Older amps current hogs?

[The Camry]

So i find myself with access to alot of older 90s Hifonics and Autotek mean machines. Was thinking of running them instead of my current amps. Just for shits and giggles and to see what changes i hear.

My electrical is currently stretched pretty thin. Gotta watch the volt meter on hot days and stop lights.

Are these older amps truly current hogs.

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[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Yes very much so.

Old A/B is 30-50% efficiency

But they are also lower power so it can make up for it in a way.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Yes. Not sure how much power you need, but you'll need to really feed them for sub duty... the other issue is if you run them at lowest impedance they'll get very hot. And assuming they're Zed made versions you definitely do not ever want to run below minimum rated impedance, and if you have the Zed made Opti 1000D you probably want to stay away from even 1 ohm... there was a known issue where Lanzar cheaped out on some things they were advised not to. Stephen can fix them for true 1 ohm stable.... but of course those are class D anyway so you probably don't have that.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

All my Zed White Mean Machines will run @2ohms Mono elevated with a scroll fan, they do very well and run very clean..Autotek BTS series as well, and majority of HiFonics VII,VIII series..I have ran a 99 Mean @1 ohm mono and never had any issues as long as you keep elevated and a fan blowing just underneath

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

if you have the Zed made Opti 1000D you probably want to stay away from even 1 ohm

Guess I got lucky. Been running mine for ~12 yrs, mostly 1 ohm. Been through 4 failed alts and 2 dead batteries. It has never flinched.

 

[Wabatuckian]

I used to toast good amps (like Rockford-Fosgate) by running them into two ohms, where they were supposedly stable.

The transistors are always on. This means far less THD than digitally switched amps, but also more draw and less efficiency.

There's a tradeoff.

I'm running a '90s amp on the sub in my Blazer, but might just switch that to the mid-woofers and go with a small Class D on the sub. We will see.

Regards,

Josh

 

[The Camry]

Ill see if i can get some pics

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