Amp Sizing Question

I am looking at replacing the Cadence 4ch amp I have in my X2 and need a little advice since all the stereo "gurus" at my local shops seem to have strong opinions about which amps are good & bad.

I currently have 4 Clarion marine 6.5" separates in the boat wired in parallel (2 ohms) to the 2 front channels on my amp. They are rated at 100W max. These will eventually be replaced over the summer but they are the benchmark for now.

I have 2 Infinity Kappa 60.5cs separates on my tower wired at 4ohms to the rear 2 channels. They are rated at RMS 90W and PEAK 270W.

I have been looking at the following amps:
PPI DCX300.4 which provides 75Wx4 @ 2ohm
JL Audio 300/4 which provides RMS 75Wx4 @ 1.5-4ohm
Rockford Fosgate 801x which provides RMS 200Wx4 @ 2 ohm
Orion 4004 which provides 100Wx4 @ 2 ohm

I have lots of experience with the PPI and JL stuff and know its quality but a little spendy. I was leaning towards the RF amp but have been told their amps are not nearly as good as they used to be.

Opinions?

Anyone? Hello?

As i've been told PPI has also gone downhill in the past few years. JL is always good but spendy as well. I use Orion stuff because it can be had at a good price and is usually very under rated as far as wattage. .02c

i am an advocate for orion...

PPI is still good quality, not as good as it used to be since they got bought out by DEI. This isn't a bad deal if you don't mind B stock.
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=13762

I mean after all it is going in a boat and the life expectancy of anything electrical that is not NMA or NMEA rated in a marine environment is not the greatest. I figure if you get a couple/three years out of it you are doing good. That being said i have a Concord amp (i don't even know if Concord still makes car audio) that is prolly 15 years old that has been in two boats! If you can swing it go for the JL Audio, that is A+ quality equipment, the other three are about in the same ball park in terms of quality IMHO.

Zack,

There are many very good amps out there. The brands you listed are all very good, RF maybe not what it use to be though, but I am sure it can do a fine job running your speakers.

Some other amps that might be of interest are Hifonics & Crossfire. (great deals on ebay for hifonics, example the 4 channel ZX6400 is about $200 while over at sounddomain.com it sells for $389) Both make some very nice equipment but are not as popular as the other brands you listed. I have been running an Alpine V12 amp for years, its been in my boat and about 3 different cars. Kicker, JBL, Phoenix Gold, & MTX are also some pretty good amps that come to mind.

Goodluck with your purchase

By the way my neighbor just installed a new PPI amp to run his tower speakers and a 12" PPI sub and it really sounds wonderful.

another brand is soundstream. I rarely see people mention soundstream but I have had great luck with them and so have many people I know.

i like soundstream as well as hifonics. crossfire is a decent amp. alpine is pretty nice as well. jbl makes outstanding sub amps but the rest of their full range amps i would pass.

I recommend the Phoenix Gold Titanium line of amps. You can get the PG Ti500.4 right now from Sound Domain for $399. That's a great price as the amp was originally in the $800 range. I have three PG Titanium amps in my boat and they are very high quality products. Here's the specs on this amp:

TITANIUM 500.4
----------------------------
• Class A/B 2 channel amplifier
• 24dB HP/BP/LP variable crossovers
• Crossover configured aux output
• Remote Low Pass Level control (LPL)
• Dimensions: 16.0L x 10.0W x 2.25H


75W x 4 (4 ohm stereo)
250W x 2(4 ohm bridged)

Dave