Car audio amp recommendations?

[Quattro Pete]

Any car audio gurus in here?

I'm looking for a decent quality amp that will power front components (possibly Rainbow SLX 265 Deluxe 6.5") and a sub further down the line. I don't need tooth-shaking bass, just nice low-end fill. Right now I just have stock 5.25" components front and back.

For up to around $250, I was thinking about Alpine MRV-F345, but not knowing a whole lot about who makes good car amps, I thought I'd ask first if this is a good amp for the money. If I can do better, please throw out some suggestions.

Thanks.

 

[04SpecV]

Alpines are nice amps. I like Rockford Fosgate myself. Its mostly personal preference, except for the really cheap junk amps. Lots of info on the sounddomain forums and diymobileaudio.com

 

[97tbird]

Eclipse seems to be Alpine's biggest competitor...probably better than the newer Alpines, from all the online research I've done...I, however, went with a low-mid level Alpine CD/MP3 combo (CDE 9846), for they give the biggest bang for the buck.

 

[JohnBrowning]

I always liked Phenoix Gold, EarthQuake,SoundStream,Dinon,Hi-Fonics,Alpine, old school Rockford Fosgate Amps not the new style. Now for bang for the book it is hard to beat Kenwood,Pioneer,MTX and Sony I am not saying they great but they give you a lot of bang for the buck for the general user. I especialy like Kenwoods Class D mono suber amps they are great for someone that is not going to compete!!! I would never use the same amp for highs,mids and subs!!! Generaly you are best useing a seperate amp for the sumb's.

High's and Mid's are not very demanding on an amp. Get one with the features you want from a major name brand with the best signal to noise ratio you can find!!! I would not wory at all if it is high voltage or high current if you are not going to compete especialy for mids and highs!!! Now on subwoofers depending on how many you are going to run and how much bass you want it does make sense to consider high current or high voltage. A high current amp will allow you to extract more power from the amp each time you reducce resistance. Usualy premium high current amps will take 1/4-1/2 ohm load with out blowing.

 

[rpn453]

For subs and amps, Alpine is my first choice. My little 200W 7-year-old V12 is still going strong, and even the S-series subs sound good. I've been running the same amp and R12 in my car for years. From what I've seen, their head units have been extremely unreliable though.