Phoenix Gold Phorum

Hi all.
Yeah I’m new to this site and a PG noob as well. I’ve been wanting one of these amps for years but not only are they rare to find up here in Ontario but I could never bring myself to fork out the huge cost of one.
Well it looks like I finally have one on the way, a new Ti500.4 that will be replacing my trusty old Clarion APA4162, an amp that has served me flawlessly and sounded very good.
The reason I’m posting in here is to get some of your expert feedback on how I plan to use the PG.
The Clarion is also 4 ch and has been hooked up to 2 8” RS duel voice coil Bazooka passive tubes. I don’t think people usually use 4ch amps to power subs unless they plan to hook 2 ch to the front stage and the other 2 bridged to the subs, but not only am I very happy with the sound power and clarity from my ProSeries Clarion deck feeding Fusion components in the front, but I don’t want to go through the trouble of rewiring everything up front to work with an amp. It was already a difficult install in this car the way it is.
Plus with using 2 duel vc subs, the necessary hook up configuration of a separate 2 ch amp or a mono amp is not what I’m comfortable with doing.
Although the PG is probably better able to run clean and stable while bridged than many other amps, I always prefer to run an amp in what I believe is its most optimum configuration, which is straight dedicated connections to each vc with everything at 4ohms. With this, it is my understanding that the amp will then run its cleanest and coolest with the highest possible dampening factor.
Some may say that separate channels running to each vc on the same driver might risk unmatched signals thereby causing potential distortion and damage to the driver, but I’ve been very carful of the connections and amp setting and those tubes have sounded very tight, clean and musical; plus the vc’s in the Bazookas are both wound on one single cylinder (or whatever you call that thing) and that should minimize the possibility of damage from conflicting vc’s.
However, I am prepared to find out that I’m totally out to lunch on all this and would appreciate your thoughts on the whole thing.

So why am I switching amps? first of all, the PG is twice the power which should allow those reference series tubes to come more to life, and second, its a PG; need I say more?
Thanks

Clarions amp was a 40 X 4 @ 4 ohms. I had a APA4160 and loved it. I sold it to a friend and have since told him when he goes to sell it, I want it back. I even ran the rear 2 chs bridged at 2 ohms and she took it w/ease. But the PG amp should serve well. Enjoy it.

^ Yeah I'm hoping it makes a very noticeable difference.

Here's the setup as it is now.
Other than the shop owner who sold me the subs, I've never met anybody else who uses Bazooka in their car. Maybe it's because he's the only shop around here that sells them. They're not well know up in these parts.

The Reference Series are a very serious and musical sub but the straps and little tie-down braces that come with them are garbage, so I built this platform with hooks on the edges and use strong rubber bungees to hold them in place. Works great.

i had a 6" bazooka like 8 years ago in my truck.

it really soured me on the bazooka name and i never went back.

I had one of their 6" tubes many years ago as well. An EL powered one.
If it was one like that then yeah the lower series powered tubes are pretty week. The Reference Series passives are the way to go.

And here it is - thanks to '4EVER PG'
It arrived as beautiful and new as Chris said.
Now I just have to figure out what to treat it with to prevent rust.
Then I have to figure out some of these unfamiliar controls so I can get it right with 2 duel vc subs.

I love amp porn.

That's slick man, You'll love it.

you can spray it down with a "Matte finish" clear coat, or wax it. Either of these options will work to keep it from rusting.

Thanks

Actually, just before I took this shot I gave it a coat of Maguires Tech Wax. lol
The clear coat spray idea would probably work but I'm so afraid of applying something that will be almost impossible to get off if I frack it up and it looks like shite.
I'm also thinking of wiping the inside of the case with a towel dampened with Rustcheck. I tell ya, those car-care products are good for so many things.

fordtough1 wrote:I love amp porn.

That's slick man, You'll love it.

lol I know what you mean.
Select pieces of high-end car audio and also some vintage home amps can give me a semi just lookin' at 'em.

grats on the amp! Welcome to the forums!

Thanks man!

Got some questions here; I'm looking through the manual and it says a minimum 4 gauge power/ground wire is required or the warranty is void.
I obviously don't have a warranty but they must be saying that for a reason.
I don't know if my wire is that heavy but I will be running 4 ohm only on all 4 channels so I'm wondering if what they say is all that critical.

They also say to use minimum 16 gauge speaker wire. Again I don't know the gauge of what I have but I am using 2 sets on each duel vc driver so I'm hoping that will be enough.
I'm not too worried about having to replace the speaker wire but it will be more trouble if I have to get new power wire and snake it through from the battery to the back.

Also the manual seems a little unclear when it say; "Remember to properly fuse this cable within 18" of the amplifier and the positive battery terminal"
Are they saying to install 2 fuses? - 1 at each end? You cannot have 1 fuse that is within 18" from both the amp and the battery, unless you keep your amp in the engine bay.

Meaning 1 at the battery and 1 back at the amp. Both as close to the amp and batt as possible.

More amp porn for you PG pervs!

I thought I'd take some pics of the internals while I had it open to give the inside case a thin coat of rustproofing.















Anybody know what these numbers can tell me about the amp?
Doesn't look like any Japan parts in there, but I wouldn't know.

Also, what are those red led's under the left side window? The manual doesn't say anything about them.