Hybrid Audio Amp Choice?

[CamaroFTW]

I am pretty sold on the Hybrid Audio speakers to upgrade the stockers and wondering what you would choose for 2 amps in the $1000-1200 range?

Rockford Fosgate

T800-4ad
T1000-1bdCP

or

JL
HD1200/1
HD600/4

[Kevinshawnm]

The JL for sure!

[CrutchfieldBrooke]

Not that the Rockford amps are a bad choice, but I'm def a huge fan of the quality and size of the JL HD series.

[kalimus]

Take a peek at the Soundstream reference amps. That's what I'm running

[grocerygetter]

Either

[CamaroFTW]

Originally Posted by kalimus

Take a peek at the Soundstream reference amps. That's what I'm running

Hmm, the Soundstream REF1.1000 and REF4.760 is less then $700.00. Is this really in the same league as the other 2 brands I listed?
Thanks for the input.

[darkrider01]

I have a T400-4 running T2 components up front and T1 6x9's in the rear. I think they are awesome. I also have a T1000-1bdCP connected to a T1D215 running at 1 ohm (1586W? per birth sheet). The sub is insane. I'm sooo glad I have that Punch PEQ knob up front.

The T400-4 is a great amp. I originally started out with an Alpine MRV-F357 (5 channel V12 series amp) running my factory components and 6x9's, but it sounded empty. You'd think that the factory Boston speakers would be the culprit, but once my T400-4 came in, I hooked it up to the same speakers using the same source, and it sounded warmer. I was honestly very surprised. Now it may be attributed to the Alpine being a "cleaner" amplifier and my T400-4 is "coloring" the audio in some way. If that is in fact the case, they "colored" it perfectly for me.

If you go with Fosgate though, be prepared for the haters. I feel like anytime I say anything about RF, people come out of the woodwork to say that it sucks - buy JL, or Audison, or Sundown, or whatever. I have nothing against any of them, but I like the sound that comes from my RF Power Series. The Power Series is clean, and crazy under rated.

I know that Ozzy sounds crazy awesome in my car, and when I want, that single 15 I have in the back will hit so hard that it's hard to swallow and feels like your heart is out of sync - and that is with a sealed box, with the back seat up.

I'm not done yet though - I have a Pioneer AVH-P8400BH, Scosche kit, and a JBL MS-8 on the way. I'll have a complete build on these forums sometime, but it takes a lot of time when you're doing it all yourself (maybe I'll start an ongoing build thread).

Anyway, as far as the SoundStream Reference amps, my understanding is that SoundStream is making some good stuff again. I was contemplating very hard doing my car all SoundStream before I decided to go straight RF. Those Reference amps are SUPER clean. The only downside to those 2 amps would be their size - they look huge (9.9" x 20.5" and 9.9" x 18"). My T400-4 and T1000-1bdCp are the exact same size - 8.2" x 13.7" (about the size of a 200 page notebook).

At any rate, it looks like you are on the right track with any of those brands. JL is great, RF is great (to amy anyway), and SoundStream I hear is doing great amps again.

Good luck!

P.S. Dynamat. You're going to need a lot of it.

[grocerygetter]

I would say no to sound stream.

[kalimus]

Originally Posted by CamaroFTW

Hmm, the Soundstream REF1.1000 and REF4.760 is less then $700.00. Is this really in the same league as the other 2 brands I listed?
Thanks for the input.

I had JL amps before the soundstreams. And I ran JL amps for about 8 years. I love JL amps and how they sound, but you won't be disappointed with the Reference amps. I looked up the specs for them before I bought them of course. I think you would be plenty pleased with them. I have the Reference amps for my components, but I have a Rubicon for my woofers.

Originally Posted by darkrider01

Anyway, as far as the SoundStream Reference amps, my understanding is that SoundStream is making some good stuff again. I was contemplating very hard doing my car all SoundStream before I decided to go straight RF. Those Reference amps are SUPER clean. The only downside to those 2 amps would be their size - they look huge (9.9" x 20.5" and 9.9" x 18"). .

Yes, they're back from making the crap they did for a few years there. And I think the reason they are so affordable right now is because they're breaking their last few years of bad press. Pioneer was the same way in case anyone can't remember. They made cheap crap for years, and now people are starting to buy a lot of their stuff again. Kenwood. Alpine. Even JL had a bunch of amps that were really prone to burned up power supplies when the slash series was released. All of them have had cycles of bad equipment

Originally Posted by grocerygetter

I would say no to sound stream.

Why not? Have you listened to something amped by one recently?

[2010SLVRBULIT]

I probably would refrain from the current SS line(after buy out). Now if you can find the oldschool reference line

..RF, JL, meh..better to use upper end Orion, imo.

[CamaroFTW]

Originally Posted by 2010SLVRBULIT

..RF, JL, meh..better to use upper end Orion, imo.

Is Orion in the same price range? I dont want to spend 2 grand or more on amps. I want nice but I am not doing competitions. Thanks

[Agent WD-40]

Audison LRx 6.9 might suit you if you don't mind one amp but its in the price range you want.

I had a JL HD 900/5 but I had issues with my radio reception with that amp which is why I switched to the Audison. It seems most people don't have reception issues with the JL HD amps on here but some do.

Arc audio is another one I've heard good things about.

[CamaroFTW]

Originally Posted by 2010SLVRBULIT

I probably would refrain from the current SS line(after buy out). Now if you can find the oldschool reference line

..RF, JL, meh..better to use upper end Orion, imo.

Hmm the Orion seems extremely inexpensive. I have never heard this brand but a 1000W 4 channel amp for $229?? If good..WOW!

SPEAKERS

SUBS

$450 for 2 amps! Anyone else use these? Too good to be true?

[kalimus]

They are too good to be true. Look at the RMS for that sub amp. It's a "1000 watt" amp, that is only running 500 watts at 1 ohm. Orion is one of the companies that puts numbers on their equipment to sell it. It's not unusual for a company to sell an amp with a rated wattage that you need to have a 1ohm load for it to produce it, but the Orions don't push their advertised power at any impedance.

I also looked at the damping and Sig-Noise on that 500/4, and it's pretty terrible for a component amp.

Sig-Noise is >95 db (Jl 300/4 is >108.5, SoundStream 760 is >110 for example)
Damping Factor on the Orion is >100 (JL is >300 and SounStream 760 is >1000)

I'm just trying to say there are other things to consider other than just "power" when buying an amp. And you don't need to spend super amounts of money to buy good equipment, but you should spend the right amount of money. (Buy cheap things, get cheap product and so on).