Anyone using non name brand equipment in their cars? Im not talking about cables or wiring either. I mean major components like speakers, subs, amps, HU, etc.

 

From what a Guy told me that works at a audio install shop said no name brand are better then you think. I would say no name brands are just as good, name brands are just priced high...

 

well what do you consider "name brands"



if you are saying sh*t that you buy from walmart then yes, avoid those like the plague



if you are wondering about a specific brand, there are a few audiophiles on this site(myself included) that can point you in the right direction and help you pick out a decent setup within your budget

 

It's kind of a waste to use anything other than cheap sh*t if you're just going to install four speakers and a head unit.

 

Generally speaking, peoples interpretation of no name is ebay chinese garbage...



What people need to remember is that with a name brand yes you pay more but you get all the testing and R&D knowledge that goes into that product aswell..



When you buy generic, you purchase a product that does the same job and may even look the same but @ 1 quater of the price?? and you think that that other 75% is just some fat cat taking advantage of a name??



I'll let you in on a secret... I am an Alpine dealer... I make very little money selling alpine.. My most profitable brands are the lesser known ones.. Why?? When you purchase a product from a website in china and get it shipped to a wharehouse it has a cost of (Product + Shipping + taxes) If that company was to build that product from scratch they have to design, prototype, test, modify, build toolings, patent any unique components etc... they cost is much higher.. Then some company in china will copy that product and pump them out CHEAP.. But remember one thing that when importing from china you get warranty right up to the product leaves the country... After that point you're on your own.. don't get me wrong you can ship them back but the cost of doing so outweighs the benifit.. so you build that into the cost.. But while your out there shopping around for the cheapest price so you can make the largest margins the manufactures are doing the same thing.. they are shopping for the cheapest components that do the same job to increase their profit margins... So what we end up with is Cheap product made up of even cheaper components..





So if you compare an Alpine DVD Navigation unit @ $2000 (i pick alpine because they actually manufacture most of their own componentry as opposed to kenwood who buy all compontry off the shelf) to a chinese unit on ebay for $500 the store selling it to you would have paid $1450 for the alpine and possibly 100 for the ebay unit.. the name brand is luck to make 30% profit at RRP & the Ebay 500%



It's just like saying that the Hyundai Accent is just as good as the bugatti veyron.. It could even be better.. It's cheaper and easier to park and they both allow you to drive from one side of town to the other... one is built to a price and the other is a quality item that price wasn't an option when designing it..



/ END RANT

 

 

Cheap people pay twice...

 

You can pay once a year and still not have the cost of a bunch of cheap head units come up to the cost of a good one. Or speakers or wires or w/e. It's a car. It will not sound GREAT until you put WAY more time/money into than anyone considering the purchase of generic audio gear will put into it. "Cheap" used to mean "sounds like ass and will break soon after purchase" but the reverse-engineering has gotten a lot better over the years. Just be sure to get a STORE warranty because you can return it to a store, vs. shipping back to china

 

Care to share what you are smoking??? For arguments sake IN MY SHOP IN AUSTRALIA.... An Alpine Cde110E RRP $139 ALPINE SPJ17C 6.5' Coax RRP $79



You must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel...



Navigation units are the only thing i could see that becoming true.. Speakers and cd players and even amplifiers these days you are mad buying non name equipment just because its cheaper...



i have hundreds of storys of customers who over the warranty period of a ebay specialhave sunk 1500 bucks into a peice of garbage still to have a chinese unit.. i would without a lie say that 50% of units fail inside of 12months and 30% of those fail multiple times..



the chinese are smart, when you send the unit back they then tell you about the Newer model with XYZ feature if you pay an extra 200 bucks.. and people say righto it's ONLY 200 bucks... they forget that they already have 500 in this unit... then it goes again and the same dance happens again.... ive had customers pay for an upgraded unit to have it fail out of the box on refit and then upgrade again when they send it back again...



Once i pointed out to him that for 300 bucks more than he had spent thus far he could have purchased a unit that came with a 3 year warranty in a name brand, he admitted that it seamed cheap at the time and each time they upsold him he forgot how much he had spent and only saw the 200..



in this day and age people live for the NOW... they don't think about ongoings and warrantys..



I make much more money selling cheap gear... every year you buy a new unit... Or you spend 2x more and have the unit for 3 or more years...



don't get me wrong i also buy cheap electronics. i purchased a cheap digital Set top box... for the bedroom, BUT I also have a Topfield in the loungeroom...



the bedroom tv gets 3 hours use per week.. so if it was to last 200hrs no problem... the lounge gets that in a month... it depends on how much use aswell...

 

This.