5 Channel Amp Decision

[Roth 10+ year member]

I've been out of car audio for probably 7-8 years, and was just a noob back when I had a few things. I recently purchased a new car, and would like to invest in a new sound system for it. I'm not interested in massive SPL by any means, much more concerned with SQ for my budget. I listen to a wide range of music, from metal of all sorts, to various electronic genres, indie rock, the occasional chopped and screwed (I am from Houston!), to stuff like The Beatles. The car the system will be going into is a 2010 Honda CR-V.

Here's what I have planned for it so far:

HU: Pioneer AVH-P8400BH (the only thing that's actually purchased so far, thanks Iosias!)

Front: ID CTX65cs

Rear: ID CTX65 coax

Sub: JL Audio Stealthbox w/ 10W3v3 (2 ohm version)

I know the price for the Stealthbox is steep, but I simply can't afford to give up any cargo space. The Stealthbox is an easy fix that since it's such a...well...stealth install. I'm not 100% sold on it yet though, so if anyone else has a suggestion, please feel free to let me know. I'm just thinking the price of having a custom fiberglass box built will put me at the same price range or higher.

Since space is such a premium for me, that's why I'm looking at a 5 channel amp to power everything. So far, my eye's been drawn to:

Alpine PDX-V9 - 100 W RMS x 4 at 4 ohms + 500 W RMS x 1 at 2 ohms

JL Audio XD700/5 - 75 W RMS x 4 at 4 ohms + 300 W RMS x 1 at 2 ohms

ID i5800 - 65 W RMS x 4 at 4 ohms + 400 W RMS x 1 at 2 ohms

I've read plenty of good things about ID in general, but I'm partial to the Alpine and JL due to the size, they're roughly half the size of the ID. I'd be able to install the Alpine or JL under a seat, whereas the ID would have to go back in the cargo area where I'm hesitant to really put anything else.

As far as budget, about $400, $500 being the absolute most. I'd prefer to buy new, but if someone on here has a great deal, let me know!

So if anyone has any insight/experience with these amps or something else that would fit my situation, please drop some knowledge on me!

I spend too much time in my car for work to not enjoy a decent sound system, looking forward to listening to some clarity in my music again //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Thanks, and let me know if I left out any important info!

Edit: Forgot to ask, but this amount of power should be ok on my stock electrical system, correct? Or would a new battery/Big 3 upgrade be recommended?

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[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

Also consider the Massive Audio NX5.

I happen to be selling one much below your budget. Wattage on the sub channel at 2 ohms is rather weak though. I'd suspect in the 350w range.

Again, much cheaper.

 

[mclerico83 5,000+ posts]

Boston Acoustics US)

easilly one of the best deals out there

boston gt5750 direct from boston for under 300 bucks

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

Also consider the Massive Audio NX5.
I happen to be selling one much below your budget. Wattage on the sub channel at 2 ohms is rather weak though. I'd suspect in the 350w range.

Again, much cheaper.

Wouldnt touch one. None of them bench tested at rated power from what Ive seen.

OP you can look at the Eclipse XA5000 or the Eclipse EA3532 as well. Both are under rated and will run you somewhere around $200-$250 on the high side.

 

[Why So Cereal? 5,000+ posts]

Boston Acoustics US)
easilly one of the best deals out there

boston gt5750 direct from boston for under 300 bucks

This, if u can fit it.

There are some JL XD700/5 refurbs on eBay for pretty cheap also.

Nice setup btw. Sounds like something I'd run for a nice budget sound.

 

[Shinju 10+ year member]

I got a mint Alpine PDX-v9 for sale, I am only selling since I got new HD amplifiers.

Best option for small footprint and your budget, I love this amplifier and it got me 1st place INAC west coast IASCA and 2nd in the nation. Mind you I use an external processor and did several hours of tuning but even right out of the box they excel in SQ and are noise free. Alpine really stepped it up with the gen 2 PDX amplifiers.

Don’t let anyone tell you class d for front stage sounds like ****, they have no idea what they are talking about, some of the best sounding cars in the world use class D on their front stage so that has to tell you something about efficiency and SQ of a Class D amplifier!

I am running both the v9 and f4 off stock alt, big 3 and kinetik 1800 battery under the hood with 1/0 wire and I never had any issues.

I am asking 375.00 shipped for my v9.

 

[Sonic. 10+ year member]

Arc Audio XDi 805

 

[Reimers 10+ year member]

cerwin vega stealth 800.5

 

[zako 10+ year member]

I know that Polk D5000.5, Hertz HDP5, and Alpine MRX-V70 have been formally tested and verified to be clean nice amplifiers with wattage output around the rated numbers. There has been also a PDX-V9 review on DIYMA. PDX-V9 has a sight edge in power output, though I don't really know if you can hear a difference between amp that produces 75 vs 100watts on a speaker channel. You can't go wrong with either one. Just don't buy such an expensive amplifier from a shaddy vender, so you have good support/warranty. You may want to wait until Black Friday/Holidays. Surely there will be sound decent deals around that time.

 

[Roth 10+ year member]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone. After a little more thinking and research, I might be changing directions a little bit.

At this point I'm really liking the PDX-V9. Some of the other amps mentioned in here look great...except for their size.

As far as the speakers are concerned, I'm now seriously considering upgrading the front stage, and dropping the rear fill altogether. Probably 95% of the time there will just be myself and/or one passenger, rarely will people be riding in the back seat.

I'm looking at dropping the ID CTX65cs and upgrading to the HAT Imagines (unless someone can come up with a better sounding set for the same price). I'm leaning towards doing a component install of the Imagines with an active crossover set up.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can simply use the PDX-V9 as my active crossover, right? I'm still trying to get my head around setting up an active crossover, so bear with me. I'd simply use channels 1 & 2 for my tweeters with a high pass filter on the amp, and channels 3 & 4 with a band pass filter on the amp for my mids, and then obviously a low pass filter for my sub on the 5th channel. It would just take some tweaking with the crossover settings on the amp and/or some EQ adjustments at the HU to find what suits my ear and car.

Am I over simplifying things, or does that sound about right? I understand that I'd get better SQ with an external DSP, but I'm looking to keep it simple right now and save a little bit of money. Plus, this will be light years ahead of my stock system that I'm listening to right now!

In addition to all of this, I plan on putting in some sound deadening material to help with overall acoustics and road noise.

So my proposed system at this point would look something like this:

HU: Pioneer AVH-P8400BH

Front Mids and Highs: HAT Imagine in a component set-up with an active crossover

Rear Fill: Nothing

Sub: JL Audio Stealthbox w/ 10W3v3

Amp (for everything): Alpine PDX-V9

Where's the best place to buy HAT's? Really the only online retailer I've found is 12velectronics.

Am I overlooking anything? Please feel free to offer suggestions/criticisms, I'm here to learn!

Thanks again for the help.

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

All that active means is you filter frequencies before amping the speakers. In a traditional component set you amp everything first and then filter to the correct components.

Its a horrible idea to tune active from the amp. You will have to constantly get out, go to where its mounted, and change things. On top of that every number on a dial isnt labelled. You wouldnt know what your true frequency is. Its always easier to go with an active capable headunit and tune from that.

In your proposed setup you would wire the 2 tweeters to channel 1&2, mids to channels 3&4, and the sub on channel 5 with nothing in between.

Assuming you want to stick with a double din that will take the Alpine W202, W502, or W900 and a crossover add on. If you get away from the double din you open up loads of options.

Eclipse CD7000, CD7100, CD7200 MKIII (deadhead), Alpine CDA9887, Pioneer PRS800/PRS880, Pioneer P80; these are just some of the more common options.

In order to make the most of an active system you really should toss in deadener, closed cell foam, and mass loaded vinyl into your equation. Your system is only as good as the installation. You can take the best pieces you can find and they will sound like crap if they arent installed properly.

 

[murph 10+ year member]

Wouldnt touch one. None of them bench tested at rated power from what Ive seen.
OP you can look at the Eclipse XA5000 or the Eclipse EA3532 as well. Both are under rated and will run you somewhere around $200-$250 on the high side.

^This, I am currently running an Eclipse XA5000 and love it. It doesn't cost much if you find one and the sq is very good.

 

[Roth 10+ year member]

Assuming you want to stick with a double din that will take the Alpine W202, W502, or W900 and a crossover add on. If you get away from the double din you open up loads of options.

Eclipse CD7000, CD7100, CD7200 MKIII (deadhead), Alpine CDA9887, Pioneer PRS800/PRS880, Pioneer P80; these are just some of the more common options.

I will be sticking with a double din receiver, I have already purchased the Pioneer AVH-P8400BH. Is there an affordable crossover that you would recommend in addition to it? Looking at the manual for the Pioneer, it looks like it has just a basic HP filter, not quite enough to do it from just the HU.

Its a horrible idea to tune active from the amp. You will have to constantly get out, go to where its mounted, and change things. On top of that every number on a dial isnt labelled. You wouldnt know what your true frequency is. Its always easier to go with an active capable headunit and tune from that.

I understand what you're saying about the inconvenience of going to the amp to adjust, but let's say I spent quite a few hours adjusting it. Once I get it set how I like, wouldn't I be done with that disadvantage? Wouldn't I have to deal with this same inconvenience if I had an addon crossover since it wouldn't be mounted where I can access it from the drivers seat?

Is there any significant degradation in quality using the amp to do it instead of the head unit, or is it more of a convenience factor?

Regarding the numbers labeled on the dial issue, from the very limited browsing I've done on separate crossovers, it seems they all are dials until you fork over some serious cash for versions that hook up to a computer.

In order to make the most of an active system you really should toss in deadener, closed cell foam, and mass loaded vinyl into your equation. Your system is only as good as the installation. You can take the best pieces you can find and they will sound like crap if they arent installed properly.

I definitely plan on investing in all of the above, just forgot to mention it originally. Thank you for the reminder though.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[mclerico83 5,000+ posts]

Incriminator Audio 5.1 450 Watt mono Amplifier

amazing amp and a better option than the alpine imho and only 7 inches by 7 inches

 

[Roth 10+ year member]

Incriminator Audio 5.1 450 Watt mono Amplifier
amazing amp and a better option than the alpine imho and only 7 inches by 7 inches

Unless I'm looking at something wrong, isn't that just a mono amp? Definitely not what I'm looking for if that's the case. Thanks though.