Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio Which amp should i get ?

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I agree,,,But i think that the best approach is to have a tubed pre-amp, and tubed CDplayer and good solid state amps (synergy)...although being able to play with different tubes is a plus!

Frequency Response +/-1dB, 20Hz to 20 kHZ

Signal to Noise Ratio (A-weighted) >100dB

Max Continuous Bridged Power @ 1% THD 150 watts x 2 into 4 ohms @ 14.4 Vdc

Max Continuous Power per Channel @ 1% THD 75 watts x 4 into 2 ohms @ 14.4 Vdc

Nominal Continuous Power per Channel @ 1 % THD 35 Watts x 4 into 4 ohms @ 14.4 Vdc

IASCA/USAC Power Rating 12 Watts x 4 into 4 ohms @ 12.5 Vdc

Minimum Load when Bridged 2 Ohms

Minimum Load per Channel 1 Ohm

Input Signal Voltage Range 0.1 volts to 2 volts

Crossover Type Resisitor Network, Linkwitz Riley, Highpass/Lowpass

Crossover Slope 24 dB per octave

Crossover Frequency Range 20-550Hz

This amp is known as a cheater amplifier on the competition circuit. It's a quality amplifier, but for the same amount of money, you should be able to get a 4 x 50 watt into 4 ohms @ 12.0 to 14.4 Volts. You could pick up a PPI amplifier 'USED' such as the A404. Unless you are planning on competing, you really don't need a cheater amp.

There are plenty of people on the boards that could point you in the right direction as to where you can get yourself a quality amplifier for a great price!


Take care,


Ryan

OMG! i could do nothing but laugh at a majority of this post. for example, just because an amp says that it has 1,000 watts of power, say a lanzar, does not mean that itis going to put out more CLEAN power than a fosgate 400 watt amp. biggs what are you talking about? 400-500 watts for a system is a minimum? once you get into anything serious including fosgate, esclipse, machintosch, etc you DO NOT NEED 400-500 watts. another example, way back when i had my second car, with my second serious system in it i was pulling 124 db's with a fosgate 40.2 amp! do you know what that means, 40x2 watts was running two fosgate bridged subs in low pass mono. the rest of the speakers in the car were running off of the deck. (later the speakers, amp and configuration were changed to add a 400.4 and a set of seperates, which was never tested) but what i'm trying to say here is the wattage means very little when you're comparing different brands. never mind the fact that you have to consider what type of deck you're running it all with. the voltage coming out of that can have a serious effect on sound quality. the higher the voltage, the clearer the sound. dnewma04 i hear you load and clear. i'm sorry that you had to deal with this whole discussion. i just figured i would put in my two cents.

LOL how cute, using cars to explain how amplifiers work! Isn't science wonderful?

Kirill,
Buy that amplifier, you will not regret it. Phoenix Gold makes very good amplifiers. I bought my QX2180 when I got the Contour and it still makes me smile every time I listen to my stereo. That amp is extremely well built and will run forever.

BIGS, (all in big letters! You are a clever lil' guy aren't you! )
I run components front and back in my Contour. The Fronts are powered by an amplifier while the rear components are powered by the HU's rear channels. Guess what? In normal (read not ear damaging) levels the sound coming from the rear components is just as good as the sound coming from the amplified speakers (Sure they may be clearer but 9 out of ten people I bet wouldn't know it). I have the ability to fade the rear channels out however and run just the fronts off the amplifier. Why do this? I like to show off sometimes. 35W is more than enough for reasonable listening levels and to speand money trying to get louder is a waste of money unless you want to enter competition, or like me, like showing the car off once in awhile.

You say that 35W would only be good for a low end speaker while a high end speaker requires greater power input. This is not true, the better speaker will be the more efficient speaker. Even you surely realise that an efficient (GOOD) speaker can do more than the inefficient (BAD) speaker, however in your ranting you failed to remember that. Take my subwoofer for example. It is a very efficient woofer compared to my old subs. I can run this 15" sub off the 55W QX2180 and it sounds great. It stil plays all the frequencies sent to it, The only difference is that it can't go as high volume wise. Now if a 15" subwoofer (DVC) can manage with 55W, I'm sure a door speaker can make do with 35W. You see for Kirill here to get even a 3db increase, he will have to double his wattage, that extra wattage doesn't come very cheap, and since he wants to listen to it and not win a competition with it, he doesn't need to spend the extra money. For him 35W is just great! Don't go making recommendations based on the fact that you think you know everything. I found out by taking a second to LISTEN and not talk out my ass (try it!) that I could learn things and become more intelligent ( scary concept isn't it?) I used to have three amplifiers in the car running more power than I do now. You know what? It sounded like ass compared to the two lower power amplifiers I currently run.

Now Dave here has been on these boards for a very long time. He is here apparently for the sole purpose of helping people understand what they are about to spend so much money on. He helps people by sharing knowledge he has gained from experience of his own, based around scientific fact, not hot air and horse sh!t. He is a nerd (no offense) and does his research before making suggestions or giving advice. Furthermore, if he makes a suggestion he will back it himelf. He suggested a subwoofer for my car, I had troubles getting it, so HE contacted them to find the problem, on his own time, even though he did not know me. By saying he doesn't know what he is talking about you only make yourself look like a bigger ignoramus. In the whole time he has been a member, nobody has recieved bad advice or misinformation from him. You, however come across as some noob trying to make a statement that you are the big sh!t of the car audio universe. Sorry but I will take knowledge over horsesh!t any day. Perhaps if you had come here and voiced your opinion as just an opinion and not gotten so defensive when Dave corrected you, we could take you a little more seriously.

Finally, don't even try to make an argument with me now. This was my non-insane post for the day and if you try to argue more, I will merely babble about throwing poop, eating lice out of my sister's hair, and rectal dino bass. If you want to insult me, feel free, but remember that since I have never seen your face, I can easily picture you as Gumby as you insult me, leading to me laughing while you sit there crapping your pants So take your Gazillion Watt amplifier and hook it to your components and enjoy listening to tham at a volume so high you go deaf in a couple years! Meanwhile Kirill can enjoy the vast improvement he will gain from the "low power" amplifier he spent a mere $230 on. The End.

I'm so relieved that this, er, 'debate' didn't end when it looked like it might. I wonder how long before this thread gets cross-posted on another site... :rolleyes:

Dave, thanks for being the straight-man. It must be hard sometimes.

Monkey, I'm afraid that I've misjudged you based on some of your more off-the-wall posts in other threads. Your present lucidity is inspiring!

BIGS, on a personal note from one engineer to another...if you have to state that you're an engineer in order to support your argument, you have already lost it. Arguments from authority are only useful after the authority is generally accepted. I've learned this one the hard way a few times.

Well, lots of good reading
Thank you, evrybody. I placed and order for this amp. If somebody intrested - you can get it from sounddomain http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/PHOXS4300

I thought I was going to have to get another bowl of popcorn for this one!!!

Kirill, enjoy your new amp purchase. You'll definately be satisfied with it.

I would love for anyone who thinks that 35x4 isn't enough wattage to hear the system in my truck which is powered by a single amp rated at 25x2! They'd never believe it!

very good choice on the amp, enjoy the tunes

More power's not neessarily needed. I may have 4 12's with 1500W of power going into them, but lets get real here, that kind of sound power, I wouldn't need an engine, because at half volume, I'd shake the car down the road. I've got the current system in my car with the subs on 258 W test, and the stock through the rest. Thus far, I haven't managed to make use of all the power. I can't sit in the car and turn the volume to full. I typically cruise with the volume at 11. It Maxes at 32. If you're looking for quality, not sheer, mind blowing, car rattling power, the amp you've got should work just fine. If your penile member is that small that you need more power, get something bigger. For those of you are going to try flaming me for that comment, I got the subs for $50 in a very good box, and tossed them in a Town Car with an amp I had to go buy, Rockford Fosgate. When the Town Car got wrecked, I just pulled the stuff, and tossed it into my Eldo. I've also turn the gain on the amp way down, so the subs aren't being used to full effect. Know why? I don't need to. Plain and simple. It's like horsepower and money in the bank. I enjoy having it there, and it's nice using some, but for the most part, on the average road in life, I'll never use all of it. Granted, I use the horsepower freely enough, but not the money or music power. Other thing is, When I'm in my car, even with my music blasting, noone outside the car knows until I open the door or trunk. Only hint that there's a system in the car is the vibrating liscense plate, and that will be fixed when my specialty plate comes in.

"But, my amp goes to 11."

I never thought I'd have an opportunity to quote Spinal Tap.