I dont mean to steal the thread, but what kind of equipment are you/will you be running? I too want clean, quality sound.. not attention from the police. As far as brand names, what do you use? Even though Circuit City (my place of employment) we sell ****, I can buy directly through Polk Audio, Eclipse, and Kicker.. I believe I can get 62% off any polk item.. so I found these speakers http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/products/sr6500/ , and thought I might give them a shot. Anyways good luck with finding the info, sorry I can't be of any assistance. Definately post pics though, because it sounds like a great idea.

 

Head Units, I've always been an Alpine fan. nakamichi is nice too... but I'm running an Alpine IVA-D310 DVD with the PXA-H701 sound Processor

Components, I have 6.5" Focal Utopia 3 way components in the front; 6.5" Focal Utopia 2 Way components in the rear (removed the x-over and tweeter from the rear install) Good Component speaker Brands:
[ul][*]Focal (just about the best you can get; so long as you power it with an equally clean and quality amplifier.)[*]CDT Audio (nother VERY high end component river manufacturer. they arent flashy or pretty, but they are impressively solid performers... and the price tag reflects it)[*]Brax (great Mid-range speakers)[*]eD (elemental Designs) (Great SQ, Greater Price)[/ul]


Subwoofers, There are a ton of good brands out there. I am currently not running a traditional subwoofer though. I am running CDT ES06+ 6.5" Mid-Bass drivers in a sealed box. 2 of these mids hit harder than my best friend's JL Audio w7 10" Sub. So they DO produce bass, but with much less space. Good brands though for SQ:
[ul][*]Adire Audio (out of business now. you have to order legacy merchandise)[*]Illusion audio (Best lightweight, slim hi-fi subwoofer on the planet.)[*]fi car Audio (they have a line of fully customizable subwoofers. You can add/subtract power requirements, voice coils, etc - REALLY nice speakers)[*]RE audio[*]elemental Designs (good SQ audio at a good price. very little hype though)[*]...and of course my CDT "almost subwoofers" (nifty fact - these 6.5" CDT mids are capable or producing sounds from 10Hz-4,000Hz. Most 10" subwoofers can't get low enough to hit 10Hz.)[/ul]
Amplifiers, I'm very picky with my amplifiers. I run only McIntosh, Zapco, Brax, and Helix. Used to run some Phoenix gold before they went downhill.

Word of advice - You will see a lot of people "bridge" their amplifiers and such to squeeze more power out of them. Although the amplifier my be stable down to 1 Ohm, the more you bridge it to squeeze out power... the more you lose SQ and the more strain you put on the amplifier. If you need 500W rms, don't go get a 250w amp and bridge it to save a few bucks. Go ahead and get an amplifier that meets your needs @ 4 Ohms, your SQ will thank you and your equipment will last much longer. At one time, I actully ran my front stage components parallel @ 8 Ohms. Yea, you get less power from the same amplifier... but it is much cleaner, more stable power.

my $.02

[ul][*][*]Illusion Auio[/ul]

 

wow thanks you answered all the $s. Definately going to look into these, but damn from pricing out focal speakers alone.. makes me wish I had a good job. Oh well, graduating in two more years so we'll see.Thanks agaiin.

 

Focals are GREAT speakers. the Utopia Berrylium series start @ like $3,000 with the control head for them. All the way up to almost $6,000 for just two components and tweets,crossover,& the control head.

If you visit some real high end audio places... or look in some good forums... you can find the legacy focal utopias (not the Berrylium ones) for around $500-800 a set. Also on ebay you can probably find used utopia component sets for under $600.

It really is something you have to be committed to in order to rationalize spending $1,000 on 2 speakers... or $2,000 on one amplifier, etc
It's usually enthusiasts and SQ audiophiles that run these.


**Edit**
fyi, I'm not running the Berrylium series Utopias. I've had my focal utopias for a few years now. If they had the Berryliums released yet when i made that purchase.. I'd have got them, but they werent out.... I probably wont upgrade unless these utopias die or something.
I've heard the berryliums though. It's insane how they sound. I wouldn't make that purchase though unlessI was running a full HD radio setup.