Don't buy a Stetsom amp or PRV 3K

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Yes it was a resistive load. If it can't handle that then it isn't a true 1 ohm stable amp.

because you never ever see a true 1 ohm load in a real install. The only way you see 1 ohm is if you wire to .33 to .5 ohms. nominal. Its a 1 ohm nominal stable amp plain and simple. You guys are just used to amps that can be wired to half ohm and you treat brazilians the same way, its not how it works. This is the exact same ignorant mindset that perpetuates stigmas about brazilian amps. From people that literally have no clue how it works and its proper operational parameters that the manufacturers outline out.

Literally this is exactly just like all the other stories of people treating them like koreans and calling them sh*t.

 

[Hertz Mafia]

All I know is I wired to 1ohm. actually 1.2ohm and one taramps blew up and one protected but smoke wasn’t rolling out. Put my Korean amps back in and they worked fine. Maybe I got two bad amps? People say their Quality control isn’t the greatest. Not everyone can have a good experience I guess

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

Yes it was a resistive load. If it can't handle that then it isn't a true 1 ohm stable amp.

It's a car audio amplifier. It was purpose-built to be wired to a *minimum* one ohm load of speakers, which are a dynamic load.

Destroying it on a fixed resistive load doesn't mean it's a shit amplifier.....

because you never ever see a true 1 ohm load in a real install. The only way you see 1 ohm is if you wire to .33 to .5 ohms. nominal. Its a 1 ohm nominal stable amp plain and simple. You guys are just used to amps that can be wired to half ohm and you treat brazilians the same way, its not how it works. This is the exact same ignorant mindset that perpetuates stigmas about brazilian amps. From people that literally have no clue how it works and its proper operational parameters that the manufacturers outline out.
Literally this is exactly just like all the other stories of people treating them like koreans and calling them sh*t.

This^

All I know is I wired to 1ohm. actually 1.2ohm and one taramps blew up and one protected but smoke wasn’t rolling out. Put my Korean amps back in and they worked fine. Maybe I got two bad amps? People say their Quality control isn’t the greatest. Not everyone can have a good experience I guess

It is possible that you got some bad amps. Good thing is that Taramps repair is free iirc.

All I know is I'm going to be holding on to my Korean 7k's for a long time. I don't know if I'll ever buy another sub amp :shrug:

Wired to .33 in the summer heat of a black truck bed, I could demo all day.

Both topologies have their pros and cons

 

[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

I’ve had stetsom and soundigital in the past actually 94-96. They were great amps. Not very good crossovers tho. But worked great The stetsom Vulcan amps wee beast amps. For sure. After them the boards changed. They were weaker and couldn’t take the heavier parts The sd amps were kind of a crap shoot for any amp over 8k They claimed such efficiency that people were running them with sub par electrical. And they were blowing left and right

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

All I know is I wired to 1ohm. actually 1.2ohm and one taramps blew up and one protected but smoke wasn’t rolling out. Put my Korean amps back in and they worked fine. Maybe I got two bad amps? People say their Quality control isn’t the greatest. Not everyone can have a good experience I guess

that's much more reasonable, it's unfortunate you had that experience but I highly recommend you rethink it. I'm sure you've heard brazilians by this point.

 

[ChaseinBass]

that's much more reasonable, it's unfortunate you had that experience but I highly recommend you rethink it. I'm sure you've heard brazilians by this point.

All I know is I been beating ***** for a year and wired .5 and it cost 800 bucks in my opinion you can’t beat that !

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bigblank69 10+ year member]

because you never ever see a true 1 ohm load in a real install. The only way you see 1 ohm is if you wire to .33 to .5 ohms. nominal. Its a 1 ohm nominal stable amp plain and simple. You guys are just used to amps that can be wired to half ohm and you treat brazilians the same way, its not how it works. This is the exact same ignorant mindset that perpetuates stigmas about brazilian amps. From people that literally have no clue how it works and its proper operational parameters that the manufacturers outline out.
Literally this is exactly just like all the other stories of people treating them like koreans and calling them sh*t.

If that is TRULY why, then almost every amp I test should blow up. EVERY SINGLE ONE. The Chinese can handle their impedences, The Koreans can and the Taiwanese, not to mention the Full Bridge American made Mmats amps. But the Brazilian doesnt and now it's the tests fault? F u ck that. You think these amps are rated on subwoofers? BS never have never will that's an excuse.

Is the load why the amp I tested could only produce 200w at 1%thd? Was the load the reason why the amp failed to hit it's rating at EVERY SINGLE ohm load? Was the load the Fault when it could only produce 1990w dynamic @ 1 ohm?

If you want to state it was the tests fault and not the amp, and I used it in way that was too much for the amp, then I don't want to hear you say the Chinese amps are crap or Hifonics *****, cause those amps CRUSH this POS.

 

[bigblank69 10+ year member]

Also I have had a bunch comments of people talking about their SoundDigital, Taramps, Banda amps and said they are fine. IM not talking about those amps, I am talking about Stetsom and their board ONLY.

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

It's a car audio amplifier. It was purpose-built to be wired to a *minimum* one ohm load of speakers, which are a dynamic load.
Destroying it on a fixed resistive load doesn't mean it's a shit amplifier.....

This^

It is possible that you got some bad amps. Good thing is that Taramps repair is free iirc.

All I know is I'm going to be holding on to my Korean 7k's for a long time. I don't know if I'll ever buy another sub amp :shrug:

Wired to .33 in the summer heat of a black truck bed, I could demo all day.

Both topologies have their pros and cons

It's a reactive load.. meaning it has feedback. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Nice to see you doing good.

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

If that is TRULY why, then almost every amp I test should blow up. EVERY SINGLE ONE. The Chinese can handle their impedences, The Koreans can and the Taiwanese, not to mention the Full Bridge American made Mmats amps. But the Brazilian doesnt and now it's the tests fault? F u ck that. You think these amps are rated on subwoofers? BS never have never will that's an excuse.
Is the load why the amp I tested could only produce 200w at 1%thd? Was the load the reason why the amp failed to hit it's rating at EVERY SINGLE ohm load? Was the load the Fault when it could only produce 1990w dynamic @ 1 ohm?

If you want to state it was the tests fault and not the amp, and I used it in way that was too much for the amp, then I don't want to hear you say the Chinese amps are crap or Hifonics *****, cause those amps CRUSH this POS.

It's pwm it's not a pure ac analog output.

 

[MrFoca]

No video of you doing the dyno lol. You dyno first then dyno and video again ?

I think you got ahold of a bad amp and now wanna trash the entire company.

One of Maryland’s state records is set with stetsom amps. You act like in the history of car audio no company has produced a bad batch or some flaws before. No amp ever in the world has smoked for no reason lol. Video would of

Been nice to see.

 

[bigblank69 10+ year member]

I wish I had video'd it. But yes I typically will do a few tests off camera before I film, so I know if something is off during the filiming off it.

 

[Hertz Mafia]

No video of you doing the dyno lol. You dyno first then dyno and video again ?
I think you got ahold of a bad amp and now wanna trash the entire company.

One of Maryland’s state records is set with stetsom amps. You act like in the history of car audio no company has produced a bad batch or some flaws before. No amp ever in the world has smoked for no reason lol. Video would of

Been nice to see.

It’s not a bad batch of these amps. They have been going up in smoke for years. It’s a bad board design/Quality control.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

turns out they share the same amp board, and its a poop amp board. Just had a Stetsom 3KEQ on my test bench. Very dirty power and detonated at 1ohm (Bought the 1 ohm version). Person I know had a similar result on their dyno with the PRV.

if you didnt know... those boards cant handle a 1 ohm resistive load they are like the old taramps not meant for a true 1 ohm load.

I guess OP is the only guy left that didn't get that memo like 10 years ago.

All I know is I wired to 1ohm. actually 1.2ohm and one taramps blew up and one protected but smoke wasn’t rolling out. Put my Korean amps back in and they worked fine. Maybe I got two bad amps? People say their Quality control isn’t the greatest. Not everyone can have a good experience I guess

Probably poor QC. If you want reliable full bridge pay Mmats prices, if you pay third world prices you'll get third world QC. Honestly people expecting something for nothing has been the cancer of this hobby since forever.

It’s not a bad batch of these amps. They have been going up in smoke for years. It’s a bad board design/Quality control.

Implying Korean/Chinese half bridge amps haven't been self destructing either. I've had my share spontaneously combust to know better. IMO nobody should be getting into amps too big to run on stock electrical if they can't afford to blow one up now and again.

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

@bigblank69 no offense, i say this with the most respect i can... you do help the community, but you're more of a meathead than an engineer. I'm no engineer either, but without knowledge of the differences in the circuit design and how they work it's hard for you to provide any educated insight as to why you don't like this amp. hispls made all the points i would have made other than the fact that brazilians are incredibly smaller in design, and surprisingly more efficient. it's like comparing a porsche to a rusted out truck with a junkyard turbo LS. The Turbo LS will beat the **** out of the porshce, but it doesn't focus on the other aesthetic and traditional design stereotypes for audio amplifiers that have been around since their inception

save your hate for now, there's a reason thousands of people used to think the same way you do and now think otherwise.