i am looking to upgrade my component speakers sometime in the near future. i am looking at the MB Quart QSD 213 and 216....but they are really expensive at 500-600 bux. are MB's just ridiculously overpriced? is there anything comparable in sound quality to the MBs? any recomendations on what kind of amp i should get?

 

Try listening to a set of Dynaudio speakers, specifically the System 240 MK II. I've had lots of MBQ in my car before and the Dyns just blow them away in neutrality, dynamics, etc. IMO, of course.

Percy

 

Personally I never liked the MB Quart at all. Have no idea why they are so popular. THe Dynaudio's are my fav but they are very different from anything else and take a little getting used to as well as some time to break in. My second choice are the Boston Acoustics Pro series. A bit bright but nice and much cheaper than the Dynaudio's. I have a Dyn 360 system I'm installing. It requires custom buildouts on the doors to fit them in.

 

If you power the Q series MB Quarts with proper power like a JL Audio 450/4 then there are better sounding speaker on the market IMO. I manage a store and these are the best by far.

 

x2
I have the QM 6.5 comps in my G35 powered off of a JL 450/4 with 150 watts RMS each to the quarts. I think they are absolutely amazing. The tweeters are a little bright but you can modulate them with the crossovers.

I would recommend looking at the QM's instead of the QSD's. I listened to both and really didn't notice that much of a difference. I think you can get the QM's on Ebay for around $350+-. I thought that they were much better than the Bostons. The only comps that I think sound better are Rainbows and Focal Utopia's (if you spend the time and money to place the speakers properly). The Rainbows I listened to were over 3k and the utopias are around $600.

The best thing to do (which may not be possible) is to listen to all of your contenders in the same shop. What sounds good to me or the other guys may not sound good to you.