I have an MTX Thunder 5400X 5 channel amplifier. It is almost 3 years old. It had failed 1 month after i installed it in my ford taurus. Last year I sold the taurus and now the mtx is in my maxima. I like the sq from the amp, but it is starting to fall appart. I am pretty sure these have always been bad, I just never needed to use these features when it was in my taurus. First, my cross overs are bad, I get high pitched noise from the high pass filter. Second, my sub woofer pulsates when I inititally turn the amp on or when there is no signal going to the sub channel. It also pulsates when I adjust the gain or if I press the **** side ways. I have a good guys warranty, I dont know if they are going to make me live without a car stereo for a while (ie ship it to the repair center in AZ) or let me use the $250 I spent on the amp towards another amp.

Right now I have the following configuration:
hu: Eclipse cd8454
speakers: polk audio, db6510, db5510, db3000 tweeters, 2 cross overs
sub: image dynamics idq 10

Amp Configuration:
-channels 1 & 2, provide power to the polk crossover which splits the signal to the tweeters (in the front) and 5.5" speakers in rear doors of the car. (using the cross over settings on my hu, I can turn off rear fill whenever I deem it necessary ;-) )
-channels 3 & 4 provide power to the front 6.5" speakers.
-5 - directly to sub

I really doubt good guys will let me use the $250 I spent on the mtx towards another amp, but I just looked on ebay and a 5400x just went for $180. Ofcourse I will sell it after it is repaired. Anywhoo, here are the options I am considering. I am looking at jl because I hear they are very well built and I am not in the mood to be taking my trunk appart.

1-keep the mtx...even if it means going for 2-3 weeks without audio
2-upgrade to jl audio 500/5 to run my entire system
3-upgrade to jl audio e6450 (I am running 6 speakers...why not give em a channel each?) & a mono class d amp (probably the e1400d)

I know two amps are better than 1, but if I go with 2, then I will probably end up spending an extra $100 in wiring and mounting parts to mount these things. Right now I have a 4ga power wire...I am hopeing that should be good enough if I go with either option 2 or 3.

Thanks in advance. I would like to keep costs to a minimum, but not sacrifice durability or quality at the same time. If anyone knows any good authorized retailers online or local to orange county CA, please let me know. Hopefully after this, I quit molesting my car.

 

Funny. I have TWO MTX 2300s from '99 that have the exact same issues.

 

I thought that those old ones from the late 90's were supposed to be pretty good.

 

If you get a warranty period after it is fixed why not keep it.


On the other hand I know how hard it is to go without tunes for that long .

 

Yeah, you are right. I always thought these were suppsed to be good too. Looks like I am not the only one with the same problem. I just looked at the receipt and Im good until Oct 2007 Lets see how this goes with good guys

First time it failed it was under mtx's warranty, so I sent it in directly. When I got it back, it was all dusty, and half the terminal screws were stripped. When I hooked it up the front right channel was broken, but started working after 2 days Just hoping this time they do it right.

 

I've been looking at the ARC Audio 5150-XXK . Anyone have any experiences with this amp?

Someone suggested I look at polk amps since I have polk speakers. I would need the C400.4 for the 4 channels & another for the sub. I called around a few local authorized shops and the cost of two polks would will be about $150 more than a quote from a local shop for the ARC 5 channel . They also had some JL amps and I could get the 6 channel JL and the 1800d for about $200 more than than what I would be paying for the ARC.

Dammit, I dont know what to do now...two amps "seems" much better than one, but I would like to go with a very high end company and leave my options open down the line when I have some more money.

Some good news. MTX no longer services the model I have...meaning GG cannot send it to them to repair. Hopefully their installer will be in the shop tomorrow to confirm that my amp is indeed bad before I have to rip it out. This gives me more leverage to ditch mtx and get a refund.

Ok...I think I am the king of stupid ideas, but I just got one. I'm looking at the specs of the ARC Audio 4150-XXK ( http://www.arcaudio.com/arc-05/pdf/xxk_amp.pdf ) and I am wondering if I could just use that 4 channel amp to power my system. Run the front speakers through the cross overs to channels 1 & 2 on the amp, then run my sub from channels 3 & 4. I have a DVC sub at 4ohm wired at 2. This amp isn't 2ohm stable while bridged, so can I run channels 3 & 4 to each coil on the sub? Doing this will leave me with some future options since I cannot afford 2 ARC amps right now, but I can definitly get one for now, then another in about 3-4 months after I am confortable starting my new job.

Sorry for the long post...I have 3 weeks until I start my job and limited funds since I am not working. However, I would like to take my trunk appart NOW and get at least a reliable amp in my car before I start work because I know I wont have much time later on.

 

I have decicded on a maximum budget of $550 MAX. Now, I have narrowed it down to:

-Arc Audio 5150-XXK OR
-Kicker KX700.5 (this one seems to be a bit more powerful than the arc)
-Polk Audio C300.2 & C400.4 (I've seen the birth sheet on the C400.4, it comes out to 89 watts X 4 @ 4ohms, factory specs on c300.2 150 x 2 @ 4ohm, cannot bridge and run at 2ohm since this amp is A/B not D...sub needs about 250 rms)

The Arc & Polk combination come out to the same price. I dont know how much the kicker will run, but it seems close to my budget. The reason I have mentioned the polks is because those are probably the cheapest two amp configuration I can find since fry's has the c300.2 advertised for $150. They may not be the best, but I am quite sure that they are very far from the worst. Mounting the polks on my trunk floor would be a lot easier (compared to other two amp setups) on me because of the wire covers polk includes. If I get a 5 channel, I will mount it at the top of my trunk like I did for my mtx:


Does anyone have any suggestions, comments, etc?

 

xxk5150 is a sweeeeeet 5ch...and the output from the sub channel is very underated, as well as all other chs- rock solid reliable

here's a thorough review...
http://www.roadgearmag.com/article.a...article_id=304

I believe mcalert has one, pm/contact him for info on it

I get the impression you want something reliable, I have no doubt you'll be in for a treat with this amp

 

Thanks for the response. I'll pm mcalert.

Just curious..given the middle of the line speakers I have (running through a passive x-over...cannot afford to do active), would I hear a difference between amps such as polk c400.4, arc 5150xxk, arc 4150xxk, kicker kx700.5?

 

The reason why I asked above is because I scored a polk c300.2 for $150. Fry's had them on sale, so thats why I went with it. I can always return it if I do not use it. It has 175w rms x 2 @ 4 ohms which would be plenty to run my sub, one channel per coil. It should even be enough if I have to replace the sub in the future (I hope not to, but my old mtx was doing some wierd crap on the sub channel). I am thinking of buying an arc audio 4 channel amp (4150?) to run the rest of my speakers. I dont mind spending a bit extra just to get something well built, in addition to having a lot flexibility and option to upgrade other components (ie speakers) if they were to fail. Given the speakers I have, I wanted to know if it would make any significant differences or not. Otherwise I'll stick with a 5 channel amp.

Thanks in advance. Ipod + cheapo speakers for driving aren't cutting it for driving, please help me out

 

Decided to go with an eclipse PA5532. It was my cheapest option and was available instantly. Not in the mood to install 2 amps, nor wait much longer otherwise I would have changed my mind. I am quite satisfied with the eclipse. If I had more time, I would have loved to hear it side by side with the arc 5150.

Thanks for all the suggetions.