Octane LE guts!

Post by **joerg** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:14 pm

I just figured out that the octane LE is one beautifully built amp!

Sorry, just quick cell pics!

Audiophiliac · Post by **Audiophiliac** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:23 pm

The Octane LE was always one of my favorite LE amps based on its capabilities. I think it would be slick with a custom aluminum cover for it rather than the original CF one. Even the CF one would look good without all the silk screening on it.

Post by **ttocs** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:34 pm

all the sild screening? the top has a design but the phoenix gold logo on top the shroude is the exposed alluminum that isn't painted. If you look in my avitar you can see in the bottom left corner where it is reflecting the blue leds around it. I liked the CF look personally, it was the style of the time before everyone had a CF.

How did you like taking all 20 of the 4 different sized screws out? I put a piece of 4" masking tape infront of the amp when I took it off and each screw after it was removed was placed on the strip directly below the hole to make it easy to get them all back in correctly. The leds are a bit of a pain to line up correctly as well.

Are you doing a cap swap?

Post by **ttocs** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:40 pm

can you get us some better, more detailed pics? is there an adj for the base cube like there is on the normal one? I meant to check and forgot.

Have you powered it up yet? Mine has an accasional power supply hum that come from the mids/highs side of the amp but I am not sure if it is that or a fan going bad. I have heard of others having some noise and was wondering if yours had it.

One other piece of advice if you are going to use it, put some sound damping on the back as it can rattle.

Post by **joerg** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:44 pm

ttocs wrote: How did you like taking all 20 of the 4 different sized screws out? I put a piece of 4" masking tape infront of the amp when I took it off and each screw after it was removed was placed on the strip directly below the hole to make it easy to get them all back in correctly. The leds are a bit of a pain to line up correctly as well.

Are you doing a cap swap?

I did´t take that long to take all the screws out but the 3 leds for sure suck!

Was a pain in the ass to get them back in their holes when i put the cover back on! The caps are ok and there´s no need to replace the caps at this nice piece of Phoenix Gold history. I just opened it because i wanted to see what it looks like from the inside. And i cleaned the inside. Mosly dust around the fan inlets.

Post by **joerg** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:53 pm

ttocs wrote:can you get us some better, more detailed pics? is there an adj for the base cube like there is on the normal one? I meant to check and forgot.

Have you powered it up yet? Mine has an accasional power supply hum that come from the mids/highs side of the amp but I am not sure if it is that or a fan going bad. I have heard of others having some noise and was wondering if yours had it.

One other piece of advice if you are going to use it, put some sound damping on the back as it can rattle.

I took some more pics with my camera but left the cable for pic transfer in my firm. So monday will be the earliest time for more pictures.

There is no poti for adjusting the basscube like in the real one.

Powered it up and didn´t make any unusal noises.

I won´t change a thing on it as this might go to kg1961. But we will see when he returns from mexico.

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 9:43 pm

I like the looks of this amp...

One day, I'll buy an Octane LE and a Roadster 66 for collecting purpose only... But now it is not the right time....

Joerg... You need to buy a new phone, those pics are not even close to good, hehe...

Post by **Eric D** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:10 am

I don't want to burst your bubble, as I really like the Octane LE myself and would love to own one, but it is more of a "hack job" than anything. Getting two boards in there and working together requires a lot of loose wires, and funky alterations to the original boards. On the outside the amp is a work of art. On the inside it is messy at best.

Post by **ttocs** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:42 am

have you really seen one with the cover off? Remember that it only works with one rca input and from what I remember it used the mids/highs amp to feed the basscube, to feed the sub portion?

I know when I had all 33"/30lbs of it naked infront of me I was impressed, but maybe we are just made to but heads on every topic?

Post by **Eric D** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 9:56 am

I have not seen it in person. 6 years ago a friend of mine in CA bought one and took it all apart for me to see what was going on. It was a hack job.

Don't get me wrong, that does not mean the amp is junk by any means. I still would like to have one myself. It just is not as nice of a design as a Reactor for example. Running two boards together is a mess, trust me, I know from trying to build the MQ475. My amp is becoming a hack job as well.

Post by **ttocs** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 10:01 am

maybe his had been repaired or something, it is really a solid looking amp Maybe the higher rez pics will show a little more.

One other piece of advice in handling it in case you didn't know, watch out for the paint on the edges. I noticed some of mine was starting to lift a litte on corners mainly. I think they had a hell of a time getting a good solid finish to stick on that material from the Ti amps to this. One thing that could have been improved for longterm use but how do you know what will happen 10-15 yrs after? Even paint needs maint...

Post by **Eric D** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 4:44 pm

The amp has ribbon cables under and over boards, jumper wires from the power supply to the capacitor bank, and a very scary way of putting the two power supplies together. This is pretty far from a "clean" design.

You can see what I am talking about in the above photos. The amp is very messy.

I think what they should have done is just put two separate Ti400.2 amps in the case like on an Outlaw for example, and then stuck a separate PowerCore in the middle with all its terminals stock. This way you can use what ever parts of it the way you want too.

I am confident if one part of the Outlaw LE broke, the entire amp would go up in smoke. The rail based power core could easily cause a shorted transistor to explode and burn a hole in the circuit board.

Post by **ttocs** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 4:51 pm

so there would be 3 sets of power terminals on the side?

Post by **Eric D** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 4:58 pm

ttocs wrote:so there would be 3 sets of power terminals on the side?

What, if I built it?

If I built it there would be all the terminals of two Ti400.2s, and a PowerCore. Just all three under the same chassis. Both Ti400.2s would have crossovers, RCA input and outputs, LPL, the works.

Post by **ttocs** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 5:05 pm

this was the first amp to not do that, I liked the simplicity of install to tell you the truth and would have loved for them to make only one power hook up to make it really look like one amp. What if then integrated one of the lit up dist blocks on the front with one big fuggin 0 gauge input right in the middle?

I love to tell people I have a small system in the truck with a single 10", some componant speakers and a single amp(insert shit-eatin-grin smiley).