Just came my DD bezel. We now can build. So I was originally going to order Arc audio amps to go with Image dynamics speakers. Yesterday was in a local shop who is going to be not carrying Zapco anymore and would sell me his last stock one that caught my attention Ref 650, a 6 channel amp. Now ,what to do. Any opinions, stick with two mini Arcs, or 1 Zapco 6 channel.

 

I'd go with the Zapco. What kind of price is he going to give you?

 

$ 600.00

 

I would go two
one just for the sub.
I like the Kenwood XR series amps myself

 

I've never been a big fan of multiple amp setups. I would snag that Zapco for that price.

 

Great job on the Bezel Dennis. I always thought multiple amps are a better choice but when you get to the high end stuff such as Zapco or Mac it don't matter. This is not a what saves me money question, this is grabbing a very high end piece for a great price and take full advantage of the situation. At the same time I here great things about Arc amps, so which one really is better?

 

what is power output on zapco

 

Zapco 650.6
6x50w @ 4ohm
6x104w @2ohm
Bridged 2ohm 4x90w front and rear
Bridged 1ohm 2 subx175w
Bridged 2ohms 1 sub 375w
0.022%thd @4 ohm

 

Thanks on bezel!


is it this one?
Zapco Reference 650.6 6-Channel Amp with 3-Way Crossover, Band Pass, Bass Control and High-Current Sub Channels

• Stereo, 4 ohms: 6x50 Watts
• Stereo, 2 ohms: 6x104 Watts
• Bridged, 2 ohms: 4x90 Watts, Front and Rear
• Bridged, 1 ohm: 2 Sub x 175 Watts
• Bridged, 2 ohms: 1 sub x 325 Watts
• T.H.D. + Noise: <0.022% @ 4 ohms
• S/N Ratio: >95dB
• Slew Rate: >23V/uS
• Damping Factor: >160 @ 4 ohms
• Dimensions: 31"L x 7.5"W x 2"H

If so
I can do an XR1S and XR4S Kenwood Excellon for same price
I am ordering from Kenwood on Monday

Kenwood XR1S
600 Watts (RMS) x 1 @ 4ohms•700 Watts (RMS) x 1 @ 2 Ohms•Dual Power Supply•Dual Sigma Drive •Variable Low Pass Filter: 50~200Hz -24dB/oct•Variable Infrasonic Filter: 15~40Hz -24db/oct•Bass Boost Remote Ready (KCA-WR10)•Width: 9-1/4” (235mm)•Height: 2-1/16” (52mm)•Depth: 7-9/16” (192mm)

Kenwood XR4S
120 Watts (RMS) x 4 @ 4ohms•150 Watts (RMS) x 4 @ 2 Ohms•300 Watts (RMS) x 2 @ 4 Ohms (Bridged)•Dual Power Supply•Bi-Amp Connection•Variable High Pass Filter (High-Range): 2.5~10 kHz -12dB/oct•Variable High Pass Filter (Low-Range): 50~200Hz -12dB/oct•Variable Low Pass Filter (High-Range): 2.5~10 kHz -12dB/oct•Variable Low Pass Filter (Low-Range): 50~200Hz -12dB/oct

Or the XR5S for 150.00 less
80 Watts (RMS) x 4 @ 4ohms•350 Watts (RMS) x 1 @ 4ohms•Dual Power Supply•Variable High Pass Filter•Variable Low Pass Filter

 

meh i would want more power then what zapco can provide

 

Dennis I'm no expert on amps, and I could be wrong for saying this I don't think a Kenwood amp would be half the quality of a Zapco amp. Putting power aside just overall quality.
As for not enough power, I learned this from owning Mac amps, it could say 60w a channel but its so clean its another companies 100w or more. I have two home audio systems, one being Denon, and other Bryston. The Bryston power numbers are half Denon's, but it might be twice as loud, and twice as clean.
I know home audio and car is different, but quality is not.

 

these are the Kenwood Excellon the upper end series

send a pm to
factoryracecar
Nouman just put them in his car with focal speakers and id10 sub
ask him his thoughts
This will give you a great person for feedback and hear it first hand from someone who has them

nothing against the zapco and understand what your saying

 

I think I missed something in an earlier thread. Are u looking to run six interior speakers, or 2-4 interiors and a sub with it?

 

With this amp you can run quite a bit of configurations. One being 2 channel tweets, 2 channel mids, and bridge for sub.
2 channel componets, bridge for sub. I didn't go looking for this amp, just came across a great deal for a great amp.

 

FWIW, I'm using the XR5S and absolutely love it

Maybe this will help:

Zapco 650.6 = 31"L x 7.5"W x 2"H

Kenwood XR-5S = 9-1/4”L x 7-9/16"W x 2-1/16”H

 

put an xr5s in a buddys car he loves it

 

NOTE:

Subs eat power(current draw) Mids are, mids, they draw less, tweeters, not much but still need to have what they need to do their job.

Amps have capacitors to store current.

Amps that have one power supply for all channels share the current available, if the sub shares the power supply then bigger bass hits drain the power leaving little to the mids and tweets, that is just how it is.

Multi channel amps that have separate power supplies for the mids/tweets and subs do not suffer the loss of current available to the mids/tweets when the sub is pounding away.

Amps that use AB, G, H, etc topology for the mids/tweets and D for the sub suffer from the D for the sub, D class amps are just not as musical as the other methods used to make power, not going to happen, I know as have $1k D class amps and they still suffered badly compared to the others. If you go with a multi channel amp for all drivers it must be all AB, G, H, etc....

(AB is the best we normally see in car audio, pure class A is EXPENSIVE, makes tons of heat, etc.........Class AB is in A mod until it needs to put out a kick to a woofer, etc.....then B mode, basically how this all works. G or H have a switching power supply like a D class amp but AB driver and output stage and a far superior sonically to D class amps which are just a switch)

And, there are tons of poorly engineered AB amps, most D class, etc....only a few really great amp manf around and price does not have to be that high to do very well indeed.

-----------------

Absolutely no offense meant to anybody about what I have posted, or this.

If you love what you have, great and I really mean it though there may of been better choices that could of been made, bottom line is if you are happy then I am happy for you

Rick

 

Yea but I was just wondering what you were planning on doing with it. If you don't have any plans for that amp specifically i'd pass on it. Even though it is a deal unless you have something right now to do with it I'd let it go. I do crap like that all the time and end up with things like extra tv's and no rooms to put it in lol.

I'd say get it if you're feeling like having a lot of interior speakers, but don't plan on hooking a sub up to it too. It really isn't that much power to be able to have both hooked up.

If you're planning on running interiors and subs off of one amp I'd go the multiple amps in 1 case route. Something like the Memphis MC5.1400 It's an AB amp for the mids/highs and a D amp for a sub all in one so you don't have amps everywhere.

 

That Zapco amp is a very nice piece, and like the above poster said if you have a plan that called for it in place, I would probably jump on it.

However, as Rick explained there are some tradeoffs attached to a single amp solution that he discussed.

If you were planning on running a 3 way front stage, IMO it would be a no brainer. And then run an Arc or similar smaller single channel sub amp.

Does that amp even fit in a vette? I don't remember what the dimension is behind the seats on the shelf, but I don't think it is too much more than 31" heh.

G'luck
Fej

 

At this point I think I'm going one Arc for sub, and one for componets. I need qaulity and the Zapco has it, but the Arc amps are designed by the same guy, he left Zapco, Arc picked him up. I'm going KS500.1 for the sub, and 300.2 for front componets, or 300.4 if I decide on back speakers. I promised myself I wouldn't go crazy on this car due to I never drive it and the fact it runs long tubes to straight pipes, and hear I go