Returning to hobby, need amp advice

[Decipha 10+ year member]

im not a big fan of the JL slash series... just personally don't like them

and your right, class d amps are really suited for comps.. i much prefer a nice a/b amp

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

I love Class A/B but if you aren't ready to upgrade the charging system, a Class D is the best option for the simple reason of efficiency.

I would be looking in the neighborhood of at least 100 watts per channel for the front and HU power for the rear. On a tight budget, the Phoenix Gold Xenon 100.2 would be a good amp and would pair nicely with a 400.1 or 600.1 all off eBay. You can get the pair new for about $250.

 

[Pickler 10+ year member]

not a big fun of any jl, i think its all overpriced.

 

[3Dflyer 10+ year member]

So, the general concensus is that the JL audio stuff is not very desireable.

How about some old school PPI amps? I see some 600.2 and 4004.2 art series amps on ebay. Are they still considered the reference for SQ amplifiers?

A friend of mine has some Butler amps, older ones, that have some turn on issues. I may be able to get them cheap and have them fixed. He was using one of them with some CDT's and found the eD nINE.4 to have much more power and sound much clearer.

I have my sights on a pair of old ORION HCCA 225R and 250R amps. I believe those are the right numbers, but would have to check. They are the cheater amps of yesteryear, I believe. I don't know if they are worth a bucket of puck when run with simple four ohm loads. Anyone have experience with these amps without running them down with multiple speakers at low impedences?

3Dflyer

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

So, the general concensus is that the JL audio stuff is not very desireable.

I would say that is far from the consensus. JLs are excellent amps. They are expensive, but most of the people that whine about how much they cost are running fairly cheap stuff.

How about some old school PPI amps? I see some 600.2 and 4004.2 art series amps on ebay. Are they still considered the reference for SQ amplifiers?

Don't know about "the reference" but they haven't lost their charm. I'm selling an A404 on eBay right now in fact.

I have my sights on a pair of old ORION HCCA 225R and 250R amps. I believe those are the right numbers, but would have to check. They are the cheater amps of yesteryear, I believe. I don't know if they are worth a bucket of puck when run with simple four ohm loads. Anyone have experience with these amps without running them down with multiple speakers at low impedences?

I've only ever used Orion amps myself, and pretty much only HCCA series. If you plan to run those particular amps, run the 250R on the front stage (it will do at least 75 watts per channel comfortably) and the 225R on the subs. The older HCCA amps will do a good bit more than their rated power at 4 ohms.

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

im not a big fan of the JL slash series... just personally don't like them
and your right, class d amps are really suited for comps.. i much prefer a nice a/b amp

i finally had enough of my 3 JLs and sold them all.

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

^ You spam in every single post I've read. Will someone please ban this SOB.

dont be a party pooper.

 

[3Dflyer 10+ year member]

bri487,

What do you mean when you said you finally had enough of the JL amps and sold all three of them. Can you be more specific?

3dflyer

 

[zfactor 10+ year member]

i agree that for the money there is no touching the xenon phoenix golds at the prices they are selling for right now they are almost less than half off original dealer cost... the x600.1 had a normal dealer cost of just over 300$ 309 i believe... now they can be had shipped for 200$ (lol i have some if you need some) orion is def not what it used to be. there is no comparing the new orion to the old original orion imo... the new dei stuff is imo def not up to par with the old stuff. not bad just not what id recc unless you look to big power for that they are good and cheap def not a sq amp... again mo here... zapco reference is great stuff if you have room for them at over 24" long they take up some space for the 4 channel... arc's xxk is another premium contender that can be found at decent prices the 5150xxk can easily run a whole system in your budget... i also am not a huge fan of jl amps. i think they perform well just overpriced for what you get. dls "A" series are another good contender here the a7 would work very well... for the budget minded the massive audio pro series is very hard to beat at a very low price point they do rated power and are pretty darn clean to boot... look possibly at exile audio... the old phoenix gold engineers that left the company after a long stay there opened exile audio.. very awsome power output and def a clean amp good on price kinda mid level to boot... very well built.... there are a lot out there these are some that come to mind... def best bang for the buck is xenon right now very very clean and have lots of power the whole line is overbuilt.. the x600 is rated at 600 rms i have yet to bench one (have done like 15 or so now) that tested under 840 watts rms at 1% thd.... just fyi

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

bri487,
What do you mean when you said you finally had enough of the JL amps and sold all three of them. Can you be more specific?

3dflyer

i just got tired of their performance. i went from two 500/1's to a zapco 1100.1 reference dc and the bass is so much cleaner. i also felt that they were a little on the weak side.

 

[BassAddictJ 5,000+ posts]

man thingsw have chhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhanged in the last 15 years. i havent been in it for that logn but ive read up a bit......you were probly better off with amps made back then than some one the ones now...... many of the good companies went under....soundstream,ppi,pheonix gold, orion, countless many other ones just stopped putting as quality components in thier amps as they used to be. they cut thier costs and sold out....DEI bought out several companies and made them just slightly shittier.....shit i'd take an old school us amps over almost any amp out here today.....however i have a hting called a budget, and it sucks....

sorry for haveing a lack of specifing certain detail, it's 6am and bed time....but just know that for some really really nice stuff stick oldschool.....id get a ppi art series before it's too late.....

 

[3Dflyer 10+ year member]

How do the modern Rockford Fosgate amps compare to the old school RF amps? I remember Punch 150's slamming pretty hard. I had friends with Power 300 and Power 1000's that would rock an entire system! Although I wouldn't call them SQ stuff, they rocked.

A buddy just installed a modern RF 3000 watt mono sub amp. I am surprised with the lack of output. I don't know if it is an electrical system issue, sub enclosure issue, or amp issue. I believe the subs and enclosure are ok, though. I even dropped in my Audiomobile MASS 2412 sub and enclosure and was surprised with the low output.

 

[vetkilr 10+ year member]

You have to get the power series still from Rockford to get anything of value the regular stuff sucks.

All the power stuff atarts with a T and the cheap stuff atarts with a P....

Ie T1000 =Power series 1000

Ie P1000= Crap series 1000 they sell at Bestbuy and such.