PPI 900.4 Smoked

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

x2 warranty time

Since it was bad out of the box I'm guessing PPI does no burn in on new amps. Not all companies do so you will see a DOA amp now and then.

I bought a 600.2 from Trumpet several months ago, gets played daily with no issues.

 

[zako 10+ year member]

One theory I have is that easily blown tweeters (or woofers) can actually damage your amplifier. A lot of component speakers use a passive crossover with 2nd order filter on the tweeter (or something both tweeter and woofer). Take a look here Passive Crossover Slopes

"You may damage your amplifier if you drive a second (or higher) order crossover when the speaker's voice coil is open (the speaker is blown) or if no speaker is connected to the crossover's output. When the speaker is removed (or the voice coil opens), the circuit becomes a resonant circuit. This circuit will, at the crossover frequency (or some multiple of the crossover frequency), present a 0 ohm load to the amplifier. The actual resistance will be only the resistance in the speaker wire and the inductor. Any time that there is audio at the resonant frequency, the amplifier will be stressed the same as if the speaker wires were shorted together. This will drive some amplifiers into protection. Others will blow a fuse or die a horrible painful death."

This also means that you should never leave either speaker disconnected from a passive crossover if it uses higher order filters. A blown voice coil will have a similar effect.

Get a DMM and check AC resistance of each individual driver directly as well as the assembled speaker system through crossover. If you have a blown speaker, it may damage other amplifiers you get as well.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

boom boom car audio.

LMFAO. Well that was prophetic!

Soundstream = Power Accoustic = PPI. You get what you pay for, antiquated technology and China build quality. Nobody should ever consider buying "budget" amps without warranty.

 

[Fireitup 10+ year member]

One theory I have is that easily blown tweeters (or woofers) can actually damage your amplifier. A lot of component speakers use a passive crossover with 2nd order filter on the tweeter (or something both tweeter and woofer). Take a look here Passive Crossover Slopes"You may damage your amplifier if you drive a second (or higher) order crossover when the speaker's voice coil is open (the speaker is blown) or if no speaker is connected to the crossover's output. When the speaker is removed (or the voice coil opens), the circuit becomes a resonant circuit. This circuit will, at the crossover frequency (or some multiple of the crossover frequency), present a 0 ohm load to the amplifier. The actual resistance will be only the resistance in the speaker wire and the inductor. Any time that there is audio at the resonant frequency, the amplifier will be stressed the same as if the speaker wires were shorted together. This will drive some amplifiers into protection. Others will blow a fuse or die a horrible painful death."

This also means that you should never leave either speaker disconnected from a passive crossover if it uses higher order filters. A blown voice coil will have a similar effect.

Get a DMM and check AC resistance of each individual driver directly as well as the assembled speaker system through crossover. If you have a blown speaker, it may damage other amplifiers you get as well.

I'm running Hertz Deici Components up front, they sound fine on the Autotek sx475 they are currently running on, so doubt it's my components fault.

LMFAO. Well that was prophetic!
Soundstream = Power Accoustic = PPI. You get what you pay for, antiquated technology and China build quality. Nobody should ever consider buying "budget" amps without warranty.

Spoke with the seller through amazon and told them i would give them a chance to make this right before i left negative feedback. They told me to send the item back and they will replace it. Things are gonna be worked out. Hoepfully my replacement doesn't go up in smoke as well...

 

[Spooney 10+ year member]

I hope this isn't common with PPI.........
.........I got the bk1800.1D //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif

Isn't it possible to replace the resistor at home? Get the same resistor' date=' snip the old one out and solder the new one in place..........correct?[/quote']

He could definitely replace those resistors but its very unlikely that it will fix the problem. Resistors rarely fail on their own. I don't know enough about this amp to know what circuit those resistors are a part of so I can't say why they failed but it's almost a guarantee that something else in that circuit failed and took those resistors with it. Every manufacturer has an occasional dud and as long as its covered under warranty then there is no reason he should go poking around inside the amp.He really shouldn't have even popped the cover.

 

[Fireitup 10+ year member]

He could definitely replace those resistors but its very unlikely that it will fix the problem. Resistors rarely fail on their own. I don't know enough about this amp to know what circuit those resistors are a part of so I can't say why they failed but it's almost a guarantee that something else in that circuit failed and took those resistors with it. Every manufacturer has an occasional dud and as long as its covered under warranty then there is no reason he should go poking around inside the amp.He really shouldn't have even popped the cover.

Well no tabs on it that void warranty if removed. Curiosity got the best of me.

 

[Beatin' 10+ year member]

LMFAO. Well that was prophetic!
Soundstream = Power Accoustic = PPI. You get what you pay for, antiquated technology and China build quality. Nobody should ever consider buying "budget" amps without warranty.

PPI=/=power accoustic

And PPI sure as hell doesn't lie about power ratings like power acrapstic does.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

PPI=/=power accoustic
And PPI sure as hell doesn't lie about power ratings like power acrapstic does.

Sure thing, except they use the same boards as eachother (and Lanzar). I found a few products between all these brands that are identical except for the logo, I'm sure there's more. In fact the PPI 10K is the same board as Lanzar 8K, so perhaps Lanzar is under-rating theirs? I suspect there's other brands using the same stuff as well, but it's late and I can't think of it off the top of my head.

 

[40oz 10+ year member]

Sure thing, except they use the same boards as eachother (and Lanzar). I found a few products between all these brands that are identical except for the logo, I'm sure there's more. In fact the PPI 10K is the same board as Lanzar 8K, so perhaps Lanzar is under-rating theirs? I suspect there's other brands using the same stuff as well, but it's late and I can't think of it off the top of my head.

The Phantoms have gotten great reviews since they have been released...also these amps are very similar to the Hertz HDP4 and the Polk D4000.4, both of which are reputable companies.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Hopefully this is just a random occurance of "infant mortality". I have a 900.4 in my workshop that I'm eager to install if it ever gets warm around here.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

The Phantoms have gotten great reviews since they have been released...also these amps are very similar to the Hertz HDP4 and the Polk D4000.4, both of which are reputable companies.

Well that sort of begs the question of how can PPI sell their version for 200$ while Polk is @ 350$ and Hertz is 600$. Shady on all of their parts IMO.

Anyway, there's 50+ pages about this amp on DIYMA. Again, buy budget priced China cookie cutter amps ONLY with warranty.

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

Just because they have the same board layout doesn't mean they're using the same components...

 

[Spooney 10+ year member]

Just because they have the same board layout doesn't mean they're using the same components...

People say this quite often when comparing boards with a similar or identical layout but I have yet to see any real proof of it.

 

[Beatin' 10+ year member]

People say this quite often when comparing boards with a similar or identical layout but I have yet to see any real proof of it.

aside from quality issues.....

even if two amps were exactly the same, would you buy the one who's company lies about power ratings or the company that tells the truth? That's what it really comes down to. I want manufacturers to give me accurate descriptions first,then we can talk about quality.

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

That amp is defective since it broke right out of the box, it happens. No need to freak out just because one breaks, in fact that thing did exactly what a defective equipment should do - break right away so you can claim warranty within the allowable time frame.

x2 warranty time
Since it was bad out of the box I'm guessing PPI does no burn in on new amps. Not all companies do so you will see a DOA amp now and then.

Not too many companies bench test EVERY amp they produce, they just randomly pull a few samples out of the same batch and if they all tested good then they assume that the whole batch is good.

Amps used to be bench tested a lot but that went into the toilet when all the cheap bastards came into the car audio game and demanded everything to be made cheaply.