Rainbow SL's
 

How do they stack up for the money compared to other brands? the 6.5" Coax's are ~$170/pr which is quite steep. most people have Germs's which i'm sure sound good, but i can't imagine sinking $450 in a set of speakers. since the SLC and SL's aren't the top tier of rainbows, can similar sound be had out of another brand for less money?

SLX's are great...
 

I don't have much to compare them to other than things like Pioneer, Infinity and Polk's (in other trucks...so the playing field isn't level). I love mine, but have only had them in the truck for about 1 month. What is really slick is that the mounting for the tweets is exactly the same size as the stock holes for OEM tweets...so the Rainbows slip right in....way cool. I got my drivers off of E-bay for a good price and by the time I finished all the other aspects of the install (Big 4 wiring, Yellow Top battery, Dynamating, Amps, Wires [$$], Image Dynamics 10" sub and Supercrew Sound box, and the IVA w205 HU with iPOD box, XM adaptor, black box), I was maxing out my budget! I'm really happy with the front stage, and I use the OEM rears as fill with the balance set ~95% front, 5% rear driven by the W205 built-in amp. I think you can't go wrong with the SLx's. Check out my gallery for a 3 sets of photo's that are annotated regarding the: 1) Big 4 install, 2)Rainbows, amps, dynamat, 3) head unit.

install looks good. did you make your own brackets for the doors with MDF or is that an adaptor plate?

also, with the audiophile system, when i fade to the front, it seems i lose bass from the sub. i'll have to go out and listen again to confirm.

I agree with you I couldn't see myself spending 400+ on the Germ's I did find a set of SLC265 Kicks. I love them. They sound great and can get plenty loud. Just remember the speakers themselves aren't gonna determine everything, the install has to be taken into account too. I sound deadened both front doors with about 3 layers of Raamat(great alternative to dynamat for the price) and sealed up the large access hole on the front doors with some sheet metal from home depot. U'll c wut I'm talking about when you open up your door panels. And u can see in 1-big macs gallery also that he sealed his doors as well. If you wanted to go on a lower budget I just installed a set of Phoenix Gold Rsd65 components in my brothers jeep and they get really loud and are ver crisp and clear, these can be had on ebay for under 100 usually too. Again no matter which set of speakers u go with i would definitely look into sound deadener. Raamat and Damplifier are VERY good alternatives to dynamat.

i'm definately going to deaden the doors when i install the speakers.

what's the difference between the "kicks" and the other models?

I made the baffles/brackets/adapter plates from 1/2" MDF and spray-can painted them black. At one point I thought about scanning in the template for the adapters as well as for the boards that cover the large openings in the door panels...never did though.

the kicks version is supposed to have 50% better midbass. and i heard it makes a pretty noticeable difference over the regualr slc 265's. I think they are only an extra $40 compared to the regular ones.

Yes, the Kicks have midbass output that is much better than the standard models, as cgndhhh said. The only drawback, which to some it might not matter, is you have to use an 80Hz HPF with a 12 db slope...no lower...so you dont have much adjustment with that as some other sets, and if your one that likes your mids to play low then its a bit of a turn off.

The extra midbass more than makes up for it in most situations Im sure though. Who doesnt like midbass??? :D


As far as dolar value...they may seem a little high depending on models, but when you compare them to other brands in the same price range, I think you would see why they are popular. Even my old Profi Vandies have better build and sound quality than current models of other brands that cost the same.