MPH6300 up close and personal

The Golden One · Post by **The Golden One** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 6:58 pm

im not thinking looks were the major concern when they built that amp. most amps that look bad that you wouldnt think sound good put much better looking amps to shame sound wise.it may be the most ugly looking amp ever made that being said it must also be the best sounding amp ever made as well.

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:44 pm

hmm, sounds to me like you should just leave it out by the mexicans at home depot...thanks...my pole

KUB3 · Post by **KUB3** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 11:59 pm

Have you considered binning the guts, getting some Frank metal flake on it, then putting in three MS275?

eulogious · Post by **eulogious** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 11:59 pm

Seeing this amp in person is awesome

Love the pics, but they just don't do it any justice. Once you see it in person, you kinda forget that's it's "ugly" and are just consumed by pretty gold and lots of pretty components. Maybe that's just me...

itchnertamatoa · Post by **itchnertamatoa** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 12:06 am

one hell of an amp

don't worry green, they will stay in the family, both of them, together ....

Tiger · Post by **Tiger** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 1:06 am

Yup... Itchy will make sure of it :p hehehe

marko · Post by **marko** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 7:41 am

KUB3 wrote:Have you considered binning the guts, getting some Frank metal flake on it, then putting in three MS275?

that's serious sacrilidge and the equivelant of taking an Ferarri 250GT, painting it candy purple and putting spinners on it

Post by **ttocs** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 8:17 am

Eric D wrote:After seeing those three photos, that amp is kind of a piece of junk.

But don't get me wrong or anything. It is the look that "only a mother could love". Despite the downright awful fit and finish, I still want it just as much today as I did yesterday.

If you are serious then this is another thing we will disagree on. Cold plated faraday cages around each amp>?

Post by **Eric D** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 9:16 am

ttocs wrote:
Eric D wrote:After seeing those three photos, that amp is kind of a piece of junk.

But don't get me wrong or anything. It is the look that "only a mother could love". Despite the downright awful fit and finish, I still want it just as much today as I did yesterday.
If you are serious then this is another thing we will disagree on. Cold plated faraday cages around each amp>?

I have no issues with the gold all over. Look at the details. It appears as if some sheetmetal was welded to the sides of the heatsink. A lot of parts don't line up well. Look at the terminals. The REM terminal looks like they took a saw and cut a speaker terminal up to make it. They forgot to gold plate the copper on the power inputs. No labeling on the end. The list goes on and on.

I was always under the impression this was a statement piece, and was very refined. It is just a thrown together prototype.

This does not mean I like it any less, just that it is not as nice as I had though it was for the past 15 or so years...

Take Nicco's MS875 for example. It is an "only one" piece he made himself, and he did a hell of a better job on it than PG did on the MPH6300.

The Golden One · Post by **The Golden One** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 9:31 am

yea pictures dont do a lot of amps justice when i was about 17 me and my friend went into a phoenix gold dealer around nashville tn.at the time the only amp i had was an mq430 i was already almost hooked on pg before i went in the store.i expected to see alot of m series and maybe a few smaller ms and mps amps.we looked around for a while not expecting to see any thing special and there it was a team plexi ms2250 sitting beside a dealer plexi mps2500. i almost fell out i dont think the best camera in the world can do the team amp justice as compared to seen in real life.by the way that experience may be the reason i only buy phoenix gold amps.and also why my system is 90% phoenix gold.

KUB3 · Post by **KUB3** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 9:35 am

Ok, how about candy red with flakes?

Post by **ttocs** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 10:30 am

Eric D wrote:
ttocs wrote:
Eric D wrote:After seeing those three photos, that amp is kind of a piece of junk.

But don't get me wrong or anything. It is the look that "only a mother could love". Despite the downright awful fit and finish, I still want it just as much today as I did yesterday.
If you are serious then this is another thing we will disagree on. Cold plated faraday cages around each amp>?
I have no issues with the gold all over. Look at the details. It appears as if some sheetmetal was welded to the sides of the heatsink. A lot of parts don't line up well. Look at the terminals. The REM terminal looks like they took a saw and cut a speaker terminal up to make it. They forgot to gold plate the copper on the power inputs. No labeling on the end. The list goes on and on.

I was always under the impression this was a statement piece, and was very refined. It is just a thrown together prototype.

This does not mean I like it any less, just that it is not as nice as I had though it was for the past 15 or so years...

Take Nicco's MS875 for example. It is an "only one" piece he made himself, and he did a hell of a better job on it than PG did on the MPH6300.

Ah, I see. As prototype I would not expect it to be perfect. Most of the parts on there are obviously one-offs and I imagine all the little details that you have noticed would have been fixed if it went into production but I don't think it was really the plan for this. I saw this amp more like a concept-car to build a buzz and see if it were to be built, if it would sell.

Obviosly almost anyone on here would love to have it just to sit and stare at it and polish the gold pieces......

So maybe we do not totally disagree, kinda scary now isn't that the 2nd thing we have almost kinda agree on?

Post by **stipud** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 10:41 am

Lets not forget Nico upgraded the MS875 with mostly stock production parts, while this amp was all hand built. It's definitely unfinished, but it really is a work of art in person.

Post by **Eric D** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 10:56 am

I don't know if the concept car analogy fits this case. The last time I went to the Detroit auto show all the concept cars were beautiful. Even when you got up close everything was flawless. Now, I assume under the skin they are a mess, maybe even made of wood or something.

I think the MPH6300 was maybe a "concept amp", not a prototype. We have seen prototype ZPAs a few months back which mhyde71 was selling. They were a mess, with miss colored parts, unfinished areas, etc.

I can go though my old Car Audio and Electronics buyers guides and the MPH6300 is listed in them. Something like $99,000 with a processor and alternator included. By listing the amp they are implying it is a production amp, even though you cannot buy it.

Since the MPH6300 was listed as an item for sale, and was built to be the ultimate proof of concept, I really think they should have refined it more. They had an in-house paint and silkscreen department. They could have easily made some graphics up to label the connections on the end. They could have sent those terminals out and got them gold plated.

For a "flagship" product like this to not be finished says a lot about PG back in the day. They used to claim all their technologies evolved out of the MPH6300. You can see the similarities in a MS amp for example. For all the hype they pushed back then, they should have finished the job and made the amp worthy of their claims about it.

Post by **stipud** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:08 am

I think it was a ballsy marketing move and a fun amp project for PG. Remember these guys started off building amps by hand. This was probably something they did for fun, and got a good marketing idea as well.

They don't have the resources that car manufacturers do to make the product look good. All it had to be was something to get people talking. If they had enough people interested in buying $100k amps, they may have considered producing it, but I don't think that was ever the real point

Post by **Eric D** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:25 am

Tom, I think you missed my point. I don't own an amplifier company and I could take that amp the way it is now and make it look better.

I could grind down the weld beads and other imperfections.

Ship the amp to Matt for a new powder coat finish.

Come up with some text graphics for the side using Viso, then have them printed as stickers and put them on the amp.

Send the power terminals out and have them gold plated since it is "Phoenix Gold" and everything made back then from them was gold plated.

It would not have taken much effort to "get it right", given all the resources PG had. Also, if this amp was on the road to shows and other events, I would think it would have been even more critical it looked good.

None of this really matters though. I still like the amp, I still want the amp myself, I am just not nearly as impressed with it as I was prior to seeing detailed photos of it.

This is no different than when porn went HD. Once you can see some detail, you find all the imperfections...

dwnrodeo · Post by **dwnrodeo** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 12:01 pm

This is no different than when porn went HD. Once you can see some detail, you find all the imperfections...

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Perfect ANALogy!

longboard · Post by **longboard** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 12:24 pm

when did they make this tho!! you have to remember that this is not a new piece it was built many years ago! and has had many years i suspect bits may have been lost parted out etc etc

i for 1 love the idea of this amp it built them a reputation which they did well on !!

Post by **ttocs** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 12:39 pm

I think the fact that it was never operational, and never for sold one would mean that it was not a production line. Yes they put a huge price on it and put it in a magazine but just to get everyone to wonder WTF was up with it. If I owned the company and saw that thing as far as it was along I would want to tease everyone with it in hopes they would buy it or to get something out of it.

The way I saw it, it was like when ford made the new GT and then everyone said build it and we will buy it. I have never been up and close to a concept car to see what could be wrong with it, but I bet if you talked to there engineers and builders there is a list of stuff similar to welds being grounded down and putting writting on it and I would love to take a look under the dash of one. I am sure if it went into production these would have been addressed just like on the GT when it went into production.

I recently saw a video of a volvo car using a self stopping system concept that they were demonstrating to the press/public. The drove it up behind a large truck at about 30 mph expecting it to stop itself but instead it went straight into the back of it. That has since been finished and working now but concepts do not always work on the first run.

todd217 · Post by **todd217** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 2:50 pm

well maybe they never intended most of the amp to be seen. if they would have flush mounted it or some other way of hiding most of the amp. those boards catch you eyes and that is what we would be talking about.

eulogious · Post by **eulogious** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:59 pm

ttocs wrote:I think the fact that it was never operational, and never for sold one would mean that it was not a production line. Yes they put a huge price on it and put it in a magazine but just to get everyone to wonder WTF was up with it.

I do believe that this amp is actually "operational". You would have to ask the person in possession of the amp the details, but I do believe it does power up and produce sound, but I could be wrong on that one... How much sound and how clean, I don't know, but I think that PG did actually power it up, and it drew some crazy amounts of amps to use it. Correct me if I am wrong on this

Post by **ttocs** » Thu Jun 03, 2010 12:07 am

it has never been operational to my knowledge and the one and only one ever made is stil missing componants to make it workl. Fuzzy can correct me if I am wrong but I will bet all the money in my left front pocket.

eulogious · Post by **eulogious** » Thu Jun 03, 2010 12:17 am

ttocs wrote:it has never been operational to my knowledge and the one and only one ever made is stil missing componants to make it workl. Fuzzy can correct me if I am wrong but I will bet all the money in my left front pocket.

Well, when I saw it in person at his house about 2 weeks ago, I think he said he thought it fired up, but I will let him speak for himself on that one

I was overwhelmed by the amp and looking at all the components that I truly don't remember what he said, I was too busy staring

I do think it has all the components needed to work though. Nothing was missing from what I could tell...

Post by **ttocs** » Thu Jun 03, 2010 1:52 am

he hooked it up to power, or it played? I could have sworn we have had discussions on here about what it would take to make it functional.....

eulogious · Post by **eulogious** » Thu Jun 03, 2010 2:50 am

ttocs wrote:he hooked it up to power, or it played? I could have sworn we have had discussions on here about what it would take to make it functional.....

Well, from what I remember, again don't recall clearly I was busy with the beautiful amp in front of me when we were talking about it's histroy, the MPH10K is the one that "doesn't" have a power supply, not the MPH6300. Maybe PG fired up the MPH6300 back in the day and it did work at some point, but it doesn't work now? That could be... I thought I remember fuzzy mentioning some bigass amp draw it made when powered up, so I am guessing it powered up and played based off the large amp draw...

I could be completely off on my facts here as well, I just want to throw that out there. Fuzzy showed me so much shit that I was really just trying to take it all in

so I could be confusing my facts between so much of his cool shit. I don't want to start something that has already been covered to find out that I am a tool and completely wrong