Phoenix Gold Phorum

Has anyone benched a MQ-430 to see the power output this amp is capable of ?

that amp really wasn't made to be a power monger. What are you wanting to do with it?

active mids and tweets.

would be perfect for that.....

i have them running passive from a zenon 100.2 right now so they get about 100 per side. going with the mq-430 they would still get about the same i would think. the mq does about 50 per channel at 14.4 so all 4 drivers would be about the same i think, just better sound quality and tuning capability with the active x-over. the components are mb quarts.

running passive? Does that mean using the cross-overs?

Yes the advantage/disadvantage of running active cross-overs is the added tunability. I say its good/bad as it depends on the person and if they a good ear and know how to tune it.

yes i'm using the crossovers that came with the mb quarts with the zenon amp. i will not be using them with the mq-430. i have a good ppi x-over i will use with it that has bandpass for the mid and highpass for the tweet. it also has bandpass for the midbass amp and lowpass for the sub.

To try and answer your question, ive read it does 70-80 Watts @ 4ohms @ 14v..

that's good if it does those numbers. i wanted to keep the power in the same range as the zenon per driver.

If i were you id try 2 275.s..might have more headroom and better stereo separation between the channels, same adjustability, less stress on the amp. The 430 is a cool low powered amp, buy thry should have made a 475 or 4100 x 4... That would have blended nicely with the 2250, whereas the 430 can not keep up.

wooferdog wrote:i have them running passive from a zenon 100.2 right now so they get about 100 per side. going with the mq-430 they would still get about the same i would think. the mq does about 50 per channel at 14.4 so all 4 drivers would be about the same i think, just better sound quality and tuning capability with the active x-over. the components are mb quarts.

The Xenon 100.2 should be around 130W a channel (it is underrated a bit), and the MQ430 is probably going to be half that. I have an MQ430 I plan to bench sometime in the next week or so (need to clean off a space to do it).

Running the MQ430 active will probably be about half as loud as the Xenon 100.2 passive, but it has the potential to sound better. And, it is not like being half as loud is really going to be a huge difference overall.

Looking forward to your test results on the mq-430. I will be running tweet's and 4" mid's with the mq-430 active so i hope it keep's up with the midbass and sub.

I think with your 4-way setup, the MQ430 will be plenty of power. If you had the common 3-way setup, the MQ430 would probably not have enough power for the midrange when run active. I am sure it would have plenty for the tweeter though.

Personally if I were running a MQ430 on a 3-way setup, I would just bridge the MQ430. It is easy to do with its mono switches, and you don't need any extra wiring. This would yield 4 times the power capability.

If your speakers are MB Quart Premium, or better, their crossovers are very nice. You could run them bridged on the MQ430, but the real limit would be your midbass power, so you probably don't need all the bridged power of the MQ430.

i'll try it 4 channel and bridged and see what sounds best and go that route. i really want to run it 4 channel so i can use my ppi omx-432 and take out the frx-322.

Well, I am having a very tough time with this MQ430. All I can get out of it is 3V RMS, and I know that is not right.

What is confusing me is the amp powers on fine and sounds just fine. I did notice it took a lot of input voltage to get anything out of it. I have narrowed things down to the gain control section is limiting (clipping) the amp. I am pretty sure the amp is just fine though. So now I am wondering if there is some design issue, or maybe this amp was built wrong. (wrong resistor values in gain section).

I drove a pair of KEF KAR65 sets (6.5" mid woof and a 1" tweet) passively through the MQ-430 side of a FAS and the results were nothing short of outstanding.
As Doc recommended, I had them bridged them in pairs using the KEF XO.
The bridged 2125 side drove qty 3 sealed XMax 12's.

The local rap crap ricers got schooled by an old man pushing Lynyrd Skynyrd through Made in the USA PG all wrapped up in an American coupe.

You will NOT be disappointed using that MQ.

HH

HoseHead wrote: The local rap crap ricers got schooled by an old man pushing Lynyrd Skynyrd through Made in the USA PG all wrapped up in an American coupe.



HH

I am confused seeing the flag in your avitar and reading this

Our Countries share so many attributes including social values, ingenuity and skill. I will stand up for all we cherish. When we desire, we engineer the best product on the planet.

I am proud to have the opportunities to school the generations that follow in history while demonstrating accomplishments from "home".

Our societies rely too much on overseas manufacturing. We need to reverse that trend .... ASAP.

HH

I agree. What the hell is there to hate canadians about other then that canadian-bacon scheme you have been pulling on us for all these years? I could not agree more about the manf thing. I decided that it was time to get a floor-jack/jack-stands/creeper for the garage and while I didn't want to spend a bunch, but then again didn't want a cheaply-made jack holding the car above me.... After some time and research I was suprised all the negative comments on craftsmen jacks over the past few years. Wonder how long ago they went off-shore? Even after some research and getting one that I think will do the job, the "MADE IN CHINA" badge just was not confidence building to find on the jack....

ttocs wrote:I agree. What the hell is there to hate canadians about other then that canadian-bacon scheme you have been pulling on us for all these years? I could not agree more about the manf thing. I decided that it was time to get a floor-jack/jack-stands/creeper for the garage and while I didn't want to spend a bunch, but then again didn't want a cheaply-made jack holding the car above me.... After some time and research I was suprised all the negative comments on craftsmen jacks over the past few years. Wonder how long ago they went off-shore? Even after some research and getting one that I think will do the job, the "MADE IN CHINA" badge just was not confidence building to find on the jack....

Please tell me you use jack stands when you go under the car... I wouldn't even go under a MADE IN USA BY GEORGE DUBYA HIMSELF jack without a stand.

I have not used it yet but that is the plan. While that is the plan sooner or later I am sure I will just need something quick enough to slide under it quickly but that day has yet to come and will be avoided.

Up till this point I had used the neighbors when I needed it but his is REALLY cheap and I just didn't like using it as it was questionable at best usually.