hi, all. i've been looking at and researching audio components for a while now. ended up biting the bullet and purchasing a set of MB Quart QM 218.03 CX 2-way components and a Rockford Fosgate 250.2 (62.5 watts RMS x 2 channels) amplifier. anyone installed these specific components, or have any general advice on component speaker installs (this will be my first non-coaxial speaker install). anyway, if it goes well, i'll post pics. regards,

 

Good Luck, let me know how it sounds!

 

Good luck!(your gonna need it!) Sorry not a fan of either of those companies.

 

My own curiosity...why?

I can remember back in high school most people saying RF was low end, but of course they never could give a reason (hey, we were high school students when car audio was just becoming big...most people picked audio components based strictly upon what the 'cool' people had ). I've only heard 1 set of Quarts, and that was back around '95...the only thing I remember clearly was how much they hurt my ears because the tweeters were so darn harsh/metallic.

So anyway, I'm not a fan of Quarts from a single experience, but I'm sure you've heard these many times, so what's your reason?

 

I think that Rockford Fosgate has come along way in their amplifiers. They went from a pure power amplifier to a decent sounding ampilifier. Of course they are not a PPI, Alpine or Soundstream, but they are usually half the price too.

 

being a consumer across various markets for many years now, i've learned that buying top of the line equipment can be just as bad of an error as buying at the extreme "budget" low-end. this is especially true for a neophyte such as myself. i figured that spending double (or more) the money would only really buy me marginally better (subjective) sound and a smug feeling of superiority.

those components cost me about $350. i'm going to try to do the install myself; if it's beyond me, the local custom guys will put it all in for $150 or so. all around - it's basically a middle-of-the-road way to go, which is what i wanted.

like anything, opinions abound. the above is mine. if it doesn't coincide with yours, that's probably okay in the grand sceme of things. ~

driving is fun, etc.

 

I have a pair of Boston components in my S2000. When I installed them I fabricated a small arm to mount the tweeters on so that I didn't have to cut or drill any holes in the car. (I did have to trim the basket due to the depth of the speaker) I used metal strapping in two layers, bent to shape and then used an adhesive (electrical tape) to bind the two pieces of metal together. Then screw one end of the metal 'arm' to the speaker basket and the other end to the tweeter. I was then able to angle/point the tweeter up at the driver since the metal mount was slightly flexible. A friend at an Autosound shop showed me this technique, it works really well if you want to retail a 'stock' appearance and still put high end component speakers in place. I don't have any pics, but could probably be persuaded to take one if you want to know more about it.

 

You couldn't have said it better. Quarts are very very perticular about their music....usually show car music not what you listen to every day. Plus they blow up often!

As for Rockford they have never had any quality amps. They rate all their power at 14.4 or even 16 VOLTS! And even then the distortion ratings are very high. Plus these amps too break down blow up and generally don't sound that great.

This all comes from experience of working in a stereo shop for over 8 years personally and backing of my boss of 30 years. Yea thats not a typo! We know more than most anybody does. I even know information on amps that even the people at the companies working there don't know because only the inside reps tell certain people.

IE: Autotek on certain amps can be pushed to 1 ohm stereo or 2 ohms mono but its not listed! Im doing this in my car for 2 channels bridged 2 ohms. After weeks of pushing it there are no problems!

 

well if anything blows up i'll post pictures so you all can have a gander.

 

Its not a guarantee I just have my biases! And I do wish you luck seriously!