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DManzaluni DManzaluni is offline
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Default Identifying MB Quart models

Various people are advertising MB Quart speakers on line saying that
what they have are the german ones, not the chinese ones

Does anyone know how to identify these? I tried buying some new ones
but the distributor wont respond to questions. I am now wondering
which german model was the five and a quarter inch low profile
component speaker? (The current Maestro line may have one but they
seem exceptionally expensive compared to what seems available on line
and describing itself as German Production)
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MOSFET MOSFET is offline
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Default Identifying MB Quart models

No one else has responded so I figured I might as well throw in my two cents
since I have used MB Quart Seperates in the past (their Refference Pro line
some 10 years ago).

First, MB Quart DOES make a good speaker, they always have. But the simple
truth is that they are NOT the end-all-be-all speakers they were in the
90's. Not that their quality has suffered, but other manufactures like
Dynaudio, Morel, Polk, Focal, Diamond, Infinity, JL and even Alpine have
caught up and, IMHO, surpassed MB Quart in many areas. If you have not
listened to these other brands lately perhaps you should because they all
make OUTSTANDING seperates and you may find a set you like better that COST
LESS!!!!

I know that's not addressing your question, and perhaps you have done a
bunch of listening and feel MB Quart surpasses them all. In fact, the only
reason I add this editorial is because there once was a day when MB Quart
DID make the VERY BEST sounding seperates money could buy, again, IMHO, I
remember that period very well. If you are possibly shopping for speakers
for the first time in many years, you need to know this: the speaker
landscape has changed dramatically. I CURRENTLY use a set of Alpine Class
R 6.5" midbass drivers and a set of new Infinity Kappa tweeters for my
front-stage (I have used many different seperates over the years including
Infinity, Boston Accoustics Pro, Alpine, JL, MB Quart and others) and the
speakers I have now absolutely BLOW AWAY the $550 MB Quart Refference Pro
drivers I bought in 1999. And this is from a guy who 10-20 years ago swore
he would NEVER put Japaneese speakers in his car, because back then almost
all Japaneese speakers sounded like crap. But like everything else, things
change, and Alpine spent a ton of money developing truly high-end seperates
and some amazing subwoofers.

Now, back to your original question, though I can't give you a definative
answer like these are made in Germany and those are made in China, I CAN
tell you that just because something is made in China DOES NOT make it any
better or worse than if it were made in Germany. Do you labor under the
false belief that China is incapable of producing anything of quality? It
all boils down to good design first, state-of-the-art production facilities
and rigid quality control. And I can tell you China is full of factories
that make the highest quality products in countless industries.
Unfortunately, China get's a bad rap for also producing many low cost, low
quality knock-offs of various goods.

I guess what I'm saying is that where a product is made means NOTHING to me.
In fact, I have spent a good deal of time in China and Hong Kong and have a
house full of incredibly beautiful, lovingly made carvings, cloisenet(sp),
and other Chineese items of decoration. The Chineese people strike me as
industrious, hard-working, and have a true gift for DETAIL and
CRAFTSMANSHIP.

No, it TRULY boils down to the quality of design, the quality of the
production facilities, the quality of the raw materials used in production
and, most importantly, rigid quality control, NOT the country it came from.

Anyway, I know that's not what you were asking but your question seems to
suggest an implicit inferriority if made in China which is simply not the
case.

I try to stay very tuned into this industry and listen to all the new
speakers that come out. My HONEST assesement regarding MB Quart is that
they ARE good, but overpriced compared to what other manufacturers are
offering these days. Now that's just one guy's opinion and I don't want to
offend MB Quart users or some such thing. But that's they way I see it
(well, hear it).

My $.02,

MOSFET, MBA

"DManzaluni" wrote in message
...
Various people are advertising MB Quart speakers on line saying that
what they have are the german ones, not the chinese ones

Does anyone know how to identify these? I tried buying some new ones
but the distributor wont respond to questions. I am now wondering
which german model was the five and a quarter inch low profile
component speaker? (The current Maestro line may have one but they
seem exceptionally expensive compared to what seems available on line
and describing itself as German Production)



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James James is offline
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Default Identifying MB Quart models

MOSFET, I am just a bystander , reading this with interest. I have a
question about this comment in your recent post:

-----------------------------------------------------
I CURRENTLY use a set of Alpine Class
R 6.5" midbass drivers and a set of new Infinity Kappa tweeters for my
front-stage (I have used many different seperates over the years including
Infinity, Boston Accoustics Pro, Alpine, JL, MB Quart and others) and the
speakers I have now absolutely BLOW AWAY the $550 MB Quart Refference Pro
drivers I bought in 1999.

---------------------------------------------------
You compare your Alpines and Infinity spkrs with a $550 MB Quart, but you
don't state the cost of your Alpines and Infinities. It would be
interesting to see
the cost comparison as well....

Thanks !!

James



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MOSFET MOSFET is offline
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Default Identifying MB Quart models

Oh sure, the Alpine Class R seperates I bought were $199 at Best Buy. I
unfortunately fried one of the tweeters in the Alpine set which is
completely my fault and I should have been more careful. You see, I don't
use passive X-overs in my system at all (including the ones seperates come
with) and my front's are bi-amped. I use a Coustic XM-3 crossover for my
mid-bass and tweets as they can high-pass a signal up to 6,000Hz at 12 dB
per octive. The crossover resides under my passenger seat and the
multiplier switch (1X or 20X) accidentally (a foot kicked it) got knocked
back to the 1X position so instead of a high-pass of 3,000Hz for the
tweeters, they were high-passed at only 150Hz, VERY BAD FOR TWEETERS as I
have them driven by a sweet sounding, but powerful 50 watt per channel RMS
vintage Phoenix Gold amp and there was nothing to tip me off that this had
occured until one blew. I've taken steps to ensure this never happens
again, BTW. And just for the record, my midbass drivers are driven by a
VERY underated vintage (1997) Rockford Fosgate Punch 225.2 (112.5 X 2 RMS,
550 watts RMS bridged), they don't number them this way anymore, BTW, I
believe they are numbered bassed on their max power, not RMS as they used to
be. It's a great amp and I would never part with it. It was built back in
the day when Rockford Fosgate amps were bullet-proof.

Anyhoo, so I find myself back in the tweeter market and I listened to a
whole bunch and finally decided on the Infinity Kappa 10.9's which I bought
new on Ebay for $70. I really like them alot and I can honestly say I
really don't hear a difference between the Alpine's and the Infinity's.
That was NOT the case, however, for a set of Infinity Refference series I
was using as a band-aid until I put in whatever new tweets I was going to
use. The Infinity Refference Series (bought new and cheap on Ebay some
years ago) has a very noticable tendancy to smear (that's the best word
because it's not clipping or distortion) the high's at high volumes. If you
never listened to your music loud, I can imagine the Refference series
suiting many people just fine, I mean they sounded great at low to moderate
volume levels. But I like my music loud and the Refference Series just
didn't cut it. The Kappa's, on the other hand, can take anything I dish out
(of course, as long as the crossover setting is correctly set which it is
currently set at 3500Hz, factory recomendation).

Anyway, that's why I have a mixed set for my front stage. I am always on
the lookout for someone selling a single Class R tweeter as I would get it
as a back-up set of tweets as the Class R tweets sounded outstanding before
I blew one. But honestly, if I had one magically fall into my hands I
wouldn't take out my Kappa's, I really like them.

Anyway, to sum up, I found that this Alpine $199 Class R seperate set to be
vastly superior to my old MB Quarts which cost more than twice as much. The
midbass drivers on the Alpine's can pump out SIGNIFICANTLY more clean,
punchy midbass. In fact, it really is quite amazing how much midbass I can
get out of those. I can turn my subs off and most passengers would not
realize I had done that as the Alpine's can dish out so much bass in the
60-80Hz region. The difference is really quite stricking and I remember the
MB Quart's limits well.

Also, and perhaps this is a bias on my part, I just don't like metal dome
tweets. True, they sound incredible on the showroom floor and their
frequency response usually surpasses soft-dome tweets (I think my MB Quart's
could play up to 32kHz or something like that). But I have found with EVERY
pair of metal dome tweets I have ever owned (Boston Pro when they used
titanium and MB Quart even though they were touting a new type of surround
they had just introduced that mine had that was supposed to soften the
sound) that my ears become fatigued after about 20 minutes or so. I like my
treble more laid back and I have found that soft-dome tweets are more
pleasing to my ears. Now this is just a personal thing and I'm sure other
people like their treble more "razor-sharp" and "upfront".

I have found this true of home speakers as well. I ALWAYS tend to prefer
those speakers with soft-dome tweeters.

Now some smart-ass is going to read this and say, wait a sec, the Infinity
Kappa's aren't soft-dome, they're a composite ceramic. And they would be
right! But to me they SOUND like soft-dome tweets with the laid-back
quality I like.

Anyway, that's proably more info than you wanted but that's the story.

MOSFET

"James" no wrote in message
...
MOSFET, I am just a bystander , reading this with interest. I have a
question about this comment in your recent post:

-----------------------------------------------------
I CURRENTLY use a set of Alpine Class
R 6.5" midbass drivers and a set of new Infinity Kappa tweeters for my
front-stage (I have used many different seperates over the years including
Infinity, Boston Accoustics Pro, Alpine, JL, MB Quart and others) and the
speakers I have now absolutely BLOW AWAY the $550 MB Quart Refference Pro
drivers I bought in 1999.

---------------------------------------------------
You compare your Alpines and Infinity spkrs with a $550 MB Quart, but you
don't state the cost of your Alpines and Infinities. It would be
interesting to see
the cost comparison as well....

Thanks !!

James





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James James is offline
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Default Identifying MB Quart models

Thanks MOFSET !!


James




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MOSFET MOSFET is offline
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Default Identifying MB Quart models

VERY underated vintage (1997) Rockford Fosgate Punch 225.2 (112.5 X 2 RMS,
550 watts RMS bridged It was built back in the day when Rockford Fosgate
amps were bullet-proof.

I reread this and found it somewhat ironic. The term "bullet-proof" is
thrown around alot to denote quality, but in the current context, the irony
is that it is actually quite literal. The amp is encased in a very large
1/4-1/2" thick aluminum heat-sink housing making it heavier than hell and I
have absolutely NO DOUBT it would not be damaged if shot with any gun
smaller than a .44" magnum (or high-powered hunting riffle bullet). It
could take a 9 mm slug or .38" slug no problem, probably a standard .45"
round.

Anyway, I found it funny that although that term is used all the time to
denote quality, there are almost no products that actually ARE. It is the
only amp of my 4 amps, all high-quality (Phoenix Gold, Alpine Class D, ect.)
that I actually would put through a bullet test and expect it to survive.

Just an observation, and something to consider when comparing the
construction of older amps vs. newer models. I doubt any of the new
Rockford Fosgate amps could take a bullet. Of course, amps are not designed
with the expectation they may take gunnfire (well, I guess in certain
neighborhoods perhaps that should be considered).

But just the same I found it ironic I used the term "bullet-proof" without
even thinking that it TRULY WAS.

MOSFET


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xxEMOxx xxEMOxx is offline
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Default Identifying MB Quart models

On Aug 7, 4:53 pm, "MOSFET" wrote:
VERY underated vintage (1997) Rockford Fosgate Punch 225.2 (112.5 X 2 RMS,
550 watts RMS bridged It was built back in the day when Rockford Fosgate
amps were bullet-proof.


I reread this and found it somewhat ironic. The term "bullet-proof" is
thrown around alot to denote quality, but in the current context, the irony
is that it is actually quite literal. The amp is encased in a very large
1/4-1/2" thick aluminum heat-sink housing making it heavier than hell and I
have absolutely NO DOUBT it would not be damaged if shot with any gun
smaller than a .44" magnum (or high-powered hunting riffle bullet). It
could take a 9 mm slug or .38" slug no problem, probably a standard .45"
round.

Anyway, I found it funny that although that term is used all the time to
denote quality, there are almost no products that actually ARE. It is the
only amp of my 4 amps, all high-quality (Phoenix Gold, Alpine Class D, ect.)
that I actually would put through a bullet test and expect it to survive.

Just an observation, and something to consider when comparing the
construction of older amps vs. newer models. I doubt any of the new
Rockford Fosgate amps could take a bullet. Of course, amps are not designed
with the expectation they may take gunnfire (well, I guess in certain
neighborhoods perhaps that should be considered).

But just the same I found it ironic I used the term "bullet-proof" without
even thinking that it TRULY WAS.

MOSFET


MOSFET thank you for the input, I was running a set of MB Quart QSD
216's for 4 years, and sold my trans am, but sadly didn't remove the
speakers when I sold the car, figuring well i will get a set of PSD's
and use them, same tweeter and i still have the cross overs. Now I
got those speakers in 2002 and its 2009, i am looking every which way,
and sadly have heard alot of the new QUART speakers, when Rockford
owned them, they where still decent, now that Maxxsonic's owns them, i
have heard from many friends in the industry they are cutting corners
skimping on quality etc...... which i would expect seeing as they make
autotek, and hifonics. Both now are regarded as flea mart specials.

Anyway, i love my tweeters ear bleeding bright, vocals that can truely
hit the highs...... I am going to look at a set of Kappa's or Alpine
R's now.... I love the higher end JL and Diamonds but for $400+ they
just arent worth it for me, as i am not near in my car as much and
also i am starting to relize i can get very comperable speakers for a
much lower price.
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MOSFET MOSFET is offline
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Default Seperates in general.....

I have used MANY different models of seperates as my front stage over the
last 20 years. I have used Boston Accoustic Pro series, MB Quart Refference
Premium series, JL seperates, Alpine Type R seperates, Infinity seperates,
and have experimented with many different home speakers, mainly tweeters
(like Advent, McIntosh, JBL and several others I can't think of at the
moment) as midbass drivers designed for home speakers NEVER work well in a
car door as midbass drivers designed for the car have MUCH stiffer
suspensions as they are always designed to work in an infinate baffle
environemnt as you never know what size door the speaker is going in OR how
SEALED the door is, therefore they MUST have stiff suspensions as you CANNOT
count on the air behind the speaker acting as an accoustic spring, like in a
home speaker, whether Accoustic Suspension or Bass Reflex designed home
speakers.

Anyway, I LOVE the speakers I have now, a pair of Alpine Type R 6.5" midbass
drivers and a pair of Infinity Kappa C.M.M.D. dome tweeters. To my ears,
they are the BEST sounding front stage I have EVER heard and can handle a
TREMENDOUS amount of power, in fact those Alpine drivers NEED a ton of
power. As I've said before, I can turn my subs off and the midbass drivers
in the front doors can produce PRODIGIOUS bass in the 50-80Hz range making
it difficult for passengers to even tell I have turned my subs off.

The point is, I see these $1700 Focal K2 series speakers and I think to
myself I have spent $550 for a set of MB Quarts and $400 for a set of BA
seperates yet what I have now BLOW those away at a considerably cheaper
price ($200 for the Alpine's, $80 for the Infinity Kappa Tweets, yes, I use
a mixed set for my front stage, both sides bi-amped).

The question I have is are they REALLY worth it? Are they really going to
improve my sound by $1000+? I have NOT ever heard a set of Focal K2 (though
I have heard other Focal models and thought they sounded good, not earth
shattering, but pretty darn good).

Anyway, just wondering if anyone has the K2 Focal series and if they are
REALLY worth it. What I mean by that is if anyone has those, what have they
used in the past and how do they stack up?

I guess I pose this question as I feel like there is virtually no way I can
imagine my front stage being any better, and I use some of the very best
home speakers money can buy some of my friends own (I have a very good set
of Michael Green Designs tower speakers, but I have friends with
significanttly more expensive and better sounding speakers). Yet, as
wonderful as some of these speakers sound, I ALWAYS come back to my car's
front stage and think, " Wow, these kick-ass and blow me away".

I suppose I can imagine EVEN MORE bass capability with a 6.5". I mean, is
there a limit? No. I want as much power handling capability and SPL and
clarity in that crucial 80Hz-200Hz range.

But would I get $1000 worth of increased midbass? I seriously doubt it,
these Alpine Type R's are AMAZING with incredible excursion capability and a
stiff, carbon fiber cone.

Anyway, just curious. I guess I really want to know what $1700 worth of
front stage can get you?

MOSFET


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