Returning to hobby, need amp advice

[3Dflyer 10+ year member]

I am returning to the high end car audio hobby after a 15 year break. When I quit PPI, a/d/s, McIntosh, and MTX were highly acclaimed. The US amps were a young company but showed promise. Amps were commonly cheater amps designed for low impedence multispeaker passive xover systems.

I am looking to power a high end set of CDT ES-07 three components with a seperate upstage kit in the front, a simply coax rear fill, and two shallow mount 10's in the back of a minivan.

I am looking for SQ before volume, but I don't want to leave my speakers wanting for more. I hear the CDT's need power, but I don't know how true that is.

I would like to have my amps installed under my front seat, which offers about 14-15"longx11"widex8"high.

I am told many of the quality old school amp manufacturers have sold out to the low end market.

Willing to buy new or used.

Tell me what is going on in the market nowadays......

3Dflyer

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[azbass 5,000+ posts]

how much you lookin to spend?

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

let me get this right. 3 way comps up front, coaxs in the rear, and two woofers? what woofers are you using? and like ^ said, what are you looking to spend, you are going to want two amps, and maybe three depending on budget and if you want to go active or passive up front.

 

[dleccord 5,000+ posts]

dayumm 15 years, thas a long @ss time, what made you leave the hobby?

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

dayumm 15 years, thas a long @ss time, what made you leave the hobby?

caraudio.com

 

[Blazin_Jason 10+ year member]

RC Plane 3d flying?

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

RC Plane 3d flying?

dude, things are only 2D, oh wait, things in my other life outside of the computer are 3D. its late.

 

[3Dflyer 10+ year member]

Yes, 3D r/c helicopter and airplane flying.... Talk about putting a hole in the audio budget... go price out a top of the line r/c heli and electronics.

15 years flies by: Terminally ill father needed 24/7 care @4.5 years, then college, then career, then graduate school, first home (nice), then wife's graduate school, kid #1 and recently kid #2. Don't take long to burn 15 years and a lot of loose cash!

Looking for a basic install. I want to stay passive up front and run some slimline 10's or quality 8's for subs. I am waiting to see how the new eD 10" low profile subs turn out. I have an Audiomobile MASS 2412 12" sub rated at 1,000 watts rms, but it is proving too big to install in the family minivan.

I guess it comes down to taking a risk and buying used off of ebay or this forum for an old school amp, or learning what is a good quality modern amp and going brand new.

I am on a budget. I guess from the observations I have made thus far that a good old school PPI system could be had for about $600. I would like to spend as little as possible, though. It seems some of the modern multichannel amps can be had for that price range as well. An Elemental Design nINE.2 and nINE.4 might do the trick for around $400. I just don't know about this company. Their nINE.1 and nINE.2x would also make a great combo for about $600. I only wish I new how they compared to the PPI, MTX, RF, Sansui, McIntosh, Zapco, US Amps, Pehonix Gold old school stuff.

I would say Pheonix gold, PPI, a/d/s, and McIntosh were on the top of the food chain when I left the hobby.

I can assure you that I don't want to get into upgrading the alternator, caps, batteries, etc. I drive a minivan for Pete's sake.

 

[3Dflyer 10+ year member]

What about the JL Audio 500/5?

Run CDT 3 way ES-07's with 100 watts/channel up front, rear fill with 25 watts/channel, and 250 watts on a sub?

I have never heard a JL amp and don't know of anyone locally that has either. No retailers to check them out.

Tyler

 

[3Dflyer 10+ year member]

Physically, the new Alpine PDX series amps would be the PERFECT size, shape, and power output for my requirements. I simply don't know if they are SQ amps or not.

Has anyone got feedback on them?

Back in the day class D was just coming around under the name of Blade, if I recall correctly. They made for terrible sounding mid/high amps, I believe. Has technology solved that problem with modern all digital systems?

Small footprint, stackable, highly efficient, low power consumption, and warranty. Too good to be true?

3Dflyer

 

[K&c Customs 10+ year member]

i have a 1500 watt quantum audio amp brand new in box... remote bass contol... mono block.. $200 shipped

 

[K&c Customs 10+ year member]

i also have a set of 12 in kicker comps in a box.. $150

 

[K&c Customs 10+ year member]

pm me for more info

 

[diatribe 10+ year member]

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

 

[Ignatowski 5,000+ posts]

I was out of it for even longer than 15 years before I came back

shit happens,these kids dont reliaze that after the college years

time flys and before you know it you look back and your young years

that you remember and they dissapeared

I reccomend checking out Diamond,D9 drivers and D6 Amps