Phoenix Gold Phorum

any internal shots of this amp? I want to try to run one in future..

were did you hear that? i would love to read it.
Im sure he didn't

kg1961 wrote: Im sure he didn't

Doesn't say much for Zed if he did. The SD's aren't exactly the best amps Phoenix Gold ever made. I'd believe the Elites, Ti's, or Ti2's before I'd believe the SD. Hell, I'd believe the R's before the SD's.

Not a fan of the SD's.

Kirghiz wrote:

kg1961 wrote: Im sure he didn't

Doesn't say much for Zed if he did. The SD's aren't exactly the best amps Phoenix Gold ever made. I'd believe the Elites, Ti's, or Ti2's before I'd believe the SD. Hell, I'd believe the R's before the SD's.

Not a fan of the SD's.

why not?

I know of dealers that have had issues with them, static in channels, crossover issues, FM interference, and so on. They've sent quite a few back for warranty work, enough that they steer customers to the other PG lines. No issues like that with any other lines, just the SD's.

Kirghiz wrote:I know of dealers that have had issues with them, static in channels, crossover issues, FM interference, and so on. They've sent quite a few back for warranty work, enough that they steer customers to the other PG lines. No issues like that with any other lines, just the SD's.

was that the sd800.4 specifically? or just other sd's?

the 800.4 is a new piece that i DO know morgan west put some re-engineering time into. i dont know if zed helped him however

Bfowler wrote: was that the sd800.4 specifically? or just other sd's?

It was several SD amps that they had worked with. Not sure if the 800.4 was one of them. I'm sure PG has since addressed the issues with them. This has been about a year since I was told this. I was originally going to get the SD1300.5 because I liked the smaller size was how it came up. It was recommended that I look at the Ti 5 channel instead because they'd had issues with a number of SD's, but none from the R's or Ti's. Shortly after that the Elite.5 came out and I went with it instead. I figured if I was going to have to get a huge amp I might as well get the best huge amp. The Ti2's hadn't come out yet, thankfully. Nothing against the Ti2's, but I am glad I went with that Elite, and subsequently swapped it for two Elites.

Performance issues withstanding, I kinda think the SD's look like ass too.

Kirghiz wrote:

Bfowler wrote: was that the sd800.4 specifically? or just other sd's?

It was several SD amps that they had worked with. Not sure if the 800.4 was one of them. I'm sure PG has since addressed the issues with them. This has been about a year since I was told this. I was originally going to get the SD1300.5 because I liked the smaller size was how it came up. It was recommended that I look at the Ti 5 channel instead because they'd had issues with a number of SD's, but none from the R's or Ti's. Shortly after that the Elite.5 came out and I went with it instead. I figured if I was going to have to get a huge amp I might as well get the best huge amp. The Ti2's hadn't come out yet, thankfully. Nothing against the Ti2's, but I am glad I went with that Elite, and subsequently swapped it for two Elites.

Performance issues withstanding, I kinda think the SD's look like ass too.

the 800.4 is/was the first of sort of a v2.0 of the sd's, so hopefully they have fixed the issue. i have no first hand experience with it. i dont really mind the looks personally, but i have to think most sd's are going to be tucked away somewhere anyway.

I just installed my SD800.4 yesterday, thankfully out of the box it's sweet. I actually like the look of it with it's dark perspex top. It's just a nice simple design with a bit of class to it I reckon. Hopefully it does the name proud, time will tell I guess.

I purchased an SD1300.5 when they first come out and haven't had any issues with it so far. I believe the FM interference issue was a common problem in some earlier SD amps and they had resolved the issue with later models. I believe a technical bulletin was issued stating this as well. As far as looks, what's the big difference between the SD's and the Elite? Three LED's?

I don't like the look of them, but it definitely wouldn't stop me from buying one. I almost did buy one. That being said, I'm not a huge fan of the look of the Elites either, but I do think they look better than the SD's. One reason for that is the scale. The Elites are so large that they make me think of the black obelisk in the movie 2001. The sides are slightly more rounded on the Elites and that makes a difference too. The SD's are very square and boxy and kind of make me think of a shoebox. But, cosmetics are in the eye of the beholder, and are purely a matter of personal preference.

As I said earlier, I am sure the technical issues were worked out on the SD's, and it seems in the tech bulletins that they have been. I was looking at the specs on the 800.4 just now, and I didn't realize that it was 80% efficient as an A/B amp. That is a technical achievement. Especially when you consider that the SD sub amps are all class D and only 70% efficient.

Lol I hadn't noticed the bit about being class A/B, twice in the first overview they say it's A/B then on the second line of of features it says class D. Not that I ever thought it was Class A/B but could be a bit misleading