Focal 165K2P Power Requirements?

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Adam TheDude - 18 Jun 2004 21:27 GMT

Hi all,

After loving my Focal 165K set for about a year before it was stolen
along with my car, I have now got the scratch to go back to work on my
new car stereo. Having won a smal regional sound quality competition
as a kid, this is always my highest priority, right next to good
value.

Question: the new Focal 165K2P set, which I am about sold on, has
nominal handling listed as 100W RMS. I am strongly considering mating
this with the JBL Power P180.2 2x90W RMS Class D that I have heard so
many good things about. It is $119 at SoundDomain now, and that is
just too good a deal to pass up.

I drove my 165K's with 50 (underrated) clean watts per channel from a
PPI 6600 before, and this was underpowering for sure but they sounded
spectacular regardless, so I am hopeful that 90W being only 10W under
the Focal-indicated minimum RMS will be OK, but wanted reassurance
from you guys here. Will this combination give flat, clean response
at 50-60% volume / moderate to slightly loud listening?

Any thoughts / experiences with either the JBL Class D's or these new
Focals yet would be appreciated as well.

Many thanks in advance,
Adam

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Steve Grauman - 19 Jun 2004 07:13 GMT

The general reccomendation is that you find an amp capable of meeting the RMS
rating and with a little extra to spare. This will allow your speakers to
operate flawlessly and minimize your risk of forcing the amp to clip. Any amp
that produced less than .10% THD will have distortion below the range of human
hearing, so don't get to caught up in the idea than some brands will have
"cleaner" sound than others. Only with serius competition vehicles where
sensitive electronic equipment will be used for measurement should this be to
major of a concern.

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Gary Rodgers - 19 Jun 2004 19:35 GMT

| Hi all,
|
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
| Any thoughts / experiences with either the JBL Class D's or these new
| Focals yet would be appreciated as well.

I have Focal 165KP's up front. They're rated at 80w RMS Nominal. I've
bridged an Alpine MRV-F540 (200w RMS x 2 at 4 ohms) and am driving them with
it. I've crossed over the speakers at 80hz with a 24dB slope. They *ROCK*

I'm replacing the Alpine MRV-F540 with a JBL px300.4 and will add some rear
fill. This will get me to 125w RMS x 4 at 4 ohms. Probably a little safer
on the fronts (hehe). I'm also replacing my sub amp (Alpine MRD-M500) with
a JBL BPX1100.1 - can't wait to see how the w7 behaves with *that* bad boy.

FYI, the P180.2 is *not* a class-D amp - but a great amp nonetheless! If
you could spring for a little more power, I would...the K2P's can take more
than they're rated - so long as you cross them over properly.

Good luck - let us know how it turns out. I won't get my new gear in for
another couple of weeks - still fabricating a custom solution for the
trunk...trying to keep access to the spare in my mustang should I ever need
it.
Gary

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Adam TheDude - 21 Jun 2004 16:01 GMT

Gary and Steve,

Thank you so much for weighing in here...very helpful! I think your
(and Steve's) recommendation to adequately power (but not overpower)
the Focal 165k2p's is a good one. After checking in a bit further,
I've uncovered a bit more "truth" about the power ratings of these JBL
amps... it seems that the px300.4's 125W/channel rated power is at
14.4volts per the new CEA standard, which is certainly the voltage I
will be listening with 90% of the time. The p180.2's 90W rated power
is conservative even for a 12 volt load apparently, and looks more
like *125W/channel* when driven with 14.4 volts, per this measurement:

http://www.carsound.com/reviews/amps/p1802chts.html

So with SoundDomain's current $119 price for the p180.2, I'm paying
less than a dollar per 4-ohm watt. Meanwhile, I found the px300.4 for
$274.95 at this web site, which is certainly a bargain too:

http://thewholesalematrix.zoovy.com/product/JBLPX3004

It looks like I could use the rear channels of a px300.4 to drive my
planned Image Dynamics IDQ10 sub, but with a little less power than
that sub likes. I'm not sure what kind of power I'd get at 14.4volts
into one sub but I'm betting it's around 250W.

So, my dilemma now is, do I go with the 4-channel JBL planning that I
will slightly underdrive one 10' IDQ sub in a sealed box, or do I go
with the 2-channel planning that I will add a dedicated mono sub amp
with more adequate power in the future? I had planned (budget-wise)
to wait for the sub and get the fronts/HU/front amp first. Wish I
could spring for a JL W7 but that ain't happening!

Thoughts / advice much appreciated...

Thanks again,
Adam

>| Hi all,
>|
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
>it.
>Gary

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