I hope McIntosh car audio isn't chopped...

 

It is.

 

!!!!!!!

 

Sad day indeed - Boston Acoustics Exits Car Audio

"What Does This Mean for Us?
Way back when I worked at the Good Guys, Boston Acoustics was one of two "high-end" speaker lines we had in the car audio department. Thomas, the install manager at the time, had a pair of the Pro 6.2 separates in his front doors, and even to my then-untrained ear (as if it's really trained now), those speakers sounded awesome. As for me, the bucket I was driving at the time didn't deserve speakers that good.

Today Boston Acoustics released a statement saying that it was exiting car audio. I caught wind of this a couple of days ago with the rumor that reps were being quietly contacted with the news. The company plans to focus on its home audio products, though it will retain its OEM partnerships on the car side." Mobile Electronics

 

"What Does This Mean for Us?
Way back when I worked at the Good Guys, Boston Acoustics was one of two "high-end" speaker lines we had in the car audio department. Thomas, the install manager at the time, had a pair of the Pro 6.2 separates in his front doors, and even to my then-untrained ear (as if it's really trained now), those speakers sounded awesome. As for me, the bucket I was driving at the time didn't deserve speakers that good.

Today Boston Acoustics released a statement saying that it was exiting car audio. I caught wind of this a couple of days ago with the rumor that reps were being quietly contacted with the news. The company plans to focus on its home audio products, though it will retain its OEM partnerships on the car side." Mobile Electronics

I remember when I was at Good Guys, I would always move Boston to the discerning customers. Most other folks wouldn't want to pay more for ProSeries and wanted more mid-bass than the Rally series would offer.

I liked my ProSeries, but enjoyed my MB Quarts more. Sorry to see Boston go in any case...

 

Sad to hear that. They made some great products over the years and always set a high standard. Back in the early '90's their Pro Series Comps and subs were the first higher end products that I owned....the quality, fit, and finish was first rate.

Another car audio legend, moves seven steps across the soundstage from Left to Right, returns to center stage, then takes a bow, then exits...for good. What a great performance and a great ride. Boston Acoustics is a class act but might have gotten a bit too loose with the "brand" in recent years!

This is a tough industry.....http://ceoutlook.com/2012/02/23/boston-acoustics-exit-car-audio/

 

while i have never been personally impressed by their speakers, its sad to see an obvious quality company leave...i hope the hole they leave wont be filled by crap from my homeland lol

 

while i have never been personally impressed by their speakers,

Bing, what speakers were you into back in the day? I thought the early Boston Pro was the cats meow...I also liked the early a/d/s speakers ...just really nice playing jazz. Also, some of the Polks were nice. Then I heard the MB Quarts and those opened up my ears, then I was into Aura MR, etc, etc.. Just wondering what speakers you were into in the '90s.

 

Re: Sad day indeed - Boston Acoustics Exits Car Audio

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum.../forum/industry-shop-talk/124401-boston-accoustics-leaving-car-audio-arena.html

you are a few hours late to the party...

 

were going to end up in the industry with a bunch of lousy brands, no longer protected by the manufacturers and quality control a must, and just a few companies owning all those brands under one umbrella, being cheaply made... oh, the days of more sadness are a coming.

 

Boston has been exiting the category for several years. They just finally made it official.

 

That I can believe... with the advent of boutique brands grabbing most of the big spenders in car audio, there doesn't seem much market left for some of the older quality companies. Slowly over the years they've been disappearing leaving the mainstream companies to lead the way (Pioneer, JBL, Kenwood, etc)... Think of all the use to be high quality brands that have fell from grace over the years to taking a back seat on the market, diminished to a lesser quality, or even disappearing altogether (MTX, Phoenix Gold, Kicker, Autotek, US Acoustics, Cerwin Vega, Blaupunkt, Eclipse, to name a few)... And now Boston Acoustics??? This is sad, really sad!

 

RIP to a once premier brand.

 

All good things cme to and end.
Shameful that todays younger generation do not appreciate quality sound in thier car. :mean:

 

That's because they can use their Iphone in the car with headphones or some other cheap solution to listen to that Iphone. I have heard people say that the iphone sounds awesome with some cheap ass headphones. What a sad day I too was a fan of the 90's Boston pro line 6.4, 5.4 and 6.43 (3ways).

 

NOOOOOO!!!!

I love Boston Acoustics! One of the truly innovative and unique car audio companies is leaving!

I have always loved the Boston sound.

 

I really liked their Pro series speakers that they made back in the 90's and I used their speakers on a regular basis up until 2007. I still looked at their speakers, but I felt that their signature changed a bit in recent product iterations. They also had great support and customer service.

Unfortunately, I think that the amount of fanatics like us is shrinking and their business decision sounds like a good one based on their goals.

 

I agree. BA left car audio a long time ago IMO. Haven't liked a set since Pro 6.2.

 

why are we surprised.. All we hear about in this forum is HAT, Hertz, and DD. If any one dares say " I like pioneer or jbl or Polk or Boston" you get poopood because they are big brands.
The big brands sell thru big box stores mainly and you have few representatives from those chatting here. Here you have the small shops that seel the boutique brands.

Its like many things: you are either very big (Pioneer JBL, FORD, VW) or very small (HAT HERTZ Ferrari, ) if you are mid sized like Boston, Saab, you are dead.

 

People here like obscure brands really for little reason. We just like to try stuff. Boston I wont really miss. They had some decent stuff and I used the Rally comp set in high school, but JBL and pioneer or polk people have used here for ages. Those who are objective about car audio, big name doesnt = bad.

With ipod control being a selling point for many vehicles and stock systems being improved significantly, I expect lots of car audio companies to drop out eventually.

So whats the worse that happens? We use home drivers or overpriced botique brands and realize that an amp for the most part is an amp.

Plus this site was based on DIY and home drivers are going no where.

Some rs180s and some peerless tweets will sound better than bostons 90% of the time.

 

And that's exactly my point. When you throw them on the mainstream internet market then you have to compete with brands with similar quality selling for far less. Brands that the masses would rather pay for than for upper end BA. Now brick and mortar shops loses their protection in sales. Let's face it, most here don't want to pay top dollar for something that is not actually that superior anymore. The Pro line may have been grabbing the majority of their sales, but what about the rest of their 12v products. Even M. Jordan figured out he couldn't tote the whole team's load.

Look how Arc just got exposed on one of the threads here for rebadging SBA drivers that you can get off Madisound for wayyy less. Hmmmm.... you think sales will eventually slump from there once the word gets out?? Hate to be cynical, but I hope so! That's a dirty tactic that any Arc fan should be pissed about.

 

Look how Arc just got exposed on one of the threads here for rebadging SBA drivers that you can get off Madisound for wayyy less. Hmmmm.... you think sales will eventually slump from there once the word gets out?? Hate to be cynical, but I hope so! That's a dirty tactic that any Arc fan should be pissed about.

I suspect that an average Arc customer is receiving most of product information through installer's car audio shop rather than the obscure klippel forum on DIYMA..

 

Hopefully this will end the debate about whether SPG-555 was an SQ or SPL subwoofer.

 

It's whatever you want it to be!

 

i always felt the bostons were a bit thin and harsh sounding...especially various Z sets i have worked with.

back in the day, i guess for m it would be around 2000 when i first got into sq...my favorite speakers were

Morel
AVI
the original pioneer PRS speakers at least i thought they were called prs back then.

and for cheaper budgets

Crystal Mobile Sound
DEI Studio components.

 

i always felt the bostons were a bit thin and harsh sounding...especially various Z sets i have worked with.
back in the day, i guess for m it would be around 2000 when i first got into sq...my favorite speakers were Morel AVI the original pioneer PRS speakers at least i thought they were called prs back then. and for cheaper budgets
Crystal Mobile Sound DEI Studio components.

Cool, feedback! I guess my experience goes back to the original Pro Series 6.2 drivers. These had a soft dome tweeter. The later speakers and especially the Z Series drivers had a different sound signature in my opinion...I was not impressed with the Z Series drivers for the money they were asking. Morels, I thought were nice...I got a chance to crank Anthony Davis older SVT Contour with the Morel/Xtant system. Those IB vented 8's had some awesome midbass. I never got to play with AVI or Crystal. The DEI Studio comps were getting MAJOR play in the mags and on the forums. No one around here had them...I was doing a system for a friend. Just based on that feedback we ordered two sets of the 5-1/4" . These speakers sucked so bad...we tried every type of tuning tricks we could to get them to sound good. They were sent back and Infinity Kappas went in and sounded much better. Hard to believe but that was a strong case for me in the belief that one has to hear speakers to know what one will like...feedback from others can only go so far. Anyway, good to hear what you were listening to back in the day.

I've never understood the harsh label that Bostons get from a lot of people. Extraordinarily detailed is the way I would describe them.I probably like my speakers on the edgier side though.
The SPZ60s could bring out a level of sharp detail on some songs and passages that sounded better to me than any other speakers I've used (Dynaudio, Audison Thesis Orchestra, Polk SR, Hybrid SE, and on and on). :surprised: A lot of it depends on the type of music you listen to.

The later Z's are a different speaker than the original Pro Series speakers. Brighter? More Detail? I would say so....don't know if that was good or bad...but not a speaker all would like. But I guess that is the case with all speakers.

That being said, what type of music do most who buy BA listen to? Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

I play drums and have played in a jazz trio, R&B band, Orchestra, 300 member University Marching band, percussion ensemble, etc, etc....My musical taste is all over. I was listening to Jazz, R&B, Pop, House Music, Classical, etc, etc....The original Pro Series were the speakesr that suited my taste at the time over many of the other brands that were out in the early 90's. The later BA speakers were not quite what I was after years later. Not sure if the music one listens to really matters...as all BIG NAME speakers tend to draw buyers from all of the music listening map.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I might think twice about Bostons if something like Metal was my music of choice. It might come across a bit harsh. Then again, I don't listen to Metal, so what would I know. Take for example one of my reference go-to songs when trying out speakers:Big Love (Live, 1997) from The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac (2CD)
The SPZ60 speakers made this song sound just awesome to me. The guitar in that song is insane and the Bostons just nailed it.
The guitar is so insane and the SPZs handle it with so much detail at high volume that you think the speakers are going to explode by the end of it. But they don't. The Bostons just handle the song that well.
My opinion only, of course.

IMO, I really think BA went for a brighter character because MB Quart, Polk Audio, Diamond Audio, etc had that type of sound years after the original Pro Series drivers. Those brands were getting a nice share of attention. I remember when the later Pro Series 6.5 speakers came out...I went to my local to check them out....and they were a bit too bright on the sound board for my taste. Maybe they worked better in the car? But...I was not moved...the later Z Series did not move me either given the money they wanted for them. But, many loved those speakers....so????

 

I've never understood the harsh label that Bostons get from a lot of people.

Extraordinarily detailed is the way I would describe them.

I probably like my speakers on the edgier side though.

The SPZ60s could bring out a level of sharp detail on some songs and passages that sounded better to me than any other speakers I've used (Dynaudio, Audison Thesis Orchestra, Polk SR, Hybrid SE, and on and on). :surprised:

A lot of it depends on the type of music you listen to.

 

That being said, what type of music do most who buy BA listen to?

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

I can't speak for everyone else, but I might think twice about Bostons if something like Metal was my music of choice. It might come across a bit harsh. Then again, I don't listen to Metal, so what would I know.

Take for example one of my reference go-to songs when trying out speakers:

Big Love (Live, 1997) from The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac (2CD)

The SPZ60 speakers made this song sound just awesome to me. The guitar in that song is insane and the Bostons just nailed it.

The guitar is so insane and the SPZs handle it with so much detail at high volume that you think the speakers are going to explode by the end of it. But they don't. The Bostons just handle the song that well.

My opinion only, of course.

 

I would think along those lines as well...... Then again with the Fleetwood Mac generation about gone, I could see why the decline. Everybody now wants Kicker and stuff of that nature.

 

Bummer. I just got a pair of the GTA amps, and they're very nice for the money.

 

I wouldn't worry about more and more companies exiting car audio. There are way too many companies producing way to many crappy products (BA it seems was not one of them, however). A lot of them cater to people with a 90s produced car with no CD player and crappy OEM speakers. Most of them will not be missed. It is true that DIY car audio market is shrinking, but it will not disappear. It's also true that the stock car audio systems are improving. However, MOST of them are not addressing the needs of audiophiles. Which means that there will always be some room for speaker companies like HAT, Focal, or Dayton, etc, and high quality amplifier companies, as well as DSP/factory integration makers. The market will shrink. The producers of junk will leave for the most part, but a lot of small audiophile oriented companies will hopefully remain and thrive.

 

Whoa whoa whoa!!! Wait just a minute! I just so happen to like my 90's car!
On the bright side since you mentioned audiophile & Dayton I guess that includes me huh? :laugh:

On the serious side, it's not good to see a competent company fail, but it's not like I ever supported them or any other car audio brand. Ever since I picked up V. Dickason's LDC some years ago (early 90's) I became fascinated with trying to incorporate home audio drivers into car audio. It was just cheaper for better quality drivers that way. Some was not so inexpensive, yet quality and actual driver specs were always there. Something not too common with car gear. Wish some of those brands from back then were still plentiful today (Polydax, Audax, etc..). With that I can't ever see myself getting excited about any certain car audio brand whether driver or amp. After learning some of the true basics you either become an actual audiophile trying to enjoy hi-fidelity sound, or an audiosnob... brand name gear superiority complex.

 

Stock stereos are getting better and better. Profits are better when they use cheaper materials, but competition among car companies is growing in the stereo department, as the stereo itself is becoming more of a selling point (VW recently, for instance).

The only thing stopping factory systems from being the best you could possibly get is the car companies themselves. Once they fully commit to putting in the best, they will. They have more resources to than anyone.

For the time being, it's sad when a company like BA leaves the market because they are one of the innovators. Like the sound or not, they put out unique products.

If we are mostly left with boutique brands, we'll see new product lines very few and far between. And we'll have the same amps the size of cars 10 years from now.

 

The only thing stopping factory systems from being the best you could possibly get is the car companies themselves. Once they fully commit to putting in the best, they will. They have more resources to than anyone.

I agree...My mom had a Chrysler Pacifica and the stereo was unlistenable IMO. Now, her one generation away Dodge Journey stereo is much better and I can listen to it. If they wanted to do even better I think they could.

 

Bring back KRACO!!!