Just finished up the first phase of my install. I installed my a/d/s comps. up front along with bi-amping them with an elemental design nine4. All I can say is that I am extremely pleased and impressed with them. I had debated between paying extra for the Focal 165KP or JL 650ZR, but I am stoked I went with the a/d/s. Very clean and detailed, good crossovers and very versatile. Whatever music I threw at them, they handled very well. I recommend these to those looking for a fairly low cost comp. set to replace your factory speakers. These were installed with Nazars 06 door pods and they look sweet. The installers at the shop I used and Tweeter were all very impressed with the pods (many comments on them) and really liked the a/d/s speakers. The only ones they would of prefered were the Polk Audio SR series. I will post pics on Monday. You can check out a/d/s at cardomain.com

Lates,

Sonny

 

IX or IS???

Do you have experience with both sets?

 

356IS and the 246IS are the ones I purchased. I did not hear or demo the others, but am very pleased with these speakers for the price. They play hip hop, rap and mid bass music very well. They are pretty solid for acoustic and instrumental, but when turned up near the top they start to be a little harsh, similiar to the Focals, but not as bad and less than the JL's. I haven't really fiddled with the crossovers as of yet, but I am sure I can tune them a little better as well.

Also, the Alpine unit is fairly straight forward, not a lot of bells and whistles, but I am more and more pleased with it as time goes by. I still prefer the Clarin interface and Eclipse adjustments, but overall the Alpine is just a stunner of a looker and sounds very good. If I add the Clean Sweep or equalizer to clean up the output from the 2volt deck source, I am sure it will really sing.

 

I would like to get my hands on these new ones.

If you like they way those sound...you would love the way the old school a/d/s sounded before directed bought them out.

 

what is the price range?

 

Well, my friend looked at all the manufacturer dates, these were supposedly made in 2003, right around the transition, but they are the newer design??? The price range is up to $700 for the 346 and $300 for the 246. However, I got them at a better price point due to some connections. For the price (think half off or so) they are very solid. I looked for some older a/d/s amps, but couldn't find much. So I went with some elemental design to run them. These amps produce a lot of clean and stable power from what my installer and I could tell. The gain is turned down way low on the sub and it still bumps. I will post pics of everything on Friday.

I have another set of 246 comps. if anyone wants to pick them up at a great deal.