MA audio amps?

RoughRiverMike · Outlaw Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Posts: 107 City: louisville

I'm looking for an amp to power some skylon rubicon 450's. They can handle 450 watts a side. I'm not sure that I need that much, but I want to get the max out of them. I was looking at a Soundstream amp that would push 350 watts a side. The guy I was talking to said that the MA audio amps were better. Anyone know for sure?

acurtis_ttu · Soul Rider Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 499 City: Houston

350/per side is not enough to power them. I'd choose the MA over soundstream. Trying to find one amp that will push 450 RMS per side is going to be expensive anyway you cut it. I ended up going a cheaper route and buying two separate amps. ( i run the 1010's)

RoughRiverMike · Outlaw Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Posts: 107 City: louisville

I found these on ubid. It seems like a pretty nice deal. I was thinking of getting 2 of these and bridging them. Might be too much power, but I can turn the gains down. Also, I remember seeing a thread regarding a separate RCA volume control for the tower amp. Does that work well? I don't know exactly how that works. I'm guessing that if that control were left at full volume, then the amp would push whatever the head unit is telling it to. Correct?
http://www.ubid.com/actn/opn/getpage.asp?AuctionId=10608418&refLoc=searchall

RoughRiverMike · Outlaw Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Posts: 107 City: louisville

Or what about two of these mono amps? which do you think would perform better?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Two-2-MA-Audio-HK1997-HK1998-1200w-1Ch-Mono-Amplifiers_W0QQitemZ5862973630QQcategoryZ18797QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

bremsen · Outlaw Joined: 08 Jun 2005 Posts: 168 City: Charlotte

You can use a volume control like the PAC LC1 or use an eq/line driver (with fade control) to control the level between the tower and interior speakers. Yes, with the PAC the HU will provide the 'master volume'. IMO, a line driver is the better alternative since marine decks put out pretty weak signals.

As far as the amps...tough call. I'd probably go with the 798s bridged. MA rates at 14.4V so I'd want to make sure the speakers got enough power. In my experience its better to go over the rms rating and keep the gains down then to run under or at rms with the gains at 75%.

My $.02.

ps, when looking at mono amps, make sure they're not 'D class'....most are. The HK1998s appear to be A/B so they're ok.

RoughRiverMike · Outlaw Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Posts: 107 City: louisville

I may not need the in line volume control. I looked at the head unit that I am getting and it has a fader on the face of the unit. That way I can fade from in boat speakers to the tower speakers very easily. My malibu was wired this way also, But the sony head unit was a pain in the butt to fade. You had to go through a menu to get to the fader, and then you couldn't see it in the sunlight. This one should work out fine. Another question about using 2 amps for tower speakers: do you wire one amp from the head unit RCA's and the the second amp from amp1's RCA outs?
http://www.clarion.com/us/en/products/2006/marine/source_units/CMD4/us-en-product-pf_1132912142884.html

bremsen · Outlaw Joined: 08 Jun 2005 Posts: 168 City: Charlotte

If the amps got RCA outs then, yeh, use em.

RoughRiverMike · Outlaw Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Posts: 107 City: louisville

bremsen · Outlaw Joined: 08 Jun 2005 Posts: 168 City: Charlotte

I think those are overkill. I would guestimate at 12-13V the 798s will still put out over the rms rating of the 450s....maybe ~600w range. If you're not comfortable with that much power you might want to try and find a pair of HK398s (600w mono).....which might be better suited to the 450s.

I can't find any hard specs on the skylons so its hard to really say exactly how they'll take power. As a rule you should shoot for the rms rating....but with MA rating their amps high I just factor in some loss of power due to lower voltage.

You should always start by setting your gains with a test tone and DMM. You can find test tone discs at most CD stores.

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/support_pages.php?page_id=143

The formula is: sqrt(powerXresistance)=voltage

Here is a good explanation.

Gains are for matching amps in a system, so you set with the multimeter and back it down from there. If you're running high power you can turn the gains down even more and still have good sound level w/o clipping.

Here is a little info on gains:
http://www.bcae1.com/gaincon2.htm

www.bcae1.com <-- I love this site....so much great info on audio.

RoughRiverMike · Outlaw Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Posts: 107 City: louisville

well I guess its'too late. I bought 2 of the 898's. I'll get one of those test tone cds and take it from there. I spoke with the person that developed the 450's today. He said typically they were running them at only 250/side and they were unbelievably loud. The 450's won't be on the market for another 30 days or so. He told me that if I put 450 watts to them that he would here them in california. He also said that if the crossover was changed on them to 150 hz? that they would handle 650 watts/side. Watch out Ca.

bremsen · Outlaw Joined: 08 Jun 2005 Posts: 168 City: Charlotte

Wait....you bought TWO!?!? Thats 1200w each! Thats insane. I think you might want to consider using one for a sub or something.

*edit, just run them in stereo off one. Seriously, I think 1200w is probably too much power for them.

RoughRiverMike · Outlaw Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Posts: 107 City: louisville

Yea.. Its a lot of power. I can't really use much of it, but I figure that it will be very clean if I'm not really making the amps try hard. I did think of using one for another sub if one of the MA's does the trick. It was very cheap power at that price. I want to hear the music when I TUBE. Laughing

I hope my alt. can handle the fun.