Ok, here's the deal. I'm putting a Blaupunkt Hamburg head unit in powering 4 Polk DX-7's. I already have a Thunderform and a MTX 4250D to power that. What amp would you guys recommend to power the DX-7's? The amp itself puts out 45 watts per channel RMS. Got any ideas?

Bob

 

Hey RT, I got the same speakers you do (Polk DX7's). Pretty decent for coaxes. I just picked up a Kicker ZX460 4 channel amp the other day. It's rated at 30W/channel at 4 ohms, double that at 2 ohms. May not sound like much but I'm sure it'll do the job. The ZX460 is at the low end of Kicker's competition line. Comes with a lot of cool features.

I tried installing the amp in the back of my SCrew last night, what a nightmare After mounting it I found out that the back plastic panel won't fit (the amp is too thick). Now I'm pretty much stuck with doing major surgery to the cab of my SCrew to get the sounds I want. A word of warning, measure everything before buying, especially if you have a SCrew (there's little to no room for any sound equipment in that cab). I'm lucky the guy at the shop is willing to take the amp back if I decide to chicken out and go with a smaller amp. Let me know what amp you end up going with, I'm curious what difference in sound there will be versus running the Polks straight off the head unit (that's what I'm doing now).

Aloha From Hawaii

 

Just finished installing a Kenwood 500.4 amp. Have 4 6x8's installed in the doors. Sounds great. The amp is rated at 40 Watts RMS X 4 with 4 ohm speakers. But, it still needs a SUB to go with it. I installed the Clarion Camouflage unit. The sub is ok but not the loudest.

I'd gop with a good name, Kenwood, Fosgate...

 

Maybe I'm missing something here but wouldn't it be silly for me to put in an amp that puts out 40 watts/channel RMS when my head unit is putting out 45 watts/channel RMS?

Bob

 

rtroha,

From FX's WEB site regarding the Hamburger HU:
"25 watts RMS/45 peak x 4 channels".

http://www.sfxaudio.com/cgi-bin/disp...p?ProdId=20185

There is NOT a HU on the market which puts out more than 25 Watts RMS X 4(that I know of anyway). This is a HUGE misconception and I think the industry needs some SERIOUS standards set up. Like power ratings showing RMS ONLY, not peak which means absolutely NOTHING. As well as some standard head unit connections. This really pisses me off, EVERY single radio has the same exact inputs and ouputs (except weather it has line out or not), so why don't they all use the same connector?? Stupid huh? YEP, try doing this in my industry (computers). You'd be out of bidness before ya shipped it.

Regards

PS - Oh, the HU's are also OVER-RATED for power, so if it says 25 RMS, it is probably more like 18 - 20 RMS. However, GOOD amps are ussually UNDER-RATED. So if it is rated for 40 RMS, you may be seeing 42-44. 44 is double 22! ;-)

 

I don't know why I was thinking it was 45 watts RMS? Must have been a brain fart.

Now you're just going to cost me more money since I'm going to have to get a 4 channel amp now.

Thanks again,
Bob

 

Your're right about the peak ratings. Head units only put out a few watts of CLEAN power. You can really damage your speakers by underpowering them - the signal from the head units will be very distorted, and the interanl amp will be clipping at high (or even moderate) volumes, thus frying your speakers.

An exteral amp will provide CLEAN power at a MUCH higher current than any head unit.

Keep in mind you really don't need much power to your main speakers so long as your have a sub. My 35W x 4 Alpine amp provides plenty of power, tahnks to my 250-watt sub. Bass frequencies need power because the speaker needs to move a LOT of air. High frequency sounds don't require nearly as much power.

Good Luck!

 

Has anone heard of the 4 channel amplifier "performance Teknique" ? Specifically the ICBM 775 ?

 

Sounds like a warhead to me?? ICBM = "Inter-Continental Balistic Missle"