WorldwideDX Amateur Radio Forums

I am looking to get a amp for the truck. I'm looking for something like a 1x4 or a 2x4 because I only have about 6-10w pep output from my radio.
I have found the palomar elite 900, texas star 667, the newer dave made's M400, and the 3 xforce brands and fatboy. I was thinking after reading on several forums that the Palomar or TS would be better for the application... as far as the cleaner sound and lower amp draw.

Not sure if this is true but this is what I have read.

I do not use ssb and I may want to hook up other radios and push the unit for local fun but that is not the purpose.

I have a Xforce 1x2. I like it but i have not run the others on your list.
I would go with the 1x4 over the 2x4 if it was me.

Why?

Since you don't use SSB I would skip the TS, it will draw more amperage than the class C competition boxes like DM and XForce.

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I have read and repeatedly been told the Texas star are AB1 amps and are much cleaner sounding than the rest. I listened and bought the 500V, I was happy I did. When I grew tired of talking to people who could not talk back to me it was very easy to sell as most of the SSB guys really like the TS line. I used the money to help buy a Magnum S9-175, I am still talking to everyone I was before only now I recieve many more complements on my sound quality and clarity. My advice is to buy a good quality radio and have it aligned, It's the same advice I was given many times..........I didnt listen either.

IDK.. in my experience so far, class C is not as good as class A or AB for AM. It will work, but with a good bit of distortion. About the only modes that class C is really acceptable for is CW and FM.

The main difference between a class C and class A, B or AB is biasing. Texas Star includes a basic class AB bias circuit, so they tend to give higher-quality output than class C amps. If you ask me, I say go with class AB for all modes. They do use more current for a given output, but you then have the most flexibility and your output will always be cleaner than it would be if you run class C amps.

If a class C setup is run properly on AM you will never hear the difference, and with the radio he is talking about it won't be driven into "competition mode".

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True, but there's more to "quality, low-distortion output" than what you hear..

In my opinion, there's a certain responsibility that every radio operator (regardless of service or need for a license) has to keep their station output clean. Splatter and harmonics can and do often bleed on other parts of the spectrum that aren't even in the CB frequency range. While class A and AB amps don't eliminate these things completely, there is a reduction in the amount of spurious content in the signal.

One can also use class C amps with proper low-pass filtering and produce spectrally clean output (ie vastly reduced harmonics and out-of-band content) but often there might still be some audio distortion on SSB and sometimes even on AM.

I've long been of the opinion that, given the extremely low cost of a rudimentary bias scheme and integral low-pass filtering, unfiltered class C boxes are really a bad idea. I've never been able to figure out why there are so many floating around.. Is it so the manufacturers save the $5-10 that the bias circuit and 11m LPF cost? Is it because the buyers can't be bothered to drop the extra few bucks for a cleaner amp? IDK.. it's just never made much sense to me.

Anyway, I'm not trying to preach, I just wanted to share my honest opinion. To each their own..