Excuse me if I sound a little ignorant, but I don't know much about car amps.

What exactly makes a good power amp? What makes this amp any different than an El-Cheapo Generic 4 x 100W RMS amp @ 4 Ohms? Power is power, right?

lame

n/m

I just ordered 2 of these puppies at the $280 price for my vehicle.

Called Crutchfield and they said the $249.99 price was a mistake and they had their person change it as soon as they found out, but still honored all of the sales that were made prior to the change.

Still, at $180, this is a great deal for a great amp. I couldn't find a better amp for near the price. I wish it were a clearance on the MB Quart "Q" series though. They're probably the best mobile audio amplifiers on the planet right now.

Still, I'm worried about a couple things. 1: Turn on/off thump/click or hiss (since I've never heard the amp before) and 2: MB Quart becoming a cheezy Korean company with low-end products like Lanzar did a long time ago (the Fosgate/Quart merger and experiments in US/European market failure almost assumes that will happen) and losing warranty support.

TLee05, I'd try to answer your question in a simple way, but that would be impossible. There are just too many variables. I'll try to summarize though. I've been in the car audio scene since 1987~ish and was a professional competition system builder at a local shop for a few years about a decade ago. Just based on pure experience, I can tell you that there's a huge difference in power delivery and clarity. Even some of the <quote> "nice" amps like Infinity Reference Series, JBL's consumer level line, and Sonys, just don't get the power out there. I don't blame them though. They're designed more for the average consumer who doesn't know that you just don't get power out of thin air. Most amplifiers can't pump out pure unadulterated power because they aren't designed to pull it from your electrical system. That protects the manufacturers from problems such as people blowing up their battery/alternator or melting a little 8 gauge power cable and setting their carpet on fire while they're driving down the road. That kind of current is reserved for the bad boy amps, and this Quart Reference amp is one of them, sporting a massive power supply and full 90 amps of fuse protection (each) at the block and requiring a 4 gauge power and ground (the meatier Rockford Fosgate Power series amps, like I ran in my previous vehicle require 1 gauge power and ground!!!).

Even when you're not pulling the full capabilities of the amp (low volume levels or undemanding bandpass crossover settings), an amp capable of an insane amount of power delivery on tap has more "head room". This equates to an audible improvement in sound quality and dynamics, along with lower distortion. Think about an ultra-powerful car capable of 400 horsepower and 190 MPH -- that car would have a very easy time pulling around its weight in the city during normal driving, right? Most people have difficulty telling a huge difference in sound quality though (unless an amp is just pure junk and hurts your ears to listen to). For someone with a trained and picky ear, the difference is so significant it's like going from AM radio to CD. To find out if you're one of those people, head over to your local car audio dealer with a decent sound room and sample a bunch of their setups.

As for bass, the difference between good and not-so-good amps is a little more pronounced -- as in, the amp that's pulling less power from your electrical system will almost always put less power to the woofer(s). Class D bass amps are a little more efficient than common A/B amps (like these MB Quart amps), but the improvement in efficiency is generally in the single digit percentile still, and they can pull massive amounts of current.

Keep in mind that many of the lower-end manufacturers pull rating standards out from where the sun don't shine, and they have no meaningful way of comparing their ratings to another company's ratings. That drives me nuts. Back in the early 90's there was an equalizer/booster on the market that claimed it boosted power to 1000 Watts and it was only a half-inch high used any power wire you could dig out from under your dash and bolted to the bottom of your dash. Gimme a break. Those same standards of ratings are in large still used by many of those cheap manufacturers today. Thank goodness for the new CEA-2006 compliance standards which will help to remove some of the confusion from ratings of different amps. Luckily, this MB Quart Reference series ratings comply with CEA-2006 specifications!

I know that was a little long winded but I wanted to help out -- hope it does.

Cheers, and thanks OP

-HiAmp

OP, I only have one thing to say! "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU" I just installed the amp and what a difference! Pure crisp sound! Great amp thanks!

Absolutely.

Personally, I don't like using fuses at the power side. The fancy clear ones look wonderful, but if you pop it, you have to open it up and replace the expensive fuse before you can get your tunes back. I opt for resetable circuit breakers, which can also be used for a convenient vallet switch or power switch if you need it.

Etronics sells a decent generic Pyramid brand 100a breaker for $10 + ~$8 S&H. If you buy 2 the shipping doesn't double. But you need a 120A+ breaker for the other amp (I always step up a notch from the amp's fused rating for the battery side "just incase").

Link to the cheap 100A breaker

Phoenix Gold makes some of the best wiring parts available. For ~$30 you can get a 140A breaker from hell. They also make a 100A if you want to match your pair of breakers.

Link to Phoenix Gold 140A breaker on pricegrabber

And for an identical (to the Phoenix Gold) breaker, Fosgate has their name on one (and a 100A if you go that route)

Link to RF 140A breaker

Don't forget to get some big cable loops to screw your 4awg cable into these puppies.

Hope it helps

-HiAmp

HiAmplidude, Thanks for the info.

It's BAAAACK!!! Just checked the Crutchfield website (5/12/05)- the RAA4200 is back at $249 before the mastercard discount and free shipping bringing the total to $229.99 shipped!

Get 'em while they're hot!

ElGato01 said:Thanks Downtown.

I went ahead and got one this time. Ordered it at 3pm got a shipping notification around 5:30pm. WOW.

Anyway, if you are going to order, read the original post it should answer all of your questions about ordering. $230 Shipped just like Downtown said.

Now I need a pair of 6.5 components that will go well with this amp. There are never any deals on those.

Thanks OP.
EG

Personally I've had great luck with just buying used speakers on E-bay. I've gotten several sets of Boston Acoustic Pro and Rally components for about $100 and $40 respectively. Take a look, you might get lucky...

jayram4470 said:HIAMPLITUDEDUDE is a moron- he said 'But you need a 120A+ breaker for the other amp (I always step up a notch from the amp's fused rating for the battery side "just incase"'

The purpose of the fuse is to prevent no more current to the amplifier than it is protected by. You do NOT want to use a fuse rating at the battery that is more than the amplifier's fused rating, this essentially puts your amplifier at risk and serves no purpose at all. Use a fuse rating that is the same or less than the total maximum current draw of all amplifiers.

Not if the amp is fused at the amp side. That's what protects the amplifier.

The battery side protects your cable and electrical system/battery from a direct short circuit of the positive terminal on the battery. If you fuse for less than the amplifier is designed to pull on the battery side, the fuse will pop even when doing work under acceptable tolerances and that's not good.

Consider this too... On the other end of that big power cable you may have 3 or more amplifiers and other devices split off from a distribution block. If one device (say, a processor) is fused for 10A, one amplifier is fused for 120A, and the other amp is fused for 90A, HOW THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO FUSE FOR THE SAME OR LOWER OF THOSE ON THE BATTERY SIDE??? Make sense?

Now, if you had turned your ego down a couple notches and asked "So, HiAmp, why exactly would *you* fuse the same or slightly higher on the battery side?", you may have learned something new and valid from an experienced installer and wouldn't have looked like a doof. Hey, it happens though, so if you think of something you'd like to run by me please do. If you are one of those folks who like to argue without merit or expertise just for the sake of arguing, go at it. That is your perogative as well.

-HiAmplidude
(hmmm... wonder what that name relates to? Nah -- probably not electronics)

*hehe*


Oh!... and to stay on the course of this thread, I ordered 2 of these amps yesterday too. Can't deny that this is a very nice deal on some nice amplifiers. Not sure what I'll do with them. Maybe hook up my wife's car, maybe save them for another project. They're great amps so I'm sure they'll be put to good use at some point.

My buddy also ordered 1 of them while they were still at the $299 price and called Crutchfield today to ask why the price was $249 online now, and $249 in the Summer catalog, and why he paid $299, and they credited back his card $50! So for those who jumped on this at $300 bones, you may wanna give Crutchfield a call to see if they'll do that for you too. Never hurts to give it a shot. This is the FatWallet forum, after all.

Cheers!
-HiAmp