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I have two 15" soundstream spl 160s. I have never used them yet and I need
to buy an amp. These speakers have an rms of 800watts. I was looking at alpines
500x1 amp. But now someone told me its too small of an amplifier. I want a nice sound
but not the best cuz i cant afford the best.
I need to know if the 500x1 would sound good or not . Should i go with the 1000x1 instead?
Of course it will sound better but it will also run me a lot more $$.
Anyone with knowledge on this subject please reply
Thanks

Gabe

 
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Hmmmmmm do you really need two? One properly powered sub will sound better than two under powered subs. I have two 10inch SPLs powered by one MTX amp and they sound great, but before I bought or installed anything I looked at the specs closely. You cound hook up the alpine but... it is an alpine. How much was the amp you were looking to buy? Im sure you could find an amp around same price range that will make your two 15" SPL's pound. Do not fall for the 1000 WATT MAX POWER! crap. For a little more, you can get a amp like Fosgate MTX, JL, Sound Stream with a Decent RMS rating. Or spend a little less, hook up your SPL's @ 2ohms on an alpine have it pound for a year and buy a new one when the alpine ( or kenwood/pioneer/sony/jbl) frys it self.

 
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You seem to not like Alpine....why? They are one of the better brands.....their amps are actually better than the JL line of amps.

Also have great warranty service....my HU was out of warranty and I got it replaced with a brand new one for free. (7893) because of faceplate problems.

 
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Ok, I won't flame and I will grant you the fact that I just woke up and I am cranky. But, dude... Alpine doesn't have **** on JL Audio. JL amps where designed and developed by the same person/team that designed the orginial Xtant amps and I hope you know how well those amps perform (it just sucks that they are so much) but buying a JL amp is like buying a little piece of xtant. I will never for the life I sell, install, and listen to systems touch Alpine ;-)

 
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Well, it's all about personal opinion in this matter, so thats that.

But I will state that you are putting amps in the wrong classes.....JL is not with Fostage and MTX......it's worlds above them. I had (and still do have) an alpine highs amp.....it was only 50Wx2, and it is about 4 years old, still works great. I had a JL 300/2, it was sent back once for repair, and I just was not happy with the SQ. JL mono amps are a different story.....I have two 500/1's that I love.

Anyway, all i'm saying is my Alpine amp outlasted a JL, and sounded better to boot. The new Alpine Monobloc amps are awesome....quality of the product is the same as JL's mono amps, but the controlls are much easier to use (all digital) with some extras that JL doesnt have.

As far as highs, i'll never have a JL highs amp....I despised it. Alpine doesnt do it for me either anymore....I'm on to PPI.

 
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how does PG (Pheonix Gold) products compare to Jl and Alpine products, specifically amps.

 
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The PhoenixGold Ti series rules. It's better than JL and Alpine. Awesome amps, but you pay for them.

 
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Wow.. i'm having a crank day so i'll just make this flame short and simple....
Mystic3030... haha.... well, your dumb ;-p

1st, anything is better then alpine - they have no quality and well you might as well throw phoenix gold in there as **** as well. Those companies don't perform up to par or anything better then the avg. rice boy stereo system.

If you are going for quality in an amp xtant stand out by far next in line i would go JL then maybe a tie with kicker and eclipse for amps.

Mystic im gonna guess you blew out your JL amp becuase you don't know what your doing or wired it wrong.

Another thing to point out.. companies like Pheonix Gold and Alpine over rate thier amps. So lets say that they advertise an amp doing 1000x1 that is pretty much peak power under VERY rare conditions at best they are doing a constant 600 watts. Compines like JL, Xtant, even MTX (who we all know lack quality) dont do that... When they say 1000x1 that is the bare min... I know for a fact that JL's 1000x1 for example is doing over 1200 watts when done right.

And I have backings for this before i do get flamed myself... I work for a car audio installer/retailer. We have the 3 year running, number one in the world acura integra running with us as well as many other cars. We have the machines and equipent to test anything that comes in and I've personaly played with everything from Wally-Mart stereos to the 10k amps ;-p so really.. if you wanna make the right choice out of the compaines you have been talking about for power amps go JL.

 
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Slamdcvc go with what your pocket can afford, If you can spare a little more change, a Kicker AMP might do you well. As for Alpine Amps????? Thats the stuff I stick in my girlfriends CRV cause its not all that great. Ill just about buy any kind of H/U, but not every amp. If you do buy a Alpine or Sony, try hooking up one sub first and see how it goes.

 
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thanks guys for the help, I ended up ordering the alpine 500x1, If its not enough
power i might buy two.

Thanks again.

 
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obtix: My stereo was first installed by Audiolink in Manchester NH, installers were Adam and myself. He is one of the top 100 installers in the US as rated by Car Audio Magazine. The JL amp blew out due to a faulty power supply, not because it was "hooked up wrong", and since I have moved on to PPI which is a far better amp in my opinion, both in SQ and quality of materials. Granted, their new stuff is not as good as the some of the older lines like the Art series, but it is still quite good.

Audiolink sells everything from Zapco to Memphis Audio, and the most popular and most recomended lines there for amps are from best to worst, Zapco, Phoenix Gold/PPI, JL Audio/Alpine, Kicker, Memphis.