did i get robbed?

[mrray13 10+ year member]

i just bought a sony xplode mobilees 1902 amp to replace a legacy la320. it's pushing 2 cv8d4 at 4 ohms. the shop installed it today yet it ain't any louder than the legacy. did i just get robbed? i'm building on a budget and the price was 2 bills including install.

Click to read more...

 

[SuckMikeHawk23 10+ year member]

try playing with the gains. i dont know the specs of either amp right off the bat, but if the dealer says the amp you bought has more power, and you don't hear more power, play with the gains.

 

[mrray13 10+ year member]

can someone tell me what the phase control is for on the amp? it goes from 0 to 180. what us the best setting for my subs? i have a pioneer deh-235 hu (i know it's old but for $40?) pushing my factory doors ('01 ram quad cab, 6x9 front 6.5 rear). what the hell am i doing? HELP!

 

[01price 10+ year member]

Sorry to say, but both legacy and sony make shitty amps. The good amps out there are: Cadence, JL, Phoenix Gold, Precision Power, Alpine, and a few others. They are companies you can trust. Unlike home audio, car ausio amps don;t have to follow a certain guidline. They can say just about whatever they want to about their amps and how much power they put out, it is not regulated. In home audio, they have to say HOW they got to that specific power output, how many volts they gave it, what conditions did they test it in, at what S/N ratio, what % THD, and other factors. COmpanies like sony, and legacy just gove their amps the perfect conditions and allow 10% distortion, and lowered S/N ratios to "say" that their amps can produce that much power. ALl you are buying when you buy their amps are empty hallow watts.

 

[gregj9 10+ year member]

the guy above me said sony was shitty but I think he didn't see the little "es" you put behind the word sony. For years sony es has been a benchmark in competition.....look for the actual sony mobil es system. Time alignment rear delay settings and the necessity for up to 6 amps to run the system properly. Also the guy listed some good amps and put alpine in with them. Now I respect alpine but they are in the same class as sony. Like sony they have a high end line. I think your purchase is a good one did you get a 3 yr warranty on the sony?. Play with your system and if you are looking for more bass look a rebuilding your box a little larger if it is a sealed enclosure. Give me some info and I may be able to help

 

[<natem33>]

Car audio companies do have to follow guidelines. I read an article that explained exactly how amps and subs get their RMS vs peak power rating. I can't remember where it was off the top of my but if I find it I will post it. It may even be off of the MTX web site, the rating technique was done on MTX products. Legacy amps have a not so good reputation. I would expect that Sony ES amp would be much better. If you're worried about volume check the amp settings. Is the Sony amp rated to be more powerful than the Legacy was? I would not say that you were robbed. The Sony ES amp should be much better than the Legacy overall, even if it is not as loud I'm willing to bet that it exceedes the Legacy in all other catagories.

 

[mrray13 10+ year member]

greg, it's a ported enclosure and i can't go bigger because it's under the backseat of my 01 ram quad cab. i can't lose the seat because of my 8 year old. i did get the three year warrenty. it does provide a lot cleaner and crisper response. my brother-in-law(he has 2 gz 12's in a sealed enclosure w/ a pg m50 in a 86 firebird)says they sound bigger than 8's now. thnx 4 the help, any other suggestions?

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

I'm not trying to be pissy or anything. But it takes quite a bit more power, for you to percieve the sense of something being louder. For instance an increase of 3db is theoretially twice as loud. To achieve this you would need to either double the cone area or double the power. So if the amps are putting out with in 50w-75w of each other you probably won't notice a difference.

 

[dcsoundguy 10+ year member]

see my post for Big Red Man re: the sony 1505 on 01/08/02

 

[Unregistered]

ramos,

a correction, 10db is percieved by the human ear as twice as loud, you need twice as much power to get a 3db increse in the SPL...

 

[mrray13 10+ year member]

problem was solved yesterday!! wasn't the amp but the head unit. the pioneer i had(it is 7 years old) only put out .7 volts at the pre-outs. i now have a sony es cdx-ca860x head unit amp the amp does fine. matter of fact it does well enough that i'm going to try to squeeze 10's under the seat soon!!!

oh yeah, the new hu rocks!! the whole thing is just plain LOUD!! i don't turn the stereo up past halfway anymore. hurts the ears and head!!