List, from 1 to 5, the top five component sets (of any size) that in your opinion, sound the best. If they were a custom set, list the raw drivers and tweeters.

- Steve

1) memphis sq series with silk tweeters. absolutely smoooth...price isn't overly high and they sound awesome. don't use a huge x-over either...

2) diamond audio m6 ..for the money, even retail, hard to beat the sq...responsive mid's...really smooth tweet, nice and crisp.

2) focal utopia ..yep, a tie...love these componets, hate the price...

4) memphis msyncs with metallic tweeters...loved these, the tweets are precise without being overly assertive.

5) focal polyglass with metallic tweeters..midrange awesome, tweets get way too aggressive with power(anything over 35wrms)

honorable mention...oZ 4.25's with metallic tweets..these little suckers kicked ass!!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

1) Rainbow Reference series-I was at a shop looking for "the best" one day and the owner told me to check out what he was running. I though "the best" would be around $600 and boy was I wrong but man they sounded amazing.

2) AVI Tri-Star-I love the dome midrange sound a lot. The midbass was in about .3 cubes sealed and had a lot of punch for a 6.5. The tweets were loud and smooth with no harshness. Really great setup.

3) Kicker RS6c-These were very nice in my Cavi. I thought that Kicker should have made a 3 way set of these for sure. I think there were one of the best for the money ever made. I liked the strong midbass and the tweet stayed smooth and got very loud.

4) Crystal CPE 3 way-The crossovers were junk but once you went active with them they were amazing. I would actually rate these right behind the AVI's if it weren't for the fact that the crossovers didn't do their job. The midbass couldn't go all the way down like they should but once you smoothed them out they were really sweet sounding. I think the tweet could have been a little stronger too but overall they were nice.

5) Focal Utopia's-I know they are at the bottom of my list below some costing 1/10 their price but the tweets were harsh and the sound wasn't well balanced. Probably a bad install.

I know the Crystals shouldn't be on this list but man I got them to sound great in my car. It took a bit of messing around with but in the end they were the best sounding set I have ever OWNED. I think if I had went active with the Kickers and ran a midbass they would have spanked the Crystals.

1. Second nomination for the Rainbows!! I LOVE them!!

2. Rainbow Dreamline (their entry-level set). I have come across this set for $120 and I've heard $5-600 sets that don't sound as good as these.

3. My Koda 8s, CSS 4 and SF planars. All active of course.

4. A/D/s, don't know any info on them other than they were a 3 way set and kicked major butt. This was a couple years ago, yet I'm still impressed to this day.

5. USD waveguides with their 8" midbass and crossover network. I love the horns, but they can easily be way too loud if not done correctly. Their midbass is like making love to the town whore. Snappy as hell and QUICK on the attack.

And could you believe that I have a brand new set of rainbow pro 3-ways just sitting around waiting to be hooked up. I figured I had to buy into the hype, because nowhere around here sells them.

My list is this

1----Rainbow Referance 6.5's

2----Adire Koda

3----RE 6.5's

4----Alpine SPX 177a

5----Helix 5.25 comps

the Rainbows sounded GREAT with anything I could throw at them.

The Kodas had the most midbass I had ever hear from a comp. set---that is until I heard the RE 6.5's----the RE's being cheaper and not as hard to install(the Kodas are deep) made them my fav. to this point.

The Alpine's I had where some very good sounding comps.---I love the crossovers---alot of control.

The Helix's(in my wife's ride)sound natural and smooth----yet have good impact.

Boy, the Rainbow's are just whooping everything in this thread aren't they.??!!

Damm, seems like everyone's heard the rainbows in here except me. I have a hard time ranking em seven though i've heard a few sets in my time. I guess i would rank em in this order: Focal Eutopia, Koda 6/infinity kappa tweets, DEI Studios, Hifonics Zeus, Kicker Resolutions

i haven't heard the rainbow's either...

maybe i'll get a set just to hear what the hype is about..

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

That was one of the perks of working at Ampman.com----I got to test ALOT of stuff(got to keep some of it too---cheap)

what about favorites under $250

2 of my pics were under $250.

Kicker RS6c's are hard to beat for the price they are selling at at www.onlinecarstereo.com

I haven't used them yet but from what I hear the RE series componets are really nice sounding and well under $250. I would trade my BRAND NEW NEVER USED Orion P6.2's for a set!

You can find the lower lines of Rainbow for under $250. Look on Ebay and Here.

Oh yeah, there's a guy on Caraudio.com selling some Aura 6.5s too. This set sounds awesome! Neo motor too!