Anyone have an opinion on Zed Audio and their amps?

[denim 5,000+ posts]

My ZED collection consists of:

 

US Acoustics 2075

Planet Audio p706

Boss REV-665

Zed Gladius BB

Zed Deuce BB

 

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[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

As durable as any amp out there, under-rated, overbuilt, transparent, precise controls. Dude can build an amp.

Own and using Opti1000.1D

Own Opti100.4

Sold Opti200.2

All great amps. Perform beyond their specs.

 

[gunz4me2 10+ year member]

Zed, Mantz, or whatever else you want to call him today, is an amplifier designer and former manufacturer who, like the rest of us, does what he does out of the love of doing it hoping to make enough money pay bills and put food on the table. Unfortunately, I was never a Zed fan, but I'll be nice and just leave it at that!

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

I own several ZED pieces ...they are well made...and seem to be pretty good Quality....

 

[DevL]

Consensus on the Zed Leviathan was not high sound quality vs many other amps in higher frequencies (very hard to make a clean Class D amp), high noise floor (background hiss), and turn on thump (sometimes turning amp off into protect mode it was so bad) were common on the negative side of things. Think of it as a high powered first gen Alpine PDX5 type of set up but with more flexibility being a 6 channel map vs a 5 channel, with some first run issues that need to be ironed out. The negative reviews made me turn to the JL HD 900/5 which I have been able to audition and it is EXCELLENT all around... a bit more than the Leviathan and a bit less power on the full ranage side (100W vs 150W and not 2 Ohm friendly), but no turn on thump, no hiss, no sound quality issues, its smaller and looks better IMO.

 

[cleansoundzz 10+ year member]

Stephen mantz makes good amps and builds them very well. I liked his ESX amps and the last run of the Lanzar Optidrive series from 1999-2000.