I'm gonna give you the answer my wife gave me when I asked about the audio project..

'You just spent 30K on the car, don't get cheap over a few hundred dollars now.. get stuff you can build upon if you need to do more and get a pro to do it if you don't have the time or patience'

I started with an amp because in my past experience even the good head units did not have enough clean power.. and the A/D/S speakers I liked needed power. I planned to add a sub or swap the head later if needed, but found I am happy with it as is. I paid someone to do a top notch install because I had neither the time or experience to do it right back then.

You are looking at good components.. with a quality install I have to believe you will be happy with either.

 

Has anyone tried Zapco amps? Recently, lots of sites are advertising their closeout models for about 1/2 price. For example, I found this site through http://www.shopping.yahoo.com, http://shop.store.yahoo.com/007-caraudio/specials.html that has the Zapco Studio 100 (2 x 50W) for $139.
Has anyone tried this produce or this vendor?

[Edited by RedHead on 05-06-2001 at 12:13 PM]

 

Thanks, Chris. If the KCE-865B European Alpine adapter works, I think I'll go with the Alpine CDA-7976 head as my next step. It is pretty much their top of the line non-MP3 head. MP3 is a waste for me. I buy CDs frequently and never bother converting them to MP3.

If that head doesn't get me as much as I want; I'll add the amp. I will get a quality install.

As long as my goal is to just drive a pair of front door speakers, I don't think I'll go any fancier than the Alpine MRV-T407 amp. If it isn't adequate, I'll ebay it and get the Phoenix Gold that you have.

The CDA-7976 will be at my dealer's before I get the KCE-865B from England.

Barry