Hifonics Marketing, or Truth?

[roarzorz 10+ year member]

edit so I'm not raggin on them

 

[roarzorz 10+ year member]

My question was is there any validity to the argument about short-term fuse magic? (dancing under the limbo stick)

Yes fuses can handle more than rated current for short term bursts but in no way should a manufacturer be rating their products based off that.

 

[Grinder1989 5,000+ posts]

maybe cheap, but not shit. i've owned multiple brutus amps. sure they're not the best, but great for the money, and i've never had a problem with them

My point is you have nothing to back your statement. They are nothing great. I wouldn't waste a dime on them.

 

[tinmanchris217 10+ year member]

Sorry to hear it, Derrick. (Nice Ninja Edit, btw)

If it was from an authorized dealer, it may be slow, but they do seem to get things fixed/replaced eventually.

They do have a reasonably high rate of return, but considering their volume of sales, and the market they serve, it doesn't surprise me too much.

From their forums, the '08 series (which yours is) was significantly more reliable (less returns) than the '06. And the '10 models have alot of promise for near-rated-power and build quality.

I (personally) like them as a company, and am trying to separate the myth from elegant design.

 

[SavageBlackout 10+ year member]

My point is you have nothing to back your statement. They are nothing great. I wouldn't waste a dime on them.

lmao, nothing but experience. don't get all pissy about it

 

[jpexpc 10+ year member]

I wouldn't get into the whole limbo stick scenario but I can tell you my setup:

60A inline fuse

1606D @ 0.5 (fused w/ 160A (2 x 80A))

2 12" Type R's D2

Ford Taurus

Doing 145+ and only blow the fuse when I get stupid with tones. Other than that I have never had fuse problems. Run a tone for 10 seconds, it would pop.

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

I think it's a little silly for somebody to base their claims off a fuses potential to handle more current, however it could be true.

BUT, I don't think maxxsonics would purposefully underfuse their products. It doesn't make the product look better in any way. Either people will think that the product doesn't do the power they claim because of the fuse size, or people will think that maxxsonics underfuses their amps for basically no reason.

Also, but a tidbit of info about fuses since I have a *tad* bit of experience, they can handle double their current for LONG periods of time. Especially maxi fuses, the fuses that maxxsonics use in their amps.

I've run a zx2500 off two 60 amp maxi fuses daily. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Hell, my teammate les ran a zx2500 off a 70 amp ANL for over a year.

However, I don't think maxxsonics underfused their amps for the reason that OP's post described.

 

[roarzorz 10+ year member]

Sorry to hear it, Derrick. (Nice Ninja Edit, btw)
If it was from an authorized dealer, it may be slow, but they do seem to get things fixed/replaced eventually.

They do have a reasonably high rate of return, but considering their volume of sales, and the market they serve, it doesn't surprise me too much.

From their forums, the '08 series (which yours is) was significantly more reliable (less returns) than the '06. And the '10 models have alot of promise for near-rated-power and build quality.

I (personally) like them as a company, and am trying to separate the myth from elegant design.

I edited cause I don't wanna ruin your thread with that stuff. Good idea to just stick to the facts about power. Those were all bx2005s.

Talking about power and fuse ratings, back then my brother called Maxxsonics to find out the fuse rating for their 2000watt amp and was told on the phone by a tech that it was 160a for the bx2005. 160a of current draw does not = 2000w of power.

 

[tinmanchris217 10+ year member]

Tommy,

Thanks for the word of experience. I've never intentionally under or over fused an amp.

If Les ran a zx2500 for a year on 70 amps... he must not like to crank it up //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

What is the point of having fuses if they take so much to blow? (no oral secks jokes plz)

I'm beginning to think that Hifonics may have good reason for underfusing their amps... to allow for semi-continuous operation at rated, while preventing you from burping/streetbeating at that number.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

IMO, unless you know specifically how the designer is using the fuses (to blow at the first sign of stress, or only when the amp is nearing catastrophic failure) power vs fuse rating is a ballpark estimate at best. And assuming efficiency is another ballpark guesstimate -- so by the time you have a ballpark estimate on top of a ballpark estimate you really don't have much of anything.

I might use fuse size to give me an idea of power if I'm "bottom of the barrel" shopping on ebay, but with HF, especially considering their claims of upgraded components on the '10's I personally consider them to be right around rated power until there are a couple legit test reports published that prove otherwise.

One thing I know about maximum output tests on the bench --- a LOT of amps blow their onboard fuses, and to get an accurate measurement they often have to be replaced with shorting bars.

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

Tommy,
Thanks for the word of experience. I've never intentionally under or over fused an amp.

If Les ran a zx2500 for a year on 70 amps... he must not like to crank it up //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

What is the point of having fuses if they take so much to blow? (no oral secks jokes plz)

I'm beginning to think that Hifonics may have good reason for underfusing their amps... to allow for semi-continuous operation at rated, while preventing you from burping/streetbeating at that number.

A lot of it has to do with the fuse itself. Tolerances. Most manufacturers know that their fuses will handle double the current.

Also, it does depend on your vehicles electrical system. The more stable the voltage, the less amperage that is needed to make full power out of the amp. This is partly why I can run gobs of power off a small amount of fusing. During a full tilt burp/music run I usually don't dip below 13 volts.

Fuses definitely have their place, and it's usually to protect your car/electrical system from a dead short or burning the wiring from too much current draw.

 

[gunz4me 10+ year member]

Total BS. An amp that only pulls 80a of current will not output 1200watts @ 1ohm in a 12v setup. It would have to be like 105% efficient with a rock solid 14.4v input. Neither of which are happening in a real world scenario. You're realizing why everyone talks about how over-rated the Hifonics Brutus amp are.

Maybe Maxxsonics found a way to violate Ohm's law and generate power.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Maybe Maxxsonics found a way to violate Ohm's law and generate power.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

"The difficult we do today - the impossible takes a little longer" //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[headlesskoopa 10+ year member]

Tommy,
Thanks for the word of experience. I've never intentionally under or over fused an amp.

If Les ran a zx2500 for a year on 70 amps... he must not like to crank it up //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

What is the point of having fuses if they take so much to blow? (no oral secks jokes plz)

I'm beginning to think that Hifonics may have good reason for underfusing their amps... to allow for semi-continuous operation at rated, while preventing you from burping/streetbeating at that number.

no les plays real loud it shocked me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif

 

[bw_audio 10+ year member]

..