Digital amps...why not?

[tenbux1970 10+ year member]

Why are'nt more people running these new amps?The 3 that come to mind are Stetsom,Soundigital,and Taramps.From a little reading they can make monstrous power,and have a small footprint.

Do they take a lot of power to run?Are people just afraid to get off of the beaten path,and try something new?Cost too much? It did not seem that unreliability was an issue?Availability?

Any opinions would be appreciated...//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Click to read more...

 

[Stetsom Rep USA 10+ year member]

Lots of people ARE using these amps, in America there is an issue with some of the above listed amps with warrenty and the costs of shipping to another country for repairs. Stetsom has Americans selling and repairing amps here in america if you hurt the amps. We are committed to customer support and I personally talk to each person that purchases one of our digital amps to make sure that they have the power to support such strong amplifiers, if you are interested in Stetsom hit me up and we can discuss your system to see what product would suit your system the best, Stetsom makes over 50 different amplifiers and we have one that will fit in your system.

 

[dB-r 10+ year member]

Digital in the case of an amplifier does not refer to it being a "logic, or digital output" amplifier.

People use slang to describe Class D as "Digital". It is not in fact digital.

Music is analog, it is output to an amplifier as an analog signal. In a normal standard amplifier as we know it, Class AB, Class A, or Class B, the analog signal is passed to the "Audio Frequency Amplifier" (AF Amplifier) section of the amplifier, which is also called by some "the final output stage", as an analog signal, which is simply increased in amplitude (amplified) and then sent to the load (speaker).

In a class D amplifier it is different, but the beggining and END results are the same:

input goes into the amplifier as an analog signal from head unit. This signal is passing into a converter circuit that converts the sine waves (music) into a pulse which is considered to be digital, not sure if it really is though, this circuitry converts the musical input into a pulse which is used to signal the pulse width (on time) of the output transistors (mosfets) in the AF Amplifier section of the amp. Mosfets are most efficient when switched on and off quickly. Not when slowly turned on and off like transistors in a class AB, A or B, amplifier. So to optimize efficiency, the mosfets in the AF Amplifier portion of a Class D amplifier are switched on and off at a set rate usually around 1Khz in a standard non-full range class D amp, and the amount of time they stay on or off is the pulse width. The signal going from these mosfets is then passed through a filter that remove the 1Khz switching noise (square wave, sounds like a chainsaw running) and also shape the signal back into something that resembles a "Sine Wave" rather than a "Sqaure Wave" so that the output on the speaker terminals closely resembles the original input signal which is/was musical. Sine waves are musical. Digital Square waves are NOT and sound like a chainsaw running....

Trying my best to put this into "laymans" terms but it's not easy. Hope I helped you understand a little. A digital amplifier is not digital in it's output, it is analog, because your speakers MUST have an analog input signal to sound musical. The digital part is in the switching on and off conversion method that goes on inside a Class D amplifier.

 

[bose301s 5,000+ posts]

Would be good if they were called PWM amps, not Digital amps.

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

I hear both stetsom and soundigital both have high RMA repairs because of their claims of 16v survivablity //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/sneaky.gif.7189749b3a3f769e8815b47e8ae87f88.gif

 

[gunz4me2 10+ year member]

This is about as close to "layman's terms" as it gets: http://www.audioholics.com/education/amplifier-technology/the-truth-about-digital-class-d-amplifiers

 

[ninjawhiteboy12 10+ year member]

stetsom and sd are easy to get in contact with and buy their products but taramps doesnt really deal with the US, their website is in portugese and they have no dealers here at all

 

[dB-r 10+ year member]

stetsom and sd are easy to get in contact with and buy their products but taramps doesnt really deal with the US, their website is in portugese and they have no dealers here at all

I have never heard of taramps.... what is that? Is the website http://www.taramps.com?

 

[dB-r 10+ year member]

http://www.taramps.com.br

I would bet $100 if I had it to spare that they are another Stetsom clone. Probably an OEM customer of Stetsom.

 

[PIITB Wut Wut 10+ year member]

another stesom clone? who is the other stetsom clones?

 

[dB-r 10+ year member]

I hear both stetsom and soundigital both have high RMA repairs because of their claims of 16v survivablity //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/sneaky.gif.7189749b3a3f769e8815b47e8ae87f88.gif

Not so sure if it's that, or that maybe it's people running them off one battery for a particular street class.... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/verymad.gif.3f39c5c2fd57527b671fad3efdfac756.gif

10,000 watts + 1 battery = disaster waiting to happen....

 

[PIITB Wut Wut 10+ year member]

lulz... troof...

 

[ninjawhiteboy12 10+ year member]

yeah who is the other stetsom clone? and even if they are i would like to know their prices and availability, they seem to have a vew more features than stetsom

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

IDK about 16v... we put a Stetsom 4k2d in lambofgoods car and it would protect if the voltage went above 15v.

 

[dB-r 10+ year member]

IDK about 16v... we put a Stetsom 4k2d in lambofgoods car and it would protect if the voltage went above 15v.

Correct.

14.8-14.9 volts to be exact.

It's the way the 12 volt models protect circuits are setup. If you modify it, you loose your warranty privledges.... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

They also sell 16V versions of their amps.