Amps that are upgradeable?

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

In terms of power output & reliability, are there any amps that can get beefed up significantly? I'm not talking about things like disabling low voltage/low impedance protection because that'll just make it more prone for breakage.

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[Buck 5,000+ posts]

I'd just buy an amp that does what you want it to do. Much simpler. You upgrade one thing, then another, then another- so I'd just save the time.

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

Yeah but if I want to go from 3000 watts to 4000 watts I'll have to spend a good $500 only to get an used 4kw amp so if I can pay a couple hundred on top of what I've already invested then why not? Not saying I have an amp that can be modded though.

It's like a car... it is cheaper to make your current car faster than buying another one that can go a bit faster. Plus you get the "sleeper" credit.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Yeah but if I want to go from 3000 watts to 4000 watts I'll have to spend a good $500 only to get an used 4kw amp so if I can pay a couple hundred on top of what I've already invested then why not? Not saying I have an amp that can be modded though.
It's like a car... it is cheaper to make your current car faster than buying another one that can go a bit faster. Plus you get the "sleeper" credit.

I like using things for their intended purpose, for the most part. When you start pushing the limits then things break quicker, and it becomes more trouble than what it's worth.

 

[dB-r 10+ year member]

You can almost always use higher current handling mosfets to "upgrade" an amp, but it won't make it do anymore power. The limitation is in the transformers physical size in the power supply, they can only pass so much current and that's it... Changing the transformers is not an option (because you can't buy them anywhere) unless you want say for example, scrap a D9 to take the transformers out of it and try to squeeze them into a D5 (won't fit anyway, too big) to get more power.

People who claim to be upgrading amps are for the most part, wasting money.

 

[Shinju 10+ year member]

Also way to many varibles to deal with, You will have joe shmoe trying to "upgrade" his amp himself and messing it up and then trying to go back and get his money back stating that the parts were defective ect.

Not a viable option imo.

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

Well I was also thinking of things like instead of using capacitors that are rated to 85°C you can replace them with ones that are rated to 105°C, high-tolerance parts that are 1~2% instead of the common 5%, better parts in the internal crossover, thicker internal wires/bridges, beefier input/output terminals, adding wires to main power paths on the circuit board, etc...

 

[dB-r 10+ year member]

Most of the time, the circuit board, and things like the temperature ratings of the capacitors, etc are more than sufficient for their designs/use. It's best to leave it alone, then when/if it breaks, you can have the shop working on it upgrade things while it's rebuilt, but honestly, it's not going to make any difference in the power output, and may not really make any difference in the ruggedness of the amp either. It will increase the resell value for some buyers, they will think they are getting a "better amp" than what they could elsewhere, but that's really the only thing I can think of that would make doing all that worth it. Those rail caps that could be upgraded in the amp are about $4-$5 each in most decent sized amps, and the labor to change them all out may be equal to the cost of the caps, and I am not sure if you can get that much more (worth the value of the parts and labor invested in upgrading the caps) dollars for the amp when you sell it. These types of upgrades are a much more "viable" option in small, worthless amps, like 2 channel and 4 channels that have very few rail caps, mosfets, etc, as the cost is relatively low to do the upgrade and it may make those amps (relatively weak class AB amps) perform a little better and able to handle massive amounts of heat, since they will naturally run hot anyway. Class D amps should not run very hot, if they are running hot, there is either a ventalation problem (airflow restricted around the amp) or the amp is being run too hard for practical (daily) use...

 

[gunz4me2 10+ year member]

You can almost always use higher current handling mosfets to "upgrade" an amp, but it won't make it do anymore power. The limitation is in the transformers physical size in the power supply, they can only pass so much current and that's it... Changing the transformers is not an option (because you can't buy them anywhere) unless you want say for example, scrap a D9 to take the transformers out of it and try to squeeze them into a D5 (won't fit anyway, too big) to get more power.
People who claim to be upgrading amps are for the most part, wasting money.

I learned that the hard way a couple of years ago by being duped into paying $150 to "modify" a 75 watt per channel amp. What I ended up with was an amp that output 110 watts per channel instead of 75 and close to $400 invested in ONE amp. I purchased a pair of the same model amplifiers stock, bridged one to each door, and had better dynamics than the modified amp (EDIT: 150 cost of amp; 150 for the mod; 50 for a repair while being modded; and 50 in shipping all over the place). The pair of amps cost me $280 total versus the $400 I had in the modified one. IMHO modifying was a total waste of money.