# Help with old school Soundstream Ref, MC & D series amps



## Ed70 (10 mo ago)

Going to be installing my old Boston Acoustics Pro 6.4 components and already have some CDT Audio 6x9’s in the rear deck. For bass i’m running a single JL12W3V3 in a sealed box. Nothing crazy but simply system. Back in the day i had a couple of buddies running a single Reference 500 Amp and the other a Rubicon 604 and the both sounded very nice and clean with good power.
I was hoping some of you members can share your experience and perhaps share your recommendation to any of the above SS amp series.
i’m definitely leaning towards SQ as i listen more to Jazz, classic Rock and 80’s kroq.
Currently running an Alpine pdx (100x4) and its a decent amp but i do want a Class A/B amp once again. 
a few questions,
So these amps put out the rated power or a little more? Do they make any shut off pop noise when powering on/off?
Do they have a low floor noise?
i’m trying to get info on the Reference 500, 644s, 604, MC500, MC300, DII200.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Ed.


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## Old Skewl (May 30, 2011)

From my expereince all of the Reference amps make more power than rated. They have unregulated power supplies and are rated at 12 volts. Giving them 13 or 14 volts, they will put out more power than rated. I have seen the 604 & 644 put out some very strong power numbers. The MC and D series amps seem to put out right around rated power. Out of all the reference amps I have only one has a pop when it shuts off and that is a Reference 405. One thing to think about is that these amps are approaching 30 years old. I have not had a capacitor fail on one yet but it is a matter of time escecially since you don't know how these amps were treated. I would have the amps recapped at the least. I sent all of mine off the Jeremy Loftis to be reburbished. He also offers Class A biasing and a Power Up mod(it basically moves the power up the Ohm scale) if that is beneficial to you. I think the noise floor is low on these amps. Never had an issue there. I prefer the Reference amps to the MC & D series(I think they are more lively if that makes sense). Some people prefer the MC and D Series.


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