8thGenSI 10+ year member
CarAudio.com Elite
Review of Amplifier:
Before the review here is a little history, sorry so lengthy but Im bored...
I purchased my 2011 Honda Civic SI about a year and a half ago, the day, or should I say minute I drove it off the lot it was clear that the stock stereo needed to go. I slowly began accumulating the equipment I would need to start a build; I had no choice but to keep it modest because of budgetary constraints. I started with a Pioneer AVH-4300DVD, Kicker SS 6.5" component system for the front stage, cheapy kicker 5.25" for the rear fill, 12" JL W6 V2 for sub stage, Elemental Designs Nine.1 for sub, and a Elemental Designs Nine.4 for mid/high. After installing all of the equipment I definitely noticed improvement over stock but the system was lacking in key areas. First of all the mid bass was nonexistent, I was so disappointed with this because I felt like I was missing out on so many aspects of the music I listen to. Secondly, the highs were harsh to say the least. I spent countless hours adjusting and attempting to tune these issues away but had no luck. I assumed my mid bass issues were because of lack of deadening and a slapped together install, and my harsh tweets were because they were reflecting off of the windshield.
To make a long story short, the ED amps did not last long, the Nine/1 ended up blowing. After that I removed the amps and went without any music in the car for 6 months.
I finally decided enough was enough; it was time to get things back up and running. I went to a stereo shop in Santa Cruz California, I actually ended up there by accident. After browsing around for a while I noticed the Audison SR4 and SR1 mounted on the wall, and guess what, after a bit of haggling they were within my budget. I pulled out my Iphone and tried to find reviews or anything I could about performance, I could find no solid or reliable information. I decided what the hell, you only live once, why not give them a try. I purchased the amps, loaded em up, drove home, and got to work.
Once again, to make a long story short, I got the amp rack built and mounted. I upgraded to 1/0 wire, and did my big 3. I installed a new Alpine type R into a prefab box I had lying around and tossed it in the trunk.
When I first fired up the system I started with gains all the way down but when I tried to adjust my eq on the Pioneer head unit I noticed my touch screen was dead. I do mean completely dead, I could not get it to react at all. That being said, I could not make any adjustment to the settings on the deck, I could only adjust volume and change the source. I guess after 6 months of not touching the head unit it decided to give up on me for some reason. I made the gain and crossover adjustments on the amps got ready to give the wounded system a listen.
I started out with Nutshell on Alice In Chains unplugged album, I noticed immediately that my mid bass came to life. I know it had to be the amps because the settings on the head unit had not changed since the ED amps were still installed. I was amazed at how much more full and complete my music sounded. It took me quite a while to focus my attention to the tweeters because of the mid bass excitement. Even after a good 45 minutes of listening at high volume I noticed I didn’t have a splitting headache from harsh tweeters. They were bright and clear but not over the top like they used to be. I went through a few different genres of music and everything was sounding great but I had to stop the session because of the state of my head unit.
This morning I woke up and drove back to the stereo shop in Santa Cruz. I chose to go back to these guys because although they weren’t the cheapest, they were honest and cool. One other thing that made me like this shop was after purchasing my amps they sent me a thank you card in the mail, YES an actual thank you card! I thought that was a nice touch, I have never seen a stereo shop do something like that. When I got there I decided on the Alpine INE-S920HD, I made the purchase and came home to install.
When I got the head unit in and started everything up I was amazed once again, especially considering that I have spent little money compared to other systems I have heard. The alpine gave me a quite a bit of adjustment so I was able to fine tune quite a bit more. I have not been able to listen to it as long as I would like at this point but I noticed that the distortion is much lower than it was with the ED's even at high volume. I played everything from Mac Dre to Van Halen, everything sounded much better than it did with my ED's and the pioneer. It seemed like I didn’t loose quality when I switched genres, I had to make slight adjustments here and there but the only time I got any heavy distortion is when I started overdrove and started clipping.
In summery...
I was worried that these amps would **** due to the fact that they are Audison’s entry level line, I was wrong. From what I have seen so far I am very satisfied with my purchase, and would have no issue recommending them. I think the overall build quality is decent, the knobs, switches, and terminals seem solid. The Kicker SS comps are rated at 3 ohms and the 5.25” on the rear fill are 4 ohms, the sub is presenting a 2 ohm load. The amps never got hot at all, slightly warm to the touch but the way my amps are mounted there is not much space for heat dissipation. My biggest complaint so far is if you mount the amps prior to connecting all of your wires you will have a hell of a time making all of your connections unless you have the hands of a 4 year old girl. It was much harder for me because my amps are sandwiched between 2 pieces of mdf but the heat sink overlaps the terminals. I had to use needle nose pliers to feed wires into the terminals. I recommend if possible make your connections then mount it.
Once again, sorry so long but thanks for hanging in there, hope this helps. Here is a really bad picture of the amps after mounting; I will get a better picture in the morning when the sun is out.
Post name, details and review of the equipment you're reviewing. This forum is for reviews only! No questions should be posted!
Before the review here is a little history, sorry so lengthy but Im bored...
I purchased my 2011 Honda Civic SI about a year and a half ago, the day, or should I say minute I drove it off the lot it was clear that the stock stereo needed to go. I slowly began accumulating the equipment I would need to start a build; I had no choice but to keep it modest because of budgetary constraints. I started with a Pioneer AVH-4300DVD, Kicker SS 6.5" component system for the front stage, cheapy kicker 5.25" for the rear fill, 12" JL W6 V2 for sub stage, Elemental Designs Nine.1 for sub, and a Elemental Designs Nine.4 for mid/high. After installing all of the equipment I definitely noticed improvement over stock but the system was lacking in key areas. First of all the mid bass was nonexistent, I was so disappointed with this because I felt like I was missing out on so many aspects of the music I listen to. Secondly, the highs were harsh to say the least. I spent countless hours adjusting and attempting to tune these issues away but had no luck. I assumed my mid bass issues were because of lack of deadening and a slapped together install, and my harsh tweets were because they were reflecting off of the windshield.
To make a long story short, the ED amps did not last long, the Nine/1 ended up blowing. After that I removed the amps and went without any music in the car for 6 months.
I finally decided enough was enough; it was time to get things back up and running. I went to a stereo shop in Santa Cruz California, I actually ended up there by accident. After browsing around for a while I noticed the Audison SR4 and SR1 mounted on the wall, and guess what, after a bit of haggling they were within my budget. I pulled out my Iphone and tried to find reviews or anything I could about performance, I could find no solid or reliable information. I decided what the hell, you only live once, why not give them a try. I purchased the amps, loaded em up, drove home, and got to work.
Once again, to make a long story short, I got the amp rack built and mounted. I upgraded to 1/0 wire, and did my big 3. I installed a new Alpine type R into a prefab box I had lying around and tossed it in the trunk.
When I first fired up the system I started with gains all the way down but when I tried to adjust my eq on the Pioneer head unit I noticed my touch screen was dead. I do mean completely dead, I could not get it to react at all. That being said, I could not make any adjustment to the settings on the deck, I could only adjust volume and change the source. I guess after 6 months of not touching the head unit it decided to give up on me for some reason. I made the gain and crossover adjustments on the amps got ready to give the wounded system a listen.
I started out with Nutshell on Alice In Chains unplugged album, I noticed immediately that my mid bass came to life. I know it had to be the amps because the settings on the head unit had not changed since the ED amps were still installed. I was amazed at how much more full and complete my music sounded. It took me quite a while to focus my attention to the tweeters because of the mid bass excitement. Even after a good 45 minutes of listening at high volume I noticed I didn’t have a splitting headache from harsh tweeters. They were bright and clear but not over the top like they used to be. I went through a few different genres of music and everything was sounding great but I had to stop the session because of the state of my head unit.
This morning I woke up and drove back to the stereo shop in Santa Cruz. I chose to go back to these guys because although they weren’t the cheapest, they were honest and cool. One other thing that made me like this shop was after purchasing my amps they sent me a thank you card in the mail, YES an actual thank you card! I thought that was a nice touch, I have never seen a stereo shop do something like that. When I got there I decided on the Alpine INE-S920HD, I made the purchase and came home to install.
When I got the head unit in and started everything up I was amazed once again, especially considering that I have spent little money compared to other systems I have heard. The alpine gave me a quite a bit of adjustment so I was able to fine tune quite a bit more. I have not been able to listen to it as long as I would like at this point but I noticed that the distortion is much lower than it was with the ED's even at high volume. I played everything from Mac Dre to Van Halen, everything sounded much better than it did with my ED's and the pioneer. It seemed like I didn’t loose quality when I switched genres, I had to make slight adjustments here and there but the only time I got any heavy distortion is when I started overdrove and started clipping.
In summery...
I was worried that these amps would **** due to the fact that they are Audison’s entry level line, I was wrong. From what I have seen so far I am very satisfied with my purchase, and would have no issue recommending them. I think the overall build quality is decent, the knobs, switches, and terminals seem solid. The Kicker SS comps are rated at 3 ohms and the 5.25” on the rear fill are 4 ohms, the sub is presenting a 2 ohm load. The amps never got hot at all, slightly warm to the touch but the way my amps are mounted there is not much space for heat dissipation. My biggest complaint so far is if you mount the amps prior to connecting all of your wires you will have a hell of a time making all of your connections unless you have the hands of a 4 year old girl. It was much harder for me because my amps are sandwiched between 2 pieces of mdf but the heat sink overlaps the terminals. I had to use needle nose pliers to feed wires into the terminals. I recommend if possible make your connections then mount it.
Once again, sorry so long but thanks for hanging in there, hope this helps. Here is a really bad picture of the amps after mounting; I will get a better picture in the morning when the sun is out.
Post name, details and review of the equipment you're reviewing. This forum is for reviews only! No questions should be posted!
