What do Audiophiles like and buy for their cars?

Hi All!

Yippee!

I wished we'd have a car audio forum..and I got it! Within a few hours at that! Whew, that was fast. Thanks mods!

Anyway, since there are a number of distinguished gentlemen here (uh, prolly ladies too, not sure bout that), that have either owned or atleast heard some really fine home hi-fi gear, I was just curious to know whether their quest for good sound is extended to their automobiles too! As we all know, a lot of home audio brands of high-repute, make some outstanding car audio too. Then of course, there are all the speciality car audio brands.

What do the members here use? Which good setups you have listened to? What brands comprised these setups? Have you ever heard a car audio setup get remotely close to really smashing home hi-fi setup?

I'd be glad to pool in with some information too, since I originate from this field of work.

Regards,

Ajay

Hi! Ajay,
Yesterday a client of mine showed me his GETZ with a complete FOCAL Top of the line speakers with a Blau Bremen, spent a huge sum, and the sound was just amazing.

What brands are you dealing with now?
Rgds

Prithvi

Wow! Focal Utopias!!

They're VERY expensive in India. I wouldn't regard the Bremen as a fitting head unit though. What amplification?

We're still with our old favorites for car audio..Illusion Audio, and some Audiobahn in good measure for the younger ones.

Gamut, of course, for home audio and then there's always something or the other coming by from Peerless.

Great! Ajay,
keep up the good work.
Rgds

Prithvi

Hey! Ajay
Dude What head units do advocate.

Hi,

Bremen is not a good match for Focal utopias. You need a good headunit with these speakers along with good amplifier.

I would recommend the following head units with focal utopias.

McIntosh MX-5000 / MX-4000
Clarion HX-D2 aka DRZ-9255
Panasonic CQ-TX5500 (B-tube)

I wonder what amplifier and cables he is using.

Has any one hear or reviewed a denon car cd player? Is it possible to get one in india? how would you rate them against the other top car cd palyers?

Denon head units are not that great and are expensive. I have used DCT-100 and Z1 but Mcintosh and Clarion sounds way better and beats Denon hands down.

Hmm ! Thanks for the reply. what would you say about the new panasonic 5500 model with the tube amp? Is it really worth while even if you are goin to install a four channel amp? What is the aprox price for the mac & clarion head units? are they available in india?

Panasonic is a very nice Head Unit. Very warm and lush sound, good midbass with sweet highs. Classic japanese hi fi design with VU meters, Amber Illumination and Champagne finish. Very hard to find now as it is discontinued. And also the tube is only for preamplification so called built in amplifier of the head unit for four speakers is solidstate. But best results can be achieved only if you use it with external amplifier.

MCintosh is not available in India, I bought it from abroad 2 years back for USD 2000. However we have got a lot of DRZ-9255 (again import) usually costs us Rs. 55-60K.