Question bout buying..

For me....I care a lot....Especailly the head unit...I gotta like how it looks. For the other components, in my case, they are gonna mostly be out of sight, so the visual aspect is minor....If I was gonna do something more custom/show...it would be a much bigger factor...

Willy

 

yes most people will care because if they have a show car chances are they want subs the same color as there car

 

when I build a system, if the equipment looks bad, but sounds good.. i hide it. if it looks good, then I show it off.., I think that's pretty much how everyone does it.

aesthetics are becoming more and more important in the car audio world. That is why audiobahn makes everything with chrome flames now.. They are selling the bling now, instead of actually making decent equipment.

what I don't understand is when companies make a fantastic product, and package it very plainly.. a few come to mind, but the most astounding is adire audio's low profile..( I hide those, but man, do they sound great..)

so, yeah.. I vote important, but not important enough to compromise and buy audiobahn

 

Since when do chrome flames look good anyway?

 

Looks is everything. I always wonder why people put a bright silver radio in a black dash, sticks out like a sore thumb. Looks awful in most cases. For me it has to look like it belongs there.

So for me its very important.

 

for me looks dont matter.. just as long as nobody looks in my car and wants to steal it.

 

I prefer a factory look, or at least a custom job that looks like the factroy would have done it.....So yes, how an audio sytem presents itself is very important to me

 

For me the most that matters "looks-wise" is the head unit. Since I will be looking at it the most. But I dont go after anything fancy like a changing color head unit or anything. I also like custom work that looks factory.

 

I like plain black stuff

 

I would say it is important in that if the equipment is an eye sore.. I won't buy it. I prefer just a clean look to the equipment anything with lots of design and bright colors I just won't get because it seems like they spent more time trying to make it look good than sound good.

 

I think it should look like it has a little bit of class. Probably cause I'm an old fart. Last thing I would want is some amp with flames on it. Personally, I like the JL stuff. Just a brushed steel look, which would go nicely with my KAC-X501 Kenwood. I could remove the Rockford I have from out of the jumpseat area, and mount the JL I want on the back of the cab next to the 4 channel where it belongs.

 

I like things that look like man stuff...no flames or chromed out stuff here...only rugged tough sh!t

 

I sure as heck wouldnt, a design like that would probably inhibit the heat transfer and make the amp run hot......Look up an old Orion 225 hcca or 275 sx, THAT is how an amp should look.....simple, clean, and in a design that allows for maximim heat transfer to the air......thats called thermaldynamics.....And thats how it should be done......All this, what it called? BLING crap can go right straight square to helll....If i want a pretty amp, i will paint it pink with roses and daisy's on it!!!!!!! Amps are about POWER, about making system perform..... The conservative approach to external design is what catched my eye first, usually means that they are more worried about whats inside as opposed to how it looks.....Look at some home audio stuff, like mark levinson, or Mcintoch VERY simple and clean, you have NO idea that this thing kicks out enough power to arc weld with though!!! Any painting on an amp is a bad thing really, other than maybe a small naked chick in the middle, that would catch my eye!!!!

 

I had my amps powder coated silver. The Kenwood amps were originally Kenwood color and they looked a little dull. I have had covers on an amp painted, but the casing itself, no. The amp gets pretty hot and unless the prep work is really done right it won't stay looking good. Powder coating is extremely durable and is not affected by heat. I paid a local shop $20 to do two amps. Thats cheap enough (all the electronics must be removed, only the case can be coated)

Notice the covers on these three amps, they were painted to match the car.

 

Nice looking Ranger....

I have powder coated a couple of amps over the past few years myself ( the plant i am employed with does this on a massive scale ) You are correct, the powder coating is good for about 350 degrees continuous...and is tough as nails ....far higher than what an amp will run at. The only issue i had was that the darrn things would run on the hot side......It looks good, but dammit, that Epoxy powder coating makes one heck of a good insulator....

Finally had to take a hole saw to the back cover plate and drill them out for a couple of 4 inch fans each to cool the boards directly......pain in the buut to reintegrate it back into the amp rack that way and allow for air flow!!!!!

 

Ranger you have some awesome work there bud.

Viking is right....example is Audiobahn chromed flame amps...overrated pieces of chrome crap. The casing has almost no heat sink...only a chromed out flaming stamped steel looking case...bastards

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=13507

For putting out 1200 watts rms (haha get real Audiosuckmyballs)...Should have more heat sink than that right??? Thats why their craps amps always overheat and take a S H I T.

 

hmmm...

I thinks looks are complimentary with other aspects.. We can't buy a product by its look alone... First the functionality, the price and the looks.. If everything is somewhat ok.. then there will be low effort decision making. Otherwise one may ask for more choices...

if the product is good, kool features and nice price... then one go for the looks.. looks will be more important to other lifestyle products, like apparels etc... but in car audio it is not that much important, but complimentary with other factors..