Power and amp for Pioneer TS-720PRS component set?

[yacob.naif 10+ year member]

Been out of the car audio loop for a while, here.

I thought i had a hard decision to make, deciding between the spx-17pro and 720prs sets, but it turns out that was the EASY part. Now i've been trying to find a suitable amplifier, and i'm about at wits end.

My original candidate was the pdx-2.150. It's small, it's supposedly efficient, fits into my budget, and says 'alpine' on it.

Well, much to my dismay, most people seem to write it off as 'just another class-d amp' that's only "OK" for full-range use.

Once i started looking and asking around, i've opened up a whole flood of options, and i can't make heads or tails of any of it. I'm now looking at:

- alpine pdx.2-150 (2x150)

- mb quart dsc2150 (2x150)

- mb quart pab2100 (2x100) wtf is the difference between the discus and premium, honestly?

- cadence zrs-1502 (2x150)

- cadence zrs-2002 (2x200) (more power than i need, but $20 cheaper than the 1502......... very strange)

- soundstream rub4.500 (2x250)

- soundstream ref2.370 (2x110)

- soundstream ref2.640 (2x190) (again more than i need... but holy crap look at those specs)

My priorities are #1-sound quality #2-build quality #3-price #4-efficiency #5-true power output. Power output is last, because i think any of these should be more than enough to power these components.

Is an untrained ear even going to be able to tell the difference between something like the cheapest (mb quart) and the most expensive (soundstream reference?) What about between a class D (alpine) and a type AB (the others.) I'll be the first person to admit that i AM one of those people who get carried away, looking at spec sheets. I will drive myself absolutely crazy comparing specs, and slowly but surely talking myself futher, and further, and further out of my original price range. I know in my heart that once i actually install the amp, the specs and numbers no longer matter. I just want something that will power my pioneers sufficiently, with CLEAN power, and will last a few years. In the end, it's going to boil down to: Turn radio on > does everything work? YES-happy; NO-sad, and that's about it.

If anyone recommends anything else, i'd really like to keep the street-price around $200 shipped, and i prefer an amp that can make the power i need with only 2 channels. I do place a value on tidiness, fit & finish.

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[DarkScorpion 10+ year member]

Technically speaking, you shouldn't hear a difference between amps that are putting out the same amount of power. An amp should do only that - amplify the signal. However, as we all know, this is not an actuality since variabilities in amp construction and components is, for the most part, huge between different amps. Of all the amps you listed though, I SERIOUSLY doubt you'll be able to tell a difference in sound quality since they all put out similar power, and you're not exactly dabbling in extremely high end gear. You'd really have to sit down in a closed room and do an A-B comparison in order to tell if one sounds different, or rather, if one colors the sound differently. There's currently a huge thread over at DIYMA debating the perception of audible differences between amps and such. My take on it is that, induced noise aside, if two amps put out the same power, they will sound the same - but that's just me.

Of the choices you listed, I'd simply go with what fits your budget best. The 720prs's don't need much power to sound good, but they take to power very well; more specifically, the midwoofers are VERY stoutly built and can take a good amount of power. The MB Quart Discus amps are very popular right now since they're cheap, their internals are very beefy, and they put out rated power. I'd consider picking up the DSC4125 instead of the DSC2150. That way, you can run your 720prs's actively with an external crossover since the consensus is that the passive crossovers included are the weak link and the set sounds that much better without them. Just a suggestion //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsup.gif.3287b36ca96645a13a43aff531f37f02.gif