I'm looking for a 50x2 amp for my front speakers. I was looking at the new US Acoustics USX-2050. Any brand recommendations for a quality amp under $100 new or used?

 

How about a Sony Xplod XM-552HX? Not looking for competition level sound, just something better than my struggling headunit.

 

Nothing spectacular but the amps are pretty solid and put out a lot of good clean power.

You can identify models by the "RT" prefix. For example "MTX RT 2100x."

Good Luck

 

We've sold these for over a year now and they are very good amps for the money. SQ is good, power is decent and they look decent as well. Also we've never had one come back for a warranty repair.

 

If I went with the US Acoustics USX-2050 for my front speakers, what kind of improvement would I see over my 22 watt head unit? Tighter bass? Better SQ? Higher volumes?

 

Yeah, all of that. The HU is putting out about 12 watts per channel, much of it distortion.

 

The nu,mbers appear to be double with the amp over the headunit but that doesn't include distortion. A typical headunit delivers that max 22W rating at a single test note typically 1 kHz with an unspecified distortion. That distortion could be as high as 10% or more. The US Acoustics amplifier will deliver 50Wrms at a distortion figure of 0.1% or so full range between 20Hz and 20kHz....

The difference equates to more dynamic range and clarity for musical material which obviously isn't a single test tone...

 

I am in a similar situation and am looking for a amp to power my front speakers. Does anybody have any experience with Phoenix Gold Sapphire Amps? In particular the SA1.0x.

 

The Sapphire amps were PG's entry level amps when they were out. At that time the lineup consisted of the Sapphires, M series and MS and MPS series.

They were available from 1994 - 1996 and replaced by the QX series in 1997.

You can find out specific information at the following site
http://www.phoenixgoldcorp.com/webfaq/Sapphire.htm

They are decent amps and would be similar in quality to RF Punch series from the same time period.

 

The sapphires are decent amps, try to find a white one, it will be the newer revision. I highly recommend the zeropoint titanium series, they are extremely accurate and powerful.