1st setup, am i on the right tack?

Hi all.

This is my first delve into the world of car audio, and it's taking some time to get my head round to say the least.

It's going in a 1987 Lad Rover Defender, so I'm not going for volume as the it's just a big metal box, not ideal for audio, more for quality (anything will be an improvement on the current LR speakers).
They'll be playing all sorts of music; rock, dance, pop, you name it, I'll probably listen to it.

Having read your 'list of stay away to competition' thread, I have found the following 2 amps, both Hifonics Zeus:
(can't find much info on these 2006 models (in English anyway), but here is the Hifonics site for the 2007 models).

ZS-6400:
4 x 170 Watt RMS @ 2 Ohm
4 x 85 Watt RMS @ 4 Ohm
2 x 340 Watt RMS @ 4 Ohm Mono bridged

ZS-4400:
4 x 110 Watt RMS @ 2 Ohm
4 x 55 Watt RMS @ 4 Ohm
2 x 220 Watt RMS @ 4 Ohm Mono bridged

The plan is; to use the 6400 to power 2 8" or 10" subs and the 4400 to power a couple of components (both in the bold modes). I haven't decided in the speakers yet, aiming for about 300w subs and 200w comps, both at 4 ohms.

Right, onto the questions:

1) Are those amps any good, do you know?
2) In the bold modes, it says mono, but it's also 2 channels. Now I know it says mono, meaning 1, but it's also 2 channels, so does that mean both channels do the same thing, or is it still stereo but only 2 instead of 4? What I'm trying to say is, will I still get a Left and a Right output?
3) The idea is to get full stereo, but is it pointless to get stereo from the subs? Should I just wire 1 amp in tri mode instead?

Thanks for reading.

Chris

(Fantastic site by the way, very informative, well done guys)

1: HiFonics is about as good as you can get from the "white-van-guys". I'd save a few more pounds, and get something FAR better, ESPECIALLY if you are remotely interested in sound quality.

2: It's still mono, it just becomes two mono amplifiers in one chassis.

3: In the car, anything below around 80Hz will be indistinguishable as "multichannel", so you'll be perfectly safe running one subwoofer, or two subwoofers in "trimode" AND your components all off of one 4 channel amplifier.

Drawback, though: With the relatively low power ratings of both of those amplifiers, your subwoofer coils will be HUGE, and very lossy. I'd probably not go that way.

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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."

Sorry for the late reply, been busy starting back at Uni. Thanks for the reply haemphyst.

I knew it would happen, I the amps were on an eBay auction that ended a matter of hours before your reply though, and I go them. At least you didn't say there were rubbish and to stay away at all costs...

Two mono amps you say? So would I be right in thinking I could still amplify in stereo by amping Left through one channal and Right through the other?

When chosing speakers, from what I can gather, I should go for and RMS of just less than the RMS of the amps? or am I talking out of my backside?

They're rubbish, stay away at all costs! LOL

Yes, you would be right in thinking that. Just because it's a "mono" amplifier, that does not mean it is automatically relegated to subwoofer use. I actually PREFER mono amplification for my highs, as it improves stereo separation... FAR less interchannel crosstalk. One of the finest systems I've ever had in my car was a dual monoblock Nakamichi system, with 160w mono amplifiers running each door in my '86 Civic.

As far as matching power to power rating? If you are careful with your system tuning, (i.e. "gain control") you can put a 300kW amplifier in your car all for one tweeter!

As a general rule, though, (and from what I have heard most people recommend here on the board) a speaker power rating equal to or up to twice the available amplifier power will be a good choice for you. Me? I'm a fan of DRAMATIC "overpowering", as evidenced by my present system: Alpine PDX amplifiers, running 600WRMS to each door, and 1000 watts to the two 10" TCSounds subwoofers in the trunk... But that's just me.

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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."