Time to Upgrade Alpine System

[TomT]

You mentioned your ARC getting hot on the bike and it made me remember that MMats power is used in bike systems all the time. They are the best sounding class D amps out there.

I don’t know how many channels you need on the bike, but this six channel could power the front tweeters, front midranges (assuming you go 3 way), and rear doors of the truck.
https://www.mmatsproaudio.com/site/product/hifi-6150d/

Then, this four channel (4x250) could power your front midbasses and your sub.
https://www.mmatsproaudio.com/site/product/hifi-4250d/

Take my earlier Audiofrog choices, add a coax for the rear doors, these two amps, the PAC unit (needed no matter what) and a DSP with at least 9 channels (Mosconi, Helix, Zapco). This right here would be an outstanding system with HUGE power and great SQ.

I would not hesitate to run it if I was starting over.

@autokraftgt thoughts?

 

[JHayez1911]

You mentioned your ARC getting hot on the bike and it made me remember that MMats power is used in bike systems all the time. They are the best sounding class D amps out there.

I don’t know how many channels you need on the bike, but this six channel could power the front tweeters, front midranges (assuming you go 3 way), and rear doors of the truck.
https://www.mmatsproaudio.com/site/product/hifi-6150d/

Then, this four channel (4x250) could power your front midbasses and your sub.
https://www.mmatsproaudio.com/site/product/hifi-4250d/

Take my earlier Audiofrog choices, add a coax for the rear doors, these two amps, the PAC unit (needed no matter what) and a DSP with at least 9 channels (Mosconi, Helix, Zapco). This right here would be an outstanding system with HUGE power and great SQ.

I would not hesitate to run it if I was starting over.

@autokraftgt thoughts?

el

You mentioned your ARC getting hot on the bike and it made me remember that MMats power is used in bike systems all the time. They are the best sounding class D amps out there.

I don’t know how many channels you need on the bike, but this six channel could power the front tweeters, front midranges (assuming you go 3 way), and rear doors of the truck.
https://www.mmatsproaudio.com/site/product/hifi-6150d/

Then, this four channel (4x250) could power your front midbasses and your sub.
https://www.mmatsproaudio.com/site/product/hifi-4250d/

Take my earlier Audiofrog choices, add a coax for the rear doors, these two amps, the PAC unit (needed no matter what) and a DSP with at least 9 channels (Mosconi, Helix, Zapco). This right here would be an outstanding system with HUGE power and great SQ.

I would not hesitate to run it if I was starting over.

@autokraftgt thoughts?

I will surely research all this and price it all out. I’m researching all this before I go drop allot of money. This is the Arc Amp I’m running on the Hawg.

 

[autokraftgt]

You mentioned your ARC getting hot on the bike and it made me remember that MMats power is used in bike systems all the time. They are the best sounding class D amps out there.

I don’t know how many channels you need on the bike, but this six channel could power the front tweeters, front midranges (assuming you go 3 way), and rear doors of the truck.
https://www.mmatsproaudio.com/site/product/hifi-6150d/

Then, this four channel (4x250) could power your front midbasses and your sub.
https://www.mmatsproaudio.com/site/product/hifi-4250d/

Take my earlier Audiofrog choices, add a coax for the rear doors, these two amps, the PAC unit (needed no matter what) and a DSP with at least 9 channels (Mosconi, Helix, Zapco). This right here would be an outstanding system with HUGE power and great SQ.

I would not hesitate to run it if I was starting over.

@autokraftgt thoughts?

I have not owned anything mmats but have heard their amps and they're awesome!! They've been around for a while too. I really like the specs on the 4250D and I am a huge fan of big power on midbass (depending on midbass woofer used)
I personally have never owned a 5-6 channel amp but they're very popular. For me, I will always pick a nice 4 channel for midrange and tweeter duties...say 90-125 watts/channel.
Then I will pick a 2 or 4 channel (bridged) for my midbass....250-350 watts/channel
Finally a powerful mono amp for sub stage duties. I would feel vulnerable with a big 6 channel/dsp amp cause if something were to go wrong (lots of things can go wrong with a 6 channel amp) your entire system is down. If I lose a few channels on my front stage...I can un bridge my 4 channel midbass amp and use two channels as back up until my broken amp gets repaired or replaced....a bridged 4 channel is kinda like having 2 channels on reserve IF something goes wrong. Plus with multiple amps, you can be a bit more picky with what speakers get what or how much power per channel. I am also a fan of stand alone dsp because the rabbit hole is real and switching amps or upgrading is always a possibility.
I never advise rear speakers because 95% of people do rear fill wrong...I personally like rear fill to be 300-4khz with shallow slopes and level matched very low. Lots of opinions on rear fill.

 

[TomT]

@JHayez1911 Note: A number of people have gotten better deals by calling MMats. Especially if you’re buying more than one amp.

 

[autokraftgt]

Also, generally I am not a fan of Focal for one simple reason...I play my music loud. At the levels I listen to, they are simply too bright across the board...even the Utopias.
Focal does AWESOME in SQ comps because judges listen to music at very low levels and Focals still have great dynamics at very low volume levels...but once you lean on them...I get ear fatigue. Kinda why I love Dynaudio and Rainbow....they're very laid back but they can get very loud without ear fatigue

 

[TomT]

Also, generally I am not a fan of Focal for one simple reason...I play my music loud. At the levels I listen to, they are simply too bright across the board...even the Utopias.
Focal does AWESOME in SQ comps because judges listen to music at very low levels and Focals still have great dynamics at very low volume levels...but once you lean on them...I get ear fatigue. Kinda why I love Dynaudio and Rainbow....they're very laid back but they can get very loud without ear fatigue

I agree with all of this. I LOVE Dyns and ran their three ways for a decade in previous vehicles.

 

[JHayez1911]

I have not owned anything mmats but have heard their amps and they're awesome!! They've been around for a while too. I really like the specs on the 4250D and I am a huge fan of big power on midbass (depending on midbass woofer used)
I personally have never owned a 5-6 channel amp but they're very popular. For me, I will always pick a nice 4 channel for midrange and tweeter duties...say 90-125 watts/channel.
Then I will pick a 2 or 4 channel (bridged) for my midbass....250-350 watts/channel
Finally a powerful mono amp for sub stage duties. I would feel vulnerable with a big 6 channel/dsp amp cause if something were to go wrong (lots of things can go wrong with a 6 channel amp) your entire system is down. If I lose a few channels on my front stage...I can un bridge my 4 channel midbass amp and use two channels as back up until my broken amp gets repaired or replaced....a bridged 4 channel is kinda like having 2 channels on reserve IF something goes wrong. Plus with multiple amps, you can be a bit more picky with what speakers get what or how much power per channel. I am also a fan of stand alone dsp because the rabbit hole is real and switching amps or upgrading is always a possibility.
I never advise rear speakers because 95% of people do rear fill wrong...I personally like rear fill to be 300-4khz with shallow slopes and level matched very low. Lots of opinions on rear fill.

This is really great info. I’m learning allot and my eyes are being opened to numerous options which is a good thing

 

[Graygoose]

A dsp will fix alot..

Agreed.

 

[Frank A Rappel]

I went with Alpine door speakers. That was a huge difference. Then added in a 12" JL Audio sub and a small amp. Sounds clear and is a lot louder then stock. But to upgrade to crazy loud I was told I would have to replace head unit which would jump up in price over a $1000. For what I have displayed, I paid $1500 for all installed. For those of you that live in Michigan, Radio Knobs Speakers and Things is the place to go!

 

[TomT]

Sounds clear and is a lot louder then stock. But to upgrade to crazy loud I was told I would have to replace head unit which would jump up in price over a $1000.

Technically all you would need to replace is your 2 channel LOC with a 4 channel one and add an amp for the front speakers.

 

[Graygoose]

I went with Alpine door speakers. That was a huge difference. Then added in a 12" JL Audio sub and a small amp. Sounds clear and is a lot louder then stock. But to upgrade to crazy loud I was told I would have to replace head unit which would jump up in price over a $1000. For what I have displayed, I paid $1500 for all installed. For those of you that live in Michigan, Radio Knobs Speakers and Things is the place to go!

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if you have the stock 8.4, you can get loud without replacing it.

 

[heefageLA]

LOL. Reading back through this thread, I can see that my measly little Kicker shouldnt have even been mentioned here. My entire setup costs less than one amplifier you guys are talking about!

This does get me thinking about doing some sound deadening in the doors and replacing some of the speakers...

 

[Graygoose]

Cost is irrelevant, but as long as it sounds better and you don't invest the world, if your happy, that's all that matters.

Mine sounds amazing for $870 retail.