Amp for Rainbow SLC 265 - Arc vs. Zapco vs. Eclipse

[rbenz27 10+ year member]

Hello all,

First post. I'm new to the world of SQ car audio. I recently purchased Rainbow SLC's and now I'm looking for a 4 channel amp to power them and a sub later on.

The SQ dealers in my area carry Arc's, Zapco's and Eclipse. I'm leaning towards the Arc's from a performance and price standpoint. I see a lot of 4150 users on this board but no one hardly use the 4050?

Would the 4150's be overkill for the SLC comps or would the 4050 be fine? I will be adding a sub later on so I figured I'd look into a 4 channel amp instead of having one amp for comps and one for sub. Space is also a premium hence only one amp please. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

So any suggestions out there? 4150 or 4050? or another brand? I want to power the rainbow's with a quality amp that they deserve to make them shine but I do not want to overpower them either.

I will also be posting on what sub will be good to match it up but I'll post that on the subwoofer forum since its only appropriate. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

P.S. How can I tell if my comps are 265.03 or .04 and what is the difference between the two? The box it came with states its Rev 1.0 07/04 on the bottom right corner of the sticker with the specs and part number.

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[bri487 5,000+ posts]

wait until your dealer gets the new zapco 360.4 reference digital. i had a 360.4 reference in my boat and it sounded amazing with eight diamond 6.5"s. now i have the 1000.4 and it sounds even better, but with a set of comps, the 360.4 will be plenty. to really make you components shine, i would go with an EQ as well. what h/u do you have?

 

[bikejunkie223 10+ year member]

Zapco amps are awesome. You could also look into Dls amps. Tplaya07 is an authorized dealer and sells them shipped on this forum- extremely clean amps witha bit more dynamic headroom that a zapco (a bit looser w/ the regulation) An Ultimate A5 would be a great amp for an all-in-one soultion. If you needed more power, an A7 would get it done, though I think it would be overkill for most systems.

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

you want more power than a 4050 or 360.4 for an all in one application imo....the SLC's with about 100rms gets the midbasses plenty solid, and headroom in nice.

Out of those I'd say a 4150, its a great 4ch....i ran it solo to comps/single sub in my ride for a good year...great SQ, nice balance of power throughout.

Something like the Eclipse 85 x 4 amp will work well too, i ran that amp prior to the Arc.

 

[Speedyd718 10+ year member]

i haven't heard an arc or an eclipse amp but i love my zap's

 

[bikejunkie223 10+ year member]

I'm not a huge fan of Eclipse's amps, like the JL/ amps better actually, but love the Zapco reference amps.

 

[rbenz27 10+ year member]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm running an Alpine 9847 HU. Right now, I'm leaning towards the 4150 but still undecided between that or the 4050. The price difference is huge!

The dealer has an older 4150CXL just sitting in the store. A customer ordered it a while back but never purchased it so its pretty much still new. How much would a fair price for this amp be?

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm running an Alpine 9847 HU. Right now, I'm leaning towards the 4150 but still undecided between that or the 4050. The price difference is huge!
The dealer has an older 4150CXL just sitting in the store. A customer ordered it a while back but never purchased it so its pretty much still new. How much would a fair price for this amp be?

Used they go for under $500. But even though its been sitting there, and its a CXL which IMO are just gorgeous to look at-classic design- you will get 3 year support for it since you are getting it authorized either way.

 

[Eugenics 5,000+ posts]

wait until your dealer gets the new zapco 360.4 reference digital. i had a 360.4 reference in my boat and it sounded amazing with eight diamond 6.5"s. now i have the 1000.4 and it sounds even better, but with a set of comps, the 360.4 will be plenty. to really make you components shine, i would go with an EQ as well. what h/u do you have?

what will the ref digital be like? other than the obvious

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

what will the ref digital be like? other than the obvious

all setup from a computer: gains, corssover, everything. it will also have a 10 band EQ for each channel.

 

[skierxx5556 10+ year member]

I say go for that 4150 I love mine and its got tons of power!

 

[Eugenics 5,000+ posts]

all setup from a computer: gains, corssover, everything. it will also have a 10 band EQ for each channel.

will it be something the dealer has to adjust, or will we be able to link up. would it be worth it if you had a hu with a good EQ (say a 9835 with a h701). any clue on the price? im pretty interested

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

will it be something the dealer has to adjust, or will we be able to link up. would it be worth it if you had a hu with a good EQ (say a 9835 with a h701). any clue on the price? im pretty interested

i think of h/u EQs as useless. my alpine has everything defeated internally. all i use for adjustment is the SP4, which will be replaced with the newest zapco processor next year. it is defintitly worth it since if your amp is truely setup correctly, you wouldnt really need an EQ. its just nice to have one if you get a funky song or something. 90% of the time my EQ is left untouched. price is i think the same as the regular reference series, although i have heard of dealers asking $100 more than the reference. since they havent been released to everyone yet, i dont know if they are giving out the software to buyers. i am pretty sure that if your dealer is up to par, he can do a better job than most with setting one up. since all boats are the essentially, and my dealer uses all the same highs/mids and amps in all of them, he has one set program for boats, both in boat and tower speakers. so it makes his life much easier. and if the owner of the amp messes with the amp (if he ahs the program) then the dealer will know. anyway, call you local dealer about it, they might be able to offer a little more info.

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

oh, and time alignnment. major plus.

 

[Eugenics 5,000+ posts]

im not sure i have a local dealer, i live in hays kansas...