That can be fixed, but it will be quite a bit of work.

Yes, you want the 4 red LEDs to light up. In your case, you could have a lot of possible problems. Any short in an output transistor, or any of the upstream transistors which make up "triple-darlington", will cause significant current draw. There are some fusable resistors sitting around t...

My approach to everything is generally "simple and cheap". I would install a system, and then listen too it. If I never heard any hiss, I would leave it as is. If however, I did hear some hiss in the system, I would install a line driver first to reduce it. If that did not work to my requi...

Yes, all that Symbilink is, is a balanced setup, using their own small keyboard style connector. I would not doubt if you could make a harness to adapt a PG TBAT to a Symbilink receiver (like in a Zapco amp), or the other way around. It would all depend on what voltage the Symbilink and PG setups ar...

Tap into the internal guts on a deck you like send the digital signal to the bit-one, and then buy a remote volume control for up front.

Coaxial digital input is just as good as optical. So, if you have that in both items it would work as well.

Also, M series amps clip with 8V input. I think when I tested it, they only accept about 3V prior to clipping. So, you won't need anything between your bit one and your M series amps. (keep in mind, 2V was the norm back when these amps were being made). I have modified M series amps for members here...

If by Eric, you mean me, I don't think I ever claimed to hear a difference between a balanced and unbalanced cable. In some cases, I would guess, myself (or nearly anyone) would hear a difference in the level of "hiss" in the background. The main goal of balanced is to improve signal to no...

I will only pay for a name when I am getting something with that name. If Phoenix Gold took Jensen amplifiers right off the Jensen assembly line, and put their logo on it and stuck it in a box, I would buy the Jensen instead if it cost 1/3 the price. This is assuming the product performs as PG amps ...

I have only used sound deadening products once on a personally related (friend or family) system. I used Cascade VB-2 to seal holes in the rear deck of a system I was doing two infinite baffle subs in. Otherwise, I have never installed any in a system I have owned, or even any in a friends system. H...

Name brand sound deadener is so expensive, keep in mind if you could do one layer of something name brand, you can probably do three (or more) layers of a non car audio product you find at Lowes or Home Depot (like ice guard for example). 3 Layers of something cheap are likely going to way outperfor...

With an isobaric setup, you run twice the power to twice the coils, because the dual motors have twice the force, so you can get by with half the box size. Well, audio manufacturers took note of this and started building subs with bigger coils, bigger magnets, and stronger overall parts. I would say...

Once you go M, you never go back...

http://www.soundbuggy.com/Eric/Car%20Au ... index.html

There is a link in there for the caps you need.

If it happens at random, but the other amps don't do it, then yes I would believe there is something wrong with the ZX450.

If you hear a pop when changing songs, I am guessing this would be a problem with your head unit, not your amplifier. Even though it does not happen with your Alpine amplifier, the problem is still likely related to the head unit. My guess is the head unit has a muting circuit, which does something ...

Batteries and capacitors store charge. Charge is basically electrons. When charge (electrons) flow, you have current. Their potential to flow is voltage. Batteries have a fixed voltage. A car battery is around 12.6V. If you drain it down to 5V, it is useless. It will maintain around 12.6V until it i...

Also of note, if you are playing a sine wave on an amplifier, the current demand by that amplifier is sinusoidal as well. At the highest peak in the output signal, the amp is drawing the most current. This is true on the flip side at the lowest point in the signal (negative voltage). If your amplifi...

I personally have never upgraded an alternator in any system I have ever worked on or been involved with. I don't think the shop I worked at had ever upgraded one either. I know for a time there was a PG alternator in the display case for like $250 or something, but I don't think anyone ever bought...

I just finished building a set of these... http://www.diysoundgroup.com/coaxial-speaker-kits/volt-10lxe.html They blew me away. I purchased them with the ported flat pack to use as surround speakers. Now that I finished them and took a listen, I am dumping my Klipsch speakers and going with more of ...

I would guess anyone can hear a difference when it means being able to turn a head unit up 3 more increments than you normally could. Also, it is very easy to hear a difference between a severely clipping amplifier and one which is not, in my example, the cap kept the amp playing cleanly past where ...

Personally I have never installed a cap in any system of mine. This is largely because I tend to run oversized amplifiers for my need, and don't run them at the extremes. Their internal power supply can do quite well like this. The very first experience I had with a cap was my friend buying a 1 fara...

If you had the world's best battery and alternator, plus a huge power wire, the current won't get to the amplifier as fast as a capacitor right next too it can deliver it. This is not really my opinion, it is physics, along with Ohm's law. Can current getting to an amplifier faster than before be a ...

As you place a load on an amp, the internal rail voltage will sag. This happens even more on an unregulated amp like most PGs are. The number one cause of distortion is going to be "clipping" where the voltage sags far enough to be heard through the speakers. Adding a capacitor (any amount...