Copy of the CAC Good, Bad, and Ugly List
Note that you should check both the general section AND the equipment-specific section as not all brands are included in both! This list is the property of: Chris from Washington GlassWolf Ryan from Ohio Justin from Detroit or William from NOLA At www.caraudiocentral.net Posting this list in part or whole is not permitted without express permission or credit given. This is the infamous Good, Bad, and Ugly list. These are some generalized groupings and very subjective. We've simply stated our experiences with the products whether they are direct installs, personal property or extensive research. You should always physically audition a product before purchase because you are the one who will determine whether or not an item "sounds good" or not. The overall groupings are based on performance, reliability, and build quality, without regard to price. 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 performance lines. Good luck with your decisions. We've broken this section into 4 catagories: 1: Bad (avoid) 2: Questionable (mixed reviews, disputed, unsure, or depends on the item) 3: Good (just about always worth consideration) 4: Highly Recommended (considered audiophile grade) This is the general section: Bad American HiFi (Rockwood) American Pro Audiobahn (speakers and subwoofers) Audiovox Automobile Becker Boss DHD Dual JDL Jensen Kenwood (speakers and amplifiers) Kingwood Kole Kraco Kronik LA Sound Legacy Lightining Audio MA Audio Optimus (Radio Shack) Power Acoustik Profile Pyle Pyramid Rockwood SAS Bazooka (amplifiers) Sherwood Sony (anything by Sony except the older Mobile ES line) Sound Storm (owned by BOSS Audio) Sparkomatic SPL Audio Thump Ultimate Sounds Volfenhag Questionable Blaupunkt (Bosch) Aiwa Crunch Elemental Designs (eD) Harmon-Kardon (current, Phoenix Gold owned) Hollywood Infinity (amplifiers, reference components) Kenwood (head units) Kicker Solobaric (L5, L7, Solo-X square subs) Lanzar Lightning Audio Matsui Onyx Mobile Audio Panasonic Phoenix Gold (anything after the mid 1990s) Pioneer (amplifiers) SAS Bazooka (bass tubes) Soundstream (current Power Acoustik owned products) Visonik Good Adire Audio a/d/s (present DEI owned items) Alpine Altec Lansing Alumapro Ample Audio Audiobahn (amplifiers) Audio Development Audiomobile Autotek Avionixx Boston Acoustics Bravox Cadence (current amplifier products) CD Technologies (CDT) Cerwin Vega (subs) Clarion (head units) Coustic Crossfire Crystal Directed (DEI) Earthquake Eaton Elevation Audio Helix Hifonics Illusion Infinity JBL (amplifiers) JVC Digifine Kicker (excluding square solobaric speakers) Lunar Memphis Audio MTX Orion (current DEI products) Phoenix Gold (older 1990s amplifiers, subwoofers) Pioneer (subwoofers) Planet Audio (amplifiers, owned by BOSS Audio) Polk Audio Rockford Fosgate Soundstream (older pre-Power Acoustik amplifiers) US Acoustics Viper Highly Recommended a/d/s (older 1980s, early 90s pre-ADST products) Alpine (old "6 green preset buttons" head units) Alpine F#1status Arc Audio Ascendant Audio Audax Audiocontrol Brax/Helix Butler Audio Diamond Audio Digital Designs (DD) DLS DynAudio Eclipse (Fujitsu Ten) Esoteric Audio/Streetwires Focal Harrison Labs Image Dynamics (ID) Infinity Kappa/Kappa Perfect components Iraggi Alternators JL Audio KEF Kar components Kove LCY Luxman MB Quart McIntosh Laboratories MMATS Morel Nakamichi (tape transports) Ohio Generator Orion (older SX, GX, HCCA, GS, and XTR lines) OZ Audio Pioneer Premiere (head units) Precision Power (PPI) Rainbow Resonant Engineering (RE) Rockford Fosgate (older 1980s and early 1990s products) ScanSpeak SEAS Sinfoni Stinger Treo TRU Technology US Amps Vifa Wrangler Alternators Xtant Zapco This is the equipment-specific section: Head units ---------------------- Highly Recommended Alpine Clarion ProAudio Eclipse JVC Arsenal Pioneer Premier Sony Mobile ES (from the early 1990's only, rare) Good Clarion JVC Nakamichi Panasonic MXE Pioneer Questionable Blaupunkt Kenwood Panasonic Avoid Audiovox Boss Dual Jensen Sanyo Sony Amplifiers ---------------------- Highly Recommended Arc Audio Audison Brax Eclipse Esoteric Audio Elevation Audio Genesis Harrison Labs Helix JBL (Crown made models) JL Audio McIntosh Laboratories Memphis Audio Orion (pre-DEI) PPI Art series Rockford Fosgate (early 90s, Punch and Power series) Tru US Amps Xtant Zapco Good Alpine Autotek Avionixx Cadence Concept Crossfire Diamond Audio Directed (DEI) Earthquake JBL Kicker MA Audio MTX Audio Phoenix Gold Planet Audio Rockford Fosgate (Power and Punch series) SoundStream US Acoustics Questionable Alphasonik Audiobahn Cerwin Vega Coustic HiFonics Lanzar Lightning Audio Power Acoustik Tsunami Avoid Bazooka Crunch Jensen Legacy Optimus Pyle Pyramid Sony Visonik Volfenhag Main Speakers ---------------------- Highly Recommended Adire Audio Alpine (F1 Status components) Arc Audio Beyma Boston Acoustics Bravox (component sets) CD Technologies (CDT) Diamond Audio DLS Dyn Audio Eclipse Focal HI-VI Research Illusion Audio Image Dynamics Infinity (Kappa Perfect series) JL Audio (XR components) JL ZR component line LPG Max-Fidelity MB Quart Morel Rainbow Resonant Engineering Scan-Speak Seas Vifa Visatron Good Alpine Boston Acoustics (lower model lines) Bravox (coaxials) Cerwin Vega Crystal Earthquake Fusion Infinity (Kappa and Reference series) JBL Kicker Memphis Audio Pioneer Polk Audio Rockford Fosgate Questionable Planet Audio Avoid Audiobahn Boss Crunch Dual Jensen Powerbase/Powerbass Sony Subwoofers ---------------------- Highly Recommended Adire Audio Alpine (Type-X series) Alumapro Arc Audio Ascendant Audio Boston Acoustics Crystal Diamond Audio Digital Designs (DD) DLS Dyn Audio Earthquake Eclipse Elevation Audio Focal Funky Pups <---- This being in the highly recommended section is a joke, in case anyone doesn't know. Image Dynamics Inhuman Audio JL Audio Kicker (CompVR series) MB Quart Memphis (Mojo series) MMats OZ Audio Rainbow Resonant Engineering Treo Good Alpine (Type-R or S series) Bravox CD Technologies (CDT) Cerwin Vega Concept Earthquake Fi Audio Fusion Infinity (Kappa series and up) MTX Audio (8000's and up) Onyx Audio Phoenix Gold Pioneer Polk Audio Rockford Fosgate Xtant Questionable Coustic Elemental Designs HiFonics SoundStream Avoid Alphasonik Alpine (Type-E series) Audiobahn Autotek Bazooka Boss Crunch Dual Jensen Kenwood Lightning Audio MTX (6000's and under) Pioneer (lower models) Planet Audio Power Acoustik Pyle Sony Volfenhag Wiring ----------- Highly Recommended Audiopipe Audison Connect Hooker Audio Knukonceptz JL Interconnects Streetwires Tsunami Good Directed Kicker Phoenix Digital Raptor Scosche Questionable American Bass Audiobahn (RCA cables didn't last long) MA Audio Avoid (none placed here yet) Batteries --------------- Highly Recommended Deka Interstate Kinetic Northstar Optima Stinger Good Die Hard (sold by Sears) Duralast Eagle Picher Everstart (Maxx battery only) Exstatic Scosche Tsunami Questionable (none placed here yet) Avoid (none placed here yet) Alternators ------------------- Highly Recommended (none placed here yet) Good Excessive Amperage H/O alternators Iraggi Alternators Motor City Reman Ohio Generator Questionable (none placed here yet) Avoid (none placed here yet) Dash Kits/Install Accessories --------------------------------------------- Highly Recommended Metra Good American International Scosche Questionable Scosche (the ones found at Wal-Mart only) Avoid (none placed here yet) |
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| Author | Comments | |||
     Gold Member Username: Van_manBoston South, MA Post Number: 3052 Registered: Mar-06 |
Bump for good info |
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Gold Member Username: CblazeRock island, Tenesssee Us Post Number: 1008 Registered: Sep-07 |
the list is old,it does have some good info but there is alot of other good brands not listed on here |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Northwest PA Post Number: 4888 Registered: Jul-06 |
Yes it is old...... CAC is working on an updated version. I will post that one when they get it done. |
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Gold Member Username: CblazeRock island, Tenesssee Us Post Number: 1054 Registered: Sep-07 |
they need to do diff sections for everythang like sq spl & sql |
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Bronze Member Username: WaresgaragestereoFort Valley, GA United States Post Number: 27 Registered: Jan-08 |
the list may be old. but it's still good reference material when you're looking to purchase car audio components. |
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Silver Member Username: EldogPittsburgh, Pennsylvania Post Number: 158 Registered: Jan-08 |
Nothing major but I believe MMats wasn't posted in the highly recommended category for amplifiers. |
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