Rainbow speakers

[harleytuner]

Now that i'm content (for now) with the performance 0n my '07 EG I decided that the next upgrades will be to the audio system.  I had already installed the new Jensen deck in it and I have a set of Kappa speakers and a Soundstream amp coming today (thanks NutZ!!). 

I was pretty heavy into audio back in the early 90's, I used to compete with my truck.  But i've been out of the scene for A LONG time.  Back then I had the best equipment money could buy.  Blaupunkt deck, Rockfort Fosgate Speakers, Orion Amp.  I also had some Rainbow speakers and a rainbow amp.  For those of you that have never heard of Rainbow they are a German company, VERY expensive but the quality was unmatched back them.  The best stuff I have ever had.  I had 4 12" subs and a 1000 Watt amp of theirs in that truck.  If memory serves me correctly I had well over 4K in just the low end of that truck.  I never could afford to upgrade the mids and highs to Rainbow but that was the plan.

Has anybody else ever heard of them or run them before? http://www.rainbowcaraudio.com/speakers.html

[UltraNutZ]

OMG man.. now you're showing your age and mine too unfortunately!

There's a lot of young guys floating around here but some just might remember those days and actually some of those names.  Rainbow is one I haven't heard in at least the past 10 years.  Although I agree with your take on these being some of the best there is, the problem comes in with construction.  These speakers are obviously designed for max performance and max sound quality with the downside being simply the materials used to reproduce those sounds.  I do believe most (if not all) of the Rainbow line of speakers back then were made from natural fiber cones and silk ribbon or domed tweeters neither of which is going to hold up in the environments we're in.

[harleytuner]

OMG man.. now you're showing your age and mine too unfortunately!

There's a lot of young guys floating around here but some just might remember those days and actually some of those names.  Rainbow is one I haven't heard in at least the past 10 years.  Although I agree with your take on these being some of the best there is, the problem comes in with construction.  These speakers are obviously designed for max performance and max sound quality with the downside being simply the materials used to reproduce those sounds.  I do believe most (if not all) of the Rainbow line of speakers back then were made from natural fiber cones and silk ribbon or domed tweeters neither of which is going to hold up in the environments we're in.

That's how I remember them as well.  But man they were nice.  Back when I competed I was living in Sandiego, they had classes for the event like 250 - 500 Watt then that was separated into two groups (amateur and pro) same thing for the other classes 500-750,  750-1000 but for the 1000 and over class they was just one group (pro).  Since I was putting out 2250 Watts I had to enter the pro class.  Everyone in the pro class was factory sponsored vehicles.  I blew them all way.  I remember the Kenwood guys would get so pissed when I would show up, they had a dually that was loaded, from the cab to the bed.  The problem was since they were a factory truck they wanted to showcase their products so they only used Kenwood where they could.  Back then the head units were OK but the speakers and amps sucked.  Being I was INDY I used the best of everything and always took home the trophy.  I had a lot of fun.  I had about 10' of wiring harness so I could pull the head unit outside and put it on a stand to control it.   

[UltraNutZ]

and to think.. back then 1000w was over the top.. now it's run of the mill.

and the harness thing.. yeah later on in competitions after dumb asses had blown a few of their ear drums, IASCA (not sure who it is now) started imposing rules for db levels.  Anything over a certain db had to be remotely controlled from outside the vehicle.

[slothy]

rainbow are still the "Potty mouth", and carry the pricetag too lol.

i remember back in 94/95 (highschool) rolling around a soundstream reference 500 and just how damn loud it used too be.. not amps the size of my wallet crank the same power lol.

[tdgriff]

wow I just looked those speakers up on Amazon. You guys are not kidding those things are expensive. I wouldn't mind giving them a try though. Do you think they make them the same way they used to? If not I'd be willing to try them.

[harleytuner]

wow I just looked those speakers up on Amazon. You guys are not kidding those things are expensive. I wouldn't mind giving them a try though. Do you think they make them the same way they used to? If not I'd be willing to try them.

Not sure if they are the same materials or not. I will say that I'm sure they are just as well built. The sound quality is second to none. Gotta give the germanscredit. They do know how to engineer.

[UltraNutZ]

there are a handful of speaker manufacturers that will never change their stripes.  No personal experience here as that's too rich for my blood but I would say Rainbow, Klipsch, DynAudio, among a few others fit that bill so yeah I'd say they were as good if not better than they used to be.

[harleytuner]

 I can't recall for sure but I think I paid somewhere around $800 each for the 12" subs 25 years ago

[tdgriff]

I can't recall for sure but I think I paid somewhere around $800 each for the 12" subs 25 years ago

wow that was big money back then . I will have to look into them and see what I can find.

[dforeid]

Hey, I got an idea. Wonder how we could squeeze a McIntosh amp in these things? Talk about the $hit!

[zukeepr]

Klisph is no longer in car audio but i did have some back in the day. Sounded pretty good. I wish Mind Blower would get back in it. Now that was a great speaker for the money.