prasamin Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Looking for the most basic amplifier that can power a set of front door speakers (coaxials) capable of 100watts, and a sub capable of 350-500watts off of a 4awg wire.shoot me some ideas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulr Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 Pras whatcha goin for? Cheap ? Small ? SQ ? Is it absolutely necessary it's one amp? Because it might be easier to get a 75x2 to 120x2 amp, and then get a 300x1 -> 600x1 monoblock, and then split the wire.I'm absolutely in love with my Soundstream VGA 320.4, but repeating my snag of $175 will probably be rather difficult to repeat. It can do 320 RMS at 4 ohms on the two rear bridged, so if you drop it to two ohms (which I haven't tested, but it should do fine - it's a soundstream), you'd be in the 500-600 range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prasamin Posted January 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 i'd like to limit it to one amp....2 channels running the front doors, and something else running a sub.I'm not looking for alot of power here, just some decent sound to fill the car a little more.so you're saying I need a 4 channel amp, two channels bridged for the sub, and the other two channels for the front doors?I'd need, what, like a 100 watt per channel type of amp?really just want to keep it under $200, so yeah, a budget amp that'll last a few years or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulr Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 Well, if you're going to run a sub and speakers off of one amp, then yes, you'd want a four-channel. There are some "three channel" ones out there, but many of these are just bridged internally. You could use a two-channel, and an external low-pass filter for your sub, but this would be very difficult to tune, and not be worth the headache - so yes, a four channel, with two bridged for the sub. Like I said in the other post commenting on 4CH amps, the power on all the channels is related, so you're either gonna have extra power for the components, or underpower the sub. 100 watts per channel doesn't really give you enough for the sub, unless your amp can handle two ohms bridged, then it might be enough (400). You really want closer to 150-200 per channel for good sub performance, especially if you're running a four ohm sub. So you either pay a little extra to get an amp with those capabilities, underpower your sub, or run two amps. With a $200 budget, ebay will be your friend. I was able to find 4CH amps from JL, ED, alpine and many others about in-line with that price range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prasamin Posted January 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 Well, if you're going to run a sub and speakers off of one amp, then yes, you'd want a four-channel. There are some "three channel" ones out there, but many of these are just bridged internally. You could use a two-channel, and an external low-pass filter for your sub, but this would be very difficult to tune, and not be worth the headache - so yes, a four channel, with two bridged for the sub. Like I said in the other post commenting on 4CH amps, the power on all the channels is related, so you're either gonna have extra power for the components, or underpower the sub. 100 watts per channel doesn't really give you enough for the sub, unless your amp can handle two ohms bridged, then it might be enough (400). You really want closer to 150-200 per channel for good sub performance, especially if you're running a four ohm sub. So you either pay a little extra to get an amp with those capabilities, underpower your sub, or run two amps. With a $200 budget, ebay will be your friend. I was able to find 4CH amps from JL, ED, alpine and many others about in-line with that price range.Yeah, I was looking at some of the 5 channel amps out there, and they seem like they would do what I need...they have a separate channel to power a sub. Again, I'm not looking for strong bass, just something to fill the car up with a little more low. I think 200watts to the sub would be enough for what I'm looking for, especially if I end up with an ID 10" or something similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEJinFBK Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 I was gigging around eBay for 5 channels and there was a nicelooking Phoenix Gold for cheap... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prasamin Posted January 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 I was gigging around eBay for 5 channels and there was a nicelooking Phoenix Gold for cheap...how is Phoenix gold as a brand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owned Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 If you didn't care about your rear doors, which you really shouldn't, I can get you into a factory fresh 4 chan for around $200. This gets you out of fake warranty b-stock and ILS rated ebay amps and into something a bit better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USMC850T Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 how is Phoenix gold as a brand?Older stuff - OKNew stuff - the stink. Terrible quality control. Entire shipments have been delivered to dealers with pieces of boards and components bouncing around inside unattached.I just picked up the JL audio slash series 300.4 It's 75 a channel X 4 and it will power my JL 10w3 just fine. The JL stuff is definately rated power wise quite conservatively so im not worried. The Focal polyglass components going into my fronts are kinda delicate so I really don't want anything more powerfull than that amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prasamin Posted January 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 If you didn't care about your rear doors, which you really shouldn't, I can get you into a factory fresh 4 chan for around $200. This gets you out of fake warranty b-stock and ILS rated ebay amps and into something a bit better.so, to wire a 4 channel amp, i would just pull wiring for the front door speakers into two channels, bridged, and then for the sub, bridge the other two channels? what kind of amp can you get in that price range?still browsing....again, this is not for the volvo, so I could care less how old it is, or if it's beat up, as long as it works. i still want to stick to decent brand names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owned Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 so, to wire a 4 channel amp, i would just pull wiring for the front door speakers into two channels, bridged, and then for the sub, bridge the other two channels? what kind of amp can you get in that price range?still browsing....again, this is not for the volvo, so I could care less how old it is, or if it's beat up, as long as it works. i still want to stick to decent brand names.One channel is for front left. One channel is for front right. The remaining two channels are joined to power the sub.I can get good name, new amps right around what you're looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prasamin Posted January 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 One channel is for front left. One channel is for front right. The remaining two channels are joined to power the sub.I can get good name, new amps right around what you're looking for.okay, I'm going to try and score on Ebay, and if that doesn't work out, then you're the next option.i will definitely need some length of 4awg power and ground, along with RCA's and speaker cable, so I guess I have to add that to the spend list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulr Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 okay, I'm going to try and score on Ebay, and if that doesn't work out, then you're the next option.i will definitely need some length of 4awg power and ground, along with RCA's and speaker cable, so I guess I have to add that to the spend list.Adam's a good guy, and will likely get you a good deal, but ebay can have sick deals if you have time + patience.I don't know what the prices are these days but I was getting 4ga for around $1 / foot, shipped.I picked up a resettable breaker at a local auto parts store and use that instead of a fuse, I love it because I can easily kill the line when I'm working on stuff, or leaving the car for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maiku Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 if you're bold, you could join front driver speakers and rear driver speakers into one channel, and front & rear pass. speakers into another channeland bridge remaining for subthat's what i'm doingworks pretty well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owned Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 Adam's a good guy, and will likely get you a good deal, but ebay can have sick deals if you have time + patience.I don't know what the prices are these days but I was getting 4ga for around $1 / foot, shipped.I picked up a resettable breaker at a local auto parts store and use that instead of a fuse, I love it because I can easily kill the line when I'm working on stuff, or leaving the car for a long time.May want to fuse that wire before the breaker. In your grimy, dirty engine bay a mechanical device (breaker) is more likely to fail than an electric device (fuse). There are several occasions floating by both word of mouth and forum posts in the audio community about the risk involved with breakers. They are nice, because if it pops you do no need to run out and buy another fuse. However, they don't trip 100% of the time. Also, the convenience is a double-edged sword. Sometimes it trips due to can issue, other times because it's worn and you hit a bump. Problems happen when people just keep resetting their breaker and eventually it fails and the wire overheats.if you're bold, you could join front driver speakers and rear driver speakers into one channel, and front & rear pass. speakers into another channeland bridge remaining for subthat's what i'm doingworks pretty wellFrom an SQ POV, this is a bad idea. If you don't care and just want to get by it will work. You're also likely to be underpowering the speakers when doing this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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