New to the forum... got a couple questions

lotas · Post by **lotas** » Mon May 29, 2006 12:39 pm

I'd steer clear of the ED...although it's not from personal experience, it just seems in the past couple years I haven't heard one solid thing about that company.

jblackwell · Post by **jblackwell** » Mon May 29, 2006 2:17 pm

welcome

mikee816 · Post by **mikee816** » Mon May 29, 2006 5:51 pm

im looking at the MB quart ... i can get it for 275 shipped .. so its defintely a good possibility ill end up with that ... plus it has amazing ratings from everyone that has it

geolemon · Post by **geolemon** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:10 pm

mikee816 wrote:im debating between these three amplifiers
Orion 1200D
MB Quart RAA1000
ED Nine.1

Well, I'm not going to say that ANY of these amplifiers won't get you exactly the performance that you are looking for...

...but it's painful to me to see
1) Orion amplifiers that are corporate "asian circuitboard clone stamps", bearing no resemblance to the high-end innovator that Orion once was, back in the day - it would be as if Kia started building the Corvette - sure, the Corvette badge is still there, but... Well, nice looking heatsinks anyway, but it's the guts that bother me. I've never seen such an obfuscated circuit design, and the components are less than impressive. And maybe it doesn't help my impression that the 2 year old XTR amp I have in my posession came to be in my posession because it's dead like a paperweight.

2) MB Quart - again, another company whose heritage was incredible, built their name around truly innovative, superior products, heralded by IASCA top competitors - at least back in the day. That was before three bankruptcy filings in recent years, three changes in ownership (most recently Rockford Fosgate said "I want out!" and sold the company to MaxxSonics) - so my concern here would be "who knows who is really building what these days, and what designs even bear any resemblance of the originals?"

3) The Nine.1 I am not going to comment about - I simply wasn't impressed with the circuit layout and componentry - bear in mind I'm not an electrical engineer (though I do have a few years through an electrical engineering program back in the college years), but I currently work within a high-tech electronics contract manufacturer, who has some very high profile contracts with NASA and satellite communications owners, etc. I should say, I wasn't impressed, so I asked my resources there to check it out, who weren't either.

Check out this website, in your hunt for your amplifier - http://www.ampguts.com (it has a redirect page to the longer addresss that I can never remember) - even to a layman, it can be quite apparant what circuit boards and components mounted on those circuit boards are impressive / significant, vs. ones that are not.

I believe there are pictures of ALL the amps you mentioned on that website.
Might be helpful to peek at.

mikee816 · Post by **mikee816** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:35 pm

thanks geolemon ...
that site is awesome .. shows every amp nice and clear

but after reading this im stumped as to what I want to do to power

I was thinking of getting the ARC Audio KAR 1000.2 ... it does 900x1 at 4 ohms bridged... would this work?

High Society · Post by **High Society** » Mon May 29, 2006 9:21 pm

The car series is ARC's lowest line of amps but are hella nice. I own a arc kar 400.4 great amp. I would look into that over the other amps you mentioned.

mikee816 · Post by **mikee816** » Mon May 29, 2006 9:31 pm

yea ive been reading reviews on the ARC amplifiers .. alot of people thoroughly enjoy every amp the company has designed ... not one bad review ne where ... im defintely looking into these amplifiers ... I just saw this amp and it looked like a great amp to fit the needs of what i was looking for

I will probably get the same 4 channel amplifier as you .. to power my interior speakers ... depending if i decide to use my second set of comps as rear fill ... not sure yet ... but if u know ne other useful info about the arc amps ... i would love to hear about it .. or ne one else that has expierience with them

thanks to the guys on this forum .. amazing forum u guys got here ...

High Society · Post by **High Society** » Mon May 29, 2006 9:45 pm

thanks to the guys on this forum .. amazing forum u guys got here ...

I would say one of the best, but thats just me :)

I've had great success with every arc audio product I have ever used.

mikee816 · Post by **mikee816** » Tue May 30, 2006 9:45 am

I think ill get a very solid response out of this set up

Arc Audio Kar 1000.2
4 AA Assassins

Im gonna put them in custom built sealed box, its in gonna be in a focus hatch .. so itll be very loud hopefully

OnYrMrk · Post by **OnYrMrk** » Tue May 30, 2006 9:53 am

Justin from Detroit has a focus, you should talk with him about this setup, might be able to give you some pointers.