I have a Panasonic 70x4 head unit.
I'm running some entry level MB Quart components. .75" Tweeters
Infinity Kappa 6x9's. and a 12" Sub enclosed. Sub is fine... it's the sound of the deck. Brutal.
I don't listen to my tunes really really loud so I figured the deck would suffice being the highest power I could find. But it has it's own patented sound I guess.
Question is what size of 4ch amp should I go with?
I'm thinking 75-100w/ch rms.

I really want excellent sound. Will running straight of an amp improve it or should I change decks?

Thanks. All input welcome.
Pat

 

My past experience with Panasonic HU's has been not too great. Their internal amp is pretty horrible, but you can say the same about almost every other deck on the market. An internal amp will push your speakers, but a 4ch amp will make them sing. When I installed my 4ch kicker amp, I noticed a whole world of difference. Every song sounded soooooooo much better, mid bass was actually there! No distortion when I crank it (except I get a lot of vibration in my door panels, so I need to dynamat them). You pretty much need to go with a 4ch amp if you want your speakers to sound good.

As for amp recommendations, I suggest Kicker, alpine, or kenwood, they all are good choices. Also depends on your budget too.

 

Awesome reply, thanks!
Any suggestions as to wattage?

Thx again!

 

I think those 70watts panasonics actually only make about 30watts rms per channel. Notice they don't have that 70watts rating on their newer models. They just did'nt deliver.

As for wattage, 75 sounds pretty good. I woulnd't go under 50, anything higher is fine as long as you watch your gains and volume.

 

If you really want excellent sound, consider a Eclipse cd player then add a amplifier rated above 50w rms per channel. This will deliver what you are hoping for. Budget will determine the amplifier and cd player.

 

A CD players job is to simply decode information from a CD or radio station. I have always found Panasonic to be pretty darn good SQ-wise particularly given their price. To do better you have to look at decks that are quite a bit more expensive (Eclipse, Clarion, et all). But I certainly wouldn't use their internal amps in a serious SQ rig, and their EQ is marginal at best. Heck do they even make an external amplifier? The deck you have should not sound lousy in and of itself. It could be faulty, you could be using the internal amp to do things it just cant do (and I think that IS the issue), or some EQ setting could be mis-set.

Alma Gates used a fairly generic Panasonic HU in her ***** to the walls SQ ride the last couple years (it had quite a bit of system noise but dang did it get the information from the CD).

 

I think you're bang on.
I'll put an amp in soon. Hee Hee can't wait!