must agree .. all that chrome..looks nice. Except thats my opinion on memphis gear as well. Just preference i guess. I know what brands sound good, perform good, and last. Wont buy nethin else.

 

The benefit of a 24dB/octave slope is that it's a steeper slope, which allows me to filter more of the highs out of the sub (for better up-front bass) and allows me to filter more bass out of my components for better power handling. You also get a 360* phase relationship with 4th order slopes, so depending on your situation, you can get a more natural and coherent blending of sound between the 2 speakers.

The 4 band eq is plenty when it's a parametric eq. You can select your 4 center frequencies, the "Q" of the boost (how wide or narrow of a band that it effects) as well as the amplitude. This type of equalization makes it easier to target and eliminate specific frequency response problems within the car.

I think the burr brown DAC comes with some of the lesser models, but I think only in the Excelon line, not the standard Kenwood line.

 

I have had some bad experiences with audio in my past vehicles, but thus far my sony system beats all of them. I currently have installed:

-Two Sony XS-L122P5 Subs
-One Sony XM-2200GTX Amp
-Alpine CDA-9847 Headunit
-Custom Built Box

 

I had burr-brown in my kdc-mp922.. but I guess the mp928 doesn't have it... I don't know if I would hear a difference with my mp3s or not...

I need to find someone who will trade cash for best buy credit! They just gave me a gift card for the price of my old deck--no strings attached... awesome.

So the only difference from the 928 > XXV-O1D are the oxygen-free cables, gold connectors, and the burr-brown? or is every single component better in some way or another?

as far as I can tell, the interface is the same.

 

Sony + car audio = crap!

Best brands are Alpine, Rockford Fosgate, JL Audio, Kicker, Memphis and Eclipse.

 

ok so if you guys to provide a good system for me what would it be....Ill give a few factors to keep in mind

I dont want teeth shattering bass, but a good solid low tone
Something reputabile that wont die out
Somewhat cost effective (Im not gonna cut corners as far as wiring and stuff, but something that wont break the bank, and still earn some respect)


I really dont want to hit 12's, maybe 2 10's at the max

The plan is to remove the rear seats and have a custom fiberglass setup that would push the subs to the backs of the driver/and passenger seat (ala some lambos Ive been in)...I know it doesnt provide the best quality sound, but I want some thump in the bump if you hear me on that......any ideas? thanks in advance Im still new to it all

 

All this talk about what is and isn't a good brand, but nobody decided to get to the root of the problem? Do you have aftermarket or factory speakers in the car? I have a hard time believing that your deck is bad just because it cuts out when you hit a bump. Sounds more like a speaker grounding out or a harness wired together with butt-connectors to me.

With that said, Sony is complete crap. I always try to steer my customers away from it mainly because I hate dealing with it when it comes back broken.

 

the speakers were all replaced

 

$20 says one of them is grounding out.

 

 

I recently installed an el-cheepo system in the T/A. A $120 JVC HU, 4 sony xplod speakers 4x6/6x9 for $100, 2 xplod 10" subs for $120 and a lightning audio amp for $110. Totalling $450 all from walmart. I built a sub box and cover out of some wood I had and a wiring kit. And $30 in carpet and speaker cloth. To me that doesn't sound bad for a system that will probably compete with some that cost much much more.