Totally new to this and need an amp

[neo_styles]

Don't waste your money on the kenwood. Get the z.

[Fireitup]

So do cadence amps usually do rated? Or does this depend on the series.

[Morpheen]

So the Cadence is prolly what I'm going for unless the Brutus is a better choice. I have a week or so to decide. Thanks again everyone.

[zako]

In my opinion, there is more to amplifier quality than whether it can provide its rated power. I for one would not touch ANY of current maxxsonics amplifiers, whether it's Hifonics or MB Quart, with a 10 foot pole. Reason? Someone at maxxsonics decided to save a few pennies for the company by designing in all of them a pre-amp section that does not add the signal of the left and right channel. Look at their manual carefully? Why would I care? First, not all head units send mono signal on subwoofer outs. Kenwood sends stereo signal. The solution of using an RCA splitter to just connect one channel to the amplifier is not satisfactory to me.

If the goal is to run 1000watt RMS on a budget, I'd recommend to consider PPI Phantom P1000.1 (or its clone Soundstream TN1.1200D). These are normally priced at $190-220 online (PPI is $189 at sonicelectronix right now). Of course, ignore what I say if the main goal is to have a sound system that "pounds". For this, maxxsonics amps probably work fine.

Having said this, I think Kenwood amplifiers are seriously under-appreciated. I have seen a few test review of full range (not mono blocks) KAC and XR series. Both are nice clean amplifiers that provide their rated power and all other specs are in check. Kenwood does suffer from a bad image problem. It doesn't help that XR series are priced close to Alpine PDX (at least the F4). However, Kenwood XR amps they are indeed within the same league with PDX, or at least very close.

[Morpheen]

Keep in mind that I'm new as hell to this so it's all kinda Greek to me. I'm just basing everything off suggestions while I try to learn.