Amp troubles...now replacement

[Frankensuby 10+ year member]

So I spent several hours today ripping apart my gf's car and rerunning wires, 3 RCA's and an installation kit for dual amps. I planted a Pioneer GM7200 Mono amp and a Power Acoustik PS4-240 speaker amp right next to it, only to find out when all is hooked up that the PA amp is worthless. It plays, and amplifies, but it draws a continuous current when the ACC is on but nothing is being played...draining the battery and making a weird noise. The Pioneer amp works fine, no noise or interference coming through. It got dark out so I gave up on it after trying a few things. My last test will be plopping my A6004T speaker amp in the back, because I know that that has no interference or issues at all.

Now, I am looking for good replacements. I want something that I know will not be dead when I get it. Here are some amps I am looking into:

Alpine MRP- F250

Kenwood KAC-6402

Kicker ZX200.4

Phoenix Gold R5.0.4

All are within 15 watts RMS (speakers are 35 watts RMS) and within 20$ of each other.

If anyone has sound advice either from experience or very reliable sources, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm leaning towards the Kicker because it is EXACTLY what I want, but I've heard some people grumble about Quality changes. Same with the PG amp, but they could just be grumbling made up info.

Please help //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Thanks

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[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

um... excuse my ignorance, but dont all amps have an idle current draw? Also, you might be getting ground loop noise or something retarded like that.

 

[Frankensuby 10+ year member]

Yea, all amps have constant current when on (power light is one, etc.) Mine is set to turn on amps with the ACC, same as HU. But this is a draw producing a noise, regardless of gain. And it drained the battery. Once we disconnected this amp, it stopped draining battery power, meaning the amp is toast.

describe the reason for ground loop? And wouldn't the ground loop cause the same noise through the sub amp?

 

[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

Not always. You have freakish occurrances every once in a while. But yeah am is probably toast. If youre looking for a decnt 4 channel amp, i have an old school alpine MRV-F400 amp you may be interested in.

 

[Frankensuby 10+ year member]

I'm going to try my amp in her car to see if results are similar. If they aren't, I'll pm ya about that amp.

 

[Frankensuby 10+ year member]

As for the list of amps here, what amp would be a reliable buy?

Alpine MRP- F250

Kenwood KAC-6402

Kicker ZX200.4

Phoenix Gold R5.0.4

Whatever I buy I'm going to detune gain to save speakers if need be, so I just want most reliable for buck. Please help ASAP, she's out of audio until I get this amp.

Thanks guys.

 

[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

the kicker and alpine would be at the top of my list. Personally im an alpine guy because they have been very reliable to me, have never shut down, and have great quality. I think the kicker would be along the same lines as that alpine, though ive never heard one in person but i have heard good thngs about it.