which amp to use with ctx65cs

[WannaBBurly]

any detriment to bridging these 4 channel amps to run 2 channels? seems to be a lot more power available for less cost when compared to 2 channel amps (mainly looking at the MB -Discus amps). are these amps any good?

 

[Sir-Lancelot 10+ year member]

any detriment to bridging these 4 channel amps to run 2 channels? seems to be a lot more power available for less cost when compared to 2 channel amps (mainly looking at the MB -Discus amps). are these amps any good?

No. Gives you more overhead for musical peaks.

Just set your gains correctly. I prefer 4 channel amps, more flexibility and value, IMO.

 

[mellephants 10+ year member]

any detriment to bridging these 4 channel amps to run 2 channels? seems to be a lot more power available for less cost when compared to 2 channel amps (mainly looking at the MB -Discus amps). are these amps any good?

Curious. I see what you mean (data pulled from woofersetc):

DSC450

Retail: $344.99

Price: $100.99

50x4 @ 4ohm

100x4 @ 2ohm

200x2 @ 4ohm

DSC480

Retail: $444.99

Price: $139.99

80x4 @ 4ohm

160x4 @ 2ohm

320x2 @ 4ohm

DSC2150

Retail: $449.99

Price: $209.99

150x2 @ 4ohm

300x2 @ 2ohm

NAU-460 (Marine Grade)

Retail: $349.99

Price: $129.99

60x4 @ 4ohm

90x4 @ 2ohm

180x2 @ 4ohm

If you were limiting your choices to only MB Quart amps, it looks like the only reason to go with the 2-channel version is if you have 2ohm drivers that need more than 160w. The only reason for this pricing must be that people are afraid of bridging, or maybe everyone is willing to pay more for the 2-channel because the install will look more elegant?

EDIT: Maybe this is just a fluke with woofersetc pricing. The DSC2150 is $115 shipped all over ebay.

 

[WannaBBurly]

i'm not stuck on the MB discus amps or any other amp for that matter, just happened to be looking at them at the time... i'll have to keep looking around to see if this "4 channel bridged > 2 channel" stuff happens elsewhere.

 

[mellephants 10+ year member]

MB Quart DSC-4125 is only about $150 shipped

125x4 @ 4ohm

250x4 @ 2ohm

500x2 @ 4ohm

0.05% THD

 

[herrrerrera 10+ year member]

OP, what did you wind up doing?

Got the Discuss from SicAudio, http://www.woofersetc.com/p6840/DSC2150-MB-Quart-2-Ch-600-Watt-Amplifier.htm i have no other amps/speakers to compare with, but i am 110% super sadisfied with how they sound. crystal clear!

what determines how much watts im sending to the speakers? is it just in the volume? or is the amp always sending a certain amount of wattage to the speakers? or do all the settings have to bel all the way up plus volume??

i turned all the setting 1/5th- 1/4th the way up. and if i turn volume up, i believe i would go deaf before they start to distort, the mids and tweets are ear peircing!

 

[herrrerrera 10+ year member]

Its funny ive had subs for 8 years, i first started out wanting something that just thumped.. i had one 18" then 2 year later i had two 12"audio bahns. then i wanted a shorter crisper bass. so i got two 10" Alpine type-R in a small .68 closed box.

and now i still want tighter crisper bass. so i think i might sell the two 10"s and get four 8"s

 

[mellephants 10+ year member]

yep, that's how it goes //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

herrrerrera

its not the woofers size.. you like over damped alignments and woofers.. find something with a high fs and low Qt.. right off hand im sure you would like CDTs drivers as well as DD drivers(ported).. ive had 4 channel amps bridged and 2 channels 4ohm stereo and i find the 2 channel option is worth the extra doe. the SD i have does a clean 120x4@4ohm... you could also look into the arc audio FD http://www.woofersetc.com/p6856/FD-2200--ARC-Audio-2-Channel-370-Watt-Amplifier.htm for the money there great...

http://www.woofersetc.com/p8423/QES1220-Orange--CDT-Audio-12"-Cast-Audiophile-Excursion-Subwoofer.htm

http://www.woofersetc.com/p6718/QES1220--CDT-Audio-12"-Cast-Audiophile-Excursion-Subwoofer.htm

 

[spracer03 10+ year member]

Waiting on my comp set in the mail, but i just picked up a kenwood kac-7204 to power them... anyone use this amp with these comps??... rated at 170x2 @ 4 ohms i figure it should be a good match

 

[mellephants 10+ year member]

definitely, that amp will have plenty of power! I don't know anything else about it, like signal to noise ratio or THD, but 170x2 is plenty.

I have a set of ctx65cs on the way as well. i am gonna run them off an old phoenix gold that does 50x4@4, 75x4@2, bridged to 150x2@4. the amp itself is in rough shape, and pretty **** big, so I've been looking for something a bit nicer and smaller.

obtw I just scored a jbl bp1200.1 from these forums for $150 shipped. I'm using it with an an idq12v3d4. it sounds, uhh, "omg awesome". I can't wait for the components to come..

 

[spracer03 10+ year member]

definitely, that amp will have plenty of power! I don't know anything else about it, like signal to noise ratio or THD, but 170x2 is plenty.
I have a set of ctx65cs on the way as well. i am gonna run them off an old phoenix gold that does 75x4@4, bridged to 150x2@4. the amp itself is in rough shape, and pretty **** big, so I've been looking for something a bit nicer and smaller.

obtw I just scored a jbl bp1200.1 from these forums for $150 shipped. I'm using it with an an idq12v3d4. it sounds, uhh, "omg awesome". I can't wait for the components to come..

Signal-to-Noise Ratio 83 dB

THD at Rated RMS Power 0.8%

 

[mellephants 10+ year member]

that is ok, but certainly not the best. my PG amp has a 110dB S/N and 1% THD, so its better at one thing and worse at the other.

You should be able to hear the difference from 80dB to 100dB, but S/N ratios over 100dB will be very hard to discriminate.

Anything under 1% THD is generally accepted as "decent"; fwiw the MB Quart DSC2150 is rated 0.05% THD & 92dB S/N

From wikipedia:

Signal-to-noise ratio (often abbreviated SNR or S/N) is ameasurement of the ratio of a signal power to the noise power corrupting the signal. A ratio higher than 1:1 indicates more signal than noise. In less technical terms, signal-to-noise ratio compares the level of a desired signal (such as music) to the level of background noise. The higher the ratio, the less obtrusive the background noise is.

The total harmonic distortion, or THD, of a signal is a measurement of the harmonic distortion present and is defined as the ratio of the sum of the powers of all harmonic components to the power of the fundamental frequency. Lesser THD allows the components in a loudspeaker, amplifier or microphone or other equipment to produce a more accurate reproduction by reducing harmonics added by electronics and audio media.

 

[manny1337 10+ year member]

Waiting on my comp set in the mail, but i just picked up a kenwood kac-7204 to power them... anyone use this amp with these comps??... rated at 170x2 @ 4 ohms i figure it should be a good match

you shouldnt of bought a kenwood amp //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

they are horrible. ive owned one will never buy another in my life.

 

[spracer03 10+ year member]

i guess ill have to see how my ears like it... im not too picky so it might be ok