Turbo6TA

Thank's to all the input I have gotten from so many people on this forum about aftermarket amps and speakers, I now think I may just buy a single amp instead of a seperate amp for the door and rear speakers, and another amp for the subwoofer.

I said to myself .. why not just buy 1 amp that will power everything, so I am leaning toward the 5-channel JL Audio XD700/5 amp. Certainly not the most expensive amp on the planet (and certainly not the best), but I think it will power my modest aftermarket audio system pretty good on the budget I am planning.


JL Audio 5- Channel Amp..................XD700/5

Class:........................................ ........D

RMS Continuous Power @ 4 ohms:........75 watts x 4.....(Full Range Channels)

RMS Continuous Power @ 4 ohms:........180 watts x 1...(Subwoofer Channel)

Frequency Response:...........................12 Hz - 22,000 Hz

THD @ RMS Continuous Power:.............1.0%

Signal to Noise Ratio:...........................104 dB

Low-Pass Crossover Freq:....................50-500 Hz

Price:........................................ .........$ 450
_____________________________________


The deal is .. The dimensions of this amp are: 10.25” wide x 7.00” deep x 2.00” height

Where do you think the best place to mount this amp would be?

I am thinking in the back of the passenger's seat ... but what do I know.

I don't think it would fit under the passenger's seat?

Ron,


Oh BTW ... The specs look ok with this amp, but I am a little concerned with the THD @ RMS Continuous Power of 1.0% ... seems pretty high to me ... Is that high enough to actually hear?

pentavolvo

c5 or c6... i highly recommend looking at kenwood xr5s

Turbo6TA

BTW ... Here are the door, rear and sub I plan on powering with this amp:

CDT 2-Way Component Speakers.........CL-60.........(doors)

CDT 2-Way Convertible Speakers..........CL-51CV.....(rears)

Polk Audio 8" Subwoofer Speaker........MM840........(cubby sub)

Turbo6TA

The car is a 2011 GS

I will take a look at the Kenwood for sure

Thank's

Kale

given that its a class d which meeans efficient at the expense of sound quality and given the low resolution speaker choices i would not sweat the thd.

0Double D Mods

I have the XR5S in stock
call for price

Turbo6TA

So, your basicaly saying that because of the overall poor resolution of the speakers I am thinking about buying .. it really don't make much difference if the amp that will power them is a class D (inherently poor sound to begin with) and has a high THD.

Sounds like I need to look for not only another 5- channel amp, but look to get much better speakers too.

I had no idea that a Class D amp was inferior to other classes of amps. I have an Onkyo class D amp powering my home 2-channel audio system that sounds fantastic through 4 Mission (UK) tower speakers .. but, after 25 years of flying military turbine aircraft, my ears are basically tone deaf anyway ... so what would I know

Turbo6TA

That Kenwood has very nice specs, but the problem is ... it's a class D amp too ... like so many here keep posting ... Bad sound quality with the class D.

I guess I need to look elsewhere for an amp that's not a class D.

thank's anyway

BTW ... I think I am going to need to look elsewhere for speakers too in order to find some speakers instead of those poor CDTs.

.

Kale

Sorry for the terse reply, android posting makes me short.

Basically class D amps sort of have "a sound" to them. Depending on the speakers, you may or may not notice this. Couple them with some Focals, for example, you'll quickly notice something wrong. Especially with female vocals. I tried to 'tune' the weird sound out of the vocals/cymbal crashes/electric guitars for the longest time. Replaced the amps and voila.

(Here's the funny thing - I think on certain tracks (like classical) the full-range-d sound actually was beneficial. But overall it added an artificial taint to the audio that bugged me.)

PDX (Alpine version of that JL amp) counts for this and is where most of my experience is. I am running a PDX amp in my DD, and I use inexpensive pioneer tweeters. I think it sounds OK - but going from the PDX to Arc Kar amps in the vette made a pretty big difference.

CDT CL speakers tend to be on the warm side and aren't overly analytical. That is, they don't tend to expose flaws in recording/reproduction like some other speakers do. You won't notice distortion as quickly, so they might sound identical on A/B as they do on full range D.

Furthermore, CDT speakers tend to roll off quickly on the tweeters. I'm going to guess by what you said that you aren't hearing frequencies over 16khz anyway.


Technical stuff you can skip:

THD is more noticeable the higher you get in the frequency range. Most people can tolerate a lot of distortion in the bass range without noticing. 1% is probably noticeable at high frequencies to someone with a semi-trained ear. I generally wouldn't worry about it. Most THD ratings are just specification masturbation anyway.


Cliff Notes:

I suppose without rambling I should say: CDT CL speakers are a pretty good match for that amplifier. I would probably choose them over more expensive speakers because it will be much, much easier to get them to sound good.

I think you should be pretty happy with the above setup because it will be easy to set up, and very convenient (Power efficient single amplifier.)

Though personally, I would bridge 2 channels to run the front speakers and just run the rears off head unit. Use fader to mix them. (I havent used rear speakers in years.)

Be careful though, it's more power than rated. This is a good thing - provided you don't listen at max volume constantly.

CL-60 should probably run you about $140-170 for a pair.
Historically, CDT MSRP is usually 200-250% of what you should actually pay. I don't know why CDT does this.


(I like the Kenwood over the JL, looking at specs. As an added bonus, I think you can get all the bits and pieces from Dennis. )

Turbo6TA

Someone else that says class D amps are poor:

Kale

If you run mid-high end speakers and are looking for bleeding edge sound quality - full range D will fall short.

If you want a nice sounding system (reaD: way better than stock!) with a simple amp set up that doesn't break the bank - you're in good company with a full range D

427Z0SX

So where should the OP mount the amp?

FrankZ06

If you want good sound quality, buy a nice class A/B four channel amp. Run the front 2 channels to a set of components up front and bridge the other 2 channels to run 1 or 2 subs. I you like the jl amps pick up a 450/4. It is a lot bigger, but you need to decide what is more important. All the class d amps are tiny and can fit in small spaces but sacrafice sound quality. You just need to decide what's important to you and go with it. If the trunk space out weighs the sound, buy the jl or the kenwood class D and go with your original plan. You might want to listen to some of these amps and compare to see if you can hear a difference. Some people say they can't tell a difference, I can definitely tell a difference, but I've been doing car audio for a long time. As far as THD goes, yeah, you're right 1% is a load of crap. 20 years ago, an amp with 0.1% distortion, not even 1%, was called a Jensen that you could buy at K-mart. It was the bottom of the barrell and now we have $450 amps with 1% distorion. It's amazing that nobody looks at distortion anymore. With high THD, your sound will turn to crap when you start turning up the volume. Good luck with your install. Hopefully, my install will be done in the next week or so..

Turbo6TA

The dimensions of this amp are: 10.25” wide x 7.00” deep x 2.00” height

Where do you think the best place to mount this amp would be?

I am thinking in the back of the passenger's seat ... but what do I know.

I don't think it would fit under the passenger's seat?

Turbo6TA

Exactly ... that's what I'm thinking

Kale

Here you go, Check this out:

http://www.bcae1.com/thd.htm

Cliff notes: 5 seconds in, THD jumps to 1%
10 seconds in, THD jumps to 5%

I would guess the majority of people won't hear the tone change at the 5 second mark.

It also makes a good point about distortion and other audio problems in vehicles.

But this point I find very interesting:

markcz

Based on your other posts, behind the pass seat is prob what you'd be happiest with. Check out the way Patches mounted his in this thread

I have the XR5S with CDT fronts, and I think it sounds pretty darn good. For the people who are into super high end systems, they can tell the difference between A and D class amps, but most people won't be able to, especially someone with hearing that isn't perfect.

Speakers are a bit different story from amps. Certain brands do have a 'sound' to them that most can agree on. Best example I can think of is Infinity. Some think they're the best sounding speakers on earth, which is great for them. Many, including me, think the tweeters are too harsh and tinny sounding. It all depends on what YOUR ears like. I switched from Polk db6501 components to CDT CL-E61CF components. There wasn't anything wrong with the Polks, and I was happy with them considering the price, but the CDT's are much better IMO, I immediately noticed the difference after installing them. That doesn't mean they'd make everyone happy, some may even like the Polks better, but considering your probable loss of hearing I think you'd be quite happy with the CDT's.

It also depends on your budget. You can do an entire system that sounds great to 99% of the population for less money than you'd spend on speakers alone that the other 1% insist are required to get it sounding OK.

FrankZ06

For years, everybody said THD less than 0.1% was inaudible. That was the baseline, and now everybody is like you can't hear any difference at all at 1% or even 5%. All I can tell you is hook up a class D with 1% THD and turn it up at a louder volume and listen to it. Then, hook up any amp with a THD with less than 0.1% and you will hear a difference. The only way to run high THD is to have a ton of power, so you don't have to torque on the amp. Once you start turning up the volume, the amp will distort and the music will not sound the same. Listen for yourself and make your own decision.

FrankZ06

Sorry to get off track. Back to your original question...I don't think you will be able to get that amp under the seat. There really isn't that much room underneath there. As far as behind the seat, I had an audio control EQS mounted behind the passenger seat and I had to push the seat forward a little. It was only about 1.25 inches tall as well. You can put it there, but be prepared to push the seat up. Best place is to mount in the one of the rear cubby holes. If you plan to run some kind of stealth box or equivalent, it will go on the driver's side and mount the amp in the passenger side. It should fit without any problems. Depending on what sub box you go with, you might be able to mount it directly to the box. As far as the components go, I would listen to all of them before I decide. I've had many, many different brands, and they all have a unique sound to them and what one person likes, somebody hates. Everybody raved about focal speakers, so I picked up a set and realized that I don't like them at all. Now, I came across some Boston Pro series, and they sound fantastic! Hopefully, they will sound that good in my car. I am not familiar with CDT so I can't offer any insight. I've always wanted to try a set, but have never been able to find anybody locally that has some to listen to.

kedar

Before I settled on the arc audio mini amps,
I was going to use a Kenwood xr5s. My initial plan was to mount it to a board and secure it in the passenger cubby. The Komoman installed an Alpine pdx in the cubby and has pictures of it in his install thread (linked somewhere in the FAQs). I recall pictures of another user who simply had the amp in the cubby with large foam blocks surrounding it.

You can also install the amp on the floor in the hatch either mounted to a board or inside a sled. The rear wall of the hatch will not be an option if you intend to store your top in the hatch.

If you have short passengers and don't need the leg room then behind the passenger seat is another option, as mentioned by Frankz06 and markcz.