Another PG addict joining the ranks...

Marcelbofh · Post by **Marcelbofh** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 1:29 pm

This corner seemed most suited to say hi and introduce myself, so here goes:

Hi, name's Marcel, a 36 years old dutchy, and long time PG fan. Bought my first MS amps in the early 90's, and fell in love instantly.(I did not even had my own car at that time)
I had at some point three MS275's and two MS2125's, but for some reason sold a couple (regretting that to this day).
Eventually ended up with a 275 and 2125 on its side, which I still have today. Mind you, I do love everything PG, but my heart is with the MS series.

Anyway,

I got into the Iasca scene, and decided to build me a winner as soon as I got myself a proper car.
Car came, but showbuild never happened for some reason (likely money related, cant remember)
Drove around with both the amps for a year or so with the 2125 bridged on two 124XS's and the 275 on a JBL gti composet (budget related)
Due to various circumstances I couldn't drive for one to two years, and had to store the car.
Amps got stored in the attic here in the last bit of the 90's, and I kind of forgot about them.

Or so I thought, most of you will likely agree that PG stuff keeps slumbering in the back of your mind, until the day you are ready to set them free again
(read: install and use them)
A couple years ago I took them out of their box again to clean them thoroughly, and install them back in my car.
For some reason I got halfway and (carefully) stored them away with the PCB's seperated from the heatsink
Again they got abandoned for some time, until recently.

Of course I lost pretty much all thermal pads, and for the life of me could not remember what kind they were, or even how to get them back where they belong the proper way.
Took safe route and started searching for help, while at the same time trying to get more amps.

Got lucky and snagged me a rather nice grey 275 for 100 bucks. And by now the MS virus really got back at full force.
Another auction drew my attention aswell, some guy named Nico (yip, Mr.boom) was selling a MS1K, which turned out to be the one in the buy/sell thread here.
Unfortunately my pockets weren't deep enough, so I had to let it go...

Last week I went on a new hunt, and noticed that Nico dude again, this time with loads of goodies. I also noticed he repaired the MS series for around ten years.
With my two babies still disassembled I gave him a ring for some info on how to breath life into them again, and for a heads up on what he still had left.
Got him on the line, nice chap, and sure enough the first few words I heard from him were the by now default:
"MS series you say? You should recap those you know.."
Now I already was planning on just that (been on this phorum for some years on and off as visitor) but had no way to do it myself.
I can do some soldering, but these irreplacable treasures are not to be done by me.

As it turned out we shared quite some history during the 90's and memory lane was trampled for a bit.
In the end the call lasted for atleast 1.5 hours, and I had completely forgotten what I called for in the first place.
By sheer luck I somehow ended up with Nico willing to replace the caps for me, and thus solving the transistor/heatsink problem at the same time.

Got called back by him the next day in response to my e-mail on the MPS2500 that got stuck in mind, and refusing to go away.
He still had it, and about halfway hearing his price I shot a "sold!" back in his general direction.

We set a date ("bring girlfriend, it'll be fun") and today we hopped over there with a backseat filled with MS amps.
Had loads of fun there, never knew there where other people still around with this kind of passion for the brand like myself
(same goes for this phorum btw)MPS2500 was bought, and left behind at the same time for recap aswell as my other amps.

Eventually when they are done (and again Nico, just take your time, no worries) the MS serie will be used for an oldskool build for myself.
While the MPS2500 most likely will be used for a build in my girlfriends car (one amp, everything homebuild passive filtered)
Of course both builds will show up here eventually in the proper section.

Hm, reading back I prolly could have just done a simple <short> "hi" I guess, but atleast know you guys know a bit of where I'm coming from, and where I'm headed...

gbody805 · Post by **gbody805** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 1:39 pm

Welcome to the Phorum man.

Good story

Hope to see pics of the builds your planning.

tonym · Post by **tonym** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 1:45 pm

welcome

Post by **joerg** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 1:47 pm

Welcome and have fun in here!

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 1:53 pm

Welcome here!

Post by **ttocs** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 6:46 pm

is yer girl gona get jelious of nico?

welcome to the addiction, adimitting it does nothing to help. I figure if I ever want to get over it I will finaly recognize ryval as product of pg and start buying them and if that doesn't do it I don't know what will..

tonym · Post by **tonym** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 7:21 pm

that was 1 hell of a first post....

Post by **stipud** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:01 pm

Dag Marcel! Welkom thuis!

Always nice to have another dutchee on board!

Nico really is an awesome guy. I have visited him several times already!

GX3 · Post by **GX3** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 11:53 pm

Welcome ..... Have you put any thought into an XVR passive Xover for your MPS2500 install?

GX3 · Post by **GX3** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 12:00 am

There is also a 2 way XVR. Just don't have any pics on file

dvnt88 · Post by **dvnt88** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 3:59 am

Welcome, great story.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:46 am

hiya,
it's good you've finally come to the meetings and said hello.

Thunderdome · Post by **Thunderdome** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 6:43 am

Hey welcome aboard

Marcelbofh · Post by **Marcelbofh** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 7:47 am

Thanks guys, for the warm welcome.

And yes GX3, I did consider just cheating it, and go for a prefab filter.
There's a couple of reasons why I decided <not as yet> to go that route.

First of all, I'm still stuck in oldskool mode, which pretty much means I am used to make stuff myself.
Back then it was nothing special if you rolled up your sleeves to create your own passive's, though it was considered SQ by default as soon as people got the filters in sight.
In my humble opinion, going passive is always best done the DIY way, as long as you know what you're doing.
Prefab filters are pretty much always safe averages to make them usable with a wide variety of speakers as far as I can tell.

Creating your own filters allows getting the frequencies for every speaker in the build just right.
Having the option to make the overlap between speakers/frequencies smaller if needed in a fuzzy car is quite a boon aswell.
For instance the mids on 12dB and the tweeter at 18dB in case the tweeter needs to shut the heck up a bit.
Going mental with a 24dB setup if the amp has the oomph for it (not forgetting speaker sensitivity) is something I'd like to (test) try someday.

Lastly, if the wallet has the stretch for it, DIY means better parts in the filter if the need is there to completely go overboard.

But to be honest, I do not know how the current prefab's are set up, and what to expect on the internal parts,
so it may well turn out to be a serious option to consider, just need to some reading on them I guess.

Advice was very much appreciated GX3, note to self has been made.

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 8:06 am

Welcome!!

Post by **Francious70** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 9:20 am

The Dutch, the Dutch, they're EVERYWHERE!!!

Lol, welcome aboard man.

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 9:59 am

WELCOME Marcel!

Nice story, in better English than I could have done it....
As a reaction to your trust in me, let me say that I have moved today to Rio De Janeiro with all your MS-amps and money

[JK]
It was impossible for me to refuse when you asked to recap your amps, though my wife looked at me "in that special way" when she heard about it.
Now I'll write you a review as well, so that I can warn everybody here for your "oldskool-mania" !
Have fun here, it's THE PLACE to be for you.

Marcelbofh · Post by **Marcelbofh** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:34 am

Proper measures already have been taken Nico, oh yes.
Noticed those innocent little gum bits in there labeled <not C4> ?
Ignore the little antenna poking out of it, for it does nothing, really nothing at all...

</evil mode>

And oh yes, I DO know that special look far too well, most of the time followed by a pair of rolling eyes right?

Thanks again for the welcome people, this is by far the best PG spot I have stumbled upon. Nicest place too, no lie...

Post by **stipud** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:37 am

Hey! If you are planning to build your own crossover network, you absolutely NEED to get ahold of martinkruit. He hasn't been active on the forum in a year or so, but he has an EMMA SQ competition car, with AMAZING home made passive crossover and time alignment networks

. Absolutely the craziest passive network I have ever seen! He should be a lot of help

http://phoenixphorum.com/member467.html

Marcelbofh · Post by **Marcelbofh** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 11:19 am

Correct Stipud, he already cought my attention on a Dutch forum with this install:
http://www.showyoursound.nl/Public/Show ... 28&Page=14
Link points to that particulair filter(ing)

Reason he and some other fella's made me pay attention was their devotion to the good old PG hardware (most of them also found their way to this phorum)

Only made my own filters for home audio so far (much easier when compared to in car filtering)
I don't think I have ever bought any factory speaker now that I think about it, always made my own (with various results to be honest)

I fell in love with the idea of an one-amp/all-passive build many, many years ago.
Remembering hard, I think it was a black Honda CRX (Del Sol) with Zapco gear in it, that made it pop in my head (late 90's show-winner)
That guy had some crazy filtering in there, and I even think they were the most expensive items of the build (mind you, all high-end in there)
At the time I had to let the wish go due to not having a proper amp for it.

But you guessed it, that MPS2500 just screams for it.
As a side bonus, the misses will have more room to cram useless junk in the trunk aswell (the more room, the happier GF's seem to get)

I do have to note, the install for the GF based on that MPS2500 will not happen soon though.
Because she now drives around with a not too bad setup (with the two 124XS's she robbed off of me) and is thinking about getting another car first.

Most likely my build will happen first, I'll just have to wait for Nico to return from Rio (and pray he did not touch that antenna...)

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:35 pm

Quote;.... And oh yes, I DO know that special look far too well, most of the time followed by a pair of rolling eyes right? [end of quote].....

.....YEP, RIGHT..............

.
Will be back from Rio ASAP Marcel, when the amps are sold, and your money is spend. [Then I'll have some cosmetic surgery , and come back looking like somebody else]

Post by **joerg** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:41 pm

nico boom wrote: As a reaction to your trust in me, let me say that I have moved today to Rio De Janeiro with all your MS-amps and money...

Don´t be afraid Nico! The huge grey-green thing with the statue on top u see is a hill!

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:53 pm

joerg wrote:
nico boom wrote: As a reaction to your trust in me, let me say that I have moved today to Rio De Janeiro with all your MS-amps and money...
Don´t be afraid Nico! The huge grey-green thing with the statue on top u see is a hill!

AHHHHH, Thanks Joerg! I already asked around about that "thing", but nobody speaks Dutch, and they all talk so strange here..

[Plus walked for miles on my wooden shoes, to find a cheese- shop, and couldn't find a flower-bulb shop either..]

Post by **joerg** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:58 pm

jbob0124 · Post by **jbob0124** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 2:19 pm

Welcome to the phorum Marcel, if you do decide to go with the XVR, I have one if you are interested.