Audio Doc

Bill, Intelligent comments, all of them. To start, I don't manufacture anything. I am an engineer in the field with over 18 years experience and a passion that has driven me to build my own products. They are for my enjoyment, have never been, and will never be available to the public. Everything I have built is a one/two off and frankly I don't show any of it off for that reason. Imagine my paranoia with all the thieves running about out there. Secondly I don't gain anything from it. I donate time here to educate and comment on things. I feel both DCS and it's potential customers should know that the design isn't ready from a construction standpoint alone, and that I can clearly view by the pictures. I have no desire to slam him, his product, or his customers and I already stated that. And to get to the third part, I am not here to donate free engineering time to manufactures. This is why we will have no private dialog about his product. Perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut, but hindsight is always 20/20 and who would have known I would be received so poorly. I felt I was doing him a favor but it obviously wasn't taken this way. And thank you for presenting your commentary as a mature individual. It's is refreshing and one of the reasons I wandered over to meades place to begin with. Too many kiddies out there on other forums. Hopefully the overflow won't wash it's way over here any time too soon (hint) - Matt

Show me yours and I'll show you mine? Would it matter? the fact that you defend his product states you wouldn't recognize true design quality if you seen it, so who is to say you would appreciate quality when you _DO_ actually lay eyes on it? It's a pointless debate. It could go on for weeks and weeks and my time is too valuable for that. I'll just stick to the amplifier forum helping out the newbies from time to time. There is obviously no real quest for knowledge here. Why the bullshit flag on his behalf? a bit biased for some reason? Now I'm going to go ahead and walk away from this post and I don't really care what is said about me after the fact so rant away. And if DC sounds were concerned about the future of his product he would hire an engineer with real experience in the field and have the drivers gone over one more time. - Matt

You already did dignify my statement with a response, so you might as well entertain me with an explanation as to why it's a contradiction. And if your going to be all grown up, use the spell checker, it's automatic. - Matt

----- I am not impressed with the engineering whatsoever ----- I'm not slamming your product, but I hold it in question. - Matt Edited to present a clearer statement

Well, here is the problem really, when you say something like this: 'I am lookin for an amp that has great SQ at 1000+ watts rm, im wanting to give the sub around 1200watts' You have to prepare yourself to accept the simple fact that 1kw of pure power doesn't come cheap, even if it comes from japan. The other half to the statement is about LP, let me explain. In order to use the to-3 devices and still keep the PCB area managable (Ie. keep the amps size within sane proportion) they pulled power mains to the bipolars off the PCB. In other words they eliminated those traces. To carry the current they needed the trace width would have been grossly oversized even if they chose the thickest grade pour they could buy. So they simply hardwired them all. Thus it's a jumbled mess inside. But be advised with those amps you will pay under a buck a watt for stupid clean gobs of power. All those ratings you found you can just throw out the window because they are grossly underrated on all counts. I had three of the 8002sw's and not a single one did under 2kw (rated @ 800rms) In certain situations the 4.1hvs has been known to exceed 4kw output. Keep in mind in the mid 90's this was insanity for a single amplifier. If you paid 800 bucks for a 4.1hvs you got the best value for dollar when you even compare todays class Dirty amps. And none of them will beat the LP in overall spec. So it might all sound pretty steep to you, but if you can pony up the bucks, you wouldn't be sorry. They also maintain thier value because they have a lifetime failure rate of less then 1% of all amps manufactured. So good luck killing one. The power supplies are fixed modulation blocks, and virtually impossible to starve into self destruction. They are also unregulated! Every part in that amp is rated at 150% of it's intended duty. They are just plain beautiful from a design standpoint. So what if they don't look pretty inside? The last tidbit only a tech like me might realize is that the to-3 bipolars they use in those amps not only slew faster then most of todays MOSFETs, but when the core temp of each one rises the gates open up a little more. This will bias the ouput stage tighter and actually increase SQ by reducing crossover distortion. There is also a small increase in power. So while other amps and limiting themselves by reducing output to prevent thermal runaway, the LP's absolutly love it. Did I mention every part in them is mil spec? everything american? You will pay under a buck a watt for all that.... which is exactly why people are usualy fanatics once they have one. It's all in the engineering.. - Matt

'Some were parts...50-75...the rest was labor, which ended up being about 125 for 2 hours of work.' Thats the low end of your example, let's work with that one. Let's assume middle ground of 60 for parts, deduct from 125 = 65 labor and divide that by two hours = 32.50/hr. I charge 50/hr flat for all repair related services including pro-audio and coin-op. Do you feel I am charging too much? and if so please elaborate. - Matt

'Parts are pretty cheap, it's the labor that most places screw you on. ' I would be interested to know what qualifies you to make that sort of statement. - Matt

'but he said my stock alt wasnt keepin up and it fried the power and ground connections inside my amp. ' I hope that wasn't thier 'technical explanation' because it's pretty piss poor with just a hint of minty bullshit.. - Matt

Linear power 8002sw or 4.1hvs.. If you can find one, and then if you can afford it. You'll never look at another amp the same way if you do, so be prepared to never go back.. - Matt

so i can give them 85 watts no doubt as long as they are crossed over...correct? I love you :^ edit do you have a picture of yours so i can see it compared to something like a soda can or a cd? thank you I haven't had those drivers in a few years now, so I don't have any recent pics. Right now half my code and pics from years back is sitting on a dead hard drive, and I'm trying to bring myself to spend the ridiculous amount of $$ they want to recover it (it's a hardware failure) I can tell you crossed over with that power you'll be fine. I was very impressed with the Audax line. They usually cost ya, but that sale price is sick. I might order ten just to keep some around. You can always add more for more cone area. They make bigger drivers, but I was coughing up a comparable sized one to the 3" mentioned to start the post. Thus the 3" audax. - Matt

Awww guys. I was just being funny No hard feelings at all. Thanks for the add and the compliments. - Matt

Well, I ordered them YEARS ago.. apparently they have been revised and now they are on STUPID CHEAP SALE. check 'em out. http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi...d=3D%25&pid=905 7 BONES EA! 25rms/50max But I ran mine with around 150/ea RMS crossed over @ 135hz and never had an issue. They have a professional 6.5" in the lineup on that same site for 69/ea with 100db efficiency @ 1w/1m !!!! At 7 bones a pop, how can you go wrong? - Matt

AlpineTypeR06 FTW! - Matt

Damn, I get zero respect around here.. :R

Reliable + Fosbreak in the same sentence? /me hides - Matt PS. Ray.. your new avatar is t3h Pwn3r

A MosFET is not to be confused with PWM. PWM = Pulse Width Modulation. And it means exactly how it sounds. It is a Pulse generating device used mostly in SMPS (switch mode power supplies). It directly or indirectly drives the gates of the main switching devices. The reason for the 'modulation' is that it has an input the engineer can utilize to manipulate the duty cycle out the outputs waveforms (the pulse width). MosFet = Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor. A revised semiconductor technology. Still not as good as BiPolars IMHO. But everyone likes to use them because of thier outstanding temperature coefficient. They slew *almost* as fas as Bipolars, and the technology is growing. Hitachi makes a lateral MOSfet with NO secondary breakdown! (this gives a lot of audiophiles wood)These are slowly creeping into the audio market, but I don't know if anyone is using them in car audio yet. Typicly a PWM device is used to drive MOSfet devices in your amplifiers Power supply. The topology is a little different for class D output solutions and is not quite used the same way. Perhaps 75% of the designs out here in the mobile industry Use PWM + MOSfet's in the PS. Just a couple terms marketing likes to badge the amps with to add extra inches to your PP when your stareing at it. Ya underdig? - Matt

I chink I recognize that amp.. but I could be wong.. :-

It's all in the math really. Assuming 90% efficient, 1600 watts - 160 watts is heat. There is enough sink area there to dissapate that. - Matt

congrats to u for knowing what u kno at the age of 21 :^ 21 and 'holding' is a joke I tell everyone.. That day passed a long time ago

I actually shopped one of those for a customer. Neat game. - Matt

Well, I have about 42 vids now (downsizing) and the 8 pins fill the gap. I am still downsizing as I decide which ones I really don't play enough to merit the space. They don't all fit, so some are in storage at the shop and I just rotate some every now and then. You can come play but there is a problem with that. Let's call it '3k miles' and there's no way your welcome here *without* your truck. Thats a tough drive =) There is a whole subculture of people that collect this stuff. If you just lookin for one or two machine to play at parties etc, there's no real need to open the gates of hell and get sucked into the hobby aspect of it. Try here: http://tinyurl.com/soo9r You can punch in your zip code and just troll for a while. This stuff pops up in cali all the time. The good news is video prices are at an alltime low. Pin values are hangin tough tho = If you did manage to get sucked in (and I pray you don't) we have support groups, people in the hardware business that still repair it (like me), and other resources for aquiring it from retired operators and fellow collectors. But unless you have more money then brains, don't get sucked into the hobby. It's worse then car audio and before you know it your house, garage, storage, and life will be consumed by the damned machines. Just go get yourself a couple, and call it a day I am into the hobby end, so I get mine from other collectors, retired operators, etc. - Matt

I'm old, so I only have an Atari 2600 w/assortment of games. I also collect coin-op as well. I have about 50 machines total. Most are video, and I have about 8 pinball machines. Here is my 1984 Atari Star Wars with a digital hardware hack to play both SW and ESB (which was later released as a field conversion kit) I flip a switch to toggle between games. You won't get vector graphics out of your playstations boys Vector graphics FTW - Matt

21 and 'holding' norly, I'm old My balls aren't hangin in the toilet water *yet* And I'm not Steve's age *yet* (ooOOoooOO j/k) But old enough to say things like 'in my day' and 'if I could go back..' - Matt

Typical Asian build house design. Translates into good bang for the buck. If you've fallen on tough times, and this is what you can afford and it's enough for you, go for it. I recomend you find an authorized local retailer and pay a couple extra to get good warranty service. This amp isn't built with 'last forever' in mind. They did have some voltage drop issues running 1 ohm on the early models. Not sure if they fixed it, or just adjusted the specs (I though the last set of specs I seen only listed down to 1.33ohms). - Matt

93% efficient class D output topology. And a 90% efficient power supply. They ran surprisingly cool. - Matt