Rethinking my amp choices

[briznack 0]

I was all set to buy an Alpine PDX-4.100 for the front stage and a Rockford Fosgate Punch P1000-bd for my sub. Then I read some more about amps and i really like the feaetures on the JL audio stuff, specifically,

that their amps put out consistent power at any impedance between 1.5 and 4 ohms and at any voltage between 11 and 14.4 volts. This seems to be worht the extra cash outlay. Also, I am well aware of the quality of JL products.

My question: Is JL the only company that makes amps that will put out a consistent power across ohms and with different voltages? In my research, I was unable to find any other amps that did this. Thanks for your help.

In case it matters-

1999 Nissan Maxima:

Pioneer some crap (soon 2 b- Excelon KDC X993)

Focal K2 Power 6.5 3-way 165K3P UV (200w rms)

Fi Q12 D2 Sub (1000w rms)

custom 1.2 cuft sealed sub enclosure

[mbarber25 29]

i strongly believe that there isn't any other company that has amps that do that. but i could be mistaken.

but i do know rockford is releasing their new CP (constant power) amps in may. they put out 25% more power at all impedances than they did before.

and are you dead set on a JL amp? and why do u need an amp that puts out the same power at all impedances?

[briznack 0]

i strongly believe that there isn't any other company that has amps that do that. but i could be mistaken.

but i do know rockford is releasing their new CP (constant power) amps in may. they put out 25% more power at all impedances than they did before.

and are you dead set on a JL amp? and why do u need an amp that puts out the same power at all impedances?

I don't need an amp that puts out the same power across different ohms but, I might want to run additional subs in the future and that could change ohms. Mostly I like the voltage feature, mostly. I'm not dead set on the JL but, I sure like those two features.

[audiolife 14]

i strongly believe that there isn't any other company that has amps that do that. but i could be mistaken.

but i do know rockford is releasing their new CP (constant power) amps in may. they put out 25% more power at all impedances than they did before.

and are you dead set on a JL amp? and why do u need an amp that puts out the same power at all impedances?

I don't need an amp that puts out the same power across different ohms but, I might want to run additional subs in the future and that could change ohms. Mostly I like the voltage feature, mostly. I'm not dead set on the JL but, I sure like those two features.

The new constant power amplifiers RF is making look pretty good on paper have not messed with them yet however. They change power though depending on impedence just not as much.

[Impious 1,476]

The feature you are looking for is called a regulated power supply. It is not unique to JL, however I don't know off hand if any other amplifiers feature both regulated power output and a regulated power supply, if those are the two features you are looking for. If you don't need regulated power output but want regulated power supply, those aren't as difficult to find...but not all amplifiers that have regulated power supplies will necessarily advertise the fact that they have regulated power supplies.

Although remember, there are no free lunches. Amplifiers with regulated power supplies are able to output roughly the same power as voltage drops because they draw more current from the electrical system to compensate. The (relatively speaking) small variation in power output related to voltage drop with unregulated power supplies generally isn't enough to cause an audible difference.......

[Neomsport 1]

I think there is some confusion at play here.

But first I would ask why would anyone want an amp the does NOT produce additional power into a lower

impedance load (as with JL). There is a term for this and it is called "current limiting" (and it is NOT a good thing).

JL opted to adopt the 'constant power' solution, first seen in the PPI 2350 DM (700 watt at 4 ohms mono) as a

means to avoid having to over build the amps to deliver the added current that IS required to driver lower impedance

loads. Does it work, sure. Is it actually "better," only IF you believe that it is.

This is analogous to putting a 'rev limiter' on a motor to make sure the motor does not come apart because the

company did not want to spend the money to put in the forged connecting rods so that it COULD rev to 6,000 RPM.

(or alternatively electronically limiting the top speed to 125 mph due to not putting ZR rated tires on a specific car).

It is simply a way to reduce the cost of materials in an amplifier, but it has been marketed as as some sort of benefit

(but I would submit is really disinformation). If you doubth this, then I would ask why that kind of "technology" is just

nowhere to be found in high-end home or proaudio amplifiers (see "ohm's law").

If you know what the nominal or DC resistance of your subwoofer system is, then it would make sense to opt for an

amp that is optimized to drive that load. I would also submit that the penalty you pay in sound-quality for running an

amp at '1 ohm' is NOT worth the modest actual power output (not some optimistic spec) you may gain (vs. 2 ohms).

By contrast, a tightly regulated power supply will deliver full power at 12 - 13V, as previously described. I would submit

that well engineered regulated amps, which should deliver close to 2X higher power into 2 ohms (vs. 4 ohms), just 'sound'

better IMHO. But these days amps of this type are pretty rare and typically very expensive.

If I start out with one 4 ohm sub, but add a second one later, so now I have a 2 ohm load, I would absolutely prefer to

have my amp add more power to the system, rather than just splitting the total power between the two subs.

But that's just me...

Cheers!

Rick

[Notorious97200 339]

I was all set to buy an Alpine PDX-4.100 for the front stage and a Rockford Fosgate Punch P1000-bd for my sub. Then I read some more about amps and i really like the feaetures on the JL audio stuff, specifically,

that their amps put out consistent power at any impedance between 1.5 and 4 ohms and at any voltage between 11 and 14.4 volts. This seems to be worht the extra cash outlay. Also, I am well aware of the quality of JL products.

My question: Is JL the only company that makes amps that will put out a consistent power across ohms and with different voltages? In my research, I was unable to find any other amps that did this. Thanks for your help.

In case it matters-

1999 Nissan Maxima:

Pioneer some crap (soon 2 b- Excelon KDC X993)

Focal K2 Power 6.5 3-way 165K3P UV (200w rms)

Fi Q12 D2 Sub (1000w rms)

custom 1.2 cuft sealed sub enclosure

Did you saw the price of these JL amps ?

The JL 1000/1 costs as much as the saz 3500 !!!

You Focal comp set can receive more than what will give the 300/2, but 150 watts is enough, sure.

Why don't you look for a more powerful amp ?

To answer your question : maybe the Phenix Gold Xenon series amp, if you can find them.

[briznack 0]

Thanks Notorious and Neomsport for the recent responses. I bought the 1000/1 v2 for the Fi sub. Looking at the Sundown SAX 125.2 and 100.4 (I'd bridge it for 2 channel) for the front stage.

I went with the JL becasue it had the features I wanted and it has good specs, looked at the Sundown amps but the most power you get from them at 4ohms is 900w.

[jcarter1885 995]

Thanks Notorious and Neomsport for the recent responses. I bought the 1000/1 v2 for the Fi sub. Looking at the Sundown SAX 125.2 and 100.4 (I'd bridge it for 2 channel) for the front stage.

I went with the JL becasue it had the features I wanted and it has good specs, looked at the Sundown amps but the most power you get from them at 4ohms is 900w.

Your sub could be ran at 1 ohms or 4 ohms, so you could of got any amp that does 1000watts at 1 ohms but with that JL amp make sure you wire your sub to 4 ohms only.

[briznack 0]

Thanks Notorious and Neomsport for the recent responses. I bought the 1000/1 v2 for the Fi sub. Looking at the Sundown SAX 125.2 and 100.4 (I'd bridge it for 2 channel) for the front stage.

I went with the JL becasue it had the features I wanted and it has good specs, looked at the Sundown amps but the most power you get from them at 4ohms is 900w.

Your sub could be ran at 1 ohms or 4 ohms, so you could of got any amp that does 1000watts at 1 ohms but with that JL amp make sure you wire your sub to 4 ohms only.

Yeah, I wanted to run it at 4ohms. I have read, and looked over the specs/science part, and from what I gathered, 4ohms is better sounding than 1ohm. I will def be running the JL at 4 ohms.

[supaduppaman 4]

I was all set to buy an Alpine PDX-4.100 for the front stage and a Rockford Fosgate Punch P1000-bd for my sub. Then I read some more about amps and i really like the feaetures on the JL audio stuff, specifically,

that their amps put out consistent power at any impedance between 1.5 and 4 ohms and at any voltage between 11 and 14.4 volts. This seems to be worht the extra cash outlay. Also, I am well aware of the quality of JL products.

My question: Is JL the only company that makes amps that will put out a consistent power across ohms and with different voltages? In my research, I was unable to find any other amps that did this. Thanks for your help.

In case it matters-

1999 Nissan Maxima:

Pioneer some crap (soon 2 b- Excelon KDC X993)

Focal K2 Power 6.5 3-way 165K3P UV (200w rms)

Fi Q12 D2 Sub (1000w rms)

custom 1.2 cuft sealed sub enclosure

i know jbl made amps that did the same thing with the constant power but i think it was for very high powered amps. i don't think they made any for mid/component set or any power around that range.

[briznack 0]

I was all set to buy an Alpine PDX-4.100 for the front stage and a Rockford Fosgate Punch P1000-bd for my sub. Then I read some more about amps and i really like the feaetures on the JL audio stuff, specifically,

that their amps put out consistent power at any impedance between 1.5 and 4 ohms and at any voltage between 11 and 14.4 volts. This seems to be worht the extra cash outlay. Also, I am well aware of the quality of JL products.

My question: Is JL the only company that makes amps that will put out a consistent power across ohms and with different voltages? In my research, I was unable to find any other amps that did this. Thanks for your help.

In case it matters-

1999 Nissan Maxima:

Pioneer some crap (soon 2 b- Excelon KDC X993)

Focal K2 Power 6.5 3-way 165K3P UV (200w rms)

Fi Q12 D2 Sub (1000w rms)

custom 1.2 cuft sealed sub enclosure

i know jbl made amps that did the same thing with the constant power but i think it was for very high powered amps. i don't think they made any for mid/component set or any power around that range.

Yeah, you're correct, as far as I know. I was more interested in the JL regulated power supply and output for the Fi sub.

[///M5 2,833]

Thanks Notorious and Neomsport for the recent responses. I bought the 1000/1 v2 for the Fi sub. Looking at the Sundown SAX 125.2 and 100.4 (I'd bridge it for 2 channel) for the front stage.

I went with the JL becasue it had the features I wanted and it has good specs, looked at the Sundown amps but the most power you get from them at 4ohms is 900w.

Your sub could be ran at 1 ohms or 4 ohms, so you could of got any amp that does 1000watts at 1 ohms but with that JL amp make sure you wire your sub to 4 ohms only.

Yeah, I wanted to run it at 4ohms. I have read, and looked over the specs/science part, and from what I gathered, 4ohms is better sounding than 1ohm. I will def be running the JL at 4 ohms.

Completely inaudible. NOT a reason to choose an amplifier.