::TESTED:: Audiopipe AP30001D

[tinmanchris217]

Sic, I can understand your feelings about the small power wires used on the Audiopipes, but to say they suck... that's beyond narrow minded, considering your obvious bias on this forum.

You know how much a 8 ga wire can move when it's only 9" long? It's plenty for the power range, if you look at the trends here

For db-r,




This is the AP15001D. I can throw up personal pics when I get home, if you'd like. The 08 ones changed from ACON caps to Micron. Toroids are all the same gauge wire and winds, but more evenly spaced winding. The board is the same, since 2001 though. I believe the FETs are the same, but the wires are not bent as much as the 07's.





This is the AP30001D. IIRC, they use 1/0 to send power to the second board and 8 for the outputs. Components are the same, except terminals, and wires.

Hope this helps. I haven't seen anything about the 1800 besides a few personal testimonies.

[newls1]

Nice board shots mane! I cant wait till my 2 30001d's arrive. I am going to make a plexi window for both amps on there bottom sides. Should look killer.

[dB-r]

Question, since you have these amps. Is that a single sided PCB except for where the little dinky surface mount parts are or is it a regular double sided board?

Also, remove the clamp bars from the output FETs and tell me what they are.

While it does reak somewhat of Massive maybe its greatly improved... I guess I will have to buy one and play with it myself. Though I am unusually rough on amps of course....

It still looks like cheap chinese junk, the pcb is probably cardboard in the center, but I have to admit, for $144 you can't really beat that... LOL.

[SPLaudio]

i havent ordered any wire from them in about a yr and then it was 5000+ strands and as fat as any other big brand out there. alot of co's wire has dropped i admit. i got a memo from ap a while ago saying the wire prices will go up cause they are dropping actual gauge like so many others. i have to spread the 0g crimp connectors just to get audiopipe wire in them.

i have yet to see one burn up and i have dropped the 15001 to .25ohm and at full til it will just protect.

they use 4gauge wire board to board internally not 0g.

dont buy 1 for $144 dbr they cost more than that 10% below dealer. those are old or referbs. hellz my distributor dosent get them for that,lol...

[newls1]

is there any difference from the 07/08 models? I think the 2 that I have coming are the black cased ones, and I see silver cased ones. Is there one that is better then the other, or are they both the same? Thanks

[dB-r]

they are dropping actual gauge like so many others. i have to spread the 0g crimp connectors just to get audiopipe wire in them.

i have yet to see one burn up and i have dropped the 15001 to .25ohm and at full til it will just protect.

they use 4gauge wire board to board internally not 0g.

dont buy 1 for $144 dbr they cost more than that 10% below dealer. those are old or referbs. hellz my distributor dosent get them for that,lol...

What does that mean, "dropping the gauge of the wire". If it's bigger it's not the same gauge, same goes for smaller.... confused...

and LOL thanks for warning me about the refurb or used amps for $144 but I am a repair shop... i think I could fix it if it broke... I just want to see what all the fuss is about and confirm or not my fear of the build quality being super poor. It doesn't look that bad in the pics, but in person it may be really bad. Will see... if it's a refurb I can tell what they had worked on by looking at the solder on the board, it will be a different color than the rest.

[mgcauctions09]

the $144 price is about right. I can get them brand new from an authorized dealer for $145 shipped.

[annarbor84]

i have seen 4 or 5 1500's in the last few months and all were toasted the 3000 is 2 1500's in 1 case so yeah i have seen them, and you couldn't pay me to try and sell that crap to my customers. just like any company out there all have good and bad for the most part, i have heard only good things only about the GD6001 model as well as a few of the subs. hell audiopipe is sold by all the local chain pawn shops here as well, cuz no independant dealer wants the hassle with returns, and have you seen the wire they try to pass off as true guage ? gimme a break. like i have said a dozen times, when i am wrong i accept it and move on and learn from it, but you wont see me ever back off if i think or know i am right until that point. and I know the majority of AP products suck plain and simple.

Cool story brah, u mad

[annarbor84]

AP 30001D

[tc3k101]

AP 30001D

moar

[mgcauctions09]

AP 30001D

Pretty **** sexy, especially for the price

edit: I love how you can say shit but cant say d a m n

[tinmanchris217]

@ db-r,

They are double-sided boards. I didn't have the guts to remove everything a snap a shot of the other side.

Also, if it were single sided, they wouldn't have opted for so many surface-mount parts... unless they just despise their repair/support guys.

Here are some more pics, though I didn't get the model number of the FETs, you might be able to id them.












If you need bigger pics or more, my CarDomain site has em (chrisdrivesarav4). Build isn't stellar... I'd have used better wire, glue, and more PS capacitance... but for what it is, they did well.

Do you guys see any places that the amp could use improving/modding?

[dB-r]

No, pull the bars off and get the numbers on the mosfets for me please...

I knew I had seen this board before. Here is a picture from the factory in China that makes it:

[bumpin buick]

so its from that great Chinese company that we all love so much? lol

[dB-r]

Well, the US owes China so much money anyway..... so what difference does it make, LOL... Monetarily speaking, China ownz USA. Soon they will own our Car Audio gear too, but I suspect a resurgence (sp?) of "real" quality US gear soon. I think it's coming. Not going to be cheap either, but for those who have the bucks to buy it I think it will sell well and others will envy it.

The fact that it uses surface mount parts is both good and bad. Surface mount parts, will crack in half with vibration, whereas through-hole parts will break their legs with vibration. Surface mount parts are tight tolerance, all are 1%. Through hole parts range from 20%-1%. Surface mount parts provide the same function as through hole parts but have about half of the power handling capability in reality, regardless of their claims in datasheets, this applies mostly to resistors and transistors, sometimes the datasheets tell the truth, others not. I have experienced this. Surface mount soldering is not that hard, you don't use an "iron" you use a "hot air" gun. It blows hot air from a tiny nozzle. There are also heated tweezers for surface mount soldering. I have the hot air gun, but may buy a set of tweezers soon just to try them out. You CAN solder surface mount parts with an iron if you know what you are doing but it kinda sucks when the part gets stuck on the end of your irons tip and melts... LOL.... some are easier to deal with than others. Surface mount parts are cheaper than through hole parts, and IMO not as good, but sometimes cost and physical size dictate the use of surface mount over through hole. Lots of discount store brand amps, like RF use surface mount parts and have since way back in the day, they really aren't a total downfall compared to using through hole parts but they are not as rugged IMO.