After I receive a lot of hatre with my quest to get at budget mobile subwoofer solution I finally gave up and bite the bullet. So, I contacted an authorized dealer and place my order for the best SoundStream woofer & Amp combo for the amount of my cash can buy. Here are the pictures to the item. Comments are welcome.

SoundStream Reference Series : RFW-12 600w RMS power handling



SoundStream Xstream : XTA600.2 600w RMS power output

 

very pretty amp. does it take differential-balanced inputs?

 

I have no idea yet.

 

be prepared to buy a LOC.

 

Hate to say this but the new Soundstream products suck. Once they got sold, the quality went downhill. I have a Soundstream DaVinci, which is one of the best amps ever made. That was the good ole days before alot of this crap coming out. Hope you enjoy your components but dont trust the watt rating on it.

 

I too believed that when I kept reading other posters ranting about it. I think this is an Urban Myth. I have yet to read a reviewer who actually bought one of the new amps after they were acquired (but still a separate entity). Mostly, they had financial problems and were in prime position to be “bought” out by the same company that is, supposedly, a huge electronics company. I read this somewhere but don’t know the link. Anywho, I agree that some of the best amps ever made were by Soundstream, back in the days. Right now, there are some great deals on the old Tarantulas (Chromed Amps with the large Tarantula on them and not the current ones) and the Van Goghs. The Tarantulas, Da Vinci’s, Human Reign, and the XXX were the company’s pride-and-joys. So, I’m not going to pass judgment on the current Soundstreams until I see (or hear) otherwise. So, don’t sweat what you bought. I looked at those amps too but, like I said, I found some great deals on the older Tarantulas and couldn’t pass it up.

As for the amp having differential inputs, I don’t believe the ones you purchased have them. Are you planning on adding a aftermarket HU? If not, then by all means, get the LOC. Of course, all the aforementioned amps above have differential inputs. Just an FYI.

 

one more for soundstream - I run the 500.4 and 800.2 van gogh series off an audiocontrol lc6 and eqs. I've not measured power output, as I have no such instruments, but there are no complaints here as to power output and musical quality. I got an awesome deal on them, too.

 

Do you own stock in a company that produces these things or something??? Almost no one needs them yet you recommend them to everyone. Odd.

JH

 

No, I have never recommended any specific LOC, so if I did work for a company that makes these I would be a terrible sales man. If you look through the history of the forum, you can read my experiences and others that explain why LOCs are necessary for SOME amps. You'll notice I didn't say he NEEDED a LOC, I said for him to be prepared to need/use one.

Unfortuantely you can't see my inbox of people who have PMed me going "OMG I JUST INSTALLED _______ AND I HAVE THIS HORRIBLE NOISE IN MY SYSTEM" and it turns out that they were using an amp that does not accept balanced-differential signals on the inputs. then I explain them why they are getting the noise and/or point them to the sticky at the top of this forum that explains how to install while keeping the stock HU.

I'd like to hear how you would plan on using an amp that does not accept differential-balanced signals on it's inputs without using a LOC that adapts differential-balanced to single ended. I'm always up for learning new methods! As for the people who keep PMing me with this problem, I'll keep directing them to get a LOC until I hear otherwise.

I'd also love to start a list of amps that DO accept differential-balanced inputs, so I can recommend amps other than JL "slash" series and DLS because in the end it's nice to have many options to choose from (and I sure don't like feeling that I'm telling people what brand of equipment to buy.)

 

The stock comment was a joke; of course all LOC's are not made by the same company. One question then. Do you have a list of amps that you KNOW will not accept the inputs? Really, I'm not joking. My alpine, and old PPI Art amp both accept it. Though neither mfg makes any claims about it. If you know of one I can get at a big box store that would be great, I'd love to try it out.

JH

 

sorry for the slow reply, trying to get my carPC install finished up.
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I know it was a joke, I took it as such I'd try a Sony or a MTX amp... or heck, get a RoadGear.

 

Splicing in RCA leads behind the HU always worked for me with no issues to date.

 

As for Soundstream severly taking a dive downward I can certainly confirm this as I have played with/Installed many of their older and newer amps. Its not just heresay and this is from a retailer standpoint.

 

Doubt it..

Let us know how the install goes ofcourse...

 

You might be right, to a point. I looked on their website and noticed that the Tarantulas are not of the same caliber as the older Tarantulas. I also believe they are about half the costs too So, I think you are right but then again, they are about half the price as they were when they were making top-notch amps. I think the last good amp that came from them were the Van Goghs. So, the ones I recommend are the Van Goghs, Tarantulas (old ones, not new), Davincis, Human Reign (man, have you seen one of these beasts?), and XXX (pretty rare). Even more so are the old references, but now we are talking about almost a decade old amp which are still being sought after on ebay