they don't suck juice like "normal ones right?

lets post quality brands and models personally i'm looking for a mono version.

i'll start XTANT is one maker no profiles(the brand) please

 

JL Audio

 

There's no such thing as a "digital" amp.

Perhaps you're thinking of a Class D amp, which a lot of people ignorantly call digital?

Just about any brand makes a Class D amp. Stay away from "el cheepo guapo" amps and you'll find a good one.

Kenwood, Kicker, Rockford, Alpine, JL, etc., are the names you want to stick with.

 

i was mistaken on the digital part what i'm looking for is amp that are high in efficiency for lower power drain.

 

Digital is some catch phrase someone came up with.

The process resembles digital, with the square wave output, but I wouldn't get too carried away with it, it's really not considered a digital circuit. In a way it is an analog to digital to analog converter/high power inverter power supply...

From personal experience, I would recomend the JL Audio class D amps.

 

the jbl class d amps are very hard to beat price and power-wise.

 

high current amps are great for power without too much current draw.


adam

 

Probably the most effeciant amp you will find is a Cadence A7. Im pretty fond of my pheonix gold tantrum series

 

From what I can put together with knowledge of different amp models, power ratings, etc digital is a little different than class D. Memphis amps are digital amps. the 1000D pulls 80 amps yet puts out 1100 watts RMS and is only 6.5x2x13.5. Thats pretty small. Now the planet audio 2003 models pulled 120 amps yet put out only 1250 watts, and was twice the size at aprox 12x2x15. This year they went to a digital amp wich is half the size of there previous series (but still a little bigger than the 1000D's), pulls the same amps, but puts out 1500watts. its basically more power in a cleaner, more efficient package. This is just what i have put together from looking at different specs and stuff. Maybe someone can tell me if im right or wrong or what.

 

Digital is B.S., people commonly refer to class D as digital, because that is what it's marketed as by alot of companies.

make no bones about it, that signal is analog for the entire process of amplification.


adam

 

there is nothing special about memphis amps... they are the same as any other brand... overpriced - unless you get them online

plus an amp can't put out more than the fuses are rated for...

voltage * amps

check the fuse ratings and x by 13 volts... I bet anything that those memphis amps (1000D) don't put out that much at all...

in fact I was in a premium car audio place the other day and the guy was telling me that they just picked up the memphis line, and I told him I wanted a mono block amp... I asked him how much rms the amp had and he figured around 700....

 

you also have to take into consideration, the impedance the amp is going to run into.

1000w into 4 ohms is going to take more current than 1000w into .5 ohms.

 

Me thinks you have Ohms Law confused somehow or just a typo maybe

1000w @ 4 ohm =15.8A
1000w @ .5 ohm= 44.7A

 

think about what you just said. that you can make 1000W with 15 amps?
it is easier from an electical stand point to make power into a lower impedance.

example: Orion HCCA power ratings
25wrmsx 2 into 4 ohm stereo
50wrmsx2 into 2ohm stereo
100wrmsx2 iinto 1ohm stereo
200wrmsx2 into .5 ohm stereo (1 ohm mono)

now current draw didnt exceed the amps fusing, although amplifier power increased 10 fold.


adam

 

I = Square Root of (P / R)

Where I = Amperage
P = Wattage
R= Resistance in Ohms

 

That will only tell you how much power the amp CAN consume before the fuse blows, NOT the max power the amp can put out. The internal power supply will up that 13Vdc to (in most cases) between - + 25Vdc to - +70Vdc. At + - 25Vdc you have 50Vdc to work with, so in a "perfect" world you could see a MAX of 625W into a 4ohm load. But you can't calculate the current the amp is pulling because this doesn't take ANY inefficacy into play, there are a lot. Not only in the output stage but in the power supply to.
And an amp WILL pull MORE current with a lower (1 ohms opposed to 4 ohm) load. Try it. As the load resistance goes down, rail voltage being the same, the load will pull more current from the output stage, and the power supply stage has to give that to the output stage. Again, just try it your self and you to will see. Next time you have a car with a smaller (not as much current) amp and two subs in parallel take a DMM and check the current pull at the 2ohm load (1 ohm per channel) and a constant input. You NEED a constant input for the results to be valid. Like 1Khz at 500mV. Then just unhook one of the subs. Bam, less current, not half but less. JUST TRY IT. It will not take long. Just because a amp has a 30A fuse doesn't mean it will pull any where near 30A. More so with cheaper amps.
And with the digital not being digital thing. If and amp converts the audio into a PWM signal BEFORE any signal processing, even if it's just tone, and that processing takes place with the PWM signal, it IS considered by the industry to be a digital amp. At this point THAT IS the nomenclature (no·men·cla·ture, look it up). If the PWM conversion takes place AFTER the tone, EQs, or X-overs then it is considered just Class-D. There are plenty of cases where the wording to describe something is not the most accurate, but it IS still the nomenclature. If you tell a tech. you need transistor and give him a part number for a FET he is going to look at funny. Ya, is a field effect transistor, but the nomenclature is that a bipolar transistor is a transistor and a field effect transistor is a FET.

 

well dang man i guess that sets the record straight.

so depending one the processing of sound may or may not be considered digital but overall as a whole the amp is not

 

There aren't a lot (read almost none) full "digital" amps out there and even fewer that are for 12V apps. JBL and Infinity are developing a line of full "digital" amps with DSP and active feedback for home systems. I have it on good authority that, depending on how well this line works out in home, we may be seeing this in our cars with in three years. It's only a matter of time before we start to see some new twists making into the 12V stuff. But it wouldn't be the first time that "something just around the corner" broke down before it made it.

 

700 watts rms is pretty good considering that most companies that call there amps 700 watts are refering to peak, not RMS. Memphis is one of the few brands that tell you an RMS figure rather than a peak figure...and 700 is about right...at 2 ohm check one out some time...1 ohm is rated at 1100 watts rms they are pretty close to true ratings...they may be +- 100 watts or so, but still 1000 watts rms is pretty damn good.

 

Kicker just put out an amp with amazing DSP...its in the new car audio and electronics mag...havent read the review yet but it looks like its gonna be pretty impressive.

 

hrm I thought that the 1000d realistically put out 700watts @ 1ohm.... maybe its higher

 

i highly doubt it would be as popular for competitors if it was overrated.

i know quite a few people competing with memphis gear.



adam

 

heh I have seen lots of people compete with rockford stuff to, what are you getting at?

 

you didnt read my entire post did you?

i highly doubt it would be as popular for competitors if it was overrated

 

I guess I don't understand your post... I am reading it as so...
"The memphis amp would not be so popular among competitors if they did not hold true to their RMS ratings"
.... and in that case.. what I was trying to say, was that other companies extremly overrate their amps (ergo fosgate,) and people still flock to them... whatever, maybe I'm just not understanding... oh well

 

ahhh, well, around here, most of the competitors, IE: not johnny 16 and his 2 PUNCH Z's, serious guys dont use newer fosgate/sony/etc.



adam

 

Xtant is the bomb, you can't really beat them!

 

yes you can.

 

With what?

 

I'm running the Kenwood eXcelon x811D mono amp. Here are the specs, class D, 1016w rms x 1 @ 1 ohm among others. One of the more unique features is the AMS. It's pretty bad @ss, $250 shipped NIB off ebay:

 

a stick.


there are a few different brands that I prefer over xtant, but really it's just preference, however i do have some experience with xtant, as i sold them for a little over a year.

they are powerful, but not very durable, and they really dont care for impedances below 1.66 ohms, but xtant says it's 1 ohm stable.


adam

 

are these kenwood amps any good? it would kick serious *** to hook up the amp and use the AMS with the h/u.... I hate messing with the gain *****, cut-off etc, in the back of the car..

 

I am 100% satisfied with this Kenwood unit. I'll be obvious though, I don't have a lot to compare it to in terms of loudness and sound quality. The AMS does come in very handy, but you do need a compatable Kenwood HU (I have the x879) to take advantage of it. I like it because when you change a setting on the amp from the drivers seat, you can instantly hear the effect it has.

 

when i posted thisi was inda just looking to find ou what these"digital" amps where.
lol
turns out to be plain old class d. lol. whatever.
thats a nice kenwood i may have to change hu's and see what the new decks are like. mine is 6yrs old.

 

I am about to upgrade to the new excelsion deck, but I wonder if its even worth the upgrade... I love that AMS thing... can you change EVERY setting/value etc from the h/u? or do you still need to mess with ***** on the amp for gain and stuff?

 

Sorry red, didn't mean to hijack your thread.

AMS lets you monitor voltage, amps, temperature and fan speed from the driver seat. It lets you control bass center frequency, bass level, bass Q factor, bass extension, and volume offset. This is all in real time, while your music still plays. There is also a sub preout level adjustment, a phase adjustment, and a low-pass cut-off adjustment at the deck that doesn't use the AMS like most decks would provide. Controlling and turning on features like the input sensitivity, the band reject filter, and the infrasonic filter are all done at the amp. This isn't a biggie because the sensitivity is a set and forget and the other two I don't even use because the manual said you need a spectrum analyzer to properly adjust them. Oh, and you can control up to nine amps with one deck. They all get 'daisy-chained' together too, so you only have to run one set of signal cables. The AMS uses a standard kenwood changer cable for the first amp and a s-video cable in between each additional amp and then of course you need rca's to and between amps also.

If you guys want some more info on this stuff kenwood has all of their manuals downloadable off of their site.

 

no problem i like the direction it went

 

I wish my deck could do that, because bestbuy doesn't carry the xcelsion or whatever type kenwood... my kdcmp922 doesn't support it I guess...

I wonder if any other amps can do something similar to this? or decks or anything remotely similar... this is blowing my mind

 

a guy i know tested one of these amps, and told me that the control didnt do jack squat. Just what i've heard.

either way, kenwood has never made a powerful amp, so i dont think they started this year.


adam

 

My alpine 9833 does all this with some alpine amps

 

I see... thanks for the info, I'll look into alpine decks, they always just seemed overpriced...

and adam you're right because I have never heard good things about the kenwood amps... I guess maybe they changed em for this year?

 

do tigers still have stripes?

 

Ummmm yeah...and a guy I know once drove his Camaro all the way to the moon and back, really! I have personally gotten everything I listed above to work with the AMS. If that's your idea of squat, what else would you want it to control??

And amps come with ratings nowadays. If you bought an amp that wasn't as powerful as you wanted then you didn't know what you were buying.



Oh, and no I am not on Kenwood's payrole. I just really like the stuff of theirs that I have (x811d, x879, x910).

 

congratulations, if amps make their rated power, then people dont talk bad about them.


guess why almost everyone has a negative opinion of kenwood amplifiers.


adam

 

I understood what you're refering to, and this isn't anything I haven't heard before. I just don't sail my ship on word of mouth alone. If I did that than the AMS on my amp doesn't work either, which sorry to say but that's an easy one to prove wrong. And I guess that would also make biggie and tupac still alive then? I'm not saying that proving kenwood makes a weak amp can't be done, but I for one would interested in seeing some hard numbers that have been collected to back this up ($hit, the same goes for tupac!). Don't fret, I'm not holding my breath.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to trick anyone into buying some substandard equipment. I am just posting what I have and my personal opinion of it that I have formed by directly using it, not by what others say they've heard somewhere. It's just my personal opinion, take it however you want to fellas.

 

hey man, if you're happy with your gear, then by all means, have at it. We can't all run the same thing.


to each his own, right?


adam

 

hell even rockford makes some decent amps... as long as you don't take into account the extreme overrating, right? just buy it based on the true RMS rating... they are still good for the price I'd say.