m25 vs

raffex · Post by **raffex** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 2:05 am

powering RSD 65cs.

which one's better.

(amp model printed on circuit board .. but i would prefer unbiased opinion based on what you see

Post by **smgreen20** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 10:32 am

It's my understanding that even though it's only 25 watts (more like 50) it will do the job admiraly.

Post by **Eric D** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 10:50 am

That amp clearly has the parts to have much more power than a M25, but that says nothing about how good the bigger amp will sound.

The control knobs look pretty cheesy to me.

1moreamp · Post by **1moreamp** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 3:34 pm

Hifonics is known for brute force power amps. I have one of these and a couple matching four channel versions of the Warrior series amps.
They have a ton of power, and they overheat and shutdown driving bassline.
Although the sink is massive the surface area is limited by its polished flat surfaces so they is a practical heat limit for these amps.

As for SQ well they sound ok, but I am not a big fan of any Hifonics amp for SQ reasons. I feel they make powerful amps that sell fairly cheap on the flea-bay market. I think I paid like $40 USD for both the 4 channel brothers of this Taurus you have posted, and thats cheap for any amp of this power level.
Its definitely NOT a ZED product, but Hifonics never built a amp in all the time they have been selling amps < they are a sales company not a manufacturer> ZED made them famous, API and Maxsonics built their later products. And who knows who is building them now for Hifonics to sell

The Taurus amp has more beef, then then the M-25 buy about a factor of 2 to 3 I would say depending on its efficiency curve at different power levels. Hope this helps...C

raffex · Post by **raffex** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 11:36 pm

well i really want a m25, which is why i asked, but they cost 3 times more than what i paid for this one!

1moreamp · Post by **1moreamp** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 8:50 am

raffex wrote:well i really want a m25, which is why i asked, but they cost 3 times more than what i paid for this one!

Like I said Hifonics is Cheap power nowadays. LMK how your setup comes out...C

raffex · Post by **raffex** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 9:38 pm

im picking up this amp tonight, ill let you know how it compares. im using RSD 65cs as speakers, which i ordered from indoaudio.com

When you look at an amp like that, what parts are you actually lookng for, to determine quality, ability to produce clean power etc.

All i see is big caps, a few toroids, and 100 resistors

raffex · Post by **raffex** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 9:39 pm

by the way who here owns soundbuggy.com, i saw a review there compared to a zapco, made me want the damn thing (m25) ..

marko · Post by **marko** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 9:41 pm

raffex wrote:by the way who here owns soundbuggy.com, i saw a review there compared to a zapco, made me want the damn thing (m25) ..

Eric d i think.

Pedi · Post by **Pedi** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:10 am

1moreamp wrote:Hifonics is known for brute force power amps. I have one of these and a couple matching four channel versions of the Warrior series amps.
They have a ton of power, and they overheat and shutdown driving bassline.
Although the sink is massive the surface area is limited by its polished flat surfaces so they is a practical heat limit for these amps.

As for SQ well they sound ok, but I am not a big fan of any Hifonics amp for SQ reasons. I feel they make powerful amps that sell fairly cheap on the flea-bay market.

Sorry for interrupting this thread with a personal Q, but:

Over here in Nopway, Hifonics have always had a good name for SPL-reasons. PG was the SQ and SPL-masters, and Hifonics were mainly SPL.

So besides PG, I have always liked Hifonics - in theory. That means - I have never had Hifonics myself, only PG, but Hifonics have impressive figures on paper.

F.ex. the XX Colossus II have impressive figures (wattage), and a very cheap price. Is this a bad buy and "bad" amp? How about 2 of this one, instead of one MS1000 ??? (please do not strangle me now, I am just wondering, hehe

)

check this out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HIFONICS ... enameZWDVW

Thanks for a neutral point of view...

1moreamp · Post by **1moreamp** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:23 am

Like I said "Cheap Raw Power". Hifonics <actually ZED. has been good business for me in the past, and still is today. My good friend and Client 4EVERPG is also a Hifonics buff < you should see his collection> its matched only by his PG collection.

As long as there has been car sound there has been SQ and SPL. And many company's have tried to merge both some successfully some not. I own a set of the warrior amps, get economical power, I just happen to prefer PG SQ overall.
I have heard better amps, but I can't afford them, and they would be worth more than my truck value wise, and that would look pretty silly of me driving a beater truck with golden high end amps in it

I look silly enough banging down the street at my age ya know ?

raffex · Post by **raffex** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 2:39 am

okay i got this amp for a grand total of $23 USD.

my first M series and it really feels well built ! here's a pic of the insides, anything unusual ? going to plug it in soon.

raffex · Post by **raffex** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 2:47 am

it's a 6000.009 "G" for those who know what that means

Post by **Eric D** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 3:26 am

The caps need to be replaced on that amp.

raffex · Post by **raffex** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:52 am

how can you tell - the four black caps?

1 line review: sounds bloody awesome! could be just in my head, but i reakon its doing the job really well for a "2x25"

to be totally honest, im having trouble fitting the RSDs so .. this thing is playing a little JVC 2-way and it sounds .. really good. no distortion ... xover at 24db/50hz, played around with the m25 bass boost. its a really good amp !

i have to ask .. the little red light comes on when i first power it up, then goes straight to green after a second, i like that about it .. is that what it's meant to do

Post by **Eric D** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:09 am

Do you see the one big capacitor with the missing black cover on it, and the heatshrink moving down the side?

That cap has been overheated (the whole amp had to have been very hot), and when that happens to these amps, the smaller 2,200uF caps become damaged. They will leak in time (if not already), and the amplifier will most likely catch on fire.

My M amps have the red light come on first then off to a green, so I would guess that is normal.

I don’t own soundbuggy.com, my college roommate does. Any reviews written under the soundbuggy.com web site were written by me. I use my M25 as a reference amp to compare all other amplifiers to.

raffex · Post by **raffex** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 5:14 am

right - well ... what sort of cap am i looking for .. can i go down to the local tandy and pick some up. looks like a 35v 4700uf cap ..

http://www.rsaustralia.com/cgi-bin/bv/r ... &Nr=avl:au