Bought new 1000W RMS amp :D

[wb131988]

Hiya peepz,
Just thought I'd let you know that I sold my Audiobahn amp and bought a new 1200W RMS amp as I got power hungry! lol It is a Vibe amp, a company most of you have not seen as I they don't distribute to America iirc. I love it!

[Google]

[namelessjoker]

I have had some experience with these amps and I dont think that they are as powerfull as they say. I just picked up a new orian 2500D amp and that sucker rocks!!!!
_________________
Be safe...Ask hookers if they are infected first..... If they say yes, ask yourself "I already have this, will it really hurt me again?"

[wb131988]

unfortunately i have to disagree with u there my friend.... I had it tested and it produces a real life 1146W RMS @ 1 ohm.... lol

[namelessjoker]

how did you have it tested? I have seen people test them but put way more power to them then your car provides. But i could be wrong..... Mine just may have been junk.
_________________
Be safe...Ask hookers if they are infected first..... If they say yes, ask yourself "I already have this, will it really hurt me again?"

[wb131988]

Power that your car provides...... OK The standard 14.4V does the job.

[2old2care]

[wb131988]

Have you never had a reading of 14.4v from your amp while the engine is running?

[sandness]

I'm back- thanks for noticing I have been gone 2old. Summer is over and I'm back at school- and back on broadband. Didn't waste my time over the summer waiting for dialup to creep along.

Anyway, enough b.s. First point, most automotive electrical systems are 12v systems because the battery provides roughly 12v (usually 12.5v). But, that is just the battery. When the car is running, the alternator is also running and charging the battery. It typically runs between 13.8v and 14.4v. Why? It must provide a higher voltage at the terminals of the battery to overcome the internal resistance in the battery. This allows the battery to fully recharge to its 12v potential.

The same applies to the power wire. Since power is voltage times current, and the resistance of the wire causes a voltage drop, the amplifier requires more current to produce a given power. The wire acts as like a resistor in the circuit, creating heat from the power that is created as current flows through it.

A wire of a certain guage can only handle a so much current. This is because the heat is produced from the voltage drop, which in turn causes the resistance to increase resulting in an even larger voltage drop. (parasitic cycle, eh?)
A simple analogy would be that you need bigger pipes to move more water. A firehose moves alot more water (current) than a garden hose when the sources have the same pressure (voltage).

Although your electrical system can supply more current from the battery than the alternator can supply, it is bad in the long run. If your alternator cannot produce more current than the car electronics are drawing, it is no longer charging the battery.
_________

As far as testing the output of an amp, it is rather difficult for most folks to do. In order to get a concrete figure, you need a resistor who's resistance is basically equal to the nominal impedance you wish to run. It must be beefy enough to handle the massive amount of current that the amp will push, and be able to dissipate the heat that will be produced in order to maintain a constant resistance. Then, you need a beefy clamp ammeter to measure this large current. You can't pick these up at RadioShack.

One common mistake is to simply measure the voltage of speaker terminals without the speaker hooked up. Then, with Ohm's law, you get P=V²/R. This is useless as amplifiers react quite differently with and without a load.
Another common mistake is to measure the voltage with the speaker hooked up and use the same equation above. This is flawed. First, the speaker's impedance is NOT the same as resitance. Impedance is used in AC waveforms and varies with frequency (thus is not a constant number as speakers play a range of frequencies). Also, AC waves have both a voltage and a current wave which are not always in phase (i.e. the current wave may be delayed or advanced compared to the voltage wave). So using simple DC equations will not work, nor will using a simple multimeter.
In summary, your best bet is to have the output measured by a pro with the right equipment in order to get an actual figure.


Damn, I type to much.

[2old2care]

Welcome back Sandness....I'd forgotten about this thread. I always like reading your explanations.

I think my point was something like...the battery must supply the power to an amp because of its large demand. (and wire diameter) The altenator can really only be asked to charge the battery. Thus anything over the ~12.5VDC is just charging currents and cannot be counted on. Like you said.

Also...to add my 2¢ in...the only thing more complicated than the testing, is trying to figure out what some of the manufacturers weighted measurements really mean. (as my father taught me...figures lie, and liars figure, and then marketing gets a hold of the results)
_________________
.
Liquid-Cooled Q9450 and an EeePC
.

[sandness]

I agree. I wish all manufacturers would at least adopt the CEA2006 method so we would have an apples to apples comparison between amps. Granted, that won't tell us how long an amp will last running a given amount of power, but you can't have everything.

[wb131988]

We have various different meters and tools here in the UK to measure an accurate reading of the amps output.

[sandness]

I'm assuming you are not talking about the Lanzar Vibe amp, but rather a Vibe amp that looks like one of these:

If so, no, they aren't available in the US. So, I can't say much about them. Well, except for the fact that I think they are cot damn sexy. Tastefully done: simple design, no fancy lights or chrome, all business look.

[wb131988]

Yer thats the one Sandness! But I have sold it now and bought a Tsunami db1100 monblock amp from the US. Excellent amp.

[ToggleHead]

they DO look great.

What do you think of the new one in more detail wb?
_________________

[wb131988]

You mean my Tsunami amp Togglehead? Or that new Vibe amp- the Vibe monobox 4....

[ToggleHead]

which ever you have
_________________

[wb131988]

My new Tsunami db1100 amp is wonderful...... Better than the Audiobahn, very close to the Vibe, tonnes better than the Xplod (as you'd expect....). It came with an in-dash gain control instead of the usual crap bass boost controller and has a sleek design where the Tsunami logo lights up in blue. What can I say, provides my subs with all the clean efficient power they could ever need, and running on a standard battery, 1100W RMS @ 1ohm and thats only at 13.6V so more power expected at 14.4V, very reliable, 650W @ 2 ohm, 330W @ 4 ohm. It was $198 from ebay.com and IMO is a absolute bargain. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this amp. Thats all I can say.

[sandness]

Good purchase. Gotta love ebay.