MB Quart question (1 Viewer)

[Dustyak]

A freind just recently purchased MB Quart QSC 6.5" midbass and 3.5" speakers for his car, and soon he's going to finish it off with a set of 5 1/4" MB Quarts in the rear along with a couple of 10" MB Quart subs. Does anyone know what kind of amp would pair up with the Quarts the best? I was thinking about either MB Quart amps and do the whole system the same, or JL Audio

 

[Robert_J]

MB Quart has a good reputation and should work fine. Other options would be any of the larger brand names in amps like Phoenix Gold, Precision Power, Orion or Rockford Fosgate. Lesser known options would be amps from Elemental Designs or ZED audio. Or you could go old school like the PPI AM series (early 90's), Soundstream or ZED built Hifonics.

-Robert

 

[joey wires]

The MB quarts are great mid bass and midrange speakers, as for the subs id go with JL audio. top of the line amps are phoenix gold, alpine, Orion, fosgate. you could spend a little less and get kenwood, pioneer, JBL. Most important factor to look for it the % THD (total Harmonic distortion) the lower the better. Distortion is what ruins sound, not to mention frying your speakers. something around 35-50 watts RMS will be perfect. I prefer myself one 4 channel for the doors, and a mono amp for the subs, though you coud get a 5 channel and do everything.

 

[pistonsfan70]

Just posting to get the 10 posts so I can post links (I LOVE this forum, posting links in my questions will make it easier!)

 

[-Jason-]

What kind of budget does he have. There are a ton of great lesser known brands out there.

 

[JLAudioCavalier]

I would like to chime in real quick. Some of the amp recomendations so far I can strongly disagree with, Kenwood being the main one that stands out. I also would love to know why he has a pair of midbass drivers and a pair of 3.5 inch speakers (are these strictly midrange speakers or coaxials?) and is not running a good quality component set... this is kinda baffling me.. But as far as amp brands to look into, it would realy depend on budget... if you are looking for the best, clean power on the high end of things look into Brax, Zapco, Audison, etc... if price is more if a concern, Phoenix Gold, Orion, PPI(although their newer stuff is disapointing me almost as much as the Alpine 985x Series of head units). but anywho. there are far too many options to narrow it down FOR him... and also, what ALL is this system going to consist of and possibly a budget for the entire set up?

 

[karl_burns]

Those were some of the best speakers MBQuart ever made. I came really close to picking some up a couple of years ago. I would push them with a PPI or maybe a hifonics amp. The JL amp would also be good.
If in the budget, the top choices would be a focal or macintosh amp.
Karl

 

[JLAudioCavalier]

im not here to start anything or sound like a jerk... but this is the second thread where you post things that are either a. opinion, or b. entirely false and flaunt them as though they're facts.... im realy not a fan of that... you throw brands around and say this is good and that is good but have no info on why you say that, or any specific models you prefer.... why would someone spend that kind of money on mcintosh amps when todays technology provides MUCH MUCH better prices on amps with regular electronic internals and no tubes, that have zero difference in sound quality? seriously,.... im not saying all this to sound mean, im saying this because you might mislead some people and i dont like when inexperienced people speak on a topic as if they are experienced in the topic....

 

[karl_burns]

I'm so sorry.

Please, everyone note that all of my posts are completely my opinion. I listened to car stereo speakers for over a year before finally deciding which speakers to purchase, and I love them. But I expect no one to listen to me nor purchase anything that I CHOSE to purchase. I also spent almost two years researching amps, but obviously that was 4 years ago and I’m sure all my information is now outdated.

I am SO sorry if I offended anyone, specifically JLAudioCavalier (even though I own and love JL speakers & amps). I especially love the steep db slopes on their built-in crossovers, coupled with my 24db replacement spiders (again, my specific recommendation), which feel like they were designed for a three-way set-up since very specific Hz ranges are filtered to each speaker.
Again, I meant no offense and was simply trying to re-enforce the quality of the MB Quart speakers noted in the first post.

Also, please note the Mc430 car amplifier I own (and all McIntosh car amplifiers that I know of...) do not use tubes. Only the home line of McIntosh powered amplifiers used tubes until transistors became cheaper and the customers had options. Heck, some people (not me) prefer the sound from tube amplifiers to this day, despite/hence their consistently high price.

Respectfully,
The Inexperienced who speaks on a topic as if I was experienced on the topic


PS – Dustin, your specifics and guidelines thread is one of the best I’ve ever read. Wish it would have been around in 2000 when I was learning about this “hobby”.

PPS – I don’t mind people posting their opinions on what they like. So by all means, members, please do not hold back on posts in any thread I start! I will figure out what is opinion and what is fact.

 

[JLAudioCavalier]

I realy love the maturity and integrity that this forum holds. It is head and shoulders above any car forum or car audio forum I have ever been a member of!
Karl: thanks for the kudos on that tutorial thread. I spent a while typing it up, because I figured, with this being a Home Audio forum, someone might not have the same knowledge on the 12v side of things.

ALSO: one thing about asking for recomendations on component speakers is the sounds of the highs. Sure, some mids are going to go lower with less effort and sound better doing it, some wont... but the harshness of the tweeters is much harder to remedy than a mid with crappy midbass performance. If you are looking into MB Quart, you are looking into very harsh and very precise tweets. Some people might not be ok with that. I myself am a huge fan of smooth, natural, more laid back and blending highs. If you mount the tweets far enough away from the ear, the harshness might tone down a bit, but they still got that tinny sound that my ears just can't stand. If you are still interested in the sharper highs that metal dome tweeters are going to provide, keep looking into MB Quart, also consider checking out JL Audio and Boston Acoustic. If you are more interested in a laid back or more natual tweeter that isn't going to shrill your ears with every crash of a cymbal, check out Alpine Type-X comps, CDT Audio and Image Dynamics.

Again, just throwing brands out doesn't realy say what is going to be good for each person. But I hope I'm at least helping a bit here.

 

[karl_burns]

Another great post with good advice! I was remiss to not mention model numbers for my comparisons.

Dustin - If it makes you feel better, I taught myself how to build kickpanels out of fiberglass so I could mount the tweeters as close to equidistant from my ears while in the Driver's seat. Had to bend the e-brake pedal too. Came close to making the parking brake electric, but I just try not to park on hills now. The sacrifices for excellent car audio.... I run a 136W set with the Audiom 6w2 for mids. I like it a lot, but I have already gone through a couple of drivers due to too much power from the Mc amp. I've kinda settled on annual replacement or the 5 1/8th inch drivers in lieu of biting the bullet for the larger, more power handling 165W set.

Dusty-
I love the natural sound of a 3-way set-up, but that series isn't really plug-and-play if you want to get the most out of it. You may have to try multiple speaker placements, gains, etc. (IMHO) Don't let the installer guys convince you to put the tweeters in the A-pillars....
The amps I lookoed at were a PPI - PC4800, and the XTANT 604. Both excellen in my opinion, but the XTANT had a little more flexibility in the way of electronic circuitry (for example independent crossover select for each speaker channel) Those JLAudio amps are bullet-proof from what I've read (and I own the 500/1), so that might be a great selection too, and one that you can buy new right now. I'm not sure what the newest models are for the XTANT and PPI amps I auditioned.

Before we get too deep though, budget numbers could help. But most importantly, I think you should take 5-6 different CDs to a store and test out which speaker/amp combinations you're thinking about. That will give you much more personal information than we, or a brochure, ever could. Also, for many people, this becomes a bug and you add a little bit more each time. Be careful of "the bug", just like with Home Theater. Or maybe don't.

I'll stand down until I hear from Dusty.

Regards,
Karl

 

[bur1196]

Since he has a higher quality set of speakers, do NOT skimp on the amp (don't goto Walmart and buy a cheap one). There are good ones out there, JL, eclipse just to name a few...

 

[JLAudioCavalier]

But at the same time, you don't NEED to spend a ton to get good clean reliable power. JL has some very nice top notch regulated power supply amps (their slash series). But you don't need to spend that kind of money to get a good amp. Check into brands such as Precision Power(PPI), Soundstream, Cadence, and Phoenix gold, just to name a few good amp manufacturers.

 

[Dustyak]

hey guys. thanks for checkin in. havent logged on to this forum for a while. heres the deal. i own an 05 gmc sierra slt with a full Diamond Audio system. 6.5" HEX midbass and m6 4" components up front with 5 1/4" components in back and diamond 300.4 amp. i LOVE the midbass setup. in my opinion, midbass is the answer. i didnt do subs cause i did all throughout highschool and my hearing is kinda screwed now. but my friend with the mb quarts did 6.5" Q series midbass and 4" components as well. he mounted the midbass and tweeters in custom fiberglass kickpanels he made and put the 4" speakers up in the dash in the stock 3.5 locations. now, thats all he has. i have talked him into doing another set of Q series midbass in the rear, with some QSC 6.5" components (he has a JL Audio 300/4) and maybe do a JL 10w7 and a 500/1. now, keep in mind this is going in a delorean so its an EXTREMELY tiny car

 

[JLAudioCavalier]

subs dont just mean loud booming bass like a lot of people thought it did when you were in high school. If you are at all familiar with what a sub is used for in a home theater, it isn't any different in car audio. There are frequencies that your mids just wont play. A good mid might play down to say about 70-80 hz ok, even a decen midbass driver could play down to say 50.. but what about below that? a sub is going to be able to handle 15-80 hz a lot better and easier than a mid or midbass driver half the size of the sub. You may like good solid midbass, but if you are lacking subbass, you are missing part of your music.. and IMO, I want to build my audio system to get as flat of a frequency response as possible, and thats near impossible without some sort of sub.