does it really matter?

[nswartley 5,000+ posts]

lets say i got a mediocre 50x4 RMS speaker amplifier (like a profile or something). would i really be able to to the difference between that and another big brand amp like pioneer or kicker?

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[nswartley 5,000+ posts]

hahah. uh oh.....

 

[nswartley 5,000+ posts]

well, i guess that Jmac has hemroids cuz im not feeling the flames yet. someone? answer? plz

 

[denim 5,000+ posts]

yes you can tell teh difference, in SQ and SPL and durability, well worth it I swear

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

it depends if the amps are putting out true power or not. if both amps are putting out a TRUE 50 watts whether it be JL's watt or Brax's watt, SQ and SPL wise, they are the same.

 

[nswartley 5,000+ posts]

ok you guys are confusing me. lets just say that durability is not an issue. im not too worried about SPL either. i mostly want SQ and clear sound at all levels. would there be a diff between something like a profile and pioneer?

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

Originally posted by nswartley ok you guys are confusing me. lets just say that durability is not an issue. im not too worried about SPL either. i mostly want SQ and clear sound at all levels. would there be a diff between something like a profile and pioneer?

if the pioneer puts out 50 watts RMS (not underrated nor overrated) and the profile puts out the same watts (same like pioneer), then the sound quality is no difference. a watt is a watt.

the only thing you're paying for is the crossovers, bass boost ( i find it useless), durability, name brand, etc..

i myself run a profile amp on two subs and i am very happy with it.

 

[nswartley 5,000+ posts]

would there be a difference between the crossovers? i would obviously want a high pass crossover, and yes, i agree that a bass boost is pointless when you dont want bass //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif oh yea and one more thing, if i want the best SQ from my speakers would i run it at 2 OHMS or 4 OHMS

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

for crossovers..you would usually pay more for a higher db octave. some amps have 12db octave slopes or 18db octave slopes. the higher the number, the better it cuts off the unwanted frequncies. 24dB would be probably the highest i know of right now. 12db is usually the standards. for sound quality, it doesn't matter if you get 2 or 4ohm. u just get more power at 2ohm, and that means more power=cleaner.

but if you have 100 watts at 4ohm and 100 watts at 2ohm, then it doesn't really matter.

 

[h2dav 10+ year member]

A watt is not a watt especially for clean sound for subs it may not mater but for every thing else you have to take in considertion THD. HELLO HAS EVERTONE FORGOT ABOUT THD. If that's the same and you have true ratings on the amp than it doesn't matter. Look at the price of USAcoustic amps compared to say MTX. I beleive the USAcoustic is better noise wise and both use the 12.2 volt rating method instead of 14.4. I've owned both you see what I have now. Cost matters since my last name isn't Gates and I saw absolutely no advantage to my MTX amps they just cost more and looked a little bit better.

 

[nswartley 5,000+ posts]

my friend is trying to sell me this amp cuz he gets it wholesale. its the only one with the THD rating that i have seen http://dieselaudio.com/ns6004.html . its got a 5 yr warranty. would you get this? lol dont laugh at me. oh yea, what is THD rating? is the higher or lower better?

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

My take is...Yes, I think you'd notice a fairly significant difference, and that difference would not be better crossovers, or better build quality, and certainly not THD. It would be about power.

Your 50x4 budget amp (profile, Lanzar Vibe, Jensen etc.) is not likely to put out rated power, especially at typical input voltage (13.5-13.8). It would likely be something more like 40x4. While a higher level amp will (or at least SHOULD) put out significantly MORE than rated power, maybe 60x4.

That's a 33% difference in output. ANYONE could hear that.

For example:

http://www.carsound.com/reviews/amps/opti1004.html

The optidrive 100.4 is rated for 50x4 at 4 ohms and the test above shows it to put out 70x4.

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

oh boy..A WATT IS A WATT. it's a simple measurement of power. u can't hear a difference between a **** measurement! amps nowadays basically have distortion lower than 1% THD. whether that amp have .001% or .9%, u can't tell the difference. also, how does the US acoustics have better noise signal??//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

the only time you'll hear a difference in watt is if one amp produces more watts than another. but they they put out both the same power (even with different specs), then they will sound the same.

 

[ws140 10+ year member]

so all that matters is the watts. Nothing else. That dosen't make much sense.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by ws140 so all that matters is the watts. Nothing else. That dosen't make much sense.

No, that's not all that matters.

But in this case it's the answer to the question. Even if the cheap amp has cheap x/o's they will probably get the job done, but the fact remains it won't be making as much power, which is where the (very noticable, IMO) audible difference would come from.