please give me reasons to like my setup i tried so hard to get it most people like it but there r those few that make you feel like poop about it if not audiobahn then what. audiobahn is the only thing i know and ever had ive got to go big what ever i do so help me. please!!!!!!!!!

 

i rock them in my yukon....
don't worry!!

 

Audiobahn is a product that I know very well. Unfortunately all too well. I've had several experiences with fried amps, torn surrounds, blown coils, edgy or shrill sounds. Audiobahn designs their product to appeal to those who want more show over sound quality. I warn many of my friends about Audiobahn and their shoddy equipment and customer service practices prior to their purchases, regardless there are always a few who don't listen.

Personal Experience #1: A friend of mine brings me his amp which happened to be the A4KDN and complains about the waffling under pressure. This amp was pushing a wall of 12" subs wired down to 2ohm just for the record. Now, this amp was able to push the subs but when the head unit was turned up it would cut out. So I tested the wiring by placing a Concept 2400 in place of this unit and the Concept amp held strong and even sounded like it had more power behind it (yes, I used a DMM to set the gains on both amps). So I decided to take the amp into my favorite store and hook it up for bench testing. I was very shocked when I found it was only pushing 650W @ 4ohms (give or take 5W) RMS. So I take it back to my friend and give him the whole bit of information and we proceeded to contact Audiobahn for assistance. About two hours later we finally get an RMA to send the amp into their service center to be looked at. A month goes by from the day the service center received it and my friend, Mark, had yet to hear anything. So we called up and asked what the deal was. After dealing with several transfers of people trying to find the amplifier in question, they finally find it and let us know that it is damaged beyond repair due to manufacturers error. The time stamp of completed review is about three weeks prior to the phone conversation. So they tell us that they will be sending a replacement unit at no charge. Three months later and several phone calls, he still didn't have a replacement. When he finally received the replacement it was not the same model and a step down from the A4KDN. The replacement amp fried two weeks after reinstall.

Personal Experience #2: This girl calls up the shop and wants a box made for the stereo competition the next day and wanted it tuned to 58Hz (she also wanted it sealed, but I won't go there). I told her it would take a bit to not only build the box but to also tune the box to the specifications and would charge extra for the time spent after hours. She agreed and brought in her two precious 12" Eternal subs. I sold her a Concept 2410 amp and wired it all up according to the specifications she asked for. The box I built was tuned at 58Hz and I made sure the amp would handle the subsonic filter. When she stopped by to pick up the car I went over the details of the install with her and told her the highest setting to use on the car (76% max on the head unit) however, she jumped in and cranked the hell out of the system and managed to rip not one but both surrounds on the speakers. Even though the user was at fault, the speakers were set to handle the wattage pushed by the amp, even if cranked. The end result is user error, but the surrounds should not have ripped if the speakers were clipping, the coil should have burnt prior to the surround. With a little assistance from the shop we purchase replacements (they were out of warranty) so she could still go to the competition with her precious Eternal subs. She comes back later in the day and shows us the subs tore again on the surrounds of the new Audiobahn subs. The material of the surrounds is either really bad, or the glue used to hold it down to the cone is worthless. Either way that was a total of four subs needing reconed from one vehicle in one day. She's now running Kicker Squares and getting better scores than with her Audiobahns.

Personal Experience #3: I bump into an old friend from high school and it comes to the conversation of the xB. He's checking out the system in it and loves it to death. Complains about the cost of a professional stereo install and I pipe in to offer up a free install for an old friend. Elated, he sets up a time with me and brings all of his equipment in... audiobahn and dual. So, I remove everything in his system and replace it with what he brought me. The system was a Dual head unit (single din) with built in TV. He had two amps, one 4 channel one 2 channel bridgeable both audiobahn. He purchased components, yay, they were audiobahn, damn, and audiobahn 6x9 coax for the rear and flame series audiobahn in a prefabbed box. Well, I called him up and had him come in. He sat down to listen to the install and he yelled at me because it sounded even worse than his stock stereo. I gave him information on why I don't like Audiobahn and recommended some brands to look at (even ones not in the shop). So, I uninstalled everything and let him take everything back for exchange on something else (he wouldn't buy from the store, but he wanted me to install it?). When he came back it looked like the Sony Xplod rep blew up on him as that is what he had. So I installed everything... begrudgingly since it was sony afterall. The finished product did sound better than stock, but not by much. The best part was, it sounded tons better than the Audiobahn setup. The low end was muffled and the high end was hot (not what you want in tweeters) and the midrange seemed to be lacking towards the 800Hz frequency... but it was still better.

So far, everytime I have dealt with Audiobahn, it ends up bad in one way or another. Also, I have yet to hear an audiobahn setup that I like... most of it has been quantity over quality. Most Audiobahn subs produce decent 50-120hz range but completely wash out below that. If you want a sub, generally you want something that will handle 20-80Hz with the flatest possible curve you can get in that frequency... the Audiobahn response curves don't even come close to flat regardless of what box you put them in. With that said, 90% of the output comes from the install with 10% being product. If you have a good install (box included) and good equipment, you should have a great setup.

If you want something that will really turn some heads, look into RE MTs or SoundSplinter RL-S. Check out Incriminator Audio 20.1 amps. Trust me. Keep in mind, my setup is very simple and small yet it still tops out at 146.2 on the TL mic, and I've only got a 500W (RMS) amp pushing the two 8" subs. Bigger is not always better.

 

The only thing that I like about audiobahn is the looks. other than that there not two much to brag about. My friend and i installed a full set up in is 240 and thought it sounded good(he just likes the hard bass) So i didn't want to hur his feelings by busting on it so I let him sit in my xb and listen tomy system
1250 mono kicker amp
3350/4 kicker amp
2 10 l7 solo barics
kenwood headunit
2 kx65.2 kicker componets
4 inch and 51/4 jl coaxels
And with the sub amp on half and bass a little less than 3l4 and the volume at 15 he was sitting in the back seat getting blasted with nice hard hitting bass and loud and clear music. Needless to say he was stunned and me and him re did is entire set up.
But like I say to all of my friend car audio can be different for everyone and everyone has their own preferences so go buy what ever you want.

 

Everyone has their own personal opinions about car audio man. If you took ten people on here and asked them what the best setup would be for your car, you would get ten different responses.

Get what YOU like and, of course, what you can afford. If you like the way it sounds and looks, who cares what other people think bro!

 

Car audio is like clothing and automobiles. Brand loyalty rules. I know people that will give a thousand reasons to pick their personal preferance, but just do whatever makes you happy. We have all heard $2000 setups that sound like crap, and $500 setups that we just couldn't believe. Do whatever sounds good to you. Screw everyone else.

 

yea unfortunately audiobahn doesn't work for me too well also. I got my sub and speakers installed by a shop and the first day I drove outta there I was soo happy. But after a while later the quality and crisp of bass and the voice in the music went down a bit. I went back to the shop and the guy told me its audiobahns quality. They make the outside of their amp looks nice but it aint so grreat... but as for now I'm using them till I make some money to built me a sound system =)

 

I agree with Spr0ket .
Looks is what you buy, when you go to Audoibahn.
His JL setup works fantastik in Xb's.
Good luck with your setup, it is what you like not anyone else.

 

Go with image dynamics or elemental designs. Those 2 companies don't really advertise and you have to know about car audio to have heard of them, so their stuff has to be really good for them to stay in business.

 

cause they're gaudy , horrible sounding CRAP