MB Quart DSD216

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $130.00 from E-bay store

Year / Model Reviewed:
 MB Quart DSD216

Summary:
I guess I owe these speakers a review since I've had them for so long and have been happy with them overall. First let me say that MBs get lots of slack about over-bright highs, and some of it is deserved. I am running these speakers with a pair of Jensen ATS midbass in the rear, and they still get lots of treble. Don't expect to be happy with these speakers without lots of tweaking. As far as getting mid-bass out of the drivers, you really need to bi-amp them so you can adjust the tweeter level seperatly. I have my entire headunit amp (Kenwood) powering the tweeters and a seperate amp for the drivers, and the sound great up to a certain level (look at weaknesses). This setup really counters the over-powerfull tweeters and allows me to actually listen to the speakers at close to the max level without getting ear-splitting highs. The last thing I have to say is DO NOT expect these speakers to sound good out of the box pushed by your headunit. It took me three installs to get my system sounding good, but it does sound better than any of my friends systems by their own admission (see similar products used). These are not very plug-and-play friendly, but they are great for the price if you have time to spend tweaking. My complete system as of now: Headunit: Kenwood MP822 pushing MB tweeters only. Front: MBQ DSD216 Rear: Jensen ATS 6.5c - Mids only. Sub: MB QUART PWD 254 in sealed box. Amps: 2 Jensen ATS 50rx - one pushing front MB mids and rear ATS mids (parallel wiring) and the other pushing sub(1-ohm wiring).

Strengths:
Great imaging Great sound quality Awsome value Great mids (when bi-amped)

Weaknesses:
Tweeter overpowering mids(unless bi-amped) Tweeter "hits a wall" when listening past 95-100 db. It might just be thats as loud as they go, but at that point they really become harsh and start to distort. This isn't really a negative because two tweeters are keeping up with 4 very well powered mids until 95 db which is pretty good for this price range.

Similar Products Used:
Phoenix Gold (they were the lower-level spks, not as good as MBs in many ways) Infinity Kappa Perfect (over rated in my opinion, didn't impress me at all) Kenwood Excellon (OK, but not in the same class) Jensen low-level stuff (Do I really have to say it? Not even close.) Jensen ATS (I can't believe that these speakers are even made by Jensen they are so good. Not quite as good as MBs in the tweeters, but slightly better in the mids. More bass response) Pyle(HAHAHAHAHA...)

Price Paid:  $250.00 from eBay

Year / Model Reviewed:
1999 MB Quart DSD216

Summary:
After 1 year of researching by myself which is the best components for car audio, it all came out to be this company; althought I realised that best is not the best, is all about where they are locaed at, wiring, installation, damping, etc. But the sound that comes from these speakers are awesome. I always liked to own a 1-class high performance sound quality and SPL system, like owning Alpine F1 Status, JL Audio W7's etc., but for now since I am 17 years old, I will start with this setup, since it's my budget for me. Back to the MB Quart DSD216, in general, I would recommend them to you all that want loud music, since these are really loud you need to have at least two 300W subwoofers. Believe me! To wrap this up, in my opinion, the real car audio sound are the ones that are for example four 20-25W RMS speakers, why because that's the loudest a human ear can accept and car audio is relatively cheap, these MB Quarts are 50-120W, so yeap they are high performance for human ear inside the car only. Which later on you will have hearing loss, and I don't like that, to be honest I like showing off my music loud, but that is only at car shows, beach, etc. Of coarse I don't listen all that inside only when I'm outside for example partying you know.

Strengths:
Tight Midbass Crisp Highs Affordable Price Excellent Material Great steady sound quality and SPL (wouldn't recommend them for a system with 2 JL Audio 12W7's, becuase they are not for eXtreme high performance competition system)

Weaknesses:
I like midbass that have a hole vent, which this system doesn't have at all. Only the tweeters, which I got surprised. Other than that, this system is the best sound quality I ever heard, I never heard about Boston, Focal, Alpine, JL Audio nor Kicker, but I'm pertty sure this German Components are much more quality than all of those companies, and that is because MB Quart is spefifically made more concentrated for speaker engineering only.

Similar Products Used:
Lesson (tremendous sq/spl for the highs, except makes alot of noise), JBL (Awesome SQ and SPL except not durable), Polk Audio (good SQ but not really durable), Image (good, except needs more SQ), Kicker (durable, but has no real SQ), Realistic (SQ not so good), Sony (worst SQ I ever heard), and Bose (not quite good at all, wouldn't recomend them for "SQ" competition)

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Awesome speaker set. Great bass and good highs. Easy to install.

Strengths:
Good Bass, Power handeling, and clarity.

Weaknesses:
expensive unless purchased online

Similar Products Used:
Cerwin vega, sony explode, infinity, Pioneer,jenson