AMPS: Mb quart or Hifonics
 

I'm hesitating between those two models: They are pretty much the same price.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...rt-Q4.150.html

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...-ZXi150.4.html

They both deliver 4X150 rms @ 4 ohms. I will use the amplifier to drive 4 kicker KMt6.

They are pretty similar and made by the same manufacturer i believe.
Really, i'm looking for power, since I will be riding 70 ft behind the boat.

the hifonics seems to have more power (bridged) and is CEA compliant.

the Mb Quart has pretty much the same rated power, except bridged, but has bigger rated fuses?? (140 amps vs 120 for hifonics) I thought bigger fuses meant more power...

Anyways, wich one would you pick for my application?

Neither man. Look at jl, kicker,clarion, alpine

sonic electronix is a bunch of crooks! Please tell me you're not buying anything from those a**holes.

But to answer the question, neither amp. Teh MB Quart brand has been passed between a few different companies in the last few years and have been sub-par for a few years now. Definitely not what they used to be.

Well I took it from sonics for illustration purposes... But din't know they weren't reputable.

I'm looking at those two amps because they are pretty powerful for the money. Don't want to invest a ton of cash for an amp that will play music on tower speakers. Don't need an audiophile quality amp 70feet behind the boat IMO. For the in boat speakers it's different.

I've looked at those higher-end brands, but for the same wattage, it's at least 4 times the money...

get this instead

http://www.woofersetc.com/p-6862-ks-...amplifier.aspx

My Hifonic amp has been flawless in my truck running two subs.

I also have not had any problems with this site and they have good prices. www.audiosavings.com

I remember years ago, Hifonics were an awesome brand, have things changed? Why do people say not to get them?

The arc audio has not the power i'm looking for. 90X4 is not enough.

Unless there is another 150X4 (or close) amp, in the same price range, i'll be looking for one of those two amps.

So to get back at the original question, wich one of these two would you pick?

These are for tower speakers? Why are you looking at 4 channel amps? Couldn't you get a 2 channel amp with more power for less money??

Also- I used to have a Hifonics amp for some subs in a car that lasted a long time. Seemed like a good amp. I've also bought from Sonic Electronix a few times with good luck.

Recently, in my last boat, and my truck, I've had good luck with Kicker amps.... But I went with the Exile Harpoon amp to power my Exile XM7s in the new boat... Take a look at some Kicker 2 channel amps.

yes things have changed with hifonics as well as mb quart, both companies have been sold multiple times and neither are what they used to be, on that note both are now made by the same company so you may be looking at the same amps heatsinks. BTW the arc amp will be more power and sound better than both these amps, but it will cost more!!

Yes these are for tower speakers. I had 2 kicker kmt6, but i doubled them this year, and I was advised that i should double the wiring and hook them up each to a single channel.

For a two channel amp, I should be looking a 600X2 at 4 ohms rms to adequately power my tower speakers (in series). Couldn't find a decent one in the same price range.

I was looking at the kicker 850.4, but they don't make it anymore, anyways it was around 700-800$. Too much for my budget.

+1 Ordered wire from them and all was good.
Also, the Kicker ZX450.2 would work pretty well for that setup too. My friend has a 450.2 running a wetsounds three-some and it sounds awesome!

Got my Hifonics from audiosavings. The ZXI150.4 has way enough power for my 4 KMT6. Really loud! LIKE IT SO FAR!

I feel from what I've read, Cadence would be a better choice for price point amps.

x10 on Sonic being bush league

Hifonics was at the forefront of car audio and cutting edge at one time. The pioneer of car audio amplifiers, Steven Mantz (ZED audio) designed and engineered the Hifonics amplifiers from the early 80's until 1994. Steven just came out with a new series of amps under Zed audio. I think Liquid Accoustics will be coming out with marine version of these amplifiers if he hasn't already. The "Dreadnought" has my attention, high efficient Class D, 225W x 4 @ 4ohm and 400W x 4 @ 2ohm.

As for the Hifonics or MB quart, I've never owned an MB quart, but I've had 2 Hifonics amps, a Brutus 2000.1 and Zeus 4 channel. They were mediocre. They won't do rated power, they're not all that efficient, and get real hot...which lead to overheating. With that said, for the price, they're tough to beat. I know a guy came on WW recently complaining that his MB quart died after one season...so I'd get the Hifonics, but I think they're fairly equal.

Wow...I feel like an idiot, I just saw you already got the Hifonics...lol. Glad you like it!

Jonathan, sounds to me like you are getting bad stereo advice and need to go to another source, like the experts on wakeworld, for your info. I am not sure why someone would say you need to run each of 4 speakers off individual channels. You could of bought an ARC KS300.2 and run it at 2 ohms delivering 175W of good, efficient power to your tower speakers all in a smaller frame. Yes it would of been $150 more or so, but would of been worth it. Like someone else mentioned that amp will probably drain your batteries much faster and has more potential of getting hot and shutting off. It probably doesn't put out its listed wattage like an ARC would. I hope it works for you though and that you are happy with it. I would make sure and mount it in a way where there is good airflow plus have spacers to what it is mounted to so air can get behind it.

Many sources told me that I should hook up each speaker to it's independent channel. I didn't like the idea since i had to get two extra pairs of wires up the tower, and get bigger holes in it. I don't follow advice of a single person, especially on the internet for obvious reasons. But i was told I should get better sound this way.

Anyway, eveything is installed right now. I was pretty surprised how much louder this is now with two more kmt6 and this amp. Got it playing all afternoon, max volume, with no issues so far, and my 232 amp-hour battery bank didn't drop in voltage too much.

But why, if they are rating this amp 150WX4, people are so sure they don't actually meet these specs? Isn't CEA compliant means the ratings should be right?

I to prefer a spreaker per channel but in the case of tower setups it seems bridging is the better way to go sometimes.