Things come full circle. I like that about life (and car audio!).

My first decent system was powered by M series Phoenix Gold amps, until some kindly fukker decided he’d add my amps to his collection…….. Now, I’ve managed to get my hands on pretty much the amp of my dreams. OK, it’s not Audison, there are no tubes here, and it’s a couple of years older than the norm, but I’ve lusted after that PG Outlaw amp for YEARS!!!!

And now I have one (well, in transit anyway).

My front stage set up was perfectly good the way it was (on paper, anyway)

Orion 8” MB speakers in doors, Soundstream Exact 5.25” splits in kicks.
Soundstream Reference 700 driving the 8’s (2x125) Soundstream Renoir driving the splits. (2 x 50 Class A, and lets not debate “Class A” here, because it still sounds good, whatever it is!)

I’ve sold the Ref700

I’ve bought the Outlaw, which is a hybrid combo of two M series amps, giving 2 x 85wrms and 2 x 185w rms.

I’m going to give the Orion 8’s 2 x 185, and am debating whether to remove the Renoir totally, and give 2x85 to the splits, or take advantage of the bi-ampable crossover on the Exact splits and send the 2x85 to the 5.25’ midbass drivers only, and use the Renoir to power the tweeters separately.

Cabling’s not a problem, and there’s a spare distro outlet available. I’m running new RCA’s as I’m switching away from a balanced setup, so one extra set ain’t going to matter.
Battery and alt will be upgraded eventually anyway.
I’ve got the PG EQ-215x EQ and crossover to smooth out any lumps.

What do you guys think? Turn the Renoir into a paperweight? Or amp everything in sight?

Cheers

i reckon its a pretty damn nice setup...you an that renoir, damn you ...what a hard dilemma, lol

I didn't say I was upset about the choices!! Wish I was in this situation every time!

(2 x 50 Class A, and lets not debate “Class A” here, because it still sounds good, whatever it is!) - dasherhalo

Ah that comment takes me back...

It was 1996, I think, and I attended a Soundstream training course in Sydney that was run by a guy named Devon from Soundstream USA who'd flown over to train Aussie car audio people in their new gear.

I asked him about the whole 'Pure Class-A' thing regarding the then current Class-A 3.0 and Class-A 6.0 amplifiers. True Class-A, I asked him, would draw full current even at idle, as this is how they work, yet the SS amps acted suspiciously like Class A/B amplifiers.

His reply?

Err, yes, the Soundstream 'Pure Class-A' amplifier are only Class-A up until 1-watt, then they switch to Class-A/B. The term 'Pure Class-A' was a registered trademark for Soundstream, much like '100% pure Aussie beef' is for McDonalds...

Soundstream were always good at marketing...

Damon