Kenwood vs sony

 

newtocaraudio
Unregistered guest
i am looking for a cheap amp which brand is better?
 

Silver Member
Username: Infinity_addict

Santa Rosa, California USA

Post Number: 120
Registered: Jul-05
kenwood
 

newtocaraudio
Unregistered guest
and what about hifonics are they better than kenwood?
 

Silver Member
Username: Legacyaudio

Post Number: 155
Registered: Feb-05
not much
 

Silver Member
Username: Rovin

Trinidad & T...

Post Number: 156
Registered: Jul-05
Check this out Mr. Newbie

http://pub14.ezboard.com/fcaraudiotalkfrm27.showMessage?topicID=27.topic

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly *or* Is this brand any good?

These are some pretty generalized groupings and also very subjective. We've simply based our experiences with the products whether they are direct installs, personal property or extensive research. You should always physically listen to a product before purchase because you are the one who will determine whether or not an item "sounds good" or not.

This topic, while being controversial, is simply a generalized guide meant for beginners in the hobby. Many brands specialize in certain items, ie. better amplifiers than speakers, better mids than subs, etc... Also almost all manufacturers offer entry level products as well as high quality lines. As I stated before, this is a GENERALIZED guide. It is your responsibility to research and audition every brand before you purchase anything. Good luck with your decisions.

We've broken this section into 4 catagories:
1: Bad
2: Questionable
3: Good
4: Highly Recommended


Bad

American HiFi (Rockwood)
American Pro
Audiovox
Automobile
Becker
Boss
DHD
JDL
Jensen
Kenwood (speakers)
Kole
Kraco
Kronik
LA Sound
Legacy
MA Audio
Optimus (Radio Shack)
Planet Audio (Boss, by any other name)
Power Acoustik
Profile
Pyle
Pyramid
Rockwood
SAS Bazooka (amplifiers)
Sherwood
Sony (anything by Sony)
Sound Storm
Sparkomatic
SPL Audio
Thump
Ultimate Sounds
Visonik
Volfenhag


Questionable

Aiwa
Alpine (lower model speakers)
Autotek
Audiobahn
Blaupunkt
Crunch
Hifonics
Hollywood
Kenwood (amplifiers, head units)
Lanzar
Lightning Audio
Matsui
MTX (subs)
Onyx Mobile Audio
Panasonic
Phoenix Gold (ask on specific models)
Pioneer (amplifiers and speakers)
Precision Power (PPI) (newer non-US made amplifiers)
Rockford Fosgate (current products)
SAS Bazooka (all products)


Good

Alpine (amplifiers, Type-R speakers and subs)
Altec Lansing
Alumapro
Ample Audio
Audio Development
Avionixx
Boston Acoustics
Cadence (current amplifier products)
Cerwin Vega (subs)
Clarion (head units)
Coustic
Crossfire
Crystal
Directed (DEI)
Earthquake
Eaton
Elemental Designs (ED)
Helix
Illusion
Infinity
JBL (amplifiers)
JVC Digifine
Kicker (amplifiers, subwoofers)
Lunar
Memphis Audio
MTX (amplifiers)
Phoenix Gold (some models)
Polk Audio
Rockford Fosgate (some models)
Soundstream
USAcoustics


Highly Recommended
a/d/s
Adire
Alpine (head units, signal processors)
Arc Audio
Audax
Audio Control
Brax
Butler Audio
CD Technologies (CDT)
Diamond Audio
Digital Designs (DD)
DynAudio
Eclipse (Fujitsu Ten)
Esoteric Audio
Focal
Harrison Labs
Image Dynamics (ID)
Infinity Kappa/Kappa Perfect components
JL Audio (subs, XR components, slash series amps)
KEF Kar components
Kove
Luxman
MB Quart
McIntosh Laboratories
MMATS
Morel
Nakamichi (tape transports)
Ohio Alternator
Orion
OZ Audio
Pioneer Premiere (head units)
Precision Power (PPI) (Art series amps, old)
Rainbow
Resonant Engineering (RE)
Rockford Fosgate (older 80s and 90s models)
Sinfoni
Streetwirez
Stinger
US Amps
Wrangler Alternators
Xtant
Zapco
 

Bronze Member
Username: Tdbdadrummer

Post Number: 49
Registered: Aug-05
Hold on there. AIWA is better than Volfenhag? Now come on, I own an older Aiwa shelf system, and it's a POS! AND BAZOOKA? Is it just better because it's sold at CC and BB? Lightning Audio, come on, it's cheap RF stuff, and no good. DHD is not a terrible brand even though they are affiliated either. Panasonic is what really gets me. I saw some of their speakers at CC one time, they don't even have foam/rubber/ANYTHING for surrounds. IMO, those lists need revamped a bit. And if you're gonna pick on Volfenhag/DHD you might as well pick on Performance Teknique, as they are affiliated as well. Oh yea, since you're all so knowledgeable, SAS Bazooka is in two categories.
 

zook
Unregistered guest
Power Acoustik is not bad

is xtant on your list i do not c it what do you think of them
 

zook
Unregistered guest
i c it
 

Silver Member
Username: Rovin

Trinidad & T...

Post Number: 161
Registered: Jul-05
Ain't my list , i did not write it - lol

Glasswolf ,i believe compiled that list from his 15yrs of expertise .
Thought i would post it so the newguy would get a few ideas ......
 

Gold Member
Username: Glasswolf

Wisteria, Lane USA

Post Number: 9548
Registered: Dec-03
for an amp I wouldn't buy sony or kenwood.. they both love to fail in less than a year.
power acoustik is total garbage.
xtant is pretty good.
 

Bronze Member
Username: Tdbdadrummer

Post Number: 54
Registered: Aug-05
I love how people rag on Kenwood. I would take a Kenwood over a Sony any day. Oh well, anyone here know of a sub that will give me the SQ of a good home audio system? In other words, I want subs that have a good THUD, and not a BOOM like most car subs. I've heard a decent amount of subs, even my friend's Kicker's, and they BOOM. I want THUD damnit! Any ideas, that don't involve not going to college/taking out college loans?
 

Bronze Member
Username: Tdbdadrummer

Post Number: 55
Registered: Aug-05
May I also point out that Infinity has not made a decent product since the 80's as well as JBL. Although, JBL still holds its ground to a point, it does not rival it's original stature, as Infinity does not either. Maybe you people need to check into where some of these companies started back in the 70's and 80's. They all started with damn nice home gear. Since then, they've expanded, become mass marketed, and therefore somewhat trashier than their former greatness. Kenwood is not exemplified from this problem either. Same with Sony and Pioneer. All of these companies started out with beastly powerful and good sounding equipment, but nowadays, have really lost their touches. I noticed someone wrote RF (Older 80's and 90's). That should be a really good indicator that what I'm saying is true. Sure, Infinity and some of these brands sound VERY good, but give them about a year, and I bet they won't hold out. They just are made for durability, especially at high levels. And don't throw it in my face about my Volfenhags either, as I know they aren't made for insane durability at all. One last thing, why are only CV's subs good? Their amps are damn nice amps. I refuse to believe that they aren't on the highly recommended list. Sure, they aren't insanely powerful, but most likely have headroom and are underrated, as a lot of their products are. Yet again, don't tell me I have no idea what I'm talking about, because I've seen their gear in action, especially home audio gear.
 

Silver Member
Username: Rovin

Trinidad & T...

Post Number: 169
Registered: Jul-05
PPL do say alot on this forum that Power Acoustik is a POS & crap - but my bro used their amps 1 for mids & 1 for bass in his system 6yrs ago & even today its still running perfectly fine .
He did not have much experience with car audio @ the time & did not want to risk messing up higher ranking more $ brands so he chose that .

So that would be the best of the 'low-end' brands that i would use on a BUDGET install .

I mean its unbelievable that a Sony/Pyramid/Kenwood & especially Boss amp rated @ 2,000wrms to co$t $200 or less to give that much true power when its more like $1000 for a good brand like kicker,RF ,Orion ,JBL
 

Gold Member
Username: Glasswolf

Wisteria, Lane USA

Post Number: 9603
Registered: Dec-03
Rovin, a lot of people like power acoustik, audiobahn, sony, and even pyramid, legacy, and rockwood.. they have great luck with jensen, kenwood, and panasonic, and even swear by Roadgear, swiss audio, and MA audio.

while I'm glad they've had good luck, it doesn't mean I'd recommend any of them based on my own experiences, which is what I'e shared. I won't be mean and say I told ya so if they buy one of these and it does die.. but I do hope they take the time to research before buying instead of making purchases when they see something that looks cool at a price too good to be true. I feel it's always better to save for something good, than buy something cheap over and over when it dies or doesn't sound that great.

There is a reason BOSS and Pyramid are so cheap per watt.
One reason is they use peak power instead of RMS. That inflates their numbers by 3 or 4 hundred percent.
Then when you do get an RMS rating be even more concerned because to geth that much power, that cheaply, you're sacrificing any quality at all of internals to get it.. so you're buying a crappy amplifier that will probably die as soon as you get it home, just to save a few dollars.

Tyler, Infinity's Perfect line of Kappa components aren't all that bad. I've used them in my Jeep without any problem. You just need to feed them enough power to sound good. They don't do well with head unit power, much like any component set.
JBL makes terrific amplifiers for their price range, since very few reputible companies offer anything comparable for as little money.
There are a lot of companies that aren't what they used to be though. Things always change. Cerwin Vega, JBL, Infinity, Orion, PPI, a/d/s, RF, and plenty of others.

As far as the type of sub you're after, it has as much to do with the sub as it does with your enclosure and the amount of power given to teh sub, as well as cabin response, box positioning, and source material. The sub itself plays a very small part in the type of response you get from it.
 

Silver Member
Username: Rovin

Trinidad & T...

Post Number: 176
Registered: Jul-05
Fully agre with u Glass on the save the $ for better , but when someone's asking about the 'dog' brands PA would be the lowest i would ever go .

To add to your statement - In my country ALOT of ppl buy Boss because its the cheapest brand they can afford & its carried in ALL audio shops so its popular .
Those who bought it are satisfied thats all they ever had & have nothing better to compare it to . We all know if some1 buys a Kicker for example they would obviously NEVER go with a lower brand .

Like everything else better products always costs more $ .

To the guy who started this thread :
All here will agree - it will take some time , but save the $ & buy a better product .......
 

Gold Member
Username: Glasswolf

Wisteria, Lane USA

Post Number: 9609
Registered: Dec-03
well even for the price of the kenwood (not sure what it is) he could probably get a better amplifier.. just a matter of knowing his budget and power needs.. so we can recommend better stuff
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