OK I know I was trying to strike this up in a thread before, but just got some more work done on my system and I haveto admit these DSD216's I've got (Quart components) are bright as hell. I've known that MB Quart are some of the brightest components you can get, but this stuff is unbelievable Almost too loud to turn up 95% of the time.

I know there was a thread and it kind of died out about how the factory Bose amp boost the highs, but who knows Maybe someone (other than me ) could dig in and see what they can find out. I've got pics of my install and the amp rack looks bad ass, as soon as I get a chance i'm going to post the pics

 

I got a set of that component sitting in my trunk right now even though I know it's not supposed to be there. I'm planning to put new wires to all the speakers so it has to be there for a while. Post your pics asap, bro.

 

You don't have the quarts running off the stock amp do you?

 

MB quartz speakers have always had that reputation of being really bright. i first had the same speakers you got.....but i found the tweeters too harsh.....even when i turned down the treble on the stock stereo. maybe if you added an eq, you could adjust the high freq cut-off. i don't think it would make a diff what amp you use....the mb quartz will still sound very bright. i ended up getting the infinity's.

 

George, have you ever heard of amps with built-in x-over? That would definately solve the problem.

 

yeah....i know what you mean...and my amps have those. but i was referring to the abilty to limit the range and volume of, for example, just the high frequencies over 3500hz. with an eq, i believe you can lower or adjust the volume of certain ranges of frequencies. and with the case of the mb quartz, you can actually lower the output volume of the highs that tend to hurt one's ears...say 15000hz and over as an example. with amps with cross-overs, you can only adjust the cut-offs, like when to route certain frequencies to diff speakers. with the treble adj on our stock stereos, you have no way of adjusting the volume of the different frequency levels. in effect, when lowering the treble on our stock stereo, we're lowering the volume of the entire high frequency range of whatever bose has set that range to be. did i make sense? correct me if i'm wrong, michael!

 

See I found the Infinity kappas to be too harsh for my likeing. Icy do you have the kappas or the refference? I got rid of them and went with some CDT's. They have a silk dome tweeter wich make the highs silkly smooth and not harsh at all. They sound real good.

 

i got the reference series. i first tried out the kappas as well but found the tweeters still too harsh for my taste....a little less harsh than the mb quartz's...but still bleedingly painful for me. changed them to the references and preferred them. the reference series does have silk tweeters as well. i'm sure some folks will say they're not that great....but for the price i got them for, i think they're quite alright.

 

I have seen a lot of people say that they like the ref better cuz of the tweeter is smoother. The kappas were just too much!

 

I just wanted to add that I love my Focal's

 

Check out diamonds, ads or even Kenwood.

I absolutely love the sound of diamonds... but I'm ordering
Kenwood KFC-XR60P. Very warm sounding with no harshness.

 

I actually love the sound of the Diamond hex series, but just couldn't bite off the price premium they were asking for them. As for the EQ I have an EQ installed but they still sound bright, and if you turn down the treble too much it sounds like crap.

 

I would get rid of them....I couldnt stand that. DO you have a sub and if not are you putting one in. I would look at CDT they are verry smooth and not bright at all. I would look at the classic line if you are worried about price. They have a classic 6.5 componet set for 299.99 and you get free rear fill which you can put in the back. WHat size amp do you have?

 

NOLACLS, how'd you connect the audio control unit to the headunit. you still have the stock stereo, right. did you use adapters or did you have to splice the wires and connect rca connectors to it. i'm thinking about adding an eq but don't like to go through all the trbl if i'm gonna be getting the same slight hiss i have now. my set up at this time: alpine 4 channel amp powering the infinities. got the signal after the bose amp using a LOC. also have an mtx amp powering a 12 inch mtx sub....signal for the sub amp taken from the rear speakers.

 

Well I wanted the place to hook up the EQ by taking the signal from after the radio and befor the stock amp...so just make a short jump to the EQ by splysing rca's on the wires. The dumb shit didnt do it that way....instead he just ran a RCA to the trunk with the rest of the RCA's so it would plug into the LLC that I was usuing befor i got the EQ...so its the same as you...still a little hiss. I am thinking about going back and makeing him do it the right way. I went with the Four.1 cuz it also has a line driver in it...so if it was hooked up to the signal b4 the stock amp it could kick up the volts. If you get an EQ put up close to the stock radio I would get one that has a line driver in it and i would do it b4 the stock radio. I will post some pics of the EQ when I get a chance.

 

NOLACLS,
I have a 12" IDQ sub, and I have a Zapco AG360 & AG350 (the 350 is bridged putting out 330 watts to the sub). I don't think i'm lacking at all in the power department , and I will more than likely never ever even use the complete power the amps are capable of.

-Johnny

 

Zapco is good stuff. Take Nolas recommendations. I have the DEI Studio 3065s right now, and Im installing the Dynaudios on Wed. I hooked them up to see how theysound, and they do sound awesome. You should stick with a silk dome tweeter. What I suggest you do, is if u are happy with the midbass why not just upgrade the tweeter to something else. You can get scanspeak, vifa (awesome for the money). Check out madisound.com If you want to get a whole new set, I would reccomend the following.

A/D/S
Dynaudio
CDT
DEI (neutral sounding)
Alpine F17C

Diamond Audio, and Focal are a little on the bright side for me. Definitely not asbad as MB Quart. Quarts just hurt!!

Spiro