[cueball981]

Heya! Well, I am finally retiring my tried and trusty Alpine MRV-F353 5 channel amp and going to run separate amps to each pair of drivers. The 353 has been a decent amp for the past 4 years but I have been itching to go back to some really old school goodness. I am currently using each of the 4 channels to drive my freshly installed Altec Lansing M615 and TW2 tweeters (yes, the same Altecs that gave MBQuart a run for their money back in the early 90's). With my new front stage, I am now running full active, thanks to my Alpine CDA-9815 and loving every minute of my listening experience!!!

My current amp is RATED for 50w x 4, which is actually what BOTH the M615 and TW2s are rated for nominal power. So far, I have picked up 2 SS D60II amps off fleabay and I am wondering who out there is running the original D series and what type of output should I expect for power? I've been researching the boards and found a few posts stating these amps will do 50w x 2 with around 13.8volts, but I just want to make sure I am going to have enough power for both mids and tweets. I am not looking to blow my eardrums out, but do occasionally turn up the volume when I play some Dire Straits or AC/DC. My current setup gets going really good at about 24 on my volume dial.

On a side note, if there is anyone out there who has a good/excellent condition D100II and D200II, I would be VERY interested in seeing some offerings. Sorry for the long post. I tend to be wordy at times!

 

[Mooble]

They will be plenty for daily listening, but they will start clipping when you turn it up, especially with something like Dire Straits which typically has a very low recorded volume. If it were me, I would bridge both D60s, one for each tweeter--perfect for stereo separation. Get a D200 for your mids. You will appreciate the dynamic headroom that this can offer, trust me.

That distortion you hear when you crank it is not your speakers being pushed to their limits. It's your amp being pushed to its limit and clipping. Get a bigger amp and your speakers will play cleanly at anything your ears can stand.

 

[cueball981]

Thanks for the reply, Mooble. I must clarify, though. When I said my tunes get going pretty good at volume 24 I meant it was loud. I can currentlly crank my volume near full volume without any audible distortion. I've played Chesky's Ultimate Demonstration disk with my friend in my car and couldn't believe how loud and clean it was. The Altec Lansings are probably some of the most efficient separates I've ever listened to. I believe the M615 is rated at 94db+. I know I have the documentation somewhere, just too relaxed in front of my computer to go look. So, volume right now is not an issue at all. I am extremely happy with how much sound I am getting with running a 350w system. I just know that stereo separation will be much better if I can run separate amps. Yes, bridging the 2 D60IIs would even give me more separation, but wouldn't that sacrifice some SQ by bridging the amps into a 4 ohm mono load? I WANT CLEAN...not necessarily tons of head room. Correct me if I am wrong!

 

[Mooble]

94dB is very efficient. I clipped the heck out of my Reference Class A 3.0, however, and I was running a/d/s/ comps that were 93dB efficient. You won't hear any difference in bridging or not bridging them, I promise. It will be just as clean. Still, if you don't need more power, don't pay for it.

I had one of the Alpine MRV amps also, but they are rated at 12v. Chances are that amp was making more like 70w per channel, not 50. To answer your question, the SS are probably slightly less powerful than what you had. The good news is that you are active now and not losing any power in the crossover so hopefully things will equal out. If not, no big deal. There will always be a market for SS D series amps. You can sell and upgrade to a bigger one if it's not meeting your needs.

 

[cueball981]

Yup, the Alpine is a V12, but the 50w x 4 is rated at 14.4 volts and only 30w x 4 at 12 volts so I won't be losing any power actually. I SHOULD see a slight improvement with the overall SQ...little bit warmer high end (I HATE TINNY TWEETS), hopefully. One thing that I am really trying to avoid is having to upgrade/improve my stock electrical system. I will be doing the big 3 to maximize what I already have, but really don't want to add a second battery, upgrade alternator, etc. But you are right, if I need to add more I can always do so. I think it would be quite awesome to have 2 D60IIs, 2 D100IIs bridged mono to each driver. 60IIs to the tweets, and 100IIs to the mids. That would give me PLENTY of headroom and maximize my stereo separation. I can only imagine what my soundstage would sound like then!

 

[Mooble]

The great thing is that those SS amps had such a small footprint. You could fit a baker's dozen of them in an average trunk if you wanted.

Don't worry about your electrical system. Unless you're running a 1976 Triumph TR6, what you've described is well within a stock electrical systems capabilities.