Sony Xplod - Why do people hate them?

Question

Why do people hate Sony Xplod? What's wrong with them? No biased opinions please

Answer 1

All opinions are biased.

Sony is known to make entry level car audio products. Sony markets their products to seem as if they were the best. Once people learn that they can get a better product for a little bit more (or even cheaper if they learned how to not get ripped off) they tend to look at any of the overpriced low/mid products as junk. Fosgate, Kicker, Pioneer, Lanzar, MTX, Kenwood, Volfenhag, Audiobahn all get similar treetment for being low/mid overmarket/overpriced products. Sony makes decent products (cd players will probably die on you) if you are willing to overpay for not doing your homework.

Answer 2

It seems conflicting to ask why people hate sony but you don't want a biased opinion, which would indicate you don't really want anybody to answer your question.  So I'll ignore the biased comment and give you my biased answer.  Sony used to be great stuff.  Way back in the day, when sony made "mobile ES," they were the ****.  Even today people try to get their old stuff for their competition vehicles.

However, sony's quality has gone down hill something terrible, along with many of the name brands that used to rock.  For what sony costs, you could do much better.  Much of sony's problem is that they used to have something great and gave that up to enter the mass market.  They sold out.  Chased the money and lost all the respect.  

I wouldn't disrespect a ford with that junk and I hate fords.  lol.  

Sorry for the biased response, but I don't know what other response you can get with a question like that.

Answer 3

i wouldn't say they are total c**p, but they are not great or anything. I've had a higher end sony deck before and it did the job for me, it did distort more then lets say a pioneer or alpine though. Their amps, speakers and subwoofers i would never buy, i would like to try their 500 dollar speakers with ribbon tweeters just to see how they sound. I am personally satisfied with my Diamond Audio s600s components and my Kappa 6x9s running off my Alpine PDX amp FTW :)

Answer 4

When it comes to car audio i would stay away from sony. To me, it seems that sony makes way to much stuff to make the top of the line car audio gear. But I mean if you dont have that much money then go for it. I only buy top of the line stuff when it comes to me and my car audio

Answer 5

Thats true there is nothing worng with it,but people now days want speakers, amps and subs to be at the very best sony does not do this...

Answer 6

I don't personally hate them. I have a Sony Xplod head unit but I stayed away from their speakers because I figured I could get more for my money with Polk. The only car audio related companies I can say I hate are dual, phase linear, jensen and the other cheap brands that everyone knows break left and right.

Answer 7

if speakers and subs are called "blown" when they are damaged, why would you name your line or car audio products Xplod??? not smart!

the materials they use on their subs is not so hot but their amps are just as good as the others--- they are CEA-compliant which means that their amps have been tested and produce of exceed the advertised RMS wattage with minimum distortion (the main cause of sub damage)

CEA-2006 Compliant

On May 28, 2003, the Consumer Electronics Association published standard CEA-2006, "Testing & Measurement Methods for Mobile Audio Amplifiers." This "voluntary" standard advocates a uniform method for determining an amplifier's RMS power and signal-to-noise ratio. Using 14.4 volts, RMS watts are measured into a 4-ohm impedance load at 1 percent Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) plus noise, at a frequency range (for general purpose amplifiers) of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Signal-to-Noise ratio is measured in weighted absolute decibels (dBA) at a reference of 1 watt into 4 ohms. This applies to both external amplifiers and the amplifiers within in-dash receivers.

CEA-2006 allows consumers to be able to compare car amplifiers and receivers on an equal basis. Manufacturers who choose to abide by the new standard are able to stamp their products with the CEA-2006 logo that reads: "Amp Power Standard CEA-2006 Compliant."

Answer 8

I ll try to be unbiased or whatever your looking for,

Plain and simple, they fall short of there claims

Also, if you take any of there specs and play it side by side in the same make vehicle against top of the line products, you will never trust Xplod again.

Buy a set of Boston Acoustics and see if you can't tell why people don't like Xplods, unless your tone deaf, well then heck, buy whatever you want.

You can always fake it til ya make it.

Answer 9

Have you SEEN their products? Their head units look and feel cheap. Their speakers look, feel, and sound cheap. Their amps weigh next to nothing, which tells me they have wimpy insides. Oh, and that red is UGLY. Sorry, that's biased.

I agree, with other Sony products you are usually safe. For some reason their car stuff is kind of junky.

Oh, and you CAN buy Pioneer at Walmart...

Answer 10

judging by what i know about them, i had a " 1200 watt " sony x plode amp, after wondering why my subs werent hitting hard...i came to realize that there were 300 watts going to each amp when everything was turned all the way up...not quite 1200 watts huh. The head units are descent, but avoid speakers and amps.

Answer 11

Okay, I don't hate Sony Xplod.  But you look at how they marketed their product and it just looks cheap.  You think of their TV's, and home A/V stuff and think that's nice stuff.  Then you see a Sony Xplod amp that says 1200W that's designed to get teenager attention with outrageous color combinations and you look to the side of the amp and see a 50A fuse.

Anyone with decent car audio knowledge knows that there's something wrong with this picture.

As a lot of people already have stated, Sony sold out when they tried to please the masses in search of more profit.  They figured they can get away with making a lower quality product that will sell nice & cheap to increase sales volume and rely on their brand name to carry them through.  

I for one don't believe in that practice.  Any hard earned respect that once was there for some of their elite products have gone waste side as a result.  It will take a complete turnaround in company direction for me to once again respect Sony Car Audio.

Answer 12

because it's cheap material for teenagers that can't afford anything but want the bass

Answer 13

I turned against Sony when they went from a brand that was sold in car audio shops to a brand that were sold in Super K Mart.

You dont see Pioneer and Kenwood selling in supermarkets.

Sony also made some outrageous claims when they hit the market, about the power ratings of their units. I had one Sony CD deck that was rated at 80watts x 4 but was lucky to power a 30w RMS speaker.

They also burned out a lot of head units as they were rated so high, and people had to keep the volume right up to make any noise.