2/4 channel amps any choices?

ok so far i have seen in my city, the following brands.
JL, kicker, alpine, sony, concept, RF, MTX, eclipse, pioneer, ultimate, kenwood, pheonix gold, bazooka, lightning audio, cerwin vega, ma audio, orion, PPI. those are all the brands for the amps they have here in my city, trouble is. finding two amps for my car, 1 2 channel OR mono block, and 1 4 channel. any suggestions?

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xTimx

What are you looking to power?

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New Project: 2003 Pathfinder

well something to run my mb quart mids (3.5"s 20watts rms and 6x9"s 60watts rms) and my MA audio subs (6ohm DVC 400rms)

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xTimx

sorry for double post. just trying to get it up on the first page

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xTimx

What City are you In? Is it in Saskatchewan

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

yup regina saskatchewan

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xTimx

I figured this much. What kinda speakers are you running. I need to know what kinda power you need. Also what kinda car do you drive.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

speakers are listed above^^^^ and i drive a 91' chev. cavalier z24 its red and it has a nice interior and a crappy exterior, i did all the interior stuff myself lol. whoops i dont think you needed all that lol

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xTimx

I think I know who you are actually. Anyways, I would look at a rockford 3001 and a rockford 4004 as one compination. You could also look at a mtx 4001 and a rt404 if you wanted to go with a little better set uo than the rockfords. I wouldnt suggest the ultimate, concept, sony, boss, lightning or kenwood amps. Also the PPI and Orion amps are only 90 day warrenties due to KK not being an authorized dealer in Regina, unless of course they decidede to pick them up full time. I really love orion amps but if they arent authorized then they arent worth it. I pesonally despise Alpine heads abd amps but that is stricly personal and you shouldnt base your desision on that since alot of people use them and like them. Same think with JL, not my cup of Tea but some people love em and both brands seem to be reliable. The brands I listed above to not buy I have seen have some pretty big reliability issues in the city, although it seems as though lighning got better, I still dont recomend them even though if forrbidden was on here he would say other wise. Eclipse amps are very nice as well but I dont know the model numbers well enough to suggest which specific ones. If you want eclipse though go to Innovation Autospors being they are far more knowleagable and are far more strait shooting than the other places that carry eclipse in the city.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

there are lots of good amps out there, you just have to decide whats right for you.... warranty on any of them shouldnt be a problem as most retailers have an extended warranty program available.... since KK bought  Innovation a month or so ago ( hence the name change from Audio to Autosports ) there shouldnt be any difference shopping between either of them as one owns the other.... you cant go wrong with JL or Rockford....just avoid the obvious cheap stuff like Boss

it's basically gonna boil down to who you feel comfortable dealing with and what product YOU feel will suit your needs

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Kevin Gerry
Certified Electronics Technician
MECP First Class Installer

Owner/Installer
Classic Car Audio
since 1979

Just because they are owned by the same people doesnt mean that the shopping experience will be the same. I would far rather deal with the salesman at inno as opposed to kk because they guys at inno are far more professional and arent worried about pushing sh*t on ou using that dumb line "Ill give you cost plus ten if you tell people where you got your stuff from". I hear that line from guys at KK all the time and its total bullsh*t. They are salesmen where as guys like Calvin and Brain are Professionals that will match gear to customer as opposed to just tell people this is what you need because its the best sh*t on the planet and its really shiny. Thats garbage and thats why I dont send anyone to KK.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

WHOA... take a valium.... lol      maybe you missed that fact i was explaining that warranty wouldnt be an issue since they are owned by the same people... i wasnt commenting on the buying experience in any way

anyway... to recap to Tim ( as that is who i was offering advice to anyway )   warranty on any of the brands you will look at shouldnt be a problem, as most stores offer their own warranties in addition to the manufacturers warranty.... so your only consideration should be who YOU ( not the others on this forum ) prefer to deal with and what YOU feel sounds best to YOU..... most of the brands you listed in your original post are good quality brands with a few obvious exceptions

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Kevin Gerry
Certified Electronics Technician
MECP First Class Installer

Owner/Installer
Classic Car Audio
since 1979

Thats funny, and ya your right about dealing with who you feel confortable dealing with. I was throwing out opinion and personal knowleadge obtained from others, not nessasarily fact. As far as the warrenties go, when I talked to them before they only said it was a 90 day waarrent and did not offer any other tyoe of warrenty with it. If there was an extended warrenty I would have thought they would have mentioned it to me since it always seems to be a big part of any companies sales pitch since they generally make good money on it, at least at the salespersons level.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

well i have two rockford amps 301x 40x4 @ 4 ohms. and 400s 200x2 @ 4ohms 400x1 @ 4ohms, i get my stuff from visions albert, from eric and sh*t he has even said to me i am THEE biggest volume freak he has ever seen. and thats true i like my music loud. even when the windows are up. but the thing is i keep blowing my quart 3.5" and 6x9" all the damn time.. and calvin has set the gains, eric has, installer at east visions, my friends brother that works at P.A sound works in prince albert (JJ) and they STILL blow. (sighs) ravendarat...you live in Regina too!? maybe you can help me set up my gains.

another thing i'll put into consideration is my HU, its a JVC 1150...could that be also making the speakers blow?

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xTimx

unfortunately if you're a volume freak, tweaking the gains probably isnt going to prevent you from blowing speakers.... the only real fix is... if you hear it beginning to distort ( regardless of how loud it is ) turn it down a little

or get a second job to help cover the cost of all the speakers you are going to go through.......

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Kevin Gerry
Certified Electronics Technician
MECP First Class Installer

Owner/Installer
Classic Car Audio
since 1979

If you're blowing 3.5's, the answer is probably you need a high-pass crossover.  If you're blowing 6X9's, the answer is probably clipping somewhere in your signal chain.  If the amps are setup properly, then the clipping is coming from the head unit.  JVC heads are not very, err, good, so that is a definate possibility.  If you like it loud, get a better head, bigger amps and better speakers and set it up so that it's loud enough for you without entering clipping territory.  Also get rid of those 3.5" speakers unless you have then crossed over above 250Hz or so.  Build yourself some kicks and install good quality 6.5's or components.

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Support the12volt.com

I am still around from time to time, a little busy these days though. The Lightning amps are good little amplifiers that I have had no problems with in the Bolt, Strike or Storm series from the current generation. However I would choose a Concept amp over the Lightning any day of the week right now, they are a nice looking well though out amplifier with a great 3 year warranty. They are highly flexible and would work great in this application. Eclipse - well they are one of favorite amps and the more that I use them the more that I like them. Great sound, simple clean lines and great value.

Dyohn is bang on about the crossovers on the front speakers, get a good high point on those small speakers and get that gain turned down. Consider the MB Quart 3.5" speakers if you manage to toast them again.

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

well calvin got some high pass crossovers to put on my 3.5's. but its either that or get an external adjustable crossover for all my speakers. i just need money first. hopefully buy a new head. if i'm still blowing speakers then i'll get the E.A.C. and if it STILL does it. then i dunno what to do. they're gonna have to get someone from the states to come up here and tweak out my system! lol either that or get an oscciliscope.

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xTimx

Are you blowing the driver or the tweeter on your speakers. If you are blowing the driver than we need to get some caps on those speakers. If you are blowing the tweeters than we have a whole new problem. Let me know which is happening and we can work on gettin this worked out.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

blowing the driver, not the tweeter.

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xTimx

So you need to go to B and E electronics on scarth street and tell them you need caps for your speakers. They are gonna ask you what frequency you want and I would say get 90 hz for the back and about 120 hz for the 3 1/2's. Hopefully that is gonna be a high enough cut off that you wont blowem up. Short of that you may need to increase the number of speakers you have to get the amount of sound you want.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

actually. calvin has caps for the 3.5s and that'll put the frequency at 200hz.

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xTimx