the mb quarts are amazing speakers, but honestly I went with the Alpine SPx 177A, flagships...they blew the mb quarts away...

 

Ehhh. they aren't THAT good.
There are plenty of other brands which will handily romp the MB Quarts (IMO)
But hey, its whatever YOU like, not what everyone else may prefer, that really makes the difference.
I would, however, suggest that you look into Focal, Dynaudio, Diamond Audio and Morel component sets just for starters. If you have champaign taste on beer budget you could go for Audax, Vifa, Peerless...all of which could knock your socks offs when done right. I just purchased two varieties of Bohlender Graebener Ribbons which I will be toying with for a few weeks, just as an example of some different you could consider.

 

It comes down to this ...
If you want to compete against other people in competitions..you need MB quarts...
They are the best ...read around...

I got a great deal on the top of the line Q series which is the best (sold for 800 a pair and got all four for that price..) All of there products are good.
I have a 3,600 watt system and have been through too many other brands to count..all of them just do not compare...If you go to any major car audio store just listen to the differences....both my cars have the Q series...
If you are worried about the brightness of the speaker ..the cross-over that comes with my Quarts has a variable output to lessens the highs if needed (another example of how MB Quarts are superior to everyone else) nothing less will go in My S2000

Here is the way I look at it...to get good sound you need the following...
1.High gauge wire to the Amp
2.You need an excellent Head unit to produce less distortion in the sound that goes to the amp.
3.An EQ of some sort will help clean up the sound and give you some control options with the sound (ex control the highs to the tweets if too harsh)
4.How you transfer the sound between the Head Unit to Eq to Amp to crossover to speaker needs to be good all so. (here are the extremes..low end-- just speaker wire from head unit to speaker.......High end..Optical cord from head unit to parametric EQ..top of the line RCA to the Amp from the EQ.. and shielded 12 gauge speaker wire from the amp to cross over and beyond.
5.High quality AMP PERIOD.
6.Quality speakers to produce the sound..

YOUR SYSTEM IS ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR LOWEST QUALITY PART (equipment)
If you need more I can go for days (At least that is what she said)

 

First off, you will never be truly competitive in SQ car audio competitions with an S2000. The car is too small and far too limiting. If this was your intent when you purchased the S2000, I suspect you probably made a mistake purchasing the vehicle. On the other hand, if you are interested in improving the sound in your vehicle I would suggest you keep it as simple as possible and expand from there over time. Setup good component speakers up front, get a better head unit, and a decent amp.

I fundamentally disagree with the inference that you need all high end equipement since the system is only as good as its "weakest" link. The fact is, and this also applies to home equipment, that your money is best spent on the highest quality speakers. Speakers, by their very nature, represent the point where the MOST losses in sound quality will occur. There is far less of a difference between various amps, wiring, etc. Everyone has a budget. Skimp on your amp, wiring, and head unit (to a lesser extent) and get the best speakers you can reasonably afford. Don't believe the hype about MB Quart, they are good, but not necessarily the best, PARTICULARLY from a value standpoint. For the price of the top of the line MB Quart, I would take Focal's Utopia line, or Dynaudio in a heartbeat. Its much better. The bottom line is go listen for yourself.

 

98honda is correct, with car audiophiles, what sounds amazing to one can sound different to the next, u need to sample some of the brands he lists as well as other top end speakers and see what maches your taste the best

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 98honda
[B]Ehhh. they aren't THAT good.
There are plenty of other brands which will handily romp the MB Quarts (IMO)
But hey, its whatever YOU like, not what everyone else may prefer, that really makes the difference.
I would, however, suggest that you look into Focal, Dynaudio, Diamond Audio and Morel component sets just for starters.

 

Matrix,
I ordered a pair of the 8" Ribbons, and a pair of the 3" Ribbons. Should be here tomorrow if UPS delivers on Presidents Day. I will let you know what I think once I have had a chance to play with them. I am going to do some crossover modeling this afternoon so that I can have something rigged up for basic testing. I am thinking just a couple of 12db/octave passive high pass filters should be fine for the testing.

 

Yes, I too agree with 98honda ...if you want an opinion from the uneducated....... lord knows there are plenty of those people... I for know a little more insight than the average Joe, I have been competeing in four different states for the past seven years straight..Yes, there are a lot of people out there with different opinions..just try to understand where there information is coming from..i.e. you don't want to take a information from a nonexperienced kid..when there are people out there that were in the same boat as you, untill they eudicated themselves by trial and error... help from other people...and finally experiences...(there is always something more to learn.)
I did not realize people would think that everything I stated before was needed to have a good system.. I was giving a taste of what an extreame competition system requires..where people go from there is up to them.....You do not need everything but, at least you know what you can do.....
Here to help educate:
A poor distorted signal inputed into the best speaker..still does not change the signal. So inturn a you can actual make a cheep speaker sound good with a clean signal.
please do not respond to the information above...who care what people think of this information the forum is here to help the individual that asked a simple question.

 

Bosshog,
Apologies, I can't not respond to this one.
I will site one simple example of a test I suggest you perform.

Setup the best electronics you can get for $1,000 and power the crap honda speakers that came with the S2K. Then, in a different car, setup a $1,000 component set and power it using the stock Honda head unit.

I will bet you a LOT of money that Option B - the $1,000 component set will sound WAY the hell better. Obviously this is an extreme example, although demonstrative of my point. The testable differences between most equipment is subtle. The exception to this rule is speakers.

 

I think you guys are both right.

A distorted signal into a good speaker will sound bad, if that original signal was meant to be clean (i.e. not clipped or distorted - classical music). But, a lot of today's music (rock, alternative etc) is distorted right from the source i.e. right during the recording phase because bands use all kinds of distortion boxes on their guitars.

Good speakers will make a bad system sound better. Speakers are the last place you want to cheap out on as they are the only part of your stereo that actually reproduces the sound that you will hear. I would recommend anyone who is buying a system to place about 30-50% of the system cost into the speakers.

Just my 2 cents.