Installed my amps and sub box - woohooo!
 

Things are rockin' once again in my 5 - thank goodness! I was actually on ONE REAR DOOR SPEAKER ONLY all this week - between removing my amps, and then a test-fit of the Peerless midbasses, I was left with one speaker. Sheesh!

Anyway - my 'glass sub box kicks ass. Sounds nice and smooth, and with a little turn of the boost knob, can get pretty damn loud! I'm liking it!

The amps I installed are Lanzar Vibe (Viberant series). The cheapest ones they make. And I must say, I think these amps are a HUGE value for the money. And I'm estimating that they do, in fact, put out their rated power. For example:

I used to have a Rockford 360.2 on my front stage (Infinity 605cs 6.5" component set). At 4 ohms per side, this was about 90 watts per channel. The Lanzar Vibe 428 claims an output of 125 per channel RMS, and I sincerely believe I'm getting it. The front stage is very noticeably louder. It's damn near deafening. And the gains are not pegged at all - in fact, I think I have them set lower than I did on the Fosgate amp, if only slightly. I'm impressed with the output, and it is just about as clear-sounding as the Fosgate.

I do, however, notice a little bit more noise - not distortion, but noise - hiss. I do have to make some wiring adjustments, because I am also getting a bit of alternator whine. I need to separate and/or shield my RCAs and power wires better. The wiring is a little different than before, and I have to re-work things to try and hunt down the whine. But I do believe the increased hiss is at least somewhat amp-related, and seems one of the drawbacks of cheaper equipment. Fact is, though, it is only audible between tracks and such - especially at the volumes I'm attaining - and most amps do have some hiss to them. Also of note is that my deck is only 1.8 volt pre-outs, and I'm also not using any fancy RCAs - just run of the mill stuff. But there is definitely more hiss than with the RF amps, and I still have to determine how much of it is the amp, and how much is install issues.

The sub amp is a 2-channel; Vibe 248, claiming 600 watts x 1 bridged 4 ohms. I'm pretty happy with this one too. Seems to move the Infinity subs pretty well, and the remote boost knob is always fun. If I had a deck with dedicated subwoofer outputs, I'd lose the knob - but I've only got front and rear, so the boost control comes in handy - I had the same feature on my RF 500s that I used to power an RF HX2 sub.

The Peerless midbasses in the rear doors are excellent. I had a chance to listen to the system with no subwoofer, and they really add a huge amount of bass and midbass fill. I would HIGHLY recommend a setup like this, especially for those who don't want to use a sub. A 4 channel amp, with the fronts run high-passed and the rears on lowpass acting as bass/midbasses would be a very sweet setup for non-subwoofer systems. The output is fairly impressive. Happy? You bet.

I still have some tweaking and adjusting to do, of course. But overall, the Lanzar Vibe amps are a steal, and they really do have some balls. Not class D monoblock 10,000 watt balls, but they have balls, nonetheless. I obviously can't comment on the durability of them yet, but I'm hopeful. The build quality seems to be very good - the aluminum housing of the amp is not just a cover - the circuit board is directly bolted to it, and the entire surface is used as a heat-sink. Yeah, I had the cases open. Not bad from what I saw.

I paid $130 shipped for each amp from Ikesound. While they may not be the best amp out there, for the money, I don't know if they can be beat. I'm definitely getting a lot of reasonably clean power from them, and they seem to output what they claim - or at least pretty damn close. These are not Jensen or Rockwood overrated amps. While the case of the 600 watt amp claims "1200 watts", the literature that comes with it fully acknowledges that this is the MAX power - the WLS (when lightning strikes). RMS is rated at 600. Same thing with the 4 channel - max is 1000, but RMS is 500 (125 x 4 @ 4 ohms).

For a budget system, I think these amps are an incredible value. I will be seeking the source of my hiss and alternator whine soon, and if I can solve them, (especially the hiss), I will be even further impressed with the value of these amplifiers.

~HH