Good deal?

[EricTundra]

Yes, that's my impression too. So with my limited budget of about $250 for an amp, I'm looking at a Sundown SFB-1000D, the Alpine in this topic, and a D'Amore E750.1. The JL Slash series as well as the Rockfords are over budget. Any other mono amps at 1 or 4 ohms with 500rms I missed? The Rockford R2-750X pushes 500rms but only at 2ohms.

Any other reliable amps I should be looking at pushing 500rms at 1 or 4 ohms around $250?

 

[Clifff150 10+ year member]

If I remember right, that ST 1350 was a refurb unit that wasn’t authorized by Zapco. I would stay away though as well. They get super hot from what I hear and aren’t worth the cost.

For the Alpine $250 isn’t bad. Honestly, this is a more oriented SPL crowd so dollar per watt means a ton. Over at DIYMA, they will tell you to buy quality. For me, I wouldn’t spend $250 on that. If it were 1,000 RMS and up, maybe.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

doesn't that thing put out 600rms? for $250 I could get an sfb that puts out 2000rms

Because the ONLY thing that matters is how many root means squared you can get, amirite?

That is half the new price, which is a decent discount imo. But demand for that amp has to be low. Id offer $200. The SPL crowd wont want it and people looking to spend more for perceived quality will be looking at amps from Zapco or JL.

It is an expensive amp for only 600 watts and there is probably no chance in hell that you will hear a difference between it and many other amps that make more watts per $. But for $200, I would go for it.

My thoughts as well.

Zapco budget

No sense paying for the big names if you're not paying the bigger price tag for their good stuff that actually earns them their reputation. It is very likely that entry level Zapco is just something they bought out of a catalog from China. While Zapco has some top talent in their R&D, I doubt you're buying any of that in their low end lineup.

No way to test an amp without powering it up and giving it a signal to see if it works, but 200$ would be a fair price on the used Alpine.

Honorable mention for this one here. Amplab is local to me and they're good guys.

KICKER | CX-1200.1

theamplab.net

Will make 500W into 4 ohm for you and has a good bit more on tap if you wanted to upgrade subs later. I've always had good luck with Kicker amps and that's a fair price.

Sundown SFB is 200$ from their site as well, but that's way overkill for you and I would personally NOT buy a full bridge amp without a factory (or third party) warranty.

 

[EricTundra]

Because the ONLY thing that matters is how many root means squared you can get, amirite?

My thoughts as well.

No sense paying for the big names if you're not paying the bigger price tag for their good stuff that actually earns them their reputation. It is very likely that entry level Zapco is just something they bought out of a catalog from China. While Zapco has some top talent in their R&D, I doubt you're buying any of that in their low end lineup.

No way to test an amp without powering it up and giving it a signal to see if it works, but 200$ would be a fair price on the used Alpine.

Honorable mention for this one here. Amplab is local to me and they're good guys.

KICKER | CX-1200.1

theamplab.net

Will make 500W into 4 ohm for you and has a good bit more on tap if you wanted to upgrade subs later. I've always had good luck with Kicker amps and that's a fair price.

Sundown SFB is 200$ from their site as well, but that's way overkill for you and I would personally NOT buy a full bridge amp without a factory (or third party) warranty.

I'll check out Amplab and Kicker. Never even considered Kicker because my impression was that it was an amp for the crowd that want to rattle license plate frames and not the SQ crowd ;-)

Yeah, the full bridge technology is giving me 2nd thoughts too, but the SFB does come with a 2 year warranty. Maybe driving it at half the rated rms will prolong it's life even further, lol.

So, more checking to do. And thanks once more.

 

[Squirrel!]

Well, I looked at several of those listings too. A lot of times listed stuff doesn't correspond to sold stuff, that's why I asked here. I didn't mean for you to do my homework, my apologies for making it seem that way. But thank you nonetheless.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nk...18795&vbn_id=7023243814&LH_Complete=1&_fsrp=1

 

[EricTundra]

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nk...18795&vbn_id=7023243814&LH_Complete=1&_fsrp=1

Now that's something I didn't know, a search to only show "sold" units? Nice.

 

[EricTundra]

Found a new Kicker 46CXA8001 rated at 800rms at 1ohm. These are usually $225, but at RockvilleAudio they throw in a RWK4CU 4 Gauge 2 Channel Complete Car Amplifier Installation Kit 100% Pure Copper RCA Cables for the same price.