Pioneer 8400MP
MB Quart PSD 216
MB Quart RSD 116

I don't have a sub yet, but I'll get a sub when I change the amp. They're currently powered by Kenwood X650D temporarily until I change it to either of these.

Zapco AG360 + another Zapco amp to power 1 12" sub.
JL500/5 to power speakers and one JL12W3-D2.

I don't know much about PPI or Phoenix Gold, but I'd definitely consider them too. I don't want to spend more than $500 on amp(s). Please suggest me good amps. I'm a noob.

 

IMO, skip the rear speakers, or if you have them, power them from the internal amp on the headunit.

Grab any good quality 4 channel amp that's rated between 75 and 100W per channel @ 4 ohm stereo. (The only amp I wouldn't suggest here is the JL 300/4...it will only give you 150W to your sub.) Run the front components off of 2 channels, and then bridge channels 3 & 4 to the sub.

I've used a/d/s/, RF, and now Arc Audio amps with good success. There are plenty of amps out there that will fall below your $500 budget. A Phoenix Gold 500.4 Ti would be a great amp...not sure if you can find one for that price.

That Zapco 360 would also be a fine choice. I just find it's cheaper and easier to setup a single amp then to wire up multiple. Buy purchasing less amplifiers, you can afford more power.

 

Thank you for your opinion.

I also like the idea of using one amp to power everything. What about the JL500/5?
100W x 2 up front, 25W x 2 rears, 250W to sub.

 

well you've seen my setup in my otha car (briefly) and heard it (from inside your house b4 U knew I was rolling up/arrived Lolz) so you know my phoenix gold (sub) and Alpine (mids/tweets) amps hits... I would get 2 separate amps instead of 1 5 ch or whatever.. 1 amp dedicated for the mids and tweets and 1 amp dedicated for the subs... so your running 2 difference subs? thats kind of wierd... just don't get cheap stuff and get an amp that puts out an RMS in the power range of your speakers... PPI, Alpine, A/D/S, Phoenix gold, JL, Xtant, Eclipse, Diamond Audio, are all good companies...

where'd u get the temp amp? borrowing a frenz? hehe

 

Nah, it's from the shop I got my system done at. The owner said he'd let me test all the amps I want. Then I can take the ones I like while paying the difference of coarse.

I'm probably gonna try the zapco, jl, and may be phoenix gold amp. Getting seperate amps would give me more power, but I only want one sub. I don't like the idea of not being able to use the trunk.

 

what shop is this? thats pretty cool that they let you test out and upgrade amps...

well I had a single 12" and a Phoenix gold amp for the sub and it hit hard..

 

It's a shop called Audio Tune and I kinda know the owner...and the fact that he's korean too is a plus. If I ask one of the workers how much the jl500/5 is, they say 699 or something, but when I ask the owner he says $500.

 

haha coo... i was just curious.. cuz not a lot of shops would let u do that.. they'd let u test it in the showroom n stuff.. but not drive off w/ it. .then upgrade or whatever..


[Modified by GSRaCeRbOI, 4:24 PM 6/18/2002]

 

That JL 500/5 should be fine for what you want....

Otherwise, a very nice 4 channel amp is a PPI PC4800, which is 100x4 @ 4 ohm stereo.... I have that in my wife's suv pushing MB Quart DSD components up front and coaxials in the rear...

 

cool thanx. The good/bad about the JL500/5 is that its 100w x 2 @ 4 ohm up front, but 25W x 2 @ 4 ohm in rear. But then again, an additional 250W x 1, which is just about perfect for a JL12W3.

I don't want to f**k this up, because an amp really does make a big difference.

 

Well the 500/5 is weaker for the rears because it assumes that you'll be using speakers that require lesspower, i.e. coaxials, for rear fill. JL's 25x2 will be way better than any deck power so it will still sound good. It's a good choice for a 5 channel amp.

 

*update*

Switched from Kenwood excelon X650D to JL 500/5 today....and the results are very dissappointing.

With the JL500/5 I can definitely feel more power from the front speakers. But the distortion is just f**king horrible. There's this whining/whistle noise that can be heard when accelerating or decelerating. With the kenwood amp, none of this was present. And when the HU is scaning the CD's format (for mp3 or cd), I can hear the CD scanning sound right from the speakers. Again, with the Kenwood amp, none of this was present.

The wires are all the same, so are the speakers, HU...nothing was changed...simply the amp only. And the result is just pure gheyness. May be a capacitor will solve the noise, but all this symptom wasn't there when I used Kenwood.

I'm so f**king pissed right now. I emptied my wallet but got sh!tty sound in return.

 

sounds like alternator whine.. the high pitched whine increases as RPM increases and stuff right? can't you take it back again and get something else? gosh I hope you don't have a bad amp that would suck.. but since your coo w/ the owner that shouldn't be a problem..

 

I'll second the vote for the PPI


edit: read the update....

I had the same problem when I swapped out amps. I'm thinking that some are more prone to that sort of thing. Just check all the connections, length and connection of ground wire, seperation of power wire from rca's, etc


[Modified by miahmouse, 3:12 PM 6/22/2002]

 

I'm going back there tomorrow to hopefully solve this problem. Another guy there that knows his **** told me the amp needs some "tuning". If that doesn't solve the problem, I'm gonna go with a 4 channel amp like PPI or Zapco.

 

I have PPI's in my other car .. PPI

http://www.precisionpower.com


[Modified by GSRaCeRbOI, 1:41 PM 6/24/2002]

 

I'm trying to find out more about PPI, but apparently they don't have a website?

 

PPI Makes an incredible amp. here's a link to their site http://www.precisionpower.com/