Need small footprint 3 channel amp

[maylar 10+ year member]

Currently using a 4 ch amp with rear channels bridged for my subs. And I need more sub power. Unfortunately I designed my amp rack around the current unit and I don't want to redo that, so I need something that'll fit into the same space, which is 14-1/8 X 8-3/8. There's a bit extra there, but not much.

Need 2 X 75W @ 4 ohms and 350-400W @ 4 ohms. I figure a 3 channel with Class D sub will be the smallest, but would entertain a 4ch if it fits and is OK with 8 gage wire.

Price is secondary. Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.

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[Ronny 10+ year member]

I've got some PPI Sedonas that could work for you. They are good ol' O/S cheater amplifiers. Rated at 100W per channel @ 4ohms. I was able to obtain 140W @ 4ohm per channel when clamping them on my 8" front stage mid-drivers. But a cool feature on these, and other O/S amplifiers of the like that manufacturers no longer do, is make it so you you can also bridge the two channels to run a woofer. So, they are 2ch amplifiers, but they have the ability of bridging a woofer while running components or speakers. They are not the prettiest as of now as they are circa 94-95 but you can certainly get some paint on it if you'd like. 8 1/2" tall, 9" wide, and 2 1/2" in thickness or "height". Altogether, you have the ability to obtain about 510W total out of it, I personally clamped that out of one of them driving a single woofer bridged at 4ohm. Though they are rated at 330W @4ohm. Very surprising power output, but they are Class A amplifiers, so they'll draw some current. However, that's a tiny expense of some FANTASTIC SQ that comes with.

If you can't make these spec work, I highly suggest looking into O/S amplifiers like these PPI and Orion of that era. Most of them have a lovely 2/3ch feature deal like this.

Hehe, lmk.

Ronny

 

[Ronny 10+ year member]

Also, if moolah isn't a parameter here, grab an MMATS amplifier. Let me see if I can find the model I had I long time ago. It was something like 100W per front channels, and 300 or 500W on the rear channel.

And I'll take a look into my amplifier room, see if there is anything else that could match your needs here. The footprint surely puts wrench in spokes here, or else I'd have three amplifiers I'd offer you that would match your power needs no problem, but they have some more size to them. Err, perhaps my DSC4125 could work, but I think she's just a tad too tall and a tad too wide for you. But I'll check that too.

 

[jokers10 10+ year member]

This amp will be released rather soon:

http://www.caraudio.com/forums/sundown-audio/546727-saz-1500d-v-3-sax-125-4-pre-orders.html

 

[Hintzyboy 5,000+ posts]

There really isn't much out there for 3-channels, and nothing that I know of with those particular specs. But there are a ton of 4-channels out there that will do what you want. I only had to look at two sites to come up with the list below, and you would have way more options if you could increase your dimensions by about 2" each way. You could also look at a couple of the smaller 5-channels out there if you were willing to rebuild the amp rack.

Out of the options below, the ZED is probably the highest quality (also the most expensive).

WoofersEtc.com - PA D4000.4 - Polk Audio 4-Channel 800W RMS Car Amplifier

WoofersEtc.com - R600-4D - Rockford Fosgate 4 Channel 600 Watt Prime Series Class D Amplifier

WoofersEtc.com - RUB4.600 - Soundstream 4 Ch. 600 Watt RMS Rubicon Series A/B Class Amplifier

WoofersEtc.com - Draconia II - ZED Audio 4-Channel 400W RMS Amplifier

SSA Store - Stetsom Venom 600.4 @ 2ohms amplifier

Incriminator Audio 6.4 4-channel amplifier100Wx4

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

^ The SAX 125.4 would likely fit, but I'm not sure if it'd be enough power, even bridged... you're really limited here with that footprint requirement.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

This amp will be released rather soon:
http://www.caraudio.com/forums/sundown-audio/546727-saz-1500d-v-3-sax-125-4-pre-orders.html

Thanks for that. If it was released now I'd probably buy one. But August isn't soon enough.

The thing about 4 channels is that to get 400 w bridged you usually get 100 w per channel which is a bit of overkill on the front stage. Plus at 800w they want 4 gage wire.

See my dilemma - I have limited area to work with. Even amps that fit dimensionally but have connections at the ends won't work..

 

[pinoy2o9 10+ year member]

arc audio ks300.4?

 

[Hintzyboy 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for that. If it was released now I'd probably buy one. But August isn't soon enough.
The thing about 4 channels is that to get 400 w bridged you usually get 100 w per channel which is a bit of overkill on the front stage. Plus at 800w they want 4 gage wire.

See my dilemma - I have limited area to work with. Even amps that fit dimensionally but have connections at the ends won't work..

You don't HAVE to run the fronts that high. Headroom is never a bad thing. Simply set the gain for what you want. Just because an amp CAN produce 800w doesn't mean that's how you're going to use it. With your setup, you'll only be using 500-550w. While I would always recommend going with wire a size bigger than you actually need, you'd probably be okay with the 8 gauge. You can safely pull 50-55 amps through 8 gauge, and with the more efficient 4-channels, you should be able to sneak under that threshold. However, running new wire wouldn't be too hard.

 

[Hintzyboy 5,000+ posts]

Just for reference, the ZED has a current draw of 42 amps on a sine wave at 4 ohms, and an average draw of 8-15 amps on music at 4 ohms (per specs). Again, it's pretty pricey but definitely high quality, small footprint, and efficient.

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

DLS Ultimate, can't remember the model for the 3 channel.

 

[Hintzyboy 5,000+ posts]

DLS Ultimate, can't remember the model for the 3 channel.

Now that I see the photo, both the RA30 and the A5 Ultimate 3 look like good options. They're 15 and 16 inches long, respectively, and the Ultimate has all of the connectors on one side. However, these are both more expensive than the ZED mentioned.

WoofersEtc.com - A5 - DLS Ultimate 3 Channel 980 Watt Amplifier

WoofersEtc.com - RA30 - DLS Reference 3 Channel 565 Watt Amplifier

 

[zako 10+ year member]

Get yourself a high power 4-channel Class D amplifier such as Kenwood XR-4S or Polk Audio D4000.4 (should find one for $300-350 online). Class D amplifiers are very compact and should fit in your space. In both cases, the bridged channel will give you over 400watts RMS at 4ohms and should slaughter that little GTA class a/b amplifer. The selection of 3-channel amplifiers is pretty thin. I know that Massive Audio has the NX3, but if what I have read about NX4 and NX5 is true, it's probably overrated and highly prone to overheating (like NX4/NX5). I have heard of the 3-channel DLS amplifier, but it doesn't seem very attractive at this price. 4-channel is better bet IMO.

 

[Hintzyboy 5,000+ posts]

Get yourself a high power 4-channel Class D amplifier such as Kenwood XR-4S or Polk Audio D4000.4 (should find one for $300-350 online). Class D amplifiers are very compact and should fit in your space. In both cases, the bridged channel will give you over 400watts RMS at 4ohms and should slaughter that little GTA class a/b amplifer. The selection of 3-channel amplifiers is pretty thin. I know that Massive Audio has the NX3, but if what I have read about NX4 and NX5 is true, it's probably overrated and highly prone to overheating (like NX4/NX5). I have heard of the 3-channel DLS amplifier, but it doesn't seem very attractive at this price. 4-channel is better bet IMO.

DLS amps are very high quality amps, not really comprable to the brands you mentioned. Used much more in SQ setups, where watts per dollar isn't the only factor.

Kenwood amps tend to be kind of junky. The Polk might be okay, but the specs I find don't list current draw and say the amp requires 4 gauge wire, and as you said, the Massives are known to be overrated and to run hot. You get what you pay for.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, guys. The SAX or the ZED would be my choice of what's been suggested, tho the ZED is a bit steep price wise. I do have a couple of inches that the amp rack could grow if needed, but even with that the DLS amps are way too big.

This is a daily driver build that spends most of its time at low to moderate volume. The front stage gain is pretty much all the way down and it's plenty loud enough for me. I'll bet I'm only using 40 watts of the Boston's 75W. I'm thinking that this JBL might be just the ticket:

JBL GTO-3EZ 3-channel car amplifier — 50 watts RMS x 2 at 4 ohms + 500 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms at Crutchfield.com

Any comments on that one?