Alpine M650 vs Alpine PDX 600.1

[BRZguy 10+ year member]

just wondering what are the differences between these two amps. i know the PDX are smaller designer and is able to put the same amount of power at different ohms. other than that, i dont see any other differences.

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[sks_lex 10+ year member]

Not too sure on the PDX, but the 650 worked great on my old CRV set up.

 

[marvnmars]

The PDX series are all class-d or "digital" amps. They are able to produce the specific parts of a sound wave instead of a whole wave as a analog amp would. The big advantage is a much more effecnt amp that will run cool, has a small footprint (size), and doesnt require 1/0 awg wire. The disadvantage is that digital amps have been known to sound "harsh" to the listeners ears when comparing identical music clips from identical sources.

What does that mean in the real world? It means that your tweeter it may get brighter and the rool off as the note is ended will be abrupt. Now weather you will notice in the harsh car enviromnet, that is up to the listener. It can be likened as the difference between the old vinyl and a cd. Can you hear the difference, depending on the listener, yes. Will you notice the difference in a car, maybe. Is it worth it if the only amp you can fit has to be placed under a cover somewhere with no air flow and cant be bigger then a 3 stack of pancakes, yes imo. No, the PDX series and the other digital amps do not sound as good the old school amps to a true audiophile, but rarely do you have the space and ventaliation to run Tube amps in your auto. The new digital lineup (alpine, jl audio, memphis audio, eclipse, just to name a few comming oit this yaer) of amps works where you need it to, but if space, budget, and ventelation are of no issue then go with a Tube amp Butler ( http://www.butleraudio.com/ ) makes a nice ones as do a few Japanese builders, but they will require space, ventelation, and $$$. If you are going to use an ipod or some other mp3 player as your primary music source, does it really matter how "warm" sounding the amp is with all the compression used on mp3 type file? I doubt you would be able to tell the difference between the music rom an mp3 source on either type of amp, although I hear that Alpine is starting to intergrate their own D/A converters on the new ipod only h/u's, but still doube you coule tell what amp it is... Good luck, hope my rambeling are of use.

 

[mcsoul 10+ year member]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/nono.gif.eca61d170185779e0921b0faa9704973.gif:nono:Class D does not always mean digital

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switching_amplifier

 

[marvnmars]

You are correct sir, but clas D are still a switching amp and do not produce a full sine wave as an analog amp does. They save power and become efficent due to their ability to only reproduce the part of the wave being palyed at the moment. If you read up on the class D's you will have a hard time finding any audiophile using one for a full range amp. I am not knocking them, I am going to buy one myself soon, just trying to find the right fit for my car (the one I like best for my $$). I remember about 15 or more years ago when Infinity debuted their class D amps for low frequency usage only...it was a subantial change in the way car amps worked and where designed. I am glad to see that they are becoming more mainstrem but aggrevated that they are charging more for them then the analog amps (which are more expensive to produce), reminde me of the old LP vs CD battle of the 80's. I do not care what you say, cd's are much cheaper to produce then a vynal LP, yet still cost $13.99 or more as the recording industry complains about losing $$ (sounds like Exxon/Mobils going broke), sorry soapbox. If I had a car that was totally isolated from road noise, had an accoustically perfect interior, enough space to allow for a 20 hz wave reproduction, then I would be much more concerned about the ideal sound quality of my system. To be honest, the car is probably the most harsh enviroment that you will spend $$$$$ to sound good, and will only be as good as your car will allow. All I know for sure is to buy an amp that sounds good to your ears.

 

[Reggie Lives 10+ year member]

I've got a similar question.

I was comparing the MRP-F550 to the PDX 4.100. The former is 4x90 rms, but can be bridged to 250rms X 2. The latter is 4x100 but is only bridged to 200rms X 2. Why is that?