Phoenix Gold Phorum

Hello Everybody, I come from the land of Phoenix Gold (Portland, OR) with a love for car audio. I was fortunate enough that my first car came with an old but great sounding system that I took for granted and didn't understand its value (Alpine CDA-7977, MTX 5-channel, infinity kappas all around, 2 10 rockford punch's all from the 2001 vintage) and that started the addiction.

I've been slowly building a system for my 2002 Yukon Denali. I recently acquired a XS4300 from an ebay auction for $55. I intend to run infinity kappas components passively for the time being (I need to understand and have more seat time with tuning before going active). I've been looking for a ZPA 0.5 on ebay and surrounding craigslist's that I'll most likely pair with a sundown SA-10 or a Image Dynamics IDMAX10 in a ported box.

The amp appears to be in great shape, I dont see any caps leaking or burn-looking marks. I started it up and it sounded great but the pots (cant remember if it was bass, frequency, or both) were scratchy only when turning.

My questions are
- Is there a way to clean my pots to see if that helps cure its scratchy-ness?
- Who's a good repair man to send these amps to these days for future rebuilds? Local is ideal but sending it in is no problem. I used search and only found Altser, but it looks like the company ended due to the owner passing away. I'd eventually like to get a busted one and use that to learn to fix it myself. Im very much a DIY-man, but can admit when I'm over my head lol
- Whats a good going rate for the ZPA 0.5's? say scratched up but working to new-in-box condition. The only pirce I have to go off is an Ebay Australia ad is selling a pair of great condition ZPA 0.3's for $988.85 + $197.12 for shipping.

There is no effective way to clean the pots, they will need to be replaced. I have tried taking the pots apart on other PG amps and cleaning them, but the problem is never dirt and grime, it is wear on the conductive surface the wiper rides against.

The ZPA series is great for nostalgia purposes, but you would be better served using a different sub amp. Not only would a more modern Class D amp output more power, it would draw much less off your electrical system, and be significantly more reliable. This is just an opinion though. Some guys swear by ZPAs, I personally don't have much use for them. Historically they had low reliability, and they don't offer much (if any) advantages over other PG amps (then or now). I do think the ZPAs are some of the best looking PG amps of all time, but again, that is just an opinion.

Eric D wrote:There is no effective way to clean the pots, they will need to be replaced. I have tried taking the pots apart on other PG amps and cleaning them, but the problem is never dirt and grime, it is wear on the conductive surface the wiper rides against.

The ZPA series is great for nostalgia purposes, but you would be better served using a different sub amp. Not only would a more modern Class D amp output more power, it would draw much less off your electrical system, and be significantly more reliable. This is just an opinion though. Some guys swear by ZPAs, I personally don't have much use for them. Historically they had low reliability, and they don't offer much (if any) advantages over other PG amps (then or now). I do think the ZPAs are some of the best looking PG amps of all time, but again, that is just an opinion.

Thank you for the response. That make sense about the pots but it really isn't a problem unless I'm moving them so it biggie to me. As for the ZPA, I was starting to come to that realization that its not very cost efficient for what I get. For close to the same price I could buy a ZPA for whenever I find one, I could buy a Zapco amp and not need a line driver or anything else to make my electrical stable and feed it the 8v input.