Sonus amplifiers

**Ryan_0190** · August 6th, 2012 07:59 PM

Hi audio gurus,

Any feedback on the sound quality of the enigma line?

Do you know an audio shop that sells these amps from the north side of q.c?

Thanks

**jhnkvn** · August 6th, 2012 11:49 PM

Sonus is basically a home-cooked brand from three/two of Philippines' largest car audio shops. It's a collaboration work from JC Audio, BluePrint, and Mickeys Autosound I believe. So what they did is that they specified the circuitry design and let somebody from China/Taiwan work on them. You can say they're a split copy of Malaysia's Harmotech which also employs the same outsourcing work and amplifier chassis (yun parang DLS Ultimate amplifiers and Ground Zero SQ amps)

As for how it sounds, well Reo's Altis has already won accolades in EMMA Philippines while sporting 3 Enigma amplifiers. You shouldn't worry about the sound since the gut internals are good. Nowadays, the problem I see is that amplifier circuitry design is getting more and more generic so nawawala na yun importance of good circuitry design as you can simply copy a schematic over the internet. This is good for the consumer as it drives down costs a lot but for car audio veterans kakamiss na yun time before.

I'm not sure if DAWG Audio sells these. Go ask around nalang. If not, you can always purchase it from the big shops naman e.

**Ryan_0190** · August 7th, 2012 05:48 PM

Thanks for the reply,

Wow so proven na pala

Yeah, actually kaya ako naintrigue kasi based dun sa spec nya sa website ng sonus, very powerful and the internal parts are very solid... Do you think its still underated at 4x100?

another question is, how much is the retail for the 4 channel amp?

I'll try calling mickeys kung meron sila, pero gonna wait for the weather to clear up...

**jhnkvn** · August 8th, 2012 02:08 AM

Originally Posted by Ryan_0190

Thanks for the reply,

Wow so proven na pala

Yeah, actually kaya ako naintrigue kasi based dun sa spec nya sa website ng sonus, very powerful and the internal parts are very solid... Do you think its still underated at 4x100?

another question is, how much is the retail for the 4 channel amp?

I'll try calling mickeys kung meron sila, pero gonna wait for the weather to clear up...

No, it's rating output is accurate so it's neither underrated or overrated.

The retail is 16,500php I believe. I really can't say that internal parts are solid -- I mean the amplifiers competing in this range (Sands Davids, DC 120.4, etc.) use almost the same parts and all. Powerbass ASA600.4 with 100x4 has dual power supplies too -- a rarity at its price range of 13,000php as almost everything in this price range has only one.

I'm actually very pro-Sonus Enigma. However I'll raise my doubts na sa Europhia which retails around 60k na. The beauty and downfall of car audio is that it's very subjective -- given a properly tuned system, a 60k can easily beat out a 120k budget.

Good luck on the purchase! Meron sila Mickey niyan.. sila pa..

**Ryan_0190** · August 8th, 2012 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by jhnkvn

No, it's rating output is accurate so it's neither underrated or overrated.

The retail is 16,500php I believe. I really can't say that internal parts are solid -- I mean the amplifiers competing in this range (Sands Davids, DC 120.4, etc.) use almost the same parts and all. Powerbass ASA600.4 with 100x4 has dual power supplies too -- a rarity at its price range of 13,000php as almost everything in this price range has only one.

I'm actually very pro-Sonus Enigma. However I'll raise my doubts na sa Europhia which retails around 60k na. The beauty and downfall of car audio is that it's very subjective -- given a properly tuned system, a 60k can easily beat out a 120k budget.

Good luck on the purchase! Meron sila Mickey niyan.. sila pa..

Yeah, car audio is indeed very subjective.. i once auditioned two cars with the same h.u,seps and amps but with different installers and tuning.. one sounded nice and detailed to my ears the other one warm and laid back.. so i also think tuning and of course your own personal preference(sound that you want to hear) plays a major roll in this hobby..

actually i was also considering the sands david kaso yun nga saw the enigma and became curious, pero if you were in my shoes sir jhnkvn what would you choose the enigma or david?

btw thanks for answering my queries sir jhnkvn

**jhnkvn** · August 8th, 2012 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by Ryan_0190

Yeah, car audio is indeed very subjective.. i once auditioned two cars with the same h.u,seps and amps but with different installers and tuning.. one sounded nice and detailed to my ears the other one warm and laid back.. so i also think tuning and of course your own personal preference(sound that you want to hear) plays a major roll in this hobby..

actually i was also considering the sands david kaso yun nga saw the enigma and became curious, pero if you were in my shoes sir jhnkvn what would you choose the enigma or david?

btw thanks for answering my queries sir jhnkvn

I'd go for the Sonus Enigma. As much as Jerry, the distributor of Sands, is a personal friend of mine.. I always believe in one thing sa amplifiers -- and that is power. Everything else such as S/N ratios, THD%, slew rate, damping factors, etc. are all simply mumbo-jumbo. I buy amplifiers for just three reasons: durability, brand name, power. Among these three, power is king. That's why I have 110Wx4 as my four-channel amplifier

**Ryan_0190** · August 8th, 2012 08:33 PM

Originally Posted by jhnkvn

I'd go for the Sonus Enigma. As much as Jerry, the distributor of Sands, is a personal friend of mine.. I always believe in one thing sa amplifiers -- and that is power. Everything else such as S/N ratios, THD%, slew rate, damping factors, etc. are all simply mumbo-jumbo. I buy amplifiers for just three reasons: durability, brand name, power. Among these three, power is king. That's why I have 110Wx4 as my four-channel amplifier

I see, you got a point.. Well as they say the healthier speaker the better

hopefully will get the sonus enigma by this week(if the weather clears up)

Thanks again sir jhnkvn, you saved me alot of time thinking on which amp to buy.. Hehehe..

**Doc M** · March 23rd, 2014 10:53 AM

Good day Sir jhnkvn,

I'm a newbie in terms of audio set up and I would like to solicit from you some insights/suggestions on my proposed upgrade.

I own a montero 2013 and I'm planning to replace the stock door speakers with a pair of Focal PS 165FX. I already installed an amplifier ( V12 NV 805-4200 ) along with a Pioneer subwoofer with enclosure ( TS-WX303 ) in my ride. One of the reputable car audio installers that I happen to talk to told me that it is best to connect my Focal component speakers to the HU rather than to connect it to the v12 amplifier due to the fact that the amplifier is just generic and often noisy. He suggested to change my amplifier instead with a good class AB amplifier to go with my speakers if I wanted to hook them to an amplifier. He even suggested a Focal amplifier for uniformity.

In your opinion, will it pose a problem to the performance of the speaker if I'll insist on using them? The problem here is that the price of the focal amplifier is pretty much the same as the price of the speakers that I plan to be installed. Do you have any suggestions/recommendations as to what other amplifier brands that are equally good in terms of power handling i.e accurate wattage ratings etc. that can suit my needs even for further upgrades in the future that is less than 18K?

I intend to keep my stock HU, sir, do you have any idea how many pre outs does it have?

Your opinion regarding this matter is greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

**jhnkvn** · March 24th, 2014 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by Doc M

Good day Sir jhnkvn,

I'm a newbie in terms of audio set up and I would like to solicit from you some insights/suggestions on my proposed upgrade.

I own a montero 2013 and I'm planning to replace the stock door speakers with a pair of Focal PS 165FX. I already installed an amplifier ( V12 NV 805-4200 ) along with a Pioneer subwoofer with enclosure ( TS-WX303 ) in my ride. One of the reputable car audio installers that I happen to talk to told me that it is best to connect my Focal component speakers to the HU rather than to connect it to the v12 amplifier due to the fact that the amplifier is just generic and often noisy. He suggested to change my amplifier instead with a good class AB amplifier to go with my speakers if I wanted to hook them to an amplifier. He even suggested a Focal amplifier for uniformity.

In your opinion, will it pose a problem to the performance of the speaker if I'll insist on using them? The problem here is that the price of the focal amplifier is pretty much the same as the price of the speakers that I plan to be installed. Do you have any suggestions/recommendations as to what other amplifier brands that are equally good in terms of power handling i.e accurate wattage ratings etc. that can suit my needs even for further upgrades in the future that is less than 18K?

I intend to keep my stock HU, sir, do you have any idea how many pre outs does it have?

Your opinion regarding this matter is greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Is it better to connect the Focal speakers to the head unit?
This depends. Depends on how fussy you are with noise. The solution for this is to simply turn the gain knobs of the amplifier all the way down since it reduces noise. However, it is true that there's a lot of defective V12 units around because of no quality control for "fakes" (they're bootleg naman talaga of the Alpine V12 series) and some defective units will have bad noise floor levels, etc.

But between a good bootleg V12 and a head unit? I'll still go for the V12. I listen quite loudly, you see.

He suggested to change my amplifier instead with a good class AB amplifier to go with my speakers if I wanted to hook them to an amplifier. He even suggested a Focal amplifier for uniformity.
What amplifier topology shouldn't matter nowadays. You can choose with A/B but I'll recommend people to go pick Class D due to their efficiency. For the more affordable crowd, I'll still recommend Class A/B amplifiers over D because Class A/B amplifiers have been around in the market longer. This means they're more mature and getting a bad circuitry design should be rare.

Do you need a Focal amplifier?
Nah. Unless you like the uniformity of one-brand. Some people debate that amplifiers sound different to one another. This is true.. but my stand is that it is insignificant in a car environment.

Will it pose a problem to the performance of the speaker if I'll insist on using them?
Yes it will. I'm not a fan of bootleg amplifiers per se. So I'll recommend you do switch in this case to something throwing true rated wattage ratings. Think of it like building a PC and I'm shunning you away from those generic 600W power supplies only outputting 300W of power.

To keep costs low in bootleg amplifiers, there's always compromise. Inside an amplifier, this often means reduced noise filtration, smaller capacitor values, etc. However, I will not suggest you jump over to an expensive amplifier agad. Nowadays I see an increased installation of Gladen System 75.4 amplifiers -- the reason is that you get a brand name (Mosconi-AudioSystem) and a pretty low price to boot (it sells around Php9,000).

If you can pony up the 16,000php the Sonus sells for, I'll go for the Sonus. It's power supply stage is very well constructed. But if you want to settle for the Gladen 75.4, I won't rebuke you on your decision.

As for the Montero's pre-outs...
No idea. It's either 2 or 3 and I believe it's on the three. You can search the forums.. there's an answer na somewhere dyan.

**Doc M** · March 25th, 2014 04:50 PM

Thank you very much Sir jhnkvn for the very thorough explanation on my queries. By the way, I'm contemplating on getting the sonus ecstatic amplifier which has the same rms rating as the enigma class. If I may ask Sir, is the performance of this amplifier the same as the enigma? because I've read that this amplifier retails for 9,500K. I'm also planning to put a headrest monitor of my ride. Do I need to change the stock speaker on my rear doors too? Once again Sir jhnkvn, many thanks for taking time to answer all my noob questions. You are very helpful to us newbies.