TURBHOE

iTrader: (4)

ok i wasn't sure on how to search for this and maybe after i get my answer f8l z71 could add it to his sticky.

ok when it comes to amps what part of all this:
Fully regulated MOSFET power supply

Triple Darlington Output Circuitry

Bi-linear selectable two-way crossovers for amplifier and line outputs

Continuously Variable High and Low Pass Crossovers

Selectable Differentially Balanced Line Inputs

Platinum RCA Inputs and Outputs

Platinum 2-gauge Power Connectors

Tri-mode operation

All chrome plated


NUMBER OF CHANNELS: 2

OUTPUT (WATTS):RMS @ 4 Ohms 220 x 2

RMS @ 2 Ohms 440 x 2

RMS Bridged @ 4 Ohms 880 x 1

T.H.D.: <0.03%

Frequency Response (Hz): 10 - 50k

SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO: >115dB

DAMPING FACTOR: >500

INPUT SENSITIVITY: 0.15 - 12.0V

CROSOVER SLOPE: 12dB

CROSSOVER FREQUENCY (HZ): 30 - 4K

DIMENSIONS (INCHES): 19.5 x 12.25 x 4

is good what is good ranges and what are bad ranges?? and what other infor should a person look at?

95stroked1500

check how big the fuse is. an amp that puts out 1kw will have closer to 100 amps worth of fuse, not a single 20. you can't judge an amp by manufactureres claimed specs. a lot of them lie, or test it under conditions that aren't applicable to real life.

some of these i'm drawing a blank on how to explain.
triple darlington style is very good. arc audio and some others use it.
fully regulated power supply has it's benefits if it truely is fully regulated. it will put out the same power at 11v that it does at 15v. so it's power output isn't affected by low voltage very much.
tri mode, meaning you can run left and right stereo, and mono bridge a sub also. but you have to use passive xovers to do it properly. they are expensive to build and not worth hooking an amp up like that.
balanced line inputs are cleaner.
don't qoute me, but i think the bilinear xover is.....if you are adjusting a low pass for the amp, the highpass for the rca out will be following what you are doing. like if you put it to 80hz lp on the amp, it will be 80hz hp for the rca out's.
dampening factor is how well the amp can keep the speaker cone under control. the bigger the # the better. 500 is pretty good.
i think everything else should be self explanitory.

TURBHOE

iTrader: (4)

i know the fuse part thats the easy one. i was just using this amp for ie i was really wondering more about this stuff
T.H.D.: <0.03%

Frequency Response (Hz): 10 - 50k

SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO: >115dB

DAMPING FACTOR: >500

INPUT SENSITIVITY: 0.15 - 12.0V

CROSOVER SLOPE: 12dB

CROSSOVER FREQUENCY (HZ): 30 - 4K
some you explained i guess but what about like what is t.h.d. and what about signal to noise ratio??

95stroked1500

higher the signal to noise ratio, the cleaner. 115 db signal to 1 db noise.

thd is total harmonic distortion. the lower the number the better.

freq response 10-50 k is 10hz to 50,000hz. human hearing is from 20-20,000hz.
freq below 30 are pretty unproductive imo and getting closer to 20k is so high pitched they start to be unnoticable also. for an audiophile with music, it does make those slight differences to have you equip reasonably reproduce the upper and lower extremes. just expanded a little to help understand freq. play a sine sweep and listen to how you react to those freq..

12 db slope. meaning the signal slopes off at the rate of 12 db per octave. an octave can start at any freq. one octave up is twice and one octave down is 1/2. so one above 100 is 200, one above 200 is 400, etc. one below 100 is 50, one below 50 is 25, etc.. for every 3 db, means either 1/2 less power or twices the power if you're going up. plus, if you are at an 80hz xover point, means you are already down 3db at 80hz.

input sensitivity- deals with the signal from your rca's. that is why it is called "gain". for example, if you set the gain 1:100, for 1v in, it will step it up to 100v out. these are figureative #'s so you get a basic idea of what is going on. your amp is only going to put out what it is designed to do. cranking the gain up, won't make the amp put unlimitedly more power. if you have a deck with 1v preamps, you'll have to crank the gain way up. but if you deck put out 10v on the rca, you'd turn your gain way down.

xover freq-infinately variable between 30hz and 4000 hz. some xovers are prreset switches. either 80, 100, or 120 for example. nothing in between.

to expand on the dampening factor- strenght of the amp to control the cone. keep it and move it where it needs to be in relation to the music signal. be able to fight the emf and inductance coming from the voice coil, etc..

frequency is measured in hertz. and it refers to how many times the cone moves in and out per second. so 60hz, the cone has moved 60 times in and 60 times out in 1 second. to do this, you amplifier produces alternating current. when the + is hot, the cone pushes out, when the - is hot, the cone pulls in.

TURBHOE

iTrader: (4)

ok i got most of that now what numbers on the ones you didn't specify are better like frequency responce between what and what are good and so on. just trying to get and idea of what make a good amp and what make a bad amp. i know sound stream use to be really good but i dunno anymore and i'm kinda partial to jl when it comes to subs. i'm looking at two 10w6's for my car and i need a good amp to run them and i have two 12w1's the new ones and i need a amp upgrade for those. and i'm looking at upgradeing the rest of my stock speakers in my truck also. thanks again for all the help.

95stroked1500

well, depends on what you are going to push with the amp. a class D is for subs and freq response of those is typically 10-400hz. they usually run about 70% efficient. class AB amps are good for anything and run about 50% efficient. efficiency meaning if they draw 1000 watts from the battery, one will put out 700 watts and the other 500 watts. there are a lot of good brands out there, some better than others, some flat suck. you cannot judge if an amp is good by manufacturers claimed specs. they can make it look good on paper, but not worth a crap in the vehicle. as you move up from entry level to high end. 100w entry level vs 100w high end...high end has bigger better power supplies. has the ***** to push the subs hard at low freq, will be cleaner, will do it's rated power and then some, will last longer. entry level amp won't be as clean, won't be as solid on the bass, etc..
i'm partial to treo subs (among other brands as also). sound every bit as good as jl, but level for level put's a whompin on jl. i have tested some side by side and on a TL meter.
everyone has their favorites when it comes to brands and there are a lot of good apples out there. if you're partial to jl, why not run their amps? i like us amps. but that doesn't mean that you woulnd't be happy with memphis, dls, etc.. for people who want some good bang for the buck, i like to push us amps second level line. the merlin md-1d. $585, puts out over 1000watts. i haven't got to test it side by side against the jl 1000.1, but i plan to in the next couple months.

one03sierra

iTrader: (1)

i just posted a good link about amps in the sticky above

95stroked1500

that is a decent link for beginners. i should add that some companies do their testing @ 1khz. which is an easy freq to make favorable looking test results. some companies use the new standarized testing which is called the "CEA 2006". it is a good base point, but i still would prefer some changes in how they test. but it atleast puts a somewhat level playing field. there's a lot more that goes on internally in an amp that specs don't say. like TRU TECHNOLOGIES amplifiers. very expensive, but very awesome. they have an amp rated for 500 watts, but yet it will put out over 700 watts, and has power supplies to support a 1000 watt amp. not only that, they use tight tolerances on the specs of their internal components. that is what a quality amp is all about. resistors, capacitors, etc come in different tolerances, and the bigger the tolerance, the cheaper the part. there could be 55mfd +/- 10% or a good company is going to use a 55mfd+/- 1%. see the sloppy difference? so just think that every time in the circuit the signal goes through a different component and gets distorted more and more away from the value it is supposed to be. that will affect how good the amp will sound.
add all this up (everything that has been discussed in this thread in the accompanying link), and that is why a 100w us amps will be cleaner and have more power than a 1000w legacy amp.

TURBHOE

iTrader: (4)

alrighty all makes since and i do know that alot of amps say one thing but when you install them they do another thats for sure. thanks for all the info again and how can you find out about these things like the tolerances they use in there amps and what freq they test at and so on?

95stroked1500

in general, the price tag will reflect it. you can call and ask their tech dept, but somethimes they might not even know or they'll feed you a line. some brands like helix advertise their build tolerances in their brochure's. you can usually assume, that the more you step up in any brand, the better it will be. like a company will have "entry" level, a line above that, and a high end line above that. car audio is like building car. you can spend X amount making a 13 second car. but to make a 12 second car, will cost you 2X, and an 11 second car will cost you 4X.
the best way you're going to find out what an amp will do, is to go around a listen for yourself. compare what you hear in different peoples systems.