what's this amp worth?
 

I got quite the dilemma. I just fried this amp:
http://www.drdetailshop.com/vd2500.1.htm

for $280 i can send it back to directed and have them fix it. Is it worth it? I figure a new somewhat decent amp will cost around $150 so no matter what, ill be spending at least that. I know this is more personal opinion, but is it worth the extra $130 to have this really good amp instead of a 'decent' amp? Obviously, if i can sell this amp for more than $280 then no matter what it is worth having fixed, but would it be worth that much? more?

Added factor: Scott on GMfullsize thinks i fried this amp because my mtx black golds (150w rms each) could not handle the 1500w rms so the ohm load dropped and fried the amp. If this is true, I would need to buy new subs so that is added cost. Or I could throw this viper amp away, and buy a new amp matching these black gold subs' needs.
But this amp also could have fried for other reasons.

HELP ME DECIDE!!! thanks for any opinions

The subs didn't blow because there was too much power. What was the voice coil configuration of the subs and how was it wired? That amp is NOT 1 ohm stable and you may have wired it that way.

If your looking for a new amp in that power range(1500 at 4 ohms) my guess woud be around 300 - 350

I've never heard of that particular brand myself. At those power levels I would think the the speakers would go long before the amp. Like the first time you turned it up. How long was it installed before it went out. Try this. http://www.crutchfield.com/S-xJDNP9N...20&cc=07&avf=N I get my stuff here, it has the full warranty and is discounted. I would toss the amp, but before doing so open it up and take a look around. It may have just fried the main ground to the main board. I had an amp do that once, actually it did it three times then stopped working completely. good luck

Here i just found this. http://www.solarcraftaudio.com/ampsg.htm As i suspected the it's a pos amp. No offense, but you dont sell an amp for 800 bucks then put it on sale for 400. Its a different model but you get the point.

Drop don't try to fix something that is already broke. Take the hit and buy something else or try and sell the amp to someone you don't know for parts. You are putting more time and energy into a crappy amp then it would take to just buy a new amp. Stick with JL Audio, MTX, Kicker, and stay away from those off brands. Just because that link SAYS its a $1200 amp, doesn't mean it is. :judge:

What the hell? Directed makes very good amps for the money...certainly better then emptyx.

i appreciate the help and opinions from everyone but just to clarify. Those saying this amp sucks i think might not have gotten into the car audio scene before Viper was around. Viper was a premier car audio sub company of Directed (orion, polk audio). the amp is very much likely to have the power it is rated at and should be a very nice amp, just old. it is NOT like one of those Legacy brands that say 2000watts peak! and really have like 100w. So for those trying to help me to decide that aren't sure about this amps true specs...just ASSUME that i know what i am talking about or at least pretend that i do and base your opinion that this is a very nice, 2500w rms @ 2 ohm, 1500w rms @ 4 ohm amplifier. so IF that were true...think it is worth the near $300 to fix and buy new subs? i think the deal breaker will be if they warantee their refurbishing in case this same thing happens again.

Sorry I didn't mean to say that the BRAND Viper was crappy, I was merely saying that your specific amp was crappy. If you can get a warranty I would go with that. I like MTX, I think its a great brand for the money. I have had a lot of luck with the brands that I listed. Directed makes great stuff as well, I have never used anything of theres amp wise, only 6x9 speakers. And you are right about the Legacy or BOSS amps with the 2,000,000,000 watts of peak power.

And I just thought that the $1200 price tag in the link was just a little excess. I just think people should know that just because there is a MSRP doesn't mean that is what the product is worth.

100% agreed upon there, but i would bet this amp still costs a good bet new. and you might be right about the crappy amp. i emailed the old owner to see how long he had it. if he had it since new, it is probably something i did (it probably is something i did anyway...i shouldnt be allowed to have nice things)

Haha O well live and learn.....you gotta break a few things before you get it right

talked to the local audio shop. They do very high end work for douche bags with exotic cars. the two guys i talked to said i should definitely get it repaired and they agreed that the amp probably was not getting enough voltage due to starting at the jumper box isntead of the battery (jumper box is connected to battery with approx 1 foot of 4 gauge) and also possibly poor ground (two 4 ft 4 gauge wires to BODY, not frame. So it looks like ill be sending this bastard in for repairs, and ill fix anything that has to do with voltage drop: better ground, power straight from battery, upgrade terminals that connect to battery and fuses

they said my ebay 0 gauge wire should be ok

0 ga?!? how big was that amp again? i am running 0ga. to 3 amps....wouldnt think you would need that big of wire for that small of an amp.....

2500 w rms

i stand corrected, i did not realize the awesomeness of that amp.....for $300!! that is an awesome cost to power ratio. what subs are you going to run on it now?

no idea...ive been out of the car audio world for a while...recommendations?
im looking for two 10's. i built small (about .78ft^3 each) boxes (3/4" mdf) with about 5.5" of available mounting depth. I could of course cut the hole bigger and stuff 12's in there too if they meet my box specs. I have not yet decided how much i am willing to spend. I guess it really depends on what the best quality to money ratio is, but certainly no more than $350-$400 (maybe only even $200-$250) for the pair. i will likely buy used since you can get really good deals that way. one friend recommended Xtant's but not sure. what you all think? oh yea, i can sell my mtx 10" black golds for some extra cash, but i doubt i can get much for em since both of the rubber surrounds are punctured and sealed with silicone. open to all recommendations (i like SQ and i DO like loud as well)

im going to get polyfil as well so i guess that would 'make' my boxes about .9-1ft^3 each

oh yea, to get my amp's max potential, ill probably be loookin for two SVC 4 ohm subs (amp is 1500rms @ 4 ohm, 2500w @ 2ohm)

i do not believe you are gonna be able to find 10's that are only 5.5" deep and able to take 1250w rms, and if you do i dont think it will be that cheep....your best bet is to get dual 4ohm subs (dual voice coil subs can usually handle more power then single voice coil) and parallel each sub then series the subs together to get a 4 ohm load at the amp.....here are some 10" subs that will take the 1500w rms at a 4 ohm load.....

http://www.kicker.com/06/kicker_home.html

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...n_US&p_status=

https://ssl.perfora.net/www.ficaraud...iew.shopscript

http://www.jbl.com/car/products/prod...at=SUB&ser=GTI

http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_subs.php?series_id=5

http://www.mtx.com/caraudio/products...hunder8500.cfm

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pn...tailsComponent

these are just a few that would work power wise, however; they are all a little out of the price range you stated and i think the closest depth wise will be the Fi but all others are too deep for your box so you might have to do some modification to make them fit :judge: ......if all else fails you could just remove your back seat and put one of these in.......

http://www.mtx.com/caraudio/products...jackHammer.cfm :jest:

those fi subs look interesting. my box is 7" tall. i used 3/4" mdf. i think this means i actually have 6.25" of mounting depth avail. i liked those Fi subs...ill see if i can find a deal on a used set. I like to be different so i would probably shy away from most the brands you named (although im sure they are good stuff) unless i saw a good deal on em.

Do you know much about the xtant subs? they seem to be priced well (used for a little under $100).

As far as wiring goes, i figure i might as well shoot for a 2ohm load so i get the extra 1000w on the amp so that would mean i should go for dual 2ohm subs then do parallel / series

lastly (on this post anyway), are my punctured mtx black golds worth anything? if not, i can send them back to mtx and they will discount me on a purchase of a new mtx sub. unfortunately, that mtx 8500 sub no where near meets my specs but if i got a good enough discount, i could buy one and then sell it to get some cash for those Fi's or Xtants (or whatever). This would only be worth the hassle if i couldnt get much for the punctured subs on say ebay or somethin so what you think? (they are sealed well with silicone but it just doesnt look good)

o i see you said i should go for a 4 ohm load. you think it would be wreckless to overpower the subs? the fi subs want 1600w, you think its better to give them 1500w rather than 2500w? id be very careful with the gain

dont know much about the Xtant subs as i have never had any, all the name brands i mentioned earlier i have had or installed with the exception of the Fi subs which i just became aware of. check www.onlinecarstereo.com for some good deals on brand new stuff (its really priced good for never being opened).

as for how much you can get out of the subs it just depends if there is someone out there that wants those exact subs or not. they are $140 brand new from what i have seen but you can get brand new subs off ebay for half off ($200 Alpine Type R for $90 brand new) so i wouldnt expect to get much out of them since they are punctured. if you dont find anyone that wants them or send them back to mtx then pm me and i might shoot you a price for them.

the reason i said go with a 4ohm load is bc you said in an earlier post that the reason your amp fried was because the subs were way over powered. that being said, and assuming you dont want to go down that road again, i say give em 1500w rms even though they need 1600w you can just make the box on the larger side of the recommended specs to make up for the extra 100w rather than giving them 1000w more than what they need and possibly risk blowing the subs or frying the amp again......IMHO of course

thanks for the help. as far as how i fried the amp: one person that seems to be knowlegeable thinks i fried it buy over powering the subs but everyone else seems to disagree. the generally accepted 'theory' which i am thinking is most likely is that the voltage dropped due to:
- getting power from the alternator jumper box instead of directly off battery. this is bad because the box is connected to the battery with a single 1-2 ft 4 ga wire.
- cheap wire terminals at fuses, jumper box, ground
- ground to the body and not the frame (even though i sanded body down, apparently it's still not as good)

I'm going to see if i can find some of those Fi subs. I'll give it like 2 weeks to find a deal and whichever i find (2ohm DVC / 4 ohm DVC) is what I'll get, so ill let fate decide that. And if i can't find those, i might be stuck buying/making a new box.

after shopping for a few months (i did not yet have my truck), i bought the black golds for $200 shipped. that seemed to be the best i could do but i dont know what the puncture will do to my selling price.

Drop: for future reference keep all your connections as short at possible especially your ground. 0 gauge wire is perfect to run to any quality amp because it really maximizes the amp's potential.

yeah you really shouldnt run anything to the jumper box bigger than what already there.....grounding to the body is fine as long as you scrape away the paint and preferably use some star washers that bite into the metal so the wire doesnt move on the screw....hope you get those fi subs so you can tell me what the sound like, i am curious.

Thomas, I'm dropping two 12" Fi SSD's into my truck hopefully this weekend, ported @ 33hz for a nice mix of spl and sq...i'll take some pics and post them up here with what I think about them if your interested.

what did you pay for em? new/used? let us all know how the suckers work

Brand new, I think ran about 480 Canadian. I got the copper coils added on, according to the owner will let the subs get lower in the same enclosure compared to non copper in the same box. They also come with flatwind(costs extra) lets you dump more power into them. I didn't see the point as I'm not feeding them mass amounts of power, only about 750 watts per sub.

yaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!!!! finally some first hand experience with the ol' Fi's, i can barely hold my excitement. have been looking at getting some for sometime now i have just been sceptical as there is no shop around here that has them and i rarely buy any audio unless i have heard it first. Thanks for bein the guinea pig Cam :)

hopefully 10's compare to 12's if you like those 12's

should be the same except the 12's might hit a tad lower than the 10's

and louder right?

the deeper notes will make the 12's heard farther away and possibly a little more on the db meter but all in all a 12" is not always louder than a 10" just hits deeper notes because the cone and magnet and spider and so on are all bigger....

Please, never recommend a set up based on how far away you can be and still hear it. People like that are what is ruining the hobby for other people.

Hitting deeper notes doesn't depend on the size of the sub, it depends on the quality of the sub and sub/amp set up. A 12 is not going to hit a "deeper" note is is going to give you the impression of a fuller sound. Its really easy to buy some junk 12's and throw a semi decent high powered amp on there and get some really full bass. I believe it was a point made before about the Hz created by different types of subs. Subs that are heard from a distance and rattle someones trunk are the epitome of a classless junkie audio setup.

i gotchuh, and bowtie was comparing the same exact 10" sub to the same exact 12" sub(the Fi's previously talked about), in which case i would assume he's right. we all know there are some choch 12's out there that will be outperformed by nice 8's. I've always been a fan of 10's over 12's because they seem to recoil faster for my music with double bass (less muddy) but again, that is only if you are comparing the same two subs, just different sizes

I was more or less just throwing out my 2 cents

yeah i was comparing the same name brand fi subs 10" and 12"......deff. some 10" could outperform lesser 12" but thats kinda like comparing apples to oranges when you compare a sub that cost $60 and one that cost $500........and i am sure the people that have subs you can hear a mile away think thats a hobby too :jest:

It's a shafty hobby. I'm not paying 1K dollars in sound system for someone else to enjoy it. Then steal it.

I ran into a snag today, blew the fuse in my distro block so I have to wait until I get a new one in. Which will most likely be the middle of next week.

ahhhhhhhhh......hurry up and get that dude hooked up!!! :judge: i am curious as to what they sound like.... :secret2:

Just a reminder their ported, sealed will sound much different..

yes sir, should be dang loud with the doors open and about 10ft away :)

Just get em in there already!!!

You are helping me decide if it's worth the money to get the Fi's or :

used Orion HP12's : $190 shipped (pair) also cool cuz i can fit 12's into the box i have with these

used Orion HCCA's 10's : $270 shipped (pair)

new Fi SSD's 10" : $360 shipped

so yea, the Fi's im sure are the best but are the Fi 10's $170 better than the Orion HP12's? are they $90 better than the pretty well proven HCCA's?