Install advice. ZPA0.5 for sub duty?

neverman · Post by **neverman** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:07 pm

Hi, found you guys while I was looking for a ZPX2 and it seems I may have found a valuable resource on car audio. My daily driver is an old, and getting older every day, BMW M3 (E36). It's had the same stereo in it for around 10 years now without upgrades or changes. Having read through the forums a little it seems I have a pair of pretty good amps.

Anyway, am I "wrong" to be using a ZPA0.5 ( a pretty good SQ Amp ) to drive my subs? I'm going to be changing head units soon as well as getting a working ZPX2 in (my old one passed very strained frequencies and sounds very ill).

I guess I'm thinking that while my amp works fine as it stands, would I be better served getting a more brute force type of amp for driving my Soundstream SS-10's? I'm not a high SPL guy, but I like a good kidney punch and my bass has to be lightning quick. I listen to all sorts of music from Jazz to Hip-Hop, not much Country unless it's almost Pop...

With my ZPX2 on the fritz I haven't had very stellar mid-base lately but I'm hoping that fixes itself when my part comes in from Tristan.

If you think I should move my ZPA0.5 to another ride for front staging then what AMPS should I consider for SUB duty? I'm utilizing the Balanced lines to drive everything and really like that set-up but could see myelsf running a short set of rca's off the ZPX2? I'm just a little worried I'm wasting a lot of musicality on a sealed sub box? Am I crazy? The sub box is wired to use the amp in bridged mode. I think it's a 2ohm nominal load as currently connected. Then again this was done 10 years ago

Thanks for any comments or opinions!

thedeal7235 · Post by **thedeal7235** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:16 pm

in my opinion, id keep the zpa 0.5 for sub duty-

Post by **kg1961** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:29 pm

x2 i sold my friend my 1994 e36 325i we changed some items but those cars can sound great and that amp is 100% one of the best made by pg
make sure you get a line driver or you will not get the sound out of it
do a false wall firing into the car it would sound great

neverman · Post by **neverman** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:46 pm

I've got a tbat2... I've got it tunneled through my rear-deck. It's almost a direct fire into my cabin, some structure was used to fill the gap between the box and rear deck with a bunch of dynamat to seal and absorb.

I know the ZPA0.5 is a great amp but taint I wasting the musicality of it on a couple of ss-10's? These are old school Soundstreams, they were damn nice back in the day, but it's still just a couple of subs.

I didn't skimp much when I threw this system together. Not listed in my sig is a couple 1Farad PG caps to keep it always ready. I'm trying to refresh my system while not kill it. I need the Alpine 305 badly... Will be so nice to stream MP3's with album art. I've been converting my collection to no worse than 256k VBR which keeps the avg around 270kbits or so.

I'm also thinking about updating my seperates. I was going to go with Morel Elates but I keep reading good things about the RS6.5's or something close to that number here on this forum. Will these be anywhere near as sweet as the Morels? Being a car, will it really matter if they're not? Lot of dollars between the two choices, eh?

Post by **kg1961** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:51 pm

we put and modded focal kp2 6.5 and mount the tweeter int he door sounds very nice!!!

thedeal7235 · Post by **thedeal7235** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:53 pm

imho, the rsd 6.5 are great for the price, maybe look into the ti elite, made for pg by morel, pg made the passive xover, are u using 1 0.5 for subs, and the other for highs /mids? i still say leave the 0.5 for your subs, or u can send it my way(j.k) thats a great amp by pg ( i had diamond seperates once, and really didnt like them(not alot of output is what i experienced with them), but i have 3 diamond d6 subs,and i like those alot!!!

Post by **smgreen20** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 8:07 pm

I've been told both ways by others. Some here, some not. IIRC Tom said he'd use it for the mids/highs.

I personally use mine for sub duty at 2 ohms bridged. I have no issues/complaints. My subs like power so that's why I use mine for the subs. That and the headroom the amp has. I used to have a 0.3 running my Ti6 Elite comps w/the passive Xover, but preferred the flexibility of going active w/the ZX450v2.

Tone · Post by **Tone** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 10:24 pm

I always found my 0.5 sounded loose at 2 ohms, but tight at 8 ohms - so that's how I ran it with an Audio Control Matrix acting as a highend line driver. BTW it pushed 2 Orion DVC 12s.

neverman · Post by **neverman** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 11:18 pm

Too lazy to quote atm...

So random replies it is.

Yes, I'm using one for sub duty in bridged mono operation I seem to recall and I'm using the other for mids/highs via a passive x-over.

I kinda liked the original Diamond Audio Hex's, they don't make them like this anymore. These are the old honeycomb looking kevlar material (yellowish). Everytime I hear Focal they sound a bit "bright" to me... almost harsh. How were these modded? It might work in car but I'm scared it would fatigue me to listen to them at volume for any serious duration? I know they're very well regarded drivers. Same rational led me to choose silk domes over aluminum when aluminum or other metal tweeters were all the new rage. I'm sure the install of them in a car lessens the brightness but it seems like a gamble?

I wouldn't call my set-up loose at all. It's very tight but it only goes so low, as in not very, compared to some band-pass boxes or ported enclosures I've heard. Then again I've always equated those with sloppy base. But they didn't have the same crazy power specs and dimensions they have now. I'm sure it's all been tightened up since I last shopped around.

Right now my tweeter is suspended above my 6.5" in the kicks. I think it was an attempt at time alignment. I've been advised both ways, raise them into the doors to improve soundstage and/or leave em' be as they're harder to localize. So many choices... by suspended I mean they're in the midrange voicecoils "throw" path.

I'll look up the ti elite as well, never heard of them. Any other favorites? Boston? MBQuart? They all sell out or something? God I feel OLD! It's amazing the peaks and valleys these manufacturers go through. What is/was/will be high-end can only shift in car audio in such a crazy fashion. No?

thedeal7235 · Post by **thedeal7235** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 11:28 pm

^pretty much-

neverman · Post by **neverman** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:21 pm

Having read a little more on the elites... Seems I might like mid-bass more than the elites are capable of?

Is the ZPA0.5 really the right beast for sub-duty? i thought she was more of a "beauty"?

thedeal7235 · Post by **thedeal7235** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:30 pm

hey the elites are a great comp/speaker set, dont get me wrong, i may buy a second set of 6.5 elites, and then run the one set off the passive xover, to my ear on the passsive xover they sound midrangey, i stress thats my ear, and with a second set i would run them active bandpass, mayb60-80hz to 160hz, (still the rsd 6.5 for the money are excellent, and sound better the more you play them-thats been my experience, good luck, either pair are excellent-imho( i still think u should keep the 0.5 for sub duty)but, ita really what sounds best to your ears

neverman · Post by **neverman** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 12:28 pm

So I'm taking my AMP apart today to install new fans. i'm running this in mono.... Should I perform the MOD that removes the diodes from the signal path sensing circuit for the power gain? Well ventilated install etc... This mod just stops it from going into high voltage mode or something like that?

Post by **stipud** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:03 pm

You would only do that if you are planning a 2 ohm load. If you are 1 or 4 ohm, you don't need to do it. In fact, I probably wouldn't do it anyways... no sense risking a nice amp like that.

neverman · Post by **neverman** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:24 pm

I'll have to go measure how my 10's are configured. I think they're running a 2 ohm static resistance.

What's the risk? What's the supposed advantage?

Nevermind, moot point. Mine came clipped from the factory guys. And I waas going to desolder if I went that route.

Post by **stipud** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 3:55 pm

If you clip it, it will stay in 4 ohm mode, even at the lower impedance. This means you will get some ~1500w out of it, assuming your power supply is up to the task. Of course the amp will be way more sensitive to clipping, etc. and you have a higher risk of damaging it this way, since you're operating it at the limit of it's capabilities.

neverman · Post by **neverman** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 4:12 pm

Cool, thanks.

After replacing the fans on my sub amp I was about to take out the components amp when I noticed my diodes had been clipped on that unit as well!!!

Well I'm ok running my subs that way but that's way too much to ask of my components IMO. So anyone have the values on those diodes? I figure when I take out the amp to service the fans I'll put some diodes in at that time.

My system sounds much better now. My other ZPX2 started working again. It's not nearly as "musical" as the one I considered broken but I'd have never noticed without being to A/B them. As well as more defined/spacious highs it also has way more output both on the low-pass and the high-pass line-outs. No clue why the old one came back to life, if even as only a half-hearted attempt.