Maestro Badenia Coming to the US!

By: Ben Vollmer, Car Audio Nationals/TeamSoundDomain

A new company is coming to the US, with a very familiar management and product set.  Maestro Badenia has announced that they will begin to do business in the U.S. mobile electronics and marine markets under the brand name German Maestro offering high quality, high performance amplifiers, speakers, component speaker systems and subwoofers.  (You can read a recent review of the speakers at this link.)

GermanMAESTRO is a premium audio brand founded by members of the management and leading employees of the German MB Quart Enterprise. GermanMAESTRO will continue the proud tradition of best-in-class loudspeaker design and manufacturing in our renowned Obrigheim, Germany facility.

Maestro Badenia is headquartered in Obrigheim, Germany comprised of industry experts who were the marketing, engineering, and manufacturing strength behind the original German-made MB Quart products when that brand enjoyed significant market share, great brand image and a loyal consumer following. Maestro Badenia occupies the original MB Quart manufacturing facility.

German Maestro expects to ship products in December 2008.

The products for Car, Marine and Home Audio can be viewed at their website at: www.german-maestro.de

Scrapin' Stand-Out: Red's Miami's Limo High-Riser

So as expected, most of the cars at the show were laying frame or at the least, sitting lower on sport springs. So when I came across this high-riser limo, customized by Red's Miami, I was pretty floored. Jen and John actually saw this ride at SEMA last year, but I somehow missed it. But there was no missing it at Scrapin! It was quite possibly one of the tallest cars on the lot! Now, Donks may not be your thing, but c'mon, how much fun would it be to roll up to your prom or black tie formal in this??

The Fleetwood was completely overhauled inside and out. Red's installed a full MB Quart Premium audio system, with components throughout the rear cab and driver's doors in custom fiberglass pods, and two 12" Premium subs wrapped in color-matched glass in the trunk (along with the chromed-out airbag compressor tanks). The crew also flushed four Quart Premium amps into the floor of the VIP area - very trick, and a 32" LCD was molded into the wall of the VIP area to handle all the multimedia. Follow the jump to check out this crazy custom!

New MB Quart Premium Series!

Quart keeps the good news coming! I've been a long-time Quart fan and have had many different pairs of the Premium series in my cars (The install I'm working on right now is going to use the Premium QSD series). And now the next generation of Quart Premium Series has been announced: the PVI. The Premium series uses the titanium WideSphere inverted tweeter, which offers incredible linear and broad frequency response, as well as great on- and off-axis response. Follow the link for a few more product shots and press release.

OH yeah.... we also have the 2008 MB Quart product catalog available for download. The new gear and catalog isn't even on their website yet, but after a little hardcore Google-action, I found it. Follow the jump for all the MB Quart goodness!

New MB Quart Discus Speakers

MB Quart has long been one of the premier names in car audio, known for producing some of the best sounding speakers available. For 2008, you can expect an almost entirely redesigned line, and first to be announced is the new mid-level Discus series. One of the most notable changes is the upgrade to Quart's new WideSphere tweeter, which last year was only available in the Premium series and Q-Line. The WideSphere tweeter allows a much broader dispersion and better off-axis listening response over typical convex tweeter designs (it also looks pretty sexy!). Quart also engineered the midbass drivers with glass-fiber/ABS blend baskets to reduce resonance and improve midbass response.

I've had MB Quart speakers in almost every single one of my cars at one time or another, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of the line as Quart releases the details. More to come!

For now, follow the jump to get details, pricing, and small gallery of pics!

MB Quart's Unique Marine AV Switcher

We showed you Quart's new marine radio line a few weeks ago, and now they've released info on a new and really cool audio/video processing center (APC) for marine applications. Essentially, Quart is ahead of the game with this one, offering a single hideaway box that acts as a processing/switching center for a boat-load (pun intended, sorry) of different multimedia devices. The APC "Black Box" offers the ability to control MB Quart's marine component DVD player, marine component CD player, has an auxiliary input, USB input, is iPod ready, satellite radio ready, has a 50x4 built-in amplifier, and a front and sub RCA pre-out. It reminds me of Kenwood's ingenious KOS-V1000.

This system just makes sense for marine applications. You don't really need a CD player mounted up front if you have satellite radio and/or an iPod. The APC lets you or an installer choose the best location for the separate components, while still offering plenty of convenient control options. The simple round marine remote can be mounted at the swim ladder, the drivers seat, on a sun deck, or wherever works best. It offers an LCD display for track and program information, and can mount in some gauge openings, almost like it belonged there.
The larger Primary controller fits into a standard DIN radio opening found in most boats (and cars), but since it is a CD-transportless unit, you don't need to worry too much about moisture, heat, or vibrations.
My hat's off to MB Quart for delivering new innovative technology to the marine audio industry. Check out a bunch of pics, a pretty cool system diagram, and the press release after the jump.

in the forums!