Can anyone recommend a pretty decent four channel amp? I'm not looking for anything amazing, just something to power some Infinity Perfect components up front and some Alpine components in the rear. I don't want to spend tons of money, but I'll drop whatever's recommended to power the aforementioned speakers.

 

I've had good luck with Kicker. I am still running a Kicker ZX460 four channel amplifier that I bought almost 8 years ago . Take a look at the Kicker KX350.4

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-YkjGnGy...cker+kx350%2E4

 

I've been very pleased with the performance/SQ from my Eclipse EA-3422

 

Budget wise..

Arc KAR 400.4

Not so concerned with budget?...

Arc 4150XXK

 

Ohh I wish I could get my hands on a late 90's Jensen 4 channel. I wish I had never traded mine. That was the best 4 channel amp I have ever had. I traded for a Logic 620 because I wanted more power.

how stupid of me.

 

Looks like the Eclipse AMP is about $120 cheaper. Is the Arc 400.4 worth the extra money? Are there any other recommendations for other 4- channel amps?

 

The Arc is TOTALLY worth what you will pay for it. However, I would suggest that you instead invest in a 2-channel amp for the frontstage and run the rears off of the HU...powering the rearstage that heavily will totally fuck up your imaging.

 

A 4 channel can be used as 2 to run the front stage and give plenty of headroom in the end.

Although the 2100XXK running my rears gives me no problems with imaging at all.

Edit: Also by using the amp to run the rears you have a substantial amount more of control. ie: crossover,level,Eq tweaking,etc...

 

I've always read that about the rear screwing up the front soundstage, but...

1) IMHO, since the rear speakers are mounted so low in the doors (5th GEN), I don't think they really affect people sitting in the front too much. I've faded them out and didn't hear much of a difference. Granted, I'm still an audio newb, but that's my .02.

2) You can always keep the gain lower on the rear speakers if you feel they're messing up the soundstage.

3) If you run the rear speakers off the HU, that means you have to leave the internal amp in the HU on (duh). I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes, but I know that turning off the internal amp helps the SQ of the pre-outs in some way. Or at least it's supposed to.