Audioque 1200D??

[duece212 5,000+ posts]

The AQ1200D's board is very similiar to the M1a's board. The m1 was a stronger amp then the M1a.
5% is about the minimum level most bass heads run their amps at and is inaudiable and is considered a "soft" clipp. The actual THD @ 1470 is closer to 3% THD but I rounded up to be on the safe side.

I don't list a max power or 15.9V rating because i believe those are BS ratings to begin with.

Right on, thanks for the reply. I wasn't sure since I've never been able to listen to an amp at different levels of distortion. Would be a fun experiment though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[Jeremiah25 10+ year member]

Jeremiah you compared this amp to a M1a. The M1a is a stronger amp than the older model M1 isn't it or is the older M1 stronger than the M1a? I am just asking because on soundpressure's forum it shows a test of a M1, older model, doing over 1400 on 12.5 and doing over 1900 on 14.4, just wondering if this amp is along those lines of power or am I way off? Sorry if it is a dumb question and I look forward to seeing some tests of the AQ2000 whenever it is available to test. I really want to put one on each of my HD3's, like now, but I guess I will have to wait. Also how do these amps take lower loads?

I have never owned or tested the original M1. So I can't really comment on that. I do know, however, that the bench tests performed on SP weren't done on a real test bench. They were done with a resistance load and a DMM, so distortion levels were not taken into consideration during the test. That is partly why the power levels are so high in that test. Just like my test in the car with a DMM and a clamp meter. I got considerably over rated power at the reactive load, but it was WAY over 1% distortion.

I think DJ rated this amp pretty honest. He didn't really try to over rate, or under rate it. Just tell people what power it makes, and sell it at a good price. He naturally under rated it a tiny bit so that all of the amps will make at least rated power, but we are talking about a small margin.

As far as low loads go.......I don't know. Haven't tried dropping it down yet, and I doubt I will. DJ told me he had them put a pretty stiff protection circuit in the amp, so that it would be reliable. He didn't try to aim the amp at competition, where low ohm loads, low voltage or excessively high voltage is prevalent. He just wanted a good daily driver amp, with good crossovers. Something that will sound good, and last a long time.

To duece212, all amps that I know of make more power at 5% distortion, than at 1% distortion. You are right about that. Alot of people have misconceptions about distortion percentage though. Even if an amp is rated at 0.001% distortion, it will still produce a signal that is 5% distorted, if you push it hard. Take the cleanest SQ amp in the world, turn the gain up all the way and the head unit up all the way, and it will probably be quite a bit higher than 5% distortion.

Most manufacturers rate their amps honestly at 1% distortion. They do this for 2 reasons. One is because that is the CEA standard. The other reason is so that the end user can get a little more than rated power out of the amp, before they can detect distortion, and before the level of distortion is enough to hurt anything. Most people can start to detect a little distortion at around 3-5%. Some people have exceptional hearing, and can detect it sooner. Evidently some people have horrible hearing and can't detect distortion at all (I've seen a few). I'd love to have a method to determine the distortion percentage while I test, just so that I can see where I fall in the mix.

 

[Jeremiah25 10+ year member]

Good lord. That was a mouth full. Didn't realize I had typed that much. LOL

 

[duece212 5,000+ posts]

I'd love to have a method to determine the distortion percentage while I test, just so that I can see where I fall in the mix.

I'd like to have a way to do it too. I'm pretty deaf after years of riding motorcycle...I'm guessing I could very well be one of those guys that can't pick up on distortion to quickly.

 

[Anonymous 10+ year member]

so this amp will do a true 1200 RMS easily, in an earlier post you said it would pass CEA testing even if it was rated at 1400 RMS so it seems like a very good and honest product. Any problems with it running hot or any other problems one might encounter in a real world daily driver?

 

[Jeremiah25 10+ year member]

Any problems with it running hot or any other problems one might encounter in a real world daily driver?

Not that I can forsee at this point. Keep in mind, I've only been messing with it for a day. I ran it hard for about 20-30 minutes straight earlier on a bass cd. The case was still ice cold......literally. Of course it was only 34 degrees outside. LOL. No idea what it's going to do when it's 100+ outside.

 

[DownSouth954 10+ year member]

My Hifonics just crapped out on me I may be seriously considering this... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Anonymous 10+ year member]

any more news? very interested not in this one but the 2000 he is bout to come out with.

 

[Jeremiah25 10+ year member]

The little amp is still going strong. I have yet to make it get even slightly warm.

 

[SHOemup233 10+ year member]

ahh the amp looks great. If only it came out before late January. =[.

Who knows, maybe I'll still pick one up.

 

[Gary S 10+ year member]

woofer distortion starts at around 3%, so as long as amp distortion is kept under that, it would be masked by the speaker and impossible to hear.

 

[SHOemup233 10+ year member]

bummp. any news?

 

[Jeremiah25 10+ year member]

What kind of news are you looking for?

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

My Hifonics just crapped out on me I may be seriously considering this... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I'm sure that it will make a nice replacement

 

[SHOemup233 10+ year member]

I don't know. If I was debating buying the amp in the future, just wondering how it's held up. Any problems yet? The normal.