MB Quarts, Boston Acoustics, Crunch, etc...they used to be the leaders in the industry....until they sold out to produce a much lower price point product that can be sold at Best Buys, Walmarts, etc...
The quality drastically went down to the point where I would never buy anything from them.
JL Audio is a wonderful American company that makes good products....but contrary to a lot of beliefs...they are not the end all of car stereo. Image Dynamics, Arc Audio, RE, Sundown and many others are producing wonderful equipment these days.
Alpine, Kicker, JBL, all making good stuff too and still improving on their products.
In my opinion, Image Dynamics & Arc Audio are making some of the best speakers, subs, and amps in the American market today and they're getting better and better. JL Audio has not improved on their gear for many years (but it's still good stuff)
I think their W7 line has gone unchanged for almost 10 years now...kinda concerning IMO
Arc Audio is making some of the BEST amplifiers around...novice to competition.
Image Dynamics is making some AWESOME components and subwoofers. Their xmax subwoofer line is insane and reasonably priced too.
Sundown is making monster subwoofers too....
stuff has changed a lot since the 90's...some of the big long lasting companies are still producing great stuff, but not a lot of improvements...where as some of the other companies I mentioned have more enthusiasm towards improvements and breaking new ground. Just my .02
