The system's goin into an Evo VI

It will be
Alpine CDA-9887
Focal 165 A1 Front
Focal 165 CA1 Rear
Focal 30A1 Sub

With the amp, i'm fairly sold on the response 5 channel class D especially at it's price point, anyone know of any better alternatives at a similar price?

budget?

well the response one is $499 so i'd be looking at around 4-600ish

Eclipse XA5000?

There aren't too many decent 5ch amps on the market that I can think of, but that would be one of them.

Most manufacturers realize that for flexibility it makes much more sense to have a separate 4ch and mono amp.

I believe Eclipse are discontinuing the XA5000 for this reason.

I assume you want a 5 channel to pwoer the whole system, but in which configuration?

ie/ 2 channels- front speakers
2 channels- rear speakers
1 channel- sub

OR

4 channels- active front speakers
1 channel sub
headunit power for rears?

If it's the first choice, I would not amp the rears, and just buy a 4 channel instead, for 2 way passive + sub.

Also this also give more flexibility in the future, where you can use the 4 channel for active, or full speaker duties, and buy a mono for the sub later on, rather than a 5channel with 1 channel spare doing nothing.

But if your deadset on a 5 channel and don't plan to upgrade, the Jaycar is still a good choice.

I have been tossing up the idea of a 4ch instead but I'm not too sure how the system would sound in regards to distortion when turned up a little

Distortion when turned up? I assume you mean unamplified rears, if you end up using them. If so, then going through the gain-setting tutorial will sort you out there. I believe there's still a link in Louie's signature. The rest of your drivers should send you deaf before you hear your rears distorting.

You could probably pick up an SRx5 for a bit over $600 - I'd say it'll be a definately worthy upgrade over the Jaycar, even if you do need to spend a tad extra it'd be well worth it.

The signal-to-noise ratios on the Jaycar amps seem to leave a little to be desired - I've had significant engine noise problems in my car when running Jaycar amps. They are still slightly there with other amps running, but the Jaycars seem to make the noise about 4x louder.

I haven't heard those Focal speakers myself, but the 165V1 (Polyglass - one model range above) leave much to be desired - even at a budget price they are a seriously flawed speakers.I can't image the lower range A1's would be a whole lot better. May be worth considering the Jaycar spilts, or even upping the price budget to ~$300 and opening up your choice to some Rainbow SLC's and Hertz HSK165's. Both are very nice sets, and a big improvement over the similarly priced Focal Polyglass splits. The extra $100-$200 spent may well be the best $100-$200 you'll ever spend (in terms of audio).

Also if you can stretch the budget (yet again) consider the Peerless 830847 XXLS subwoofer. It's around $100 more expensive then the Focal, but is one of the best subs in the world, on par with those at 2x-3x the price. Beautifully clean with plenty of output off not a whole lot of power (important if you go with a modestly powerful amp).

That's my 2c!

Soundstream make a number of 5 channel amps,
there tarantula series can be found for around $500-700 area,

pumps out a claimed 60 x 4 + 200 x 1 @ 4 ohm or 120 x 4 and 400 x 1 @ 2 ohm,

In reality the tarantulas will pump out at least 50% more power than there soundstream rating at 4 ohm using CEA Ratings.

I Have a 5 Channel soundstream Van gogh at home rated 50 x 4+200 x 1, on the bench test it makes over 90 x 4 and 300 x 1 @ 4 ohm / 500+ x 1 @ 2 ohm

Audison is another option, not sure how they go with the subwoofer channels, as most of there amps are 6 channels and you bridge the last 2 channels.

I really would steer clear of Jaycar myself.

Juls