Printer Friendly Forum Posts - Best amp for looks/performance

Alright, I was turned on to this site by a friend because I'm planning a full custom install. I started showing my car last year and have decided to take my current setup out and go for the real deal. I spent a lot of time talking to the best installer in town on the setup and we decided on two 10" Eclipse Aluminums in the spare tire well with the amps facing you, battery, cap, neons, the works. For the amps he suggested(obviously because they sell them) the new Diamond Audio D5 series, a 1200.1 actually for the 10's with the matching 4-channel for the inside speakers. These amps are not cheap. I shopped around town and found others like the new Phoenix Gold Xenon series and the new Kicker D-class as well just for ideas. So I'm looking for suggestions as well as opinions on these or ANY others that I didn't mention. I like having the adjustments on the top as well since these are going to be flushed in, but not necessary. Looks play a part in the scenario too since it is for show. Anyways, thanks in advance for any and all help, much appreciated.

Alpine...JL... they all look perdy

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2003 Chevy Avalanche,Eclipse CD7000,Morel Elate 5,Adire Extremis,Alpine PDX-4.150, 15" TC-3000, 2 Alpine PDX-1.1000, 470Amp HO Alt.

I got a trunk full of Eclipse, personally... I think they are about as beautiful as amps come today... but that's just me. You may feel differently. Here is what they look like when your wife says "You can have as much stereo as you want, but we better be able to take a trip with LUGGAGE!"

Anyway, in case you are wondering, here is the system complement:

2001 Honda Civic LX
Eclipse 8051 E8 deck
Eclipse 3122 driving Infinity emit Kappa tweeters 80w X 2
Eclipse 32440 driving Eclipse 89940 Point source 6X9's 120w X 4, bi-wired, bi-amped
Eclipse 34230 driving Morel MW-162 6" midbass in doors 370w X 2
Eclipse DA7122 driving Eclipse SW9122 12" Titanium sub 1350w X 2
RedTop Optima 12v under the hood
2 RedTop Optima 6v in trunk, one each side wired in series
2 Rockford Fosgate 1 Farad caps on custom hand built power bars
Alterstart 165 Amp alternator with Datel 150A Current Shunt and blue LED meter for monitoring current output

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Here you go, these amps are amazing and the look well, just take a look!

https://www.soundstream.com/sub/products_amps_human.html

Wow, the Soundstream is amazing! Might have to check into those. I tried to look at the pics of the Eclipse setup, but it wouldn't show it to me zoomed in. I would like to see them, matching amps with subs would be nice. Thanks for the help, lets see some more.

Those soundstream amps gotta be coolest friggin amps ive ever seen!!! Do they sound good, and actually put out the watts they claim?

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right now I am running my eclipse 10's on a set of memphis hc50's

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place

those soundstreams are great, but i love cadence amps. check them out too at www.cadencesound.com Here is what my ZRS - 4 Looks like (125 W RMS x 4 @ 4 ohms) posted_image

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"I don't play games. I play Nakamichi and that for real yo" - Probably some japanese kid said this in the early 80's trying to sell stereo out of his trunk lol.

The Diamond amplifiers are a definite step up from the Snickers and Kleenex Gold that you are looking at. They are much on par with Xtant amplifiers. Yes they are expensive as they are not designed to hit a price point, they are built to be a stellar amplifier. The new Eclipse amplifiers are also a great amplifier to consider, they are absolute powerhouses.

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

The Diamond D5 series are great amplifiers with a moderately high sticker price, but in my opinion they are well worth the money. I have the Diamond D7 amplifiers in my car, 2 D7402's running 2 TDX12D2 & 2 D7104's running 3 Hex Components. Yes entry price is steep, but the sound is unbelievable and as far as looks go, if you've seen them than you know how beautiful they are. Both D5's & D7's.

Those Cadence amps did look super clean to me, not real familiar with them, but worth a hard look. Not sure which series of them would be right for my setup. Any tips? I have seen the Diamond amps and they do look good, nice to hear positive things about them on the performance side too. "Snickers and Kleenex Gold", now thats funny right there, I don't care who you are. Keep it rollin, the more the marrier.

You cannot beat Cadence's ZRS series, they are fantastic and clean. They are underrated amps by wattage, and really produce when you turn that knob on your source unit. I highly recommend them. The Q series is really good to for mids/highs that are powered with around 45-75 WRMS. Seriously, you will not regret it. What exactly do you want to run?

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"I don't play games. I play Nakamichi and that for real yo" - Probably some japanese kid said this in the early 80's trying to sell stereo out of his trunk lol.

prettiest amps?
a favorite to begin with is my Soundstream tarantula
https://www.soundstream.com/sub/products_amps_tarantula.html

SS's, Human reign series as posted above
most of the TRU amp series are very nice on the eyes
i like the Helix Dark Blue series (the BRAX amp company)

That tarantula is hot looking man, but still i prefer the cadence when it comes to best looking and best performing.

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"I don't play games. I play Nakamichi and that for real yo" - Probably some japanese kid said this in the early 80's trying to sell stereo out of his trunk lol.

just got done checkin out all the amps. The Tarantula is a tight amp, just not my style, too chromy for me. Looked at the cadence too, real nice. I don't think I want someone calling my setup "pretty" either. It'll be super clean and breath taking hopefully. I have a friend that I show with and he's redoing his car as well, friendly rivalry betwen us to see what each others turns out like. He's going all Arc is what I know. I'll keep lookin and thinkin...

Let us know what you chose, but the cadence is the way to roll brother. You'll make your friend's arc look like nothing if you do it right and go cadence! I like arc audio, but when compared to the clarity and the true power of cadence, cadence pulls out the trump card on the bauer (for all you euchre fans)

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"I don't play games. I play Nakamichi and that for real yo" - Probably some japanese kid said this in the early 80's trying to sell stereo out of his trunk lol.

Sinistar,

Hey nice nickname. I think you should go with the diamond amps. And don't forget to tip your expert car stereo salesperson for the amazing system advice... Oh wait, that's me... :)

Jeff @ Mag

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Deck -     Eclipse CD8443 - $475
Speakers - Boston BAZ5 - $1000
Amp -      Alpine MRV-T420 - $400
Car -      1988 PLymouth Colt - $450, it's been rolled!

Vinspo,

Good advice. I swear I'm coming by for breakfast one of these days.

Jeff

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Deck -     Eclipse CD8443 - $475
Speakers - Boston BAZ5 - $1000
Amp -      Alpine MRV-T420 - $400
Car -      1988 PLymouth Colt - $450, it's been rolled!

You know that you can't go wrong with U.S. Amps for looks, power, sq, it's got it all. And then some. Made in the U.S.A. in the Sunshine State.

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Big Dave

Check into Memphis amps to man. They are awesome. And as far as looks like a very nice, a few diffenent styles now as well.

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Duke Duke

Blast, the sales guy has tracked me down! If only he could get me a good price for all his good gear. Here's your tip Jeff, don't eat yellow Snow's Automotive. You bout have my mind made up, real close anyways. My ARC buddy called me last night to rub in his install, said he's takin all the trophies next year, wouldn't tell me the whole setup either. We'll be chatting, still lookin at all the good ideas bein thrown around.

SIN

Jeff, the D300 is all over the net for $1100, so hook me up. Also, there's a 2 different kinds of Eclipse aluminums out there, obviously 2 and 4 ohm, but some are goin for $200 and the others $250 a piece, so whats the difference? I know they changed them this year, so I'm curious if thats the more expensive or the cheaper ones.

Sinistar,

I love this, were making deals over the internet. Let me get this straight now, you saw WHAT on the internet for $1100? the amps I showed you were the D5.1200.1 and the D5.600.4.

If you decide you want to go with Diamond, just give me a number ($$) and I will run it by my boss, he has the final say, of course...

Regarding the Eclipse subs:

I talked to my Eclipse rep, and he is just going crazy over these new subs, apparently they're the coolest thing since sliced bread. Eclipse is claiming even better sound quality than last year's sub with a smaller sticker price. The subs you saw online might have been last year's subs on closeout, I'm not sure, but last year's subs retailed at $320, this year's are $270. Of course, I'll hook you up on that too.

So let me know what you want to do.

Oh yeah, Chris came up with a cool idea for some neon around the subs, I'll show you next time your in.

Jeff

P.S. "Got room for one more if you still wanna go to Aspen... Sound." (name that movie)

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Deck -     Eclipse CD8443 - $475
Speakers - Boston BAZ5 - $1000
Amp -      Alpine MRV-T420 - $400
Car -      1988 PLymouth Colt - $450, it's been rolled!

Dumb and Dumber buddy, gotta love it. The D300 Alpine screen fool is what I'm talking about.They're all over for 1050-1100, so you can ask on that one. So what is the Eclipse' new model numbers so I know I'm looking at the right ones? I'm still waiting back from my buddy on the amps chief. He's pretty confident he can get the 1200.1 and 600.4 for under $1000 easy is what he said, so we'll see. Tell Chris I'm having dreams about my install and we have some time to kick around any more and new ideas. I'll be seein you's turkeys around. We'll keep each other posted Jeffy my boy.

out of all the amps you mentioned, i'm surprised noone has stepped up to recommend the phoenix gold. the xenon 1200.1 is one of the best values pg has ever offered on their high end amps. it still has the triple darlington power supply topology which has been proven time and time again as one of the cleanest, most musical circuitry designs.

for full range you could do the x100.4 @ 100 rms per cahnnel, or if you want an amp to match the x1200.1 exactly as far as chassis size is a brutal 200 rms per!

these amps are a gorgeaos brushed aluminum with a new end cap (rubber boot) design that lets you pull off a really clean "floating"amp rack and show off the wires at the same time.

although i'm a phoenix gold loyalist, if you can't ante up for the best, the eclipse would pull a respectable second place.

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MECP certified, 5yrs experience, you probably otta listen bitch!!

sorry for the typos-

the model on the 200 x 4 amp is the x200.4

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MECP certified, 5yrs experience, you probably otta listen bitch!!

sorry for the typos-

the model on the 200 rms x 4 full-range amp is the x200.4

i thought i had put my two cents in, but......

the xenon offers:

*1200 rms @1-4 ohm load (load versatility)(cea 2006)

*fan cooling

*linkwits-riley crossovers

*new design for PRECISE frequency selection of lpf, subsonic, etc.

*DUAL 4 ga. 12+ and gnd terminals

all in all, go for the gold

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MECP certified, 5yrs experience, you probably otta listen bitch!!

I think you should go with the Eclpse or an ALpine MRD-M1001, or even a JL 1000/1.

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Sinistar,

I'll get some hard numbers for you and get back to you. Oh yeah, and please dont call me jeffy...

The Jeff

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Deck -     Eclipse CD8443 - $475
Speakers - Boston BAZ5 - $1000
Amp -      Alpine MRV-T420 - $400
Car -      1988 PLymouth Colt - $450, it's been rolled!

I too loved the way the PG Xenon series looked. As far as I can remember PG has been a reliable, solid choice. I went to the local shop and checked them out, very clean. Love the stupid little LED that comes on it and the rubber boots that dedly was talkin about is a real innovative and different design. I have looked at the Eclipse and JL amps and they're probably good performing amps, but not flashy enough for me, this setup needs to make grown men cry and girls well, you know what we want the girls to do. Tough decisions to make. Jeffy, I'll get with ya.