Choosing a 4 Channel Amp

[Pyrolight 10+ year member]

So after some deliberation on speakers, I am biting the bullet and getting Image Dynamics CTX 6.5cs for the front and ID CTX 5 coax for the rear.

I am at a complete loss as to choosing a decent amp to power them though... The only suggestion I have received so far is the Precision Power PPI P900.4.

I'd love to keep the cost down but I don't want to sacrifice quality either so any suggestions are welcome.

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[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

american bass vfl 150.4 or the ab ph4100.also the massive nx4

 

[12voltz+- 10+ year member]

i have hifonics zxi80.4 x 2 lol them ppi 900 are great amps for the money tho no lie

are you running on stock head unit or do you have after market what which unit if so there can be a big factor in picking a amp as well depending on your crossover needs

 

[mclerico83 5,000+ posts]

Cadence zrs c9 on audiosavings.com Korean made amp from same place ab is made etc is 144 shipped its a steal or boston acoustics gt4100 for 229 shipped link their website inn thre outlet

 

[Pyrolight 10+ year member]

Right now I am looking at the Alpine HD137BT for the head unit (I've always liked Alpine H/U's) but have never delved that deep into xover settings.

 

[calebkhill 10+ year member]

Cadence zrs c9 on audiosavings.com Korean made amp from same place ab is made etc is 144 shipped its a steal or boston acoustics gt4100 for 229 shipped link their website inn thre outlet

Im leaning towards that boston

 

[asianinvasion21 10+ year member]

I would look for an old school sound quality amp. The ctx's really shined in my car after I powered them from a linear power 952. I ran kicker and alpine to them before and just never got the sound quality I wanted.

 

[zako 10+ year member]

At $200 PPI is a great value. Besides speakers, I used it to power a subwoofer. It never got hot even with cargo placed on top of it. These are very low distortion, very high powered amps.

http://www.pasmag.com/images/stories/test_report_graphs/1304/precision_power/image1.jpg

Having said this, next time around I'd be tempted to use Alpine's MRX-F65 amp just to check those out. Alpine's MRX amplifiers are supposed to be very nice for money too.

PS: Now that I saw you mention head unit, consider the Pioneer DEH-80PRS. It's more expensive, but it's worth every penny (active 3-way crossover, 2x16band eq, Auto EQ, time alignment, bluetooth, SD drive slow, rear USB, RCA-in, etc). It will shape SQ far more than an amp ever could.

 

[Pyrolight 10+ year member]

I did read up that the 80PRS is pretty much the top in terms of SQ but the one thing it is lacking is HD radio. Which is kind of a silly feature to rule it out for, but I am unsure if the pioneer hd radio adapter works with it and I do often find myself still listening over the air sometimes.

 

[esmokah 10+ year member]

I have the nx4 and the ppi p900.4. the ppi is much better

 

[tommydh 10+ year member]

Look up vertex audio on herre they have some good Ref. series CDT 4 channels for decent price

 

[tommydh 10+ year member]

I did read up that the 80PRS is pretty much the top in terms of SQ but the one thing it is lacking is HD radio. Which is kind of a silly feature to rule it out for, but I am unsure if the pioneer hd radio adapter works with it and I do often find myself still listening over the air sometimes.

Why do you need HD when it is Iphone and Androind capable so you can use pandora or stream online like I do sometiomes if i need HD channel

 

[zako 10+ year member]

The only "flaw" of a PPI P900.4 I heard about is that a then-PPI employee posted his test of the amplifier, and while it looked good, channel separation 1khz was in low 30s, which seems kind of low. Unfortunately, this has not been confirmed or denied by a third party test. I know that similar designs from Polk and Hertz did not have this issue. This spec is the last one most people would care about. In the end the "flaw" is only such if you already have an audio system expertly tuned with 30 band equalizer and time alignment, and low channel separation is now the only thing that prevents you from descending into a sonic nirvana. The amount of power these things have is incredible, and they get only barely warm when driven hard.