[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by Tomahawk

Except that it will put out more than that as the BSW will show a 2 ohm load. So it would be 30 watts. I powered 2 separate cars on MS8 power and it got plenty loud.

I was wrong. The OEM amp output is actually MORE than the MS-8 (25w@4ohm vs 18w@4ohm). So regardless of 2ohm or 4ohm, the OEM amp still puts out more than the MS-8 comparing apples to apples. I specifically asked about this way back when in this thread.

One of you mentioned that I should ignore the numbers. However, one interesting tidbit i got from the thread was post#16 from 1lyfe, who added two YouTube clips when he asked if i wanted to hear how loud the MS-8 could get. The second one reveals bass distortion after bringing the volume up to about halfway. He verified that it was indeed distortion.

Don't get me wrong, the MS-8 sound quality is AMAZING. Those two YouTube clips sounded pretty unreal. But you said you wanted "punch". If your speakers are distorting at only half max volume, your amp is entering the clipping region because its not powerful enough to drive the speakers to what they are capable of. 1lyfe attributed the distortion to his crappy speakers. i don't know if i totally agreed with that because i got the same distortion after i switched out my stock HiFi speakers with the BSW S-1's. With the less efficient BSW speakers, i needed to drive them harder to get the same output, but with the puny 25w OEM amp, it was pushing the amp harder than before, trying to match the previous loudness/output. But in doing so, it was pushing the amp into its clipping region as it could not handle the extra output that was needed.

After switching from the 25w OEM amp to the 75w XD800, i found i could drive the volume to almost max (causing an ear-splitting headache) and the speakers would still NOT distort. This amp operates with WAY more upper headroom before distortion/clipping starts.

Just one thing to consider in the overall scheme of your decision...