amp for hertz mlk 165s

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

That's cool man, yea, the old us amps are by far my favorite amps ever made. They had pretty good sq qualities but as far as most power for the buck at the time they were 2nd to no one. I miss my 400X. But yea, i'm actually doing research at the moment myself and i think i've figured out what my highs will be atleast. I'm thinking of going with the Audison Voce mids and more than likely a Voce amp for them as well. You heard much about them?

I would say yes on the Voce mids, but they run VERY steep for what you end up getting. I would consider sourcing some raw drivers like the ScanSpeak Illuminators or (if you can swing it) Revelators off Madisound first. As for the Voce amp, I'm not incredibly impressed at its price point. You said it well yourself in the fact it's hard to find them made like they used to.

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

IMO, if you can afford the Audison Voce, you should be strongly considering the Arc SE or Zapco Z series

 

[UsAmpsFreak]

I would say yes on the Voce mids, but they run VERY steep for what you end up getting. I would consider sourcing some raw drivers like the ScanSpeak Illuminators or (if you can swing it) Revelators off Madisound first. As for the Voce amp, I'm not incredibly impressed at its price point. You said it well yourself in the fact it's hard to find them made like they used to.

Ok fair enough, i normally wouldn't consider equipment like this but as an installer i can get it greatly reduced from the retail pricepoint. Are you suggesting that the LRX amps are the way to go over the Voce amps? I'm mostly interested in the idea of having the Voce amp to run the digital direct connects from the source, through a Bit one, to the amp and only having the conversion from analog/digital inside the amp instead of the traditional setup in which there are several conversions affecting overall quality. But i've never ran a system or heard one yet that is ran that way so i'm curious what the real benefits are.

 

[osiris999 10+ year member]

http://www.caraudio.com/forums/speaker-classifieds/553263-hertz-mlk165-drivers.html#post8132210 these are the ones i bought and been sitting on. If i will really be shorting myself at 350$ i can just wait till around xmas bonus time and get something better or just wait to get the head unit.

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

Ok fair enough, i normally wouldn't consider equipment like this but as an installer i can get it greatly reduced from the retail pricepoint. Are you suggesting that the LRX amps are the way to go over the Voce amps? I'm mostly interested in the idea of having the Voce amp to run the digital direct connects from the source, through a Bit one, to the amp and only having the conversion from analog/digital inside the amp instead of the traditional setup in which there are several conversions affecting overall quality. But i've never ran a system or heard one yet that is ran that way so i'm curious what the real benefits are.

Depends on what your source upstream of the Bit.one will be. I've actually found some older procs (like the Sony C90 with the 4000 series or McIntosh 5000) do a slightly better job as a DAC, though you lose tuning features. Some people swear by going all digital, some claim it's nothing more than snake oil. Only one real way to know for yourself.

If you've got an Audison account and can buy for yourself at dealer cost, the Voce may not be as difficult to afford as us consumers, but I'm not sure if the difference in SQ is going to be so incredibly different between the Voce and LRx if the Bit will be doing the proc work anyway.

 

[neo_styles 10+ year member]

http://www.caraudio.com/forums/speaker-classifieds/553263-hertz-mlk165-drivers.html#post8132210 these are the ones i bought and been sitting on. If i will really be shorting myself at 350$ i can just wait till around xmas bonus time and get something better or just wait to get the head unit.

I would recommend you wait unless you find a bargain deal. That Audiosystems amp is only $100 more, for example. Also keep your eye on the DIYMA classifieds as you're more likely to find reasonably-priced SQ equipment there. Though you could also buy a Zed Draconia and get gobs of active-capable power with super-steep slopes at your disposal for just a little more than that.

Want to go nuts? Get a Leviathan III and run the mids bridged off a pair of channels and the tweeters off another. There's your midbass power which the Milles will love.

 

[osiris999 10+ year member]

Im pretty sure i can save up 100$ before the car comes in. Seems like that amp would work great active or passive power wise.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

My 2 cents on "active" capable amps: usually this just means they have bandpass crossovers. This isn't enough for a good active system. It's a neat talking point and it helps set this type of amplifier apart from the crowd. What I advise is to let your head unit or DSP handle the crossovers and run the amplifier full range.

My suggestion for an excellent sounding amplifier without a large price tag is the Clarion XC6410. While Clarion and Robert Zeff no longer have any affiliation, Clarion has used Zeff's amplifier designs and their current amplifiers reflect his design philosophy. I would put the XC amplifiers(apart from the XC1410, which is an ultra compact option) against anything else suggested in this thread if one is looking at the amplifier as a device to amplify the music without coloring the sound or introducing noise. If you prefer colored sound, aka warmth, Audison is known to deliver a warm sound.

 

[osiris999 10+ year member]

Neo i found a Leviathan 2 on dyi for 500$ would it be worth it over the audio systems? Im really thinking about going for it.

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

I would sell the head unit you have now and get an 80PRS if you want to go active and there is a guy selling an MB Quart q4.150 on caraudioclassifieds.org. That would sound really clean and give you plenty of power. That head unit you have is ok but I would upgrade it if you want to go active. Even if you don't go active, the 80 is an amazing sounding unit.

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

Also selling your HU and getting the 80prs would give you a little extra cash to put towards a better amp

 

[79bronco 10+ year member]

Since were on the subject of zeff designed amps and hertz high end drivers, I'd have to say I love my Soundstream ref 4.920 and 4.400 on my hertz 165xls, hl70, ht28.

The 4.920 on my 4 165xl's (basically the same driver as the mille 165) gets really loud and has fantastic speaker dampening. After adding the balanced input, it just makes these speakers shine. You can pick up a secondhand 4.920 for under 300

The 4.400 does great running the mids and tweets active as well. Love these soundstream amps

 

[osiris999 10+ year member]

I dont have an hu or a car at the moment lol. I want to keep the head unit as a double din touch screen though. I have looked into the prs80 in the past though.

 

[osiris999 10+ year member]

Wouldnt the Leviathan 2 have all the crossovers i need to run active anyways?

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

Wouldnt the Leviathan 2 have all the crossovers i need to run active anyways?

The problem with using crossovers on an amp is they are not as accurate as having an active capable head unit. Your slopes won't be as steep and doesn't offer you things like time alignment. You have a quality set of components. Your amp choice won't net you much of an improvement between a $200 amp and a $400 amp unless you have very well treated doors and start getting into processing. If you want to keep your head unit, getting a processor would give you better output than buying a better amp.

You can find a JBL MS8 for $300 used and I've seen a lot of rockford 3sixty.2's in the $150-$200 range. That would allow you to keep your head unit but give you all your tuning options through the processor using a laptop interface. But your system will only be as weak as it's point source.