Which Amps are the "best"?

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

You pretty much got it " right " when you stated you were looking at Arc Audio first. The Foose Series will be better than pretty much anything that has been mentioned on this thread , with the exception of maybe Brax , Audison , True .... As many have already stated , if you can find some used XXK amps , you will be waaaay ahead of the game.

The SE Series is WAY overkill for Germaniums. JMO

Well, hey there Blue. Haven't cussed you out in a while. How you been.??//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[blue 10+ year member]

Well, hey there Blue. Haven't cussed you out in a while. How you been.??//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

He he he .... No worries Adam , others have stepped up to take over for you //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

I've been doing very good myself. Hope you have a great holidays //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

He he he .... No worries Adam , others have stepped up to take over for you //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gifI've been doing very good myself. Hope you have a great holidays //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif Thats funny. You have good holidays too man.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[bonesninja 5,000+ posts]

If it were up to me...i say go with a Alpine PDX 1.1000 for the sub and the PDX 4.150 for the comps. If not those then maybe the DLS Ultimate A6 for sub and Ultimate A4 for comps...of course it depends on what ohm sub you have when considering the DLS

 

[tukn18s 10+ year member]

the sub will be run at 2 ohms, i am considering some PPI amps as well as sundown, although the last time i went with a new name to ME (massive) it wasnt the best experience, so I think i will keep looking for the arcs to come along, i was one click away from buying a 4150 last week, but had some shit come up, bummer....

 

[tukn18s 10+ year member]

the alpines are cool, havent heard them, but i did own an older model, the mrd-m1000 and loved it, i think i want to go with something a little less known around my area, i have NEVER seen or even heard of arc up until the last couple days

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

the sub will be run at 2 ohms, i am considering some PPI amps as well as sundown, although the last time i went with a new name to ME (massive) it wasnt the best experience, so I think i will keep looking for the arcs to come along, i was one click away from buying a 4150 last week, but had some shit come up, bummer....

I'll be the first to tell you that you can easily OVERPAY for an amplifier. There is a big difference in build quality and parts used between a $85 amp and a $400 amp but there is a much SMALLER difference in build quality between a $4-600 amp and a $2,000 amp. Once you get to half a grand you're pretty much not going to get a whole lot better without having to take out a second mortgage.

 

[tukn18s 10+ year member]

good to know!

 

[tukn18s 10+ year member]

if that is the case, what about memphis amps? i had one a while back and wasnt too impressed, what about their new stuff?

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

Couldn't tell ya about Memphis. Never used them and the systems I've heard did NOT impress me. Therefore, I would never buy their stuff.

 

[tukn18s 10+ year member]

cool, guess ill just start saving, get a large sum of money, then decide what to buy. just soo much to choose from

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

if that is the case, what about memphis amps? i had one a while back and wasnt too impressed, what about their new stuff?

Their M-class line-up is good, solid equipment. The Memphis Belle, for example, is a great all-in-one solution. Excellent amplifier.

Couldn't tell ya about Memphis. Never used them and the systems I've heard did NOT impress me. Therefore, I would never buy their stuff.

I would blame that on the installs unless you were listening to a PR series setup (which are good "for the money", but nothing stellar).

The M-class equipment is solid. Their speakers have won something in the neighborhood of 39 world championships in sound quality competitions over the years.

To be honest, I had never even considered Memphis speakers either until I listened to Audiolife's setup......but now the M-sync 8's are in my kickpanels //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif (doesn't hurt that I also got a pretty decent price on them).

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

cool, guess ill just start saving, get a large sum of money, then decide what to buy. just soo much to choose from

Like Adam said.....keep a level head with your amplifier purchase. No need to get extremely crazy with them as they will be the absolute smallest contributor to the overall sound of your system. I would never consider spending more on an amplifier than I did on the speakers they are powering....unless the amplifier had something to substantially contribute to the sound such as extensive internal processing such as the Kicker SX or Zapco DC series amps offer.

What does the rest of your system consist of ? Headunit ? Processing ?

 

[GeeTEye 10+ year member]

I actually had the same question a few months back. I was comparing the Arc SE's to the XXK's to the old PPI's. Basically the consensus on here was that the SE's were overkill for what I wanted and that the XXK's would do just fine. But.... I figured if I'm going to be running a $1500 Morel setup I might as well get the creme de la creme (as far as ARC goes). I hear a lot about Brax but to me its like a Bently, expensive just not extreamly practical for most peoples use. So I went with the SE series (plus they are sexy as sh#t). If you are on a tighter budget the XXK's should do you great, I hear nothing but good things about that company.

 

[Lizardking 10+ year member]

You would be just fine with the the XXK's....one of the best a year or so ago.....I would also bet that you wouldn't hear a difference between them and the SE's that replaced them......