Got to love the UPS guy...

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Eric D
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Got to love the UPS guy...

Post by Eric D »

Another bundle of joy in the mail today...
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Got "schooled" by member shawn k on May 10th, 2011...
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Post by Audiophiliac »

This is the one I am hoping will find its way to my car. :) Hopefully it performs as well as the monoblock.

I am sure you will, but give us a real world comparison to its larger brother Ti800.4. While I would rather have the Ti, my budget and space restraints will fit this little guy much better. I would be running it in 3 ch. mode on fronts and a sub. :)
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Eric D
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Post by Eric D »

I can setup a nice 3-channel setup on my test bench with a sub I have.

I am going to try and get my LMS computer up and running. I would like to do some loaded frequency plots on this amp to see if it can handle it.
Got "schooled" by member shawn k on May 10th, 2011...
No longer really "in tune" with the audio industry, and probably have not been for some time.
Hands down the forum's most ignorant member...
Don't even know what Ohm's law is...
ttocs
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Post by ttocs »

I hate your ups driver.





























I am not sure how ups found a former nascar driver/track star but he is one hell of a ringer :shifty: ......
what else can I say I am a grumpy asshole most of the time.
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denim
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Post by denim »

I am jealous, looking forward to the review! :)
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Eric D
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Post by Eric D »

I unboxed the S400.4 today and hooked it up for a listen. This is certainly a unique amplifier.

It has "virtually" no idle current.

From what I can tell idle current is in the very low mA range. The lowest I have seen on any amp ever.

In the case of a M25 for example (I love to compare other amps to the M25), if you hook power and remote to a M25, but no RCAs or speakers, and then turn the M25 on, it will get quite hot in a short period of time. It has a pretty high bias, which means pretty high idle current, and more heat.

At this point, I can only think of two reasons why the S400.4 might have such low idle current...

1) Some sort of idle shutdown. If no signal is present on the line input, the amp may go into a "sleep" state to limit heat production.

2) The amp is actually Class B, not Class A/B. The Class A part of a Class A/B design is where a lot of the idle current comes from. I might be able to verify this when I look for crossover distortion while the amp is loaded.

If you happen to be thinking Class B, what the hell? Take a step back first. I have only built one audio amplifier myself several years ago. What I built was "high feedback Class B". It sounded great (for being only 5W or so). With high feedback you throw away a lot of the output voltage to instead make what output voltage you do have very clean. Pretty much all car audio amps I have worked with have some sort of feedback. In the case of Class B, if you have enough feedback, you find the crossover distortion actually goes away. I would never have believed this myself until I saw it first hand with the amp I had built.

So, there is a chance this amp is Class B.

Also, I am listening to it as I write this post and it sounds great so far. It has been playing bridged for about a half hour now at pretty high output levels and is just getting warm. Fan still has not come on.

For the most part, Class A/B has become a marketing bullet more than anything. For years I have wondered why no one made a nice Class B amp. If this is Class B, then maybe PG is one of the first to take a risk and make something more efficient.
Got "schooled" by member shawn k on May 10th, 2011...
No longer really "in tune" with the audio industry, and probably have not been for some time.
Hands down the forum's most ignorant member...
Don't even know what Ohm's law is...
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twista17
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Post by twista17 »

hi i'm now running the S400.4 amp in my camry and could not agree more on eric on how good it sounds. and yes it does not draw up a lot of current in fact i only noticed around 0.5v difference in my voltage meter when the system is playing loud as compared to in normal listening volume.

the component kit i am using does not seem as "bright" as when i still had the US amps installed.

by the way, this is a paired up with the following gear:
Alpine CDA-9887
Prototype Aluminum cone MB and TW kit
Phoenix Gold R2.10 10" subwoofer in a ported box
Stinger 4ga amp kit
Stock Camry battery

overall, i like the amp and it feels as if it makes its rated power with no problem. and i am surprised how it was able to handle the 400watt sub with precision! its not a powerhouse but its an excellent amp for low power needs.

just my 2 cents worth... :)
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tonym
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Post by tonym »

ttocs wrote:I hate your ups driver.
do you like mine?
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Rold Gold
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Post by Rold Gold »

If she was my UPS driver I'd go broke paying freight......
Those tender little burgers with them little, itty-bitty grilled onions that just explode in ya mouth like flavor crystals every time you bite into one.. just makes me want to burn this muthafuka down.... Come on, Pookie, let's burn this muthafuka down!!!
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Bfowler
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Post by Bfowler »

get ready for some "my package" jokes!
my ex-girlfriend said "its car audio or me"
i've had tougher choices at a soda machine...
ttocs
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Post by ttocs »

if that was his ups driver, there would be a missing person alert on her, a stolen amp report filed by amp as well as an APB out on me :drool: ......





in reality I see it happening more like smokey and the bandit and when I pulled up in my stang(modern day version) she would just hop in the car, amp in hand.
what else can I say I am a grumpy asshole most of the time.
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smgreen20
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Post by smgreen20 »

I like the pats express box on the dolly.


Just for you Brian, but ....She could handle my package. Special delivery.
"ZPA's will have the same sound essentially as you get from the MS, they just feature a bigger shinier set of balls."

Install:
http://phoenixphorum.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=16998
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Bfowler
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Post by Bfowler »

oh, i'll bet she handled it with care. even if it was marked for express delivery.
my ex-girlfriend said "its car audio or me"
i've had tougher choices at a soda machine...
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fuzzysnuggleduck
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Post by fuzzysnuggleduck »

Bfowler wrote:oh, i'll bet she handled it with care. even if it was marked for express delivery.
Yeah right, as if UPS handles anything with care!

It was tugged on, jammed into spaces it wouldn't fit, thrown off the truck and generally abused. Smgreen's insurance claim has also been denied.

Edit: :D :D :D :D :D
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waynehead
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Post by waynehead »

lol i took a picture of a package i recently received via ups. One corner was smashed in completely and one side had a boot print in it clear as day. I meant to post it on here to rant but forgot until this post. picture coming soon.
We don't need no stinkin' bass boost!
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bretti_kivi
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Post by bretti_kivi »

my package I picked up today was fine ?!

If they're too light, they get thrown around. Moral? make it 30lb+. The last light one was 7kg and that was in awful condition. The big ones are generally fine.

Bret
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smgreen20
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Post by smgreen20 »

Any further updates on the review Eric?
"ZPA's will have the same sound essentially as you get from the MS, they just feature a bigger shinier set of balls."

Install:
http://phoenixphorum.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=16998
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Eric D
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Post by Eric D »

I had a few people with computer problems, so I had to clean off my test bench and work on those. I hope to have the whole review done within a week.
Got "schooled" by member shawn k on May 10th, 2011...
No longer really "in tune" with the audio industry, and probably have not been for some time.
Hands down the forum's most ignorant member...
Don't even know what Ohm's law is...
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smgreen20
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Post by smgreen20 »

Thanks for the response. Just wanted to make sure I didn't miss something.
"ZPA's will have the same sound essentially as you get from the MS, they just feature a bigger shinier set of balls."

Install:
http://phoenixphorum.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=16998
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tonym
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Post by tonym »

Eric D wrote:I had a few people with computer problems, so I had to clean off my test bench and work on those. I hope to have the whole review done within a week.
talk about computer problems


my rack at ashburn equinix dc4 :) I need to move it over to the new datacenter dc5 next weekend :(

gigabit connect to the web
10 gig fiber x-over to main newsgroup indexer at dc3
2x 30 amp circuts
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fuzzysnuggleduck
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Post by fuzzysnuggleduck »

Lot's of HP in there, one Dell, a few whiteboxes but no IBM... hehehe.
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tonym
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Post by tonym »

fuzzysnuggleduck wrote:Lot's of HP in there, one Dell, a few whiteboxes but no IBM... hehehe.
yeah the hp's were a steal....ibm was 4x the cost for less machine

3 dells there also....just 1 in its orig case still old 2650...they work well for what they do...all run freebsd but the dells...they run openBSD
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AAMP217
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Post by AAMP217 »

Can't wait for the review!
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