any pitfalls of the 5 ch amp?

i was curious if anyone knows the pitfalls to using a 5 channel amp over using separate amps. example... alpine 5 channel amp vrs... a 4 channel and a sub amp or maybe even 2 2 channels amps and a sub amp?

No downfalls at all. I am actually about to get a kicker zx700.5 which seems to be the best value in regards to price and output. The only downfall is that the zx700.5 puts out 70w rms at 4ohm to the 4 channels plus 210x1 at 4ohms for the sub with 2 ohms running at 420rms on that channel. If someone wants to send 100 watts to his speakers and 700 watts to his subs then they need to get seperate amps. For me 70 watts rms is enough for now.

i remember in my 3rd year of electrical engineering in college we played with something i believe to be called "the variable gain theory"... i think in the auto/stereo world the theory would play out in a 5 channel amp's ability to use the gain control to boost the front stage much louder then say the rear stage... help???

No not at all. It can make for an easy install. A week age I installed a U.S. Amps ax 5600 in a F150 crew cab. Not alot of room behind the rear seats. So a single amp footprint fit the bill.Big Dave

that us amps 5600 is way too expensive