Thread: What nice small cheap amp do you recommend?

I gotta nice HiFonics Zeus ZX8000 i'm trying to sell on craigslist right now! It's 5.1

I have 2 of those 500 watt small amps coming from china. Shipped last week, so hopefully will be in in about 2-3 weeks to me. I'll have to report on how those are to ya. I got them off ebay, 2+shipped for like $26 so I figured what the hell...

have you decided on a sub yet? the box requirements for that might make a difference as well.

Well I was thinking of using a Alpine Type R 10" sub.

I rememeber that I use to use those mini amps and one thing I hated about them is that there was a lot of EMI so I had to use ground loop isolators. I think in this case I am going to have to suck it up and spend money on the PDX amps. What I like is that they are so small and they are digital so less heat. Didnt Alpin replace all their amps with new amps?

i knew they updated the design, but didn't realize they updated all the internals as well. i might also need to buy a couple of those(on the old design, the limited freq response of the sub amp was holding me back)..

http://www.alpine-electronics.co.uk/...rs/pdx-m6.html

for the sub, expect to need about 1cf to 1.5cf for airspace (this is a generalization for 10" subs. always check the specs).

and if you get close to those numbers, but need a little boost, use real fiberglass insulation. the polyfill stuff doesn't work as well.

Originally Posted by HiJackZX1

Well I was thinking of using a Alpine Type R 10' sub.

LOL 10 foot sub. That would be pretty cool

Originally Posted by kolton5543

LOL 10 foot sub. That would be pretty cool

Oh you know what I mean, lol!

Any amps can be stacked with spacers.

What is your physical dimensions you have reserved for them, and what is your budget? Your cheap and my cheap may not be the same. I can think of plenty of small amps, but again, without a reference I have no idea if it's small enough.

I do not post much on this forum but I have been involved in mobile audio design, fabrication, and installation for over 30 years. I am a EE by day and this is a hobby that I put a lot of time, money, and effort into in my spare hours. There is no way that those 500 watt amps from the far east can actually deliver that power into a speaker load without huge amounts of distortion. I seriously doubt they can even deliver 75 watts into a 4 ohm speaker load at an acceptable level of distortion. If you are after even a mid level quality sound system don't waste your time or money on them. The Alpine PDX is a reasonably good suggestion. Soundstream also makes an amp worth considering in their Stealth series. Amazon has had an exceptionally good price on the 6 channel Stealth amp for a while now. ~$244.00 IIRC. The 4 channel Stealth amp was closer to $200 last time I looked. What I like about the SS amps is that they are still Class AB analog designs and they have very flexible crossover filters built in. Soundstream was once one of the elite amplifier manufacturers but they started building junk during the last decade. They have been under new management for some time now and look to be intent on selling quality amps again.

If there is one truth that has held constant during my involvement in mobile audio, it that with cheap amplifiers, if the power rating sounds too good to be true, it is not being reported honestly. Max power ratings are meaningless. Continuous RMS power rated into a 4 ohm load at <<< 1% distortion from 20Hz-20 KHz is the minimum set of conditions you should look for when comparing mobile audio amplifiers.