Need Power???

Systems

Hello to all!!
I just picked up a new set of wheels and she needs some help in the audio department. I have 2 new MM2124s on the way from Circuit City. They threw in a free sub box with the deal. (QLH12D100) Couldnt resist for 169.00 Shipped!
Anyway, I need an amp, and prefer to keep the price of said amp under 300.00. I know there is a fine line between price and performance, but I am not looking to break my back glass out. Just the eardrums.... Heh.
Ive been out of the car audio loop for years and the new tech is incredible! So how about some advice from a few of you seasoned vets?
Here is more info....
Head unit.....Pioneer DEH 9600MP
Subs.............Polkaudio MM2124 12" X2
Box...............QLH12D100
Sub Amp........?????????? Up to 300.00
Car Speakers?????????? Up to 200.00
Car SPK Amp ?????????? Up to 200.00
Vehicle......1994 Olds Cutlass Supreme SL Coupe

I would like to keep things in this price range and keep both amps the same brand. I would also like to use polk speakers in the rest of the vehicle. Open to any and all sugesstions!!!

Thanks a million,
Aaron

MacLeod

Well getting a 800 watt amp aint gonna be easy for $300. You can do it by checking out unauthorized dealers like Acaraudio but you may wind up getting a Kraco amp with the name scratched out with a sharpie and Xtant written in.

Here is the best system I can recommend in good conscience and get as close to your budget restraints as possible. These will be from an authorized dealer so youll be getting new from the factory products and the manufactuers warranty will still be good.

Speakers - Polk Audio DB 7" components. These go for $186 and will sound very good. Not quite as good as the $300 Momos but, for the money you wont be able to find better. You dont need rear speakers. Optimum sound quality will ALWAYS be achieved with fronts only.

Speaker amp - Cosutic 800Q 50x4. This goes for $212. Coustic has been around for a long time and while theyre not high end they are well built and will deliver good clean power. You run the front channels thru the Polk x-over and the rear channels straight to the mid. This will give you the best SQ and the ability to finer tune the tweeters output.

Sub amp - Coustic 1600DB 800x2 mono amp. This goes for $382 and while over your limit it is the best I can find for the price.

Other amps Id recommend would be Crossfire and MTX. Both are excellent, competition level amps that are well built and put out tons of clean power. You can check out MTX amps on the SoundDomain links and Crossfire at Acaraudio.com. They arent authorized dealers but you can get an idea of pricing. Both will be a little more expensive than your budget allows but would be worth checking out.

Other speaker suggestions would be the Momo line of Polk Audio. They are simply the best speakers you can buy for the money. The MMC6500 is as good as most $450 speakers out there for a mere $255! Check em out.

exalted512

you can save a **** load of money with sounddomain...if you find a price anywhere else...they match it
check out HiFonics on www.acaraudio.com
also check out onlinecarstereo.com and cbrstereo.com
-Cody

MacLeod

Good suggestion.

Just stick to the authorized dealers though. Im skeered to death of ordering from anybody other than SoundDomain or Crutchfield. Theres no telling what youre going to be getting.

I just have this vision of some fat, sweaty, biker looking dude getting my credit card numbers and running off to Vegas. But maybe Im just paranoid.

LittleCar_w/12s

Originally posted by MacLeod
Well getting a 800 watt amp aint gonna be easy for $300.

Well, I got my h/u and my amp for 1/2 price.. the amp was a 700 for $300, and that was a while ago... so if you have any frinds in the market... especially if they're licensed dealers....

-Jerry

MacLeod

Well yeah, it helps to have connections in the business.

But for those of us that dont know anybody we have to rely on sales at SoundDomain! LOL

exalted512

i can get a lot of stuff for discounted prices...except amps...i need someone with a USAmps connection...lol
-Cody

MacLeod

How the hell did you do that? You live in a little one horse town in the middle of nowhere! LOL

exalted512

im that good;)
-Cody

MacLeod

Puleeeze :rolleyes:

I really would like to try competing in some SQ competitions once I get things up and running and Ill bet Ill start making some connections that way.

Downside is, once you start getting factory discount gear, you have to move up in class and Im gonna want to stay down there with the 17 year old, 500 piercings, pants around the knees, white suburban, ghetto acting kids with there two 18" subs and stock speakers.

Systems

Hey,
Thanks for all of the replys and info. I didnt really consider the authorized dealer thing, glad you brought that up. Ive decided to up the budget a little. It always pays to invest in quality. Ill keep you posted on how things are coming. So..... How do I know if a dealer is authorized or not?

Biskit

exalted512

it should say....
thezeb, sounddomain, and crutchfield are authorized dealers of everything they sell
usually people advertise being authorized dealers of what they sell though...so if you dont see it...its a safe bet they arent
-Cody

MacLeod

Main Street Audio is an authorized dealer of brands like PPI and Orion but Im not so sure how trustworthy they are in the area of customer service and all.

I avoid online ordering like the plague but if I had to order online I would only do it with SoundDomain or Cutchfield. Crutchfield has been around for decades and has a pretty good rep for CS so I would shop around for a good price and if Crutchfield carries that item maybe they would price match it and youre all set.

AustinKP

Sounddomain is awesome. I just had them price match the HiFonics Zeus ZX6400 to ikesound.com. Sounddomain's price was like $385. Ikesound's was $199, but their shipping was like $20. Sounddomain came down to $209 and charged $11 shipping, so I got an authorized dealer for the same price, and a dang good one at that! Unfortunately, they're on factory backorder so who knows when I'll get it It was cool though, I called Sounddomain to find out when they'd have them. The guy didn't know, but asked me what my coupon code was. When I told him, he was like WOW! You got an excellent price on that! I asked him if many people pay full price, and he said yes, most people do! A lot of people request price matches for HiFonics, but not a lot of people order them. They sell like 2-3 a weeks of the ZX6400. I'm surprised how many people are paying full price for this stuff. Don't they check the competition!? Anyway, I'll hopefully have my new amp soon! I can't wait.

MacLeod

I suppose most people figure SD wouldnt possible match some cheap-o internet site like "Joes car stereo" and so dont try.

Or theyre like me and just want their product now, Now, NOW!!! and dont want to wait and shop around! LOL

Thats good info tho, I didnt think they would come down that far.

Now if only they carried better speakers I could get some good prices!

LittleCar_w/12s

I would assume they would match prices only with those online sellers that are authorized dealers... noone can match "Joe's Car Stereo" if he doesn't pay to be authorized....

exalted512

dont assume;)
-Cody

MacLeod

They price match Acaraudio and they arent authorized by anybody as far as I know.

Plus, $200 for a Zeus 6400 is "Joes Car Stereo" prices.

Kind of gives you an inkling into the mark up on these things.

The MSRP on those things is $600!!!!!!

Systems

Hifonics.... Never heard of them.
Good stuff??

MacLeod

Eh. A lot of the guys on here like em and I trust their opinion.

Myself, Im not too sure about them. Ive never even laid eyes on them but a couple sour reviews in magazines and from people, a cheap website and taking 6 months to get an answer as to my neares dealer has turned me off to them.

Everybody seems to love them once they get them tho so apparantly they dont suck. Im a little concerned about their build quality though.

AustinKP

Yeah, SD says if they're authorized, they'll beat them by 5%, otherwise, they just give you a dang good price as long as it doesn't go below their cost. Sometimes you have to get your request to the right person. The first time I had them price match Ikesound, they gave me $209, but the code only lasts 14 days. It expired when I was going to order, so I requested it again.

The response back said Ikesound wasn't authorized, so they wouldn't match, so I wrote back and said I was already offered a price and could I please have it again. They had me resubmit a pricematch request and they gave it to me again.

The Tech Support guy I talked to at Hifonics said that the Zeus isn't underrated much. The 85x4 he said is more like 93x4 or so. But they seem to be very well built.

Macleod - quit complaining about them not responding to your email and CALL THEM! I was on hold like 15 seconds and talked to someone. Get the phone number from their website at maxxsonics.com.

-Austin

MacLeod

I did call AND email them! When I called I was on hold 20+ minutes and said to hell with it. And it took me several emails to get a response.

To put this into comparison, Ive been emailing several companies with questions on their speakers power ratings, amp test voltages and what have ya, and without exception, every company I wrote to responded back with a detailed answer within 2 days! And these are from Orion, Focal, JL Audio, Diamond Audio, Xtant and the likes. All took the time to write several paragraphs answering my questions.

The answer I finally got from Hifonics 6 months later was the name of a single dealer nearly 500 miles away.

Besides, complaining is what I do best. Just ask my wife!

exalted512

Originally posted by AustinKP

The Tech Support guy I talked to at Hifonics said that the Zeus isn't underrated much. The 85x4 he said is more like 93x4 or so. But they seem to be very well built.

at what voltage?
if thats at 14.4...it could very well be 79x4 at 13.8
do you really think that they would tell you their amps didnt put out their numbers anyway?;)
-Cody

MacLeod

Well, some manufactuers underrate their amps a lot for the extra edge in competition. For instance, MTX, PPI and Crossfire are probably the worst. JL and Xtant do as well.

In a way its a good thing. My "300" watt Crossfire amp was a comparable price to other 300 watt amps only that mine makes nearly 400!

AustinKP

Originally posted by exalted512
do you really think that they would tell you their amps didnt put out their numbers anyway?;)
-Cody

Of course not, but I was just asking the guy how underrated they were, and he said it was just a touch. I took it with a grain of salt, as you should, since he IS a HiFonics employee, but it was just something to think about.

Since I know you guys are all just holding your breath for me, my Zeus was shipped today! Dude, am I excited...

exalted512

my diamonds will be here monday!
my subs will be here with in the next couple weeks hopefully!
-Cody

MacLeod

I just bought new amps but I want new speakers and a sub.

I hate waiting to save up money.

exalted512

same here...i just want to win the lottery...right now
50 mil in the bank...live off the interest...
-Cody

MacLeod

I just want $20,000.

Thatll pay off all my debt and then I can get right back into debt again down at my local MBQ, Xtant dealer!!!

Biskit

Whaddaayatink about the Phoenix Gold Octane R series amps?

MacLeod

Phoenix Gold use to be one of the best amps you can buy. They seem to be falling by the wayside a little lately but are still very fine products. The Octane series is Phoenix's entry level amps. They are very good for the money. I would say theyre as good as RF Punch amps or MTX's MXA series. Basically as good if not better than anything you can get at Circuit City or Best Buy.

I wouldnt consider them as good as Crossfire, MTX Thunder series or the Polk amps though. Those would be competition level amps that are better built with stronger power and lower distortion.

But if your budget is limited they are a good choice.