Ive been shopping around for a second hand amp to run these two pioneer 8"s ive bought. Ive found this sony amp (XM-801) and it rates at 110x2 RMS,

Im confused on wether to pick it up or no. Its a plain black amp and looks quite classy for a sony product. Id say its about a 5 year old amp. Does anyone have any clue about sony amps around this time and if they where any good. Judging by the products they make for car audio these days i dont know wether it is a peice of rubbish or an absolute steal

Im also looking at the cadence range of amps if i cant find anything second hand. How do they rate for sq sub wise ??

Keep on pumpin', Cash $.

Never having used one.. I've spoken to a lot of people about Sony. Aparantly the pre-Xplod amp's were quite nice little units with decent power, good quality. Not sure about SQ of an old school Sony versus new Sony, or other brands tho.

make sure yu check if it has inbuilt crossovers, as amps from that era generally require external crossovers whihc might not make this amp such a bargain.

In general though, the old sony amps are pretty decent. I think it was KraSE who mentioned one guy giving one a 0.5 ohm load it bridged config, and it did it happily. I know of a couple of setups using em, and they were quite good, esp for the time. Makes you wonder who made them for sony back then...

Sweet, thanks for the reply guys. Ill definitley check out if it has inbuilt crossovers, if not i think i might be turning towards something brand new, possibly a coustic monoblock, im guessing the 8" wont be starved with 400w worth of power.

Thanx again, Cahs $.

If you're gonna look at the cadence gear, maybe consider a z1000 (monoblock - 400rms at 2 ohm). I'm using cadence amps at the moment and i can tell you, they pump very nicely. (mine is an sq setup)

Yeah ive heard good things about the cadence amps, but at the same time ive heard good things about coustic. They range at the same price for the same product aswell. Its a bit of a doozie but hey ill just have to take a gam[bl;e on one of them

i don't think you could wrong with either a coustic or cadence in terms of quality. just choose the right amp for the right application.

coustic offer class D monoblocs to drive subs, albeit best when driving 2ohm (mono). cadence have a much bigger range of amps over 3 series, but all excellent value.

What sort of amp would I be best looking for in regards to running my splits and rear fill. The eclipse range looks nice but i dont know enough about theyr performance, rather the alpine V12's have had fantastic writeups, i got a pair of dynaudios up the front and mb quarts at the back.

Any ideas ?? ??

Cash $

Cash Money... Are you from near Frankston?

shiny... Have you looked at the Cadence amps(orange ones) in JB? Do you know why the Cadence would have half the amount of fusing as the equivalent power rated Coustic?

If you wanna look at cadence, then maybe the Q3000 (2x100rms, approx $450) for the dynaudios and the smaller Q2000 (2x60rms, approx $350) for the MBquarts...? Or you could go up to the Z4000 (4x75rms, approx $700) to run both fronts and rears. The z series would be better for SQ... I've heard the Z4000 run a pair system240's (active setup), and it was very nice indeed. I'm currently using a Z8000 (2x175rms) to run my system 240's, and it is simply beautiful.

As far as monoblocks go, Cadence have a wide range of very affordable amps, right up to 1500rms at 1 ohm...

So do you reckon the cadence is a good decision SQ wise ?? ?? After spending around 2k on splits and subs, i definitley want something that will power the equipment well. Its just coz cadence is such a new product is it safe to take the risk. Ive heard nothing but good thing about theyr amps so i guess they must be doing something right

In regards to the sony amp, it didnt have inbuilt crossovers, thanks to slain for saving me 60 bucks , at the same time i wouldnt feel right having a second-hand amp running brand new equipment ( besides the 8"s which are a year old )

And as for that coustic vs cadence fuse-wise, im guessin that its not a good thing to have less fusing than more ?? ?? Am i right ?? ??

Thanks again for the replys,

Cash $,

P.S. Stone i live out coburg way.

to run splits like dyn's and mbq's, i'd suggest at least the Z range of cadence amps. you could easily justify the premium A series cadence amps for something better again; and are similar quality to audison VRx's (although some would beg to disagree )!

cash: so what amps are you after?! for 8" door woofers, dyn's, mbq's, subs!

stone: not sure about the fuses. which model amps you referring to?

Yo shiny, what i was looking at origionaly to run the 8"s before this sony amp threw me off rails i planned on an alpine MRVT420 to run the front and rear slpits and the cadence Z9000 to run the 8"s and possibly a JL 12" W3V2. Im not to fussed about what type of gear i get, just as long as it makes the rest of the equipment perform.

Is this any good, is it what im looking for ?? ??
Ahhh ITS KILLING ME

hehehem....

the T420 is a 2-channel amp, so not really suitable to run 2 sets of splits. i think your better options would be either:
*buy 2-channel amp for the dyn's and run the mbq's off the HU
*buy a 4-channel amp to run both sets of splits

QUOTE

the cadence Z9000 to run the 8"s and possibly a JL 12" W3V2.

again, the Z9000 is a 2-channel amp, so not really suited to driving stereo front woofers and a pair of subs. you option would include:
*separate 2-channel amp to run 8" woofers in stereo up the front + separate subamp for subs

another minor issues that would be worth thinking about is the mismatch in power between dyn's and 8" woofers: 2x75WRMS vs 2x300WRMS is probably a bit much, despite the woofers wanting a bit more for their size.

the combo you end up with may depend on your budget and how robust your car's power supply is (as to how many amps you may run).

i think a good setup would comprise:
*2-channel amp to run dyn's: 2x80+WRMS
*2-channel amp to run 8" woofers for front stage; will require BP filter to allow running them in the range of about 70~600Hz
*(1-channel) monobloc to run subs: match overall impedence of subs for optimum power output (eg: 2ohm overall for 2 subs if amp produces ideal power at 2ohm mono)

alternatively, buy a 4-channel amp for the front stage: ch.1/2 for the dyn's, and ch.3/4 for the woofers.

add a small 2-channel amp for the mbq's if budget permits (eg: 2x50WRMS)

cadence will offer suitable amps for all of this in their Z-series. or else consider the audison LRx range (eg: LRx2.150/2.250 or 4.300 amps + 1.400 monobloc); would make an excellent setup.

might cost you $2000~$2500 for 2 or 3 audison's.

you may or may not need an outboard active xover for the ideal xovers for the 8" woofers when the amps don't have suitable inbuilt setups.

hope this helps.