Anyone have an oldschool Soundstream Reference 644S amp??

[redcalimp5]

Anyone have any opinions on the oldschool Soundstream Reference 644S amps?

I've got one that I'm thinking about installing over the next couple of weeks, and I just wanted to see if anyone either has one now, or has owned one in the past, and cares to comment on its performance.

I plan on running channels 1 and 2 to a set of components, and bridging the rear channels to run either a 10" or 12" sub (not sure yet).

 

[chuyler1]

According to the manual that amp is capable of 1-ohm per channel. That is VERY good on such a vintage amp. You can get 75x2 for a set of 4-ohm speakers up front and 320x1 to a 2ohm subwoofer (or 4ohm DVC wired in parallel). It also has a 24db low-pass filter for the subwoofer and decent 12db high-pass filter for your highs. That is also not something you see on older amps (and often not even newer amps).

I think that amp will make a great starting point for a nice system. Make sure you choose the right subwoofer for the amp (2ohm or 4ohm DVC) to maximize it's output.

As far as choosing between a 10" or 12", decide how much space you are willing to sacrifice in your car and how much heavy bass material you plan to listen to. 10"s are perfectly fine with all music but come up a little short with Rap/HipHop when comparing to a 12".

 

[lisevolution]

I love the old Soundstream Reference series. Chuyler, that was what made them so good back in the day... they were some of the first amps to be able go to very low impedence's. If I remember correctly they may have even been able to go lower than 1ohm in some circumstances. I had a 60x2 amp pushing 2 JL audio 10" w4's like 8-9 yrs ago in my girlfriend at the times Saturn SL-1 and that thing thumped. RedCali a great place to source these amps is ebay. You see them on there often, just keep checking until you find the one you want

 

[chuyler1]

RedCali already has one...he just wanted to know if it would still be a good amp to use.

 

[lisevolution]

Ahh misread it... thought he was asking if anyone had one as he was thinking about using one.

 

[redcalimp5]

Thanks for the replies, fellas! I really appreciate the inputs.

I do in fact have a brand new, never used Soundstream 644S, still in the original box. After doing some research and asking multiple opinions on the subject, however, I think I am going to go with the 5 channel Alpine MRD-F752 Class T to power my system. Here's a link to that amp with some specs/pics:

http://ampguts.realmofexcursion.com/Alpine_MRD-F752/


So if anyone's interested in buying my Soundstream, let me know! I'll be taking pictures of it this weekend, and listing it for sale soon after.

 

[FoxPro5]

I've heard mixed user feedback. Some say the originals were the least smoke prone as compared to the next generation "s" and "sx" models. Fire her up (hopefully figuratively, not litterally) and see how it goes.