Amplifier Brands
Isn't there some kind of general buying tip that went like...'expect to pay $1 per watt for a decent amp?'
I think some of the knowledgable audio people on this site mentioned it quite a few times.
I think some of the knowledgable audio people on this site mentioned it quite a few times.
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Originally Posted by kornsined
oops i meant 400w for both of them, so 200w a peice.
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Rep Power: 311 you could certainly try Hifonics, although I wouldn't recomend it as strongly as the JL or PHeonix
http://www.woofersetc.com/product.as...5&1=296&3=2042
http://www.woofersetc.com/product.as...5&1=296&3=2042
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Originally Posted by kornsined
oh yeah i forgot to mention do these places ship to canada? sometimes if they do they have outrageous shipping prices. thanks for the help +1 rep for you.
I like the kicker zr's and the new 2 channel amps. I have had orion which are off the hook, but they are expensive. My Kicker zr 360 is out of control. A good place to get these amps are www.onlinecarstereo.com , they have good prices and they ship fast.
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Rep Power: 303 man i hate shopping at audio shops here in edmonton. Huge mark up especially on kicker gear. online shopping is way cheaper, the only thing is you sometimes don't get warranty.
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Originally Posted by J187
Well, everything matters. Money, personal preference, what speakers you are driving, show or stealth, possible heat issues, install location, functionality, etc etc etc. I'm just saying you couldn't create a list of good and bad amps very easily. It's too subjective. It's just better left for a situational topic. Hell, I even install some amps that I don't personal like in customer's cars because the amps might be right for them. I'm not trying to shoot down your thread, please don't take offense. I'm just trying to tell you that I don't think this thread will have much merit and might actually discourage someone (nooB) from using a certain type of amp that might fit their needs perfectly, but someone here listed it as "poo". It's just not so cut and dry - perfect example - There is a custom Acura TL making some noise in the custom world right now. The sound system features a couple sets of Q series quarts. This guy spent all kinds of dough. What amps drive the Q series?? Not Zapco, not Arc, or Tru or Mac, nope. He's rocking a couple punch sereies rockfords. Why? Because they were right for his situation. He Preferred to have an amp with a two tone face design, so he could paint the top half aluminum and Polygenesis the bottoms would wood grain film that matches his dash.
however, i do believe in the "you get what you pay for" theory. expect there to be differences between a similarly powered $500 amp and a $100 amp, things like overall build quality, customer service, warranty, quality of internal components used, etc.
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Originally Posted by slick
actually, that TL used power series rockford amps, those arent exactly cheap, BUT i see you're point. a $100 amp might be "cheap" to me, but a $1000 amp might be "outrageous" to another person, its all about taste and preferences.
however, i do believe in the "you get what you pay for" theory. expect there to be differences between a similarly powered $500 amp and a $100 amp, things like overall build quality, customer service, warranty, quality of internal components used, etc.
however, i do believe in the "you get what you pay for" theory. expect there to be differences between a similarly powered $500 amp and a $100 amp, things like overall build quality, customer service, warranty, quality of internal components used, etc.
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Originally Posted by kornsined
man i hate shopping at audio shops here in edmonton. Huge mark up especially on kicker gear. online shopping is way cheaper, the only thing is you sometimes don't get warranty.
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Originally Posted by J187
And you can't tell me that TL would have used Rockford at all if not for the ease of the vanity customization . . . .
i would use rockford power series, i used to have power series amps a couple years ago and they were great.
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Rep Power: 389 well i've had Alpine,JL Audio, Kenwood, MTX, DEI , PPI, JVC, SONY, Phoenix Gold, Zapco and Hi Fonics over my years
all depends on what your looking for in a amp but for bang for the buck MTX hands down
all depends on what your looking for in a amp but for bang for the buck MTX hands down
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Rep Power: 329 To kornished (or whoever is looking for a cheap but effective amp) JBL is about your best bet for price point -vs- quality. They can be had really cheap online.
Another option would be a JL e2150 rated at 75X2 at 2 ohms stereo,. or 150X2 at 4 ohms bridged... that's at 12.5 volts.
It'll be a little more pricey than JBl, but would be worth it in the long run as you could keep it to run components when you upgrade.
Another option would be a JL e2150 rated at 75X2 at 2 ohms stereo,. or 150X2 at 4 ohms bridged... that's at 12.5 volts.
It'll be a little more pricey than JBl, but would be worth it in the long run as you could keep it to run components when you upgrade.
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Originally Posted by slick
i think that, and probably that the shop he had do all this sold rockford was the reason rockford was used. i was surprised that quart amps and subs werent used.
i would use rockford power series, i used to have power series amps a couple years ago and they were great.
i would use rockford power series, i used to have power series amps a couple years ago and they were great.
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Originally Posted by J187
NOt to hijack this thread but, What did you think of those wheels?
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Originally Posted by J187
Just wondering. I really liked the white dust shields. I thought that was one of the sharpest looking cars I've seen in a long time.
maybe if they were black, along with the car. i agree that its a sharp looking car, my friend has one and its just incredible how nice it is, inside and out, for the price. this is the car i am shooting to buy next summer, if not, the TSX will be it.
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Rep Power: 0 One thing I noticed noone discuss is how amps are made. I mean the design of the cuircutry. Theres a huge reason why I bought my amps. The classes are:
A
A/B
C
D
T
Class A or pureA's are extremely expensive and usaully dont put out alot of power, but becuase of the highend quality of components and the design its self you end up getting clean sound. Pioneer makes these, macintosh, alpine, arc, PPi used to and a couple others if you have lots of cash these are the way to go for sound quality+. On the down side, price, power hunrgy. They heat up like your going to cook on them too!
Class A/B are a little of both worlds. They are usually handmade with good components, there pricey,power hungry. Made for higher power. Im not even listing these cuz theres hundreds.
Class C's are what you will see more of than any amp on places like ebay, there cheaper made the'll do the job for bass and stuff but there not that efficent at it.
Class D's are are known as digital for its design of digital power switching which improves the effiency of the amp up to 70% versus any other amps ability. In simple terms they take little power to run and putout tons of it, thats why most people run them for bass, there downfall is distortion crap loads of it, there typically 4-8% higher than any amp design.
Class T's are tube amps and designed with vacuum tubes for there power supply, they have nice clean power and some times designed for alot of it, But there pricey, and take time to warm up before you can use them.
Note: There are other classes I just covered the basics and keep in mind I got out of installing 4 years ago, since then things have changed, so some of my numbers may be wrong!.
Anyways my decision for choosing my amps was the fact that there are handmade, use quality components and are A/B, which is what I designed my whole system around.
A
A/B
C
D
T
Class A or pureA's are extremely expensive and usaully dont put out alot of power, but becuase of the highend quality of components and the design its self you end up getting clean sound. Pioneer makes these, macintosh, alpine, arc, PPi used to and a couple others if you have lots of cash these are the way to go for sound quality+. On the down side, price, power hunrgy. They heat up like your going to cook on them too!
Class A/B are a little of both worlds. They are usually handmade with good components, there pricey,power hungry. Made for higher power. Im not even listing these cuz theres hundreds.
Class C's are what you will see more of than any amp on places like ebay, there cheaper made the'll do the job for bass and stuff but there not that efficent at it.
Class D's are are known as digital for its design of digital power switching which improves the effiency of the amp up to 70% versus any other amps ability. In simple terms they take little power to run and putout tons of it, thats why most people run them for bass, there downfall is distortion crap loads of it, there typically 4-8% higher than any amp design.
Class T's are tube amps and designed with vacuum tubes for there power supply, they have nice clean power and some times designed for alot of it, But there pricey, and take time to warm up before you can use them.
Note: There are other classes I just covered the basics and keep in mind I got out of installing 4 years ago, since then things have changed, so some of my numbers may be wrong!.
Anyways my decision for choosing my amps was the fact that there are handmade, use quality components and are A/B, which is what I designed my whole system around.
Last edited by ex_03; Apr 7, 2005 at 09:40 PM.
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Rep Power: 0 My brother has a really nice sounding setup,..I was actually surprised. He has that Dual quad-bandpass,...1100 watts,..the one you can buy at Best buy for $150,..and hes got a 340watt Dual Amp. It sounds REALLY good for how cheap it was. Im actually going to buy one in a couple of weeks.
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Originally Posted by ex_03
One thing I noticed noone discuss is how amps are made. I mean the design of the cuircutry. Theres a huge reason why I bought my amps. The classes are:
A
A/B
C
D
T
Class A or pureA's are extremely expensive and usaully dont put out alot of power, but becuase of the highend quality of components and the design its self you end up getting clean sound. Pioneer makes these, macintosh, alpine, arc, PPi used to and a couple others if you have lots of cash these are the way to go for sound quality+. On the down side, price, power hunrgy. They heat up like your going to cook on them too!
Class A/B are a little of both worlds. They are usually handmade with good components, there pricey,power hungry. Made for higher power. Im not even listing these cuz theres hundreds.
Class C's are what you will see more of than any amp on places like ebay, there cheaper made the'll do the job for bass and stuff but there not that efficent at it.
Class D's are are known as digital for its design of digital power switching which improves the effiency of the amp up to 70% versus any other amps ability. In simple terms they take little power to run and putout tons of it, thats why most people run them for bass, there downfall is distortion crap loads of it, there typically 4-8% higher than any amp design.
Class T's are tube amps and designed with vacuum tubes for there power supply, they have nice clean power and some times designed for alot of it, But there pricey, and take time to warm up before you can use them.
Note: There are other classes I just covered the basics and keep in mind I got out of installing 4 years ago, since then things have changed, so some of my numbers may be wrong!.
Anyways my decision for choosing my amps was the fact that there are handmade, use quality components and are A/B, which is what I designed my whole system around.
A
A/B
C
D
T
Class A or pureA's are extremely expensive and usaully dont put out alot of power, but becuase of the highend quality of components and the design its self you end up getting clean sound. Pioneer makes these, macintosh, alpine, arc, PPi used to and a couple others if you have lots of cash these are the way to go for sound quality+. On the down side, price, power hunrgy. They heat up like your going to cook on them too!
Class A/B are a little of both worlds. They are usually handmade with good components, there pricey,power hungry. Made for higher power. Im not even listing these cuz theres hundreds.
Class C's are what you will see more of than any amp on places like ebay, there cheaper made the'll do the job for bass and stuff but there not that efficent at it.
Class D's are are known as digital for its design of digital power switching which improves the effiency of the amp up to 70% versus any other amps ability. In simple terms they take little power to run and putout tons of it, thats why most people run them for bass, there downfall is distortion crap loads of it, there typically 4-8% higher than any amp design.
Class T's are tube amps and designed with vacuum tubes for there power supply, they have nice clean power and some times designed for alot of it, But there pricey, and take time to warm up before you can use them.
Note: There are other classes I just covered the basics and keep in mind I got out of installing 4 years ago, since then things have changed, so some of my numbers may be wrong!.
Anyways my decision for choosing my amps was the fact that there are handmade, use quality components and are A/B, which is what I designed my whole system around.
Great point. Even reinforces my point from earlier -way too many things go into choosing the right amp to just put up a list. Definitely a good batch of info though, build quality can mean a lot. Especilaly if you consider that some people will end up buying 2 audiobahn amps for $250 in the same period of time that someone else's $400 is still running strong.
Oh, and btw, damn you for mentioning Mcintosh. It seems as though every time I forget my obsession with owning Mac amps, someone brings em' up again
