your opinion of great sound?
 

as everyone knows SQ is very suggestive.
In your opinion what makes your system (or your dream system) sound so good?

here is my mine to start things off.

when I play my cd's at moderate levels, (2 front, 2 back and a sub in the trunk) the music doesn't sound like it is coming from any direction, or from any speaker,. It feels like it is right in the car with me. natural, with no impression of stress or brightness
I hear a difference in every cd (quality wise) and at different passages of music the music will be louder (as in high dynamic range) without distortion.
The bass is beating through my chest but sounds like it comes from the middle of my car instead of the trunk.
there is rarely any noise other then the music unless it is an old recording pre digital days.
If it seems like the sound IS coming from a certain speaker, then I know it is one of these things.... either distortion or a buzz from something rattling.

I might add more as I figure it out, but what defines your systems quality?

thanks to all who enters an opinion

cheers

randy

Suggestive?

oops I meant subjective :)

thanks

for me it's always been about clarity, impact, and tonality. Does it excite me, do I want to tap the side of my car door, or beat the drums on my dash. Do I just burst out singing in the middle of a song. Car audio has always been about fun, and for the last 25 years or so, for me it still is. A good install takes care of the imaging, staging, and ensuring that the path length differences are reasonable, but that's on the secondary side for me. I'm about the experience. I don't sit in my garage and listen to songs for hours on end, trying to discern every last detail in the track..I drive a lot, so my system has to get plenty loud, stay clean, clear, sound like the instruments playing or the voice that's singing and move me.

not sure how to edit my post but I would like to add.... when you listening to music and you don't realize how loud it is until you open your mouth :)

thanks

I guess to me it's

1) Tonal neutrality. I don't want cues that i'm listening to speakers.
2) Low fatigue. I don't like the idea that "something's not right"

I think in car audio fatigue is really difficult to deal with and ever-present even in good setups. You've got so many early reflections, off the windows and ceiling. It's especially offensive in the midrange and that to me is what is annoying. I think a lot of people like their bass hot only because they can't stand the offensiveness of reflections at higher other frequencies - IE people are forced to listen quietly, but quiet naturally lacks "fullness" compared to lifelike levels. real lifelike levels are just plain offensive. It doesn't help that road noise is not your friend.

Maybe someday I'll get a low diffraction horn installed in my car like a SEOS-10.

do you find that your current system has a "sweet spot" where everything comes together tonally? my systems sweet spot is when all the fullness comes together... if I get it to go louder, yes it can without distortion, but it just doesn't seem like the "relaxed" and neutral.Any lower volumes and it lacks punch and is kind of dull even though it is very clear and distortion free. when I hit that sweet spot, I only realize how loud it is when I talk to the person beside me and have to talk fairly loud to converse with them

thanks everyone for their opinions so far!

cheers

If the I stay in the car until the song is over, it sounds good!

I would take issue with your statement about the sound coming from one speaker. In some cases,that is the way the music has been recorded. Listen to Beatles CD's, A Day in the Life for example, and you will hear different parts of the track coming from different channels. I don't run back speakers, so that makes a difference as well.

try statement. I think what I am trying to say as the sound sounds like it comes from that "region" of the speaker, in the case of the imaging you are describing. transparent, I guess you can say?If there is a weird vibration that doesn't have anything to do with the music,(or bad distortion) it seems to be coming exactly from that spot, instead of the area

hope this makes more sense:)

thanks for the input,

randy