Hey guys, I am about to buy my next amp for my front stage and plan to go active. I made a thread just a little while back, got the answers I needed for the most part but need the last opinion for my decision. I can get the AQ 4X90 for $180 shipped right now, and my other choice was the ARC KS300.4 which the best price I've found was about $350 from a dealer. both have filters for active except the ARC doesn't have bandpass, which is no big deal since I can use the HPF on my head unit for the mids.
Is the ARC worth paying another $170+ over the AQ? btw both say 90 x 4 at 4ohms, which the AQ will do rated and the ARC will do a little more. Just wondering if there is enough SQ(which was talked about in my previous thread, and I even called ARC and they said it wouldn't really be a diff in SQ with their amp vs another good quality amp, just build quality) or loudness difference to be worth it. PLEASE opinions. looking to buy soon. It's just that the extra $170 could go towards that Death Penalty 18 Ive had my eyes on for awhile
(BTW I know install is important and a huge factor, Components are CDT ES's and I have Second Skin Damplifier Pro for doors, this question is about the amps lol)
I don't know who the affore mentioned clowns are, but i have an opinion. j/k will you post a review of the aq if you decide to go that direction. i bought an aq 20k for my wardens and i'm really nuts about having matching amps. i think glass said he was looking at some guts od the aq amps and thought they looked decent. i'm sure he'll have an opinion.
You have made an excellent choice as far as component speakers. I have a similar CDT set and I don't know of anything that beats them in their price range.
As for running an active setup, I would NOT recommend using HU crossovers, they are usually not fine tuneable. Amplifier ones would be ok if it can be tuned the way you need, or an independent crossover like Audiocontrol. HU built-in crossovers usually only let you select from a few frequency settings, you need a continuous adjustment.
well my head unit has 63, 80, 100, and 125hz for high pass, which i would just have it at 100hz anyways for the mids so i thought that would work fine but maybe im wrong. anyways, anyone have input on this comparison?
MS - to clear that up if I wasn't saying it right, I was saying I would use the LPF for the mids and the HPF for the tweets on the amp, which need to be continuous adjustable, but the HPF on the head unit acting as a bandpass for the mids. that is only in the case of going with the ARC as the AQ has bandpass adjustment.
that's true...hmmm...something else to keep in mind, but i will never buy a real low end head unit, and any unit around $200 or more have HPF usually (pioneer, alpine, kenwood etc)
Still no opinions for these two amps? Is it worth the extra $170? will i tell a difference in SQ or, more of the question probably is loudness? could be getting another 20rms per channel out of the ARC which I dunno if that will make much of a difference. if so would add up to 80rms between all channels