Difference between Good and Bad Amps
 

Hello,
I want to hear some opinions on what you guys consider Good and Bad amps

Mainly this is a budget issue, but I want to know what is the major difference between say an Alpine 4 channel amp, or a Lighting audio or kicker, or whatever those no-brand stuff (with MONSTER wattage).

Is it really worth it (for starter amps, not infinity reference or anything) to buy something with a brand name that cost twice as much? or will those no-brand stuff do?

Thanks
Jonathan

To some people a watt is a watt. To me its not in speakers but it is in subwoofers. I had a alpine ($150amp) on my $800 speakers, than I upgraded to a diamond d7152, much more expensive and notice a big difference in sound quality. When you pay for a nice amp you also get more tuning functions. Either way if the install is shitty no amp or speakers will make up for it. I have seen budget systems of less than $500 perform better than $4000 just because the install was sub-par on the $4000 one. I am big into car audio so I justified paying for it but if your going to be on a budget I reccomend us amps or maybe an older ZAPCO model.

B

What type of budget are we looking at? What is your setup?

It all depends on what you're looking for. IMO stay away from anything claiming 2000 watts for $100 or the flea market stuff. I would check around some car stereo shops and see if they have any "demo" vehicles and check what they're using. Talk to the guys in install and see what they're running in their own vehicles. You can always go with known brands (sony, kenwood, alpine, pioneer, etc.....) to be safe.

Well, i thought i would chime in here.

It's been about 4 years since i was forced to sell my car with all my car audio stuff in it (student loans wouldn't give me any more money, when they found out where it was going).

Anway, a rule of thumb for a decent amp, in Canada that is, was 1 dollar a watt for a good amp. If you're getting an amp that has 1000 wats written all over it, for 150$, you're simply not getting a good amp.

Also, look for fuses -- a "1000 watt amp" with a 20 amp fuse, is not a good amp, look for fuses about 10:1 watt to amp ratio.

And, to start off, a good amp is NEVER going to make up for a shit source. Remember, and amp is just an amp.

Back when i was into car stereo, and i'm sure it's improved greatly since then, i had a deck with 8 volt pre-outs. It was an eclipse something or other, model number was 5 digits with alot of 8's,3's and 0's in it.

That aside, it was about a 900$ headunit.

I had upgraded from a kenwood $129 door crasher junker, with i think 0.2v preouts. It make a WORLD of difference.

You have to realize that your car, and it's wiring system is a hideous jumble of signals, feedback, engine noise, and EM radiation. By boosted my linout voltage by a factor 40, you've effectively improved your signal to noise ration of what you're feeding that amp, by a factor of 40.

No matter how good an amp you have, it cannot repair a crappy signal to noise ratio.

I think, with this experinece in mind, i would advise someone to get the absolute best deck they can afford (not just flash -- learn what the numbers mean and pick based on that), and forget about "power" until later.

If you go and take your 2000$ and buy a 1000$ amp, 800$ set of speakers and cheap out on the deck, you'll be sitting in your car, wonder why the hell it sounds so shitty after spending 2000$.

You'll be way better off speding 800$ on a head unit up front, building from there.

Mind you, as a bit of a disclaimer, all my knowledge comes from before the "home theater in your car" phenominon, and tbh, i haven't played with car audio in over 3 years.

Thank you for your input,

of course i am not the "home theater in your car" type of person, or else I need to be rich!

but i do want some decent sound in the car (especially with an Apexi exhaust.... it really does muffle out alot of sound.... even with the Active Valve silencer on....)

So i mean, i was looking for something in the range of 150-200 dollars (well pioneer speakers, u can't ask for much) and upgrade from there....
I was thinking about a used Clarion or Alpine amp... and i am using a JVC (not front load) deck (which in my experience isn't the BEST in the world, but is good for the money)....
But i am planning to upgrade to a 2004 Alpine unit real soon....

So I am not trying to create an orchestra in my car..... just enough for the above average/moderate car/home theater enthuist.....

from what i can tell, an amps an amp. the problem is a lot of them lie about output. thats where you need to check your facts. SPL power acoustic ones are accurate and at a good price. i made sure to go to a local shop to check out what ones are accurate on their output and which ones arent, i reccomend doing the same. and of course, look more at RMS, not peak

This zapco "100" watt amp i have pushes harder than some of my friends "1500 rms" amps, my old school lanzar amp also says it is 100 but pushes realy hard, they dont make them like they used to :(
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/c6bf0b02.jpg
that zapco pushes these 12's pretty good.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/MVC-004F.jpg

sorry i dont know how to make the pictures smaller

Go on EBay and you will get more for your money. But also remember you get what you pay for! JBL and Alpine have always been good to me, but the old school fosgate punch amps are always killer. You can find an old school punch 200 on EBay for around $200.

Check here often they have items go on and off sale regulary. http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/

For other strange and somtimes hard to find items check here. This Site also ships to APO addressed for our mill who cant find certain items on the economy. Note: shipping is pretty quick.
http://www.installer.com/

Sony amps and Pioneer woofers with Pioneer head unit do well for me. In the process of converting to Hifonics check em out
http://www.maxxsonics.com/hifonics/index2.html

Now get to work
:Kill1:

Hell yeah ZAPCO, Lanzar, Phonix gold, All "cheater amps" (intentionally under rated for the purpose of competion" Keep in mind that amps are rated at certain OHM ratings A cheater amp rates its power at 32 OHMS or so but is capable of runing at 1 to 2 OHMS (every time you cut the OHMS in half it is, for easy explaining, about double the power) so a 100 watt Zapco is actually 1600 at 2 OHMS

BUT some amp companies go the other way They rate the amp at 1/4 of an OHM, which if you actually got it there it would melt so these 2000 watt amps for $250 are more like 100 watts and that is why they weigh 3 pounds instead of 20 pounds like my 125 watt Phoenix gold that pushes more like 2000 watts bridged mono at 1 OHM.

Signal quality is also very important , but I must disagree IF you send a clean powerful signal to a cheap amp it is going to distort it.

Little known fact: rockford fosgate has ALWAYS introduced false bass amplification into the PUNCH series amps (amplifies lower frequencies more than other frequencies).

Buy a nice used amp from a friend or High positive feedback seller on EBAY 99% or more with 400 or more feedback. Then you know the person will bend over backwards to make you happy.

If you didnt get the OHMS stuff it is OK just understand that a high powered amp is going to be HEAVY. And a cheap high powered amp is rating the watts at a level that is unuseable.

For the money right now I like MEMPHIS because Phoenix Gold has cut quality this year.

Nice call on the cheater amps, i love old school amps, I will be running all old school ppi art series amps in my next setup. I think memphis is pretty cheap for what you get, but my friend bought a brand new memphis amp and it over-heated in a week, only at 1/4 gain too!

For durability and reliability I would go for Orion, I have had a 4002 for over 2 years as I finalize and source out all my stereo equipment. Its been through some rough bumps, slides all over the place, & been in over 4 different cars. I use it every day and havent had a single problem. Worth every penny I think, but its not an upscale amp but it does get the job done.

I like Orion good stuff.

The best amps I would say are the JL slash (/), audison, and boston ones. Only thing about the cheaper amps such as lightning, kenwood and so on, is the clearity of the sound and the over all qualty of the amp its self. For me on having to pick one for the money deff. would do JL. The other really neat thing about the JLs are that you can say add or take away deals, as speakers/subs, and the amp will auto adjust the power needed to work them right.

i went all kicker in mines
ks65 in front and rear
ks tweeters
ks 12" L7 700watt
i ran twined 10 gauge wire for every speaker and 2 gauge for the amp
audiobahn class d amp

my head unit is
JVC KV-M706 7in. motorized screen
JVC KD-DV4200 dvd.mp3,etc....
JVC ks-pd100 - for my ipod

i am more than happy and soon i will be putting in another L7 with kx1200.1 bridge in fiberglass enclosure

If you need a good sub amp, and you can find one, Harrison Labs seriously makes some of the best amps ever. I've had experience with multiple, and they are simply amazing. Small package, huge punch.