What's a 'high-end' 5ch amp these days?
 

Hey all -

Well...it's been about 10 years (wow, i'm getting old) since I was into car audio hardcore & competing, etc.

With that said, I'm ready to dive in and get alittle, but good system in my SC300. I want to use 1 amp, I'm guessing 5ch.

Who makes the highend / best sounding stuff these days? Back in the day it was Phoenix Gold, Rockford Fosgate and Orion HCCA stuff.

Now I see: Directed, JL, Clarion ProAudio...etc!!

Not looking to make 150db - just clean, and some decent power....

Thanks!
Jay

Check out ARC audio 5150 XXK amp or the Phoenix Gold ZX 900.7 titanium...both great amps!

I use Zapco..they are the beez kneez at the moment!!

thanks guys! How do Diamond & Eclipse amps stack up?

PG, RF, Soundstream, Alpine...they were still considered mid end amps, never ultra high end. Orion Red HCCA amps were pretty much tops until about '94. Adcom and Bryston made very brief appearances in the scene, but they faded away. Zapco...good stuff and I've been getting lots of good feedback from their users. Tru Tech...also great stuff. I've spoken with one of their engineers and he's been asking me about improvements to their amps - they're always willing to listen to the guys in the trenches. Brax was on the scene for a bit and touted the "lowest distortion" of them all, but never had the real life test numbers to back them up. Brax was aimed SQUARELY at McIntosh, Imo, the best of the best but Brax didn't have what it takes. Arc Audio has some nice stuff too.

Clarion Pro audio...second compared to Mc if you just take Mc vs Clarion Pro. Mc is owned by the same company, Clarion, BUT Mc has an agreement to keep themselves seperated from Clarion when it comes to designs, patents, assembly. In other words, Clarion is pumping money into McIntosh but has NO other intervention. A free reign and the Japanese prefer to keep it that way. Mc is NOT a japanese company, even though they (Clarion) is funneling money into them. Mc has always been american...and the japanese love em for their longevity, prestige, etc. :)

JL...they still have to prove to me that they are truly high end. They are getting there though. Lots of changes with the company. Just stay away from their crappy W7 subs.

What price range are you looking for? Or are you after just the top end and don't care about price?

Percy

:eek3: So what are good SQ subs then. For the price (compared to others in their class) they are selling, you'd expect it to be better than "crappy". ;)

JBL makes some very nice amps, out of probably 30 installs I would say I have yet to see one fail unless it was caused by inproper installation, I would almost consider them high end, very clean and very formitable power supplies, ther JBL power subs are very clean, if you wanted to step up to the GTI series subs probably one of the best sounding/loudest woofers I have heard, as long as you have room for it.

Audision, probably one of the best out there at the moment, their amps are fairly small too so they can fit in several different configurations.

Zapco, always been top notch, pricey, but their quality hasn't changed in 10 years.

Diamond audio- D7 amps were very clean and powerful, but UGLY, however thier new D9 series is supposed to top them, and they look good too:)

In my personal system, I have a soundstream Van Gogh VGA 800.2 running the subs and a VGA 500.4 running my mids/ tweets, very clean power. Not saying they are the best amps on the market but they meet my needs.

Any of the above, you cannot go wrong, just depends on what your tastes are, there are several brands even the ones not mentioned here that are great amps, and have very clean sound. The biggest decision IMO is choosing the right speaker setup because there is such a broad range of quality. Dynaudio, FoCal, Morel, Rainbow probably the best, and a few others that I cannot think of off the top of my head.

Of course you still have brands like McIntosh,

SQ subs- IMO

FoCal
Boston
Image Dynamics
JBL GTI
Eclipse aluminums
JL audio(W6 V2)

Probably a few more I am forgetting, but those are my favs

i think ur talking about SPL SQ subs right?
ID MAX ( image dynamics)
RE XXX (Resonant Engineering)
Adire brahma

drop with "name brand" the ones u see in circiut city and best buy companies. most of the SQ comp guys use ID or RE.

for amps...
http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...09_13_full.jpg

jeeze those are some huge amps:eek:

Tru Tecbnology, US Amps, Arc Audio

http://www.trutechnology.com/images/.../ces04_008.jpg

Some nice Tru amps

Diamonds amps are pretty good, especially the D9 line up.

Eclipse = :thumbdn:

I would highly recommend going with Zapco. :thumbup: :thumbup:

I notice there has been no mention of PPI amps. Are they still any good?

I was more into the scene in the 90s and back then, I swore by PPI Art series amps for my needs.

But again, things may have changed since the last few years....

Jon

They were more of a mid-range amp than anything...lots of competitors used them though since the price wasn't too bad.

Percy

Wow...thanks for the lesson guys!

My plan:
While not planning on entering any competitions, I want a clean, powerful sweet sounding setup that will easily overcome the gte motor & roadnoise from the 18" tires.

Budget - well, not unlimited ;) but I'd rather do it right, than do it half assed just to get it done. I'll most likely set aside $1000 for the amp(s). Checking out eBay, etc, etc...I think that can be accomplished.

Basically, what I've gathered from this is:

McIntosh...if you have the means, I highly suggest one...right!? Somthing like a MC420 & MC443M mono amp? Or can 1 - bigger 4ch MC431 just get used to run everything...front components and sub?

After mac's...

Tru Technology
Zapco
Arc Audio
Diamond

Ideally, I'd have 1 5ch amp...but would I really miss out on SQ buy just going 4ch and going with quality front setup?

Thanks again...
Jay