Printer Friendly Forum Posts - The best Cheap amp

Hey guys, some of you might have read in my last post about my car being stolen. Well anyways im selling the car, but the guy that i know that's looking to buy it wants an amp in the car, and wants that included... He's paying me $300 more than any other offers, so I figure its worth it... it doesnt need to be nice, just something that makes him feel good.... Now what im wondering is I see all these cheaper amps on Ebay; Legacy, Boss, Blitz, etc... Well back to the question. I want one under $100 that will give me at least 600 watts max... With these cheaper brands I can get 1200, 2000 etc... Now i know these numbers are grossly exagerated but still thats insane. So whats the best cheap brand in that under $100 category.
Please remember, this isnt for me. I'm trying to maximize my losses on the amp part of it, hence why im buying one cheap not a quality one.

LOL, this is a funny thread. Any of those will give you a MAXIMUM power of 1000k watts. Now note that none of those amps will indeed beable to put out 1k watts and live to play on.

Any way, a 1200w pyramid amp should be good for ~100w RMS. SO you could use that to power a really efficient sub. Be sure to keep the gain really low so you don't get alot of distortion and to prevent the amp from clipping

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I think most of those amps are made in the same sweat shop. Any of them should work at least long enough to get the car out of your driveway. Then its his problem.

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Nik
Jeeputer Progress
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Check it out.

Well I used a 600 watt legacy for a couple years and it actually didnt sound bad at all.. I guess it depends on a lot of stuff

yeah, those amps arn't really as bad as people make that out to be. They just have a REALLY bad reputation for reliability.

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I think this thread really could help out a lot of people who maybe dont have the money for the higher quality stuff.. maybe people that have had good and bad experiences with certain brands can voice their opinions... Obviously with the nature of the forum there will be more "These amps suck" but there should be some decent stories too

Oh, I am all for saving money. Note that Duct tape is my best friend posted_image

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Ha ha duct tape can keep anything together

well, in my experience.....bang for the buck award has to go to Bazooka......750w RMS @2ohm mono amps for roughly $150 retail. come on......that'll pound for low $$$$

Ok, someone said good AND bad. So here is the bad. A few years ago I put a legacy in my moms car. It said it was 1 ohm stable so thats what I ran it at. It lasted roughly a week.

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Nik
Jeeputer Progress
[|||||||||||-] 90%
Check it out.

I have sold a lot of those brands, and I think Boss would be the best of those brands.

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Big Dave

The idea is to spend more money on a quality build amp rather than buying 3 garbage amps. Any way you look at it..the build quality of Legacy,Pyle,Pyramid,Boss etc. sucks. Max wattage should never be considered when searching for an amp. You'll find that quality amps don't list max power ratings, but rather rms ratings which gives an idea of actual output..although still can be misleading.

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Dave

Pioneer Premier DEH-P660
15" Kicker CVR
Profile AP1000M
It's Loud

While I definately agree in the sense that the power numbers are exagerated and that its better to buy one good amp... Many people are just wanting to try stuff out... maybe they like bass, but dont have $600-700 to spend to get some good stuff, they can try it out for $50-75 and if they like it they can save up for something better and maybe get a little from the one they're using.

Decent power can be had for cheap from reputable brands. One way is buying used, which some hesitate to do. Another is through refurbished items..my favorite way to get some good, cheap power. www.ikesound.com has some good refurbs right now.

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Dave

Pioneer Premier DEH-P660
15" Kicker CVR
Profile AP1000M
It's Loud

This is a great deal on a mono JBL amp: https://www.cardomain.com/item/JBLBP3001Z 300 watts at 2 ohms and it's 1 ohm stable also. If you don't need that much power than this one is even smaller: https://www.cardomain.com/item/BLAPCA250 I just did a quick search and found those.

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any cheap amp will work as long as you dont expect it to hit anywhere near it's rated output and as long as you are willing to live with a certain amount of engine noise......

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Kevin Gerry
Certified Electronics Technician
MECP First Class Installer

Owner/Installer
Classic Car Audio
since 1979

I would go with that JBL 300.1, it will blow away any other amp you can find for the same price. I have a JBL 600.1 and love it. Some other cheap amps that are decent are profile, Crunch and Sony Explods. None of those can come close to the JBL, but they are a step above the pyramid, boss etc.

After looking around ikesound.com I found this
https://www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/2160
I would recommend either that amp or the JBL.

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kgerry wrote:

any cheap amp will work as long as you dont expect it to hit anywhere near it's rated output and as long as you are willing to live with a certain amount of engine noise......

Hit it's rated power? huh? Also, engine noise wouldnt be caused by a certain amplifier alone.

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Dave

Pioneer Premier DEH-P660
15" Kicker CVR
Profile AP1000M
It's Loud

An Alpine MRV-M350 would do the trick, ,they go for around $125

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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.

audiobass10 wrote:

kgerry wrote:

any cheap amp will work as long as you dont expect it to hit anywhere near it's rated output and as long as you are willing to live with a certain amount of engine noise......

Hit it's rated power? huh? Also, engine noise wouldnt be caused by a certain amplifier alone.

Nevermind. Misread your post at first. The part about engine noise is still incorrect however.

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Dave

Pioneer Premier DEH-P660
15" Kicker CVR
Profile AP1000M
It's Loud

my first amp was a BOSS 800w pushing 2 15" hifonics or something hercules, lol, it was cheap and loud. for a first system build is ok, if your new to car audio and or dont have lots of money the generic stuff can still rock.

Well i wouldnt say im new to car audio, I've built systems in 7 or 8 cars/trucks now, anything from the cheapest all the way up to the 2000 watt alpines (I say 2000 loosely I dont remember exactly how much it was.) I'm going to be purchasing an explorer used and Will definatley take advatage of the added cargo area... Plans are definately at least 2 12's or maybe if im lucky a couple 15's.... Well anyway I definately agree that a cheap amp can work well, you just cant expect a ton from it. In my small experience I would say that if the amp is being used for woofers you have a little bit more play with the quality.

audiobass10 wrote:

audiobass10 wrote:

kgerry wrote:

any cheap amp will work as long as you dont expect it to hit anywhere near it's rated output and as long as you are willing to live with a certain amount of engine noise......

Hit it's rated power? huh? Also, engine noise wouldnt be caused by a certain amplifier alone.

Nevermind. Misread your post at first. The part about engine noise is still incorrect however.

Umm...no its true. Some of those amps are so cheap that if you have the gain very high at all (sometimes any position actually) you are going to hear engine noise. It probobly wouldn't be too much of a deal for subs, but It'd be annoying as hell if you're using it with some coaxials or component speakers.

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[/QUOTE]

Cheap amps may pick up engine noise easier than a quality amp, however the chances of it happening are slim. Cheap x-overs tend to pick up engine noise more than cheapy amps. I wouldnt be all to concerned with engine noise from an amp alone. Also, If you can't set the gains right you shouldn't DIY anyways.

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Dave

Pioneer Premier DEH-P660
15" Kicker CVR
Profile AP1000M
It's Loud

I've had good luck with a cheapo Profile Clarus 400 series for over a year now. It can be had for $100. I've tried it on both the sub and the mains and it gets plenty loud...no noise or other problems.

Check out the earthquake TNT line........bang for the buck , uuuuuh huh!

Cheap equipment is hard to get good sound out of. So dont set your expectation bar TOOOOOO high posted_image

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stevdart wrote:

I've had good luck with a cheapo Profile Clarus 400 series for over a year now. It can be had for $100. I've tried it on both the sub and the mains and it gets plenty loud...no noise or other problems.

Profile is one of the "Lower End" companies I would pay for if I were on a tight budget. Lanzar is one as well.

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Dave

Pioneer Premier DEH-P660
15" Kicker CVR
Profile AP1000M
It's Loud

A Lanzar Vibe 1200D will actually put out 1200 watts. They can be had for ~$150 shipped on fleabay. Check this out.

https://soundoff.phoenixgold.com/viewtopic.php?t=5736&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=90
https://www.soundbuggy.com/Eric/Car%20Audio/lanzar/vibe_1200d/index.html

Paul

I was looking on ebay for the Lanzar and could only find one in the uk... with the reviews i've read its not a bad amp at all for the money... If i could find one around 100 I would buy it... Lanzar has a couple other models, but the newer ones dont seem to be 1 ohm stable, and I'm most likely going to be running 2 12'' DVC speakers... Any ideas?

Since you are selling the car and the system get a cheap profile mono amp at www.ikesound.com ; https://www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/2552

You can wire both subs together and get a 4 ohm load and this would sound pretty good. If the box is designed to spec and the subs are decent the guy will be happy. The paper for the amp would also make him I am not sure if this amp bridges itself but it might also be able to run 2 ohm loads on each channel.