So why is nobody talking about the Sundown full bridge amps?

Ok I'll be the dumbass in the room. What exactly does a full bridge amp mean vs a regular mono sub amp ? Is it strictly based off the amps impedance/tolerance ?
It's basically like strapping 2 half bridge mono amps but they use about half as many parts. For practical purposes yes, the big difference is they're not very abuse tolerant compared to the half bridge we're all used to running.

Or you can grab the Wolfram ones exact same amps 100 to $200 cheaper
The "exact same" except without dual power and ground, dual speaker terminals, or remote knob, you have to pre-order, and you're dealing with a company that's going to disappear if something goes wrong with a line of products they import.
 
I’ve heard the same thing about Taramps but think it’s mostly for certain models. I have no experience though so couldn’t say for sure but I would think it would be ok with higher than 2 volts.
 
I’ve heard the same thing about Taramps but think it’s mostly for certain models. I have no experience though so couldn’t say for sure but I would think it would be ok with higher than 2 volts.

I'm pretty sure that @Popwarhomie told me to definitely not feed my Taramps higher than two volts. I may have misunderstood what he said though. Hopefully, he won't het mad that I tagged him to get his input.
 
Do the Sundown full bridge only like two volts of input like the Taramps? My new installer (long story) said he sets the Taramps at 1.89 volts.

Taramps can run over 2 volts but its not good for them. The Taramps repair guys will tell you high input voltage will destroy the input side. Smart line 4 volts. Everything else 2 and under. Banda amps like stupid low input voltage. Under 1 volt.

No clue about the new Sundown SFB amps.
 
Do the Sundown full bridge only like two volts of input like the Taramps? My new installer (long story) said he sets the Taramps at 1.89 volts.
I run a pre-amp so am coming in pretty hot. The soundigital I was running wanted the gain all the way down, Sundowns a little closer to halfway to get me about the same place so I'd say the gain is set up more in line with the other far east amps.
 
I'm running a smart 3, hooked it up and everything has been nice so far. Switched out the sub and while mounting the amp I accidentally reversed the polarity on power/ground, total noob mistake on my part, won't be switching subs at 11pm anymore. Blew a 300a fuse and almost set my trunk on fire, but after I replaced the fuse and hooked everything up right the next day the amp is fine.

Not saying that taramps is as durable as Korean stuff, but I can definitely say in my experience they aren't as fragile as people claim. I would love to grab a sundown full bridge, but 279 bux for 3k is REALLY hard to beat.
 
Full Bridge is the new way forward in technology IMO, more modern parts, higher current FETs, allowing you to do more power without necessarily having to upgrade your vehicle's power supply. Not recommended obviously, If you really want power, then you've got to provide adequate voltage to your amps for them to perform efficiently. Don't expect one without the other. Very soon most amps on the market will be full bridge. Lets just hope that Sundown lives up to their reputation and do proper R&D into their board designs. That's where Taramps seem to be going wrong IMO. You'd get a Taramps from factory and if you're unlucky, it'll just blow for no reason on idle. Idk what it is with Taramps and their impedances. Banda seem to have it tweaked about right, they have very resilient power supplies and crazy quick protection circuits which protect them (most of the time). In my experience in amplifier repair, its been a lot of user error which blows Taramps because most people do not know or do not research on how to wire and use them effectively. YOU CANNOT ABUSE A TARAMPS LIKE YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO DO WITH A KOREAN AMP!! I cannot stress this enough. They are not gonna be able to handle a 1 ohm load like the Koreans can because the Fets and circuitry are already being driven almost to their max potential for the rated power at 2ohm or whatever it hails, so going further is obviously pushing it. So why be mad when your Taramps blows when you've been blasting at almost full tilt for an hour or more at 1 ohm or less... On the other hand, going back to what I said previously, lets hope Sundown gets the design perfected and R&D so they can last longer cuz I really don't thin these Brazilian manufacturers do much of that... Its more mass production and sales. I've always trusted Sundown and their work so I'd feel confident in trying a full bridge from them. Oh and guys... Try to avoid mounting them onto the box... Vibration damage is another main culprit!

Cheers✌
 
Lets just hope that Sundown lives up to their reputation and do proper R&D into their board designs
Sundown has never done any real R&D and I wouldn't count on them advancing the state of full bridge amplifiers beyond just making the market more accepting of the idea. Considering the half bridge stuff is still using the same 20+ year old designs I'd say don't hold your breath in any big breakthroughs coming from the Far East.
 
Sundown has never done any real R&D and I wouldn't count on them advancing the state of full bridge amplifiers beyond just making the market more accepting of the idea. Considering the half bridge stuff is still using the same 20+ year old designs I'd say don't hold your breath in any big breakthroughs coming from the Far East.
Indeed I agree, it's still a long road into full bridge. It's been around for ages and not many brands were really into developing it. I mean most half bridge designs have been around for like forever with hardly any advancements made to to them over the years but hopefully sundown can build more hype into it so that other companies can invest and do more research. But for sure we definitely know the Brazilians lack with QA... If there is any at all really... I'm hopeful that Sundown will invest extensively into QA to avoid the hiccups that Taramps and the other eastern brands seem to have with bad amps from factory.
 
Indeed I agree, it's still a long road into full bridge. It's been around for ages and not many brands were really into developing it. I mean most half bridge designs have been around for like forever with hardly any advancements made to to them over the years but hopefully sundown can build more hype into it so that other companies can invest and do more research. But for sure we definitely know the Brazilians lack with QA... If there is any at all really... I'm hopeful that Sundown will invest extensively into QA to avoid the hiccups that Taramps and the other eastern brands seem to have with bad amps from factory.
It really doesn't even matter if Sundown can get good quality control so long as the price makes up for whatever failure rate they need to eat. Full bridge has been around for a while and while advances in semiconductors make for improvements I don't think we are going to see much real advancement beyond that and little stuff they're doing like putting adequate power and ground terminals on the amp itself. The issue is whichever company does sink half a million dollars into R&D is just going to be copied by China. Just saw a video the other day of Soundstream branded Chinese made full bridge that seemed to be a knockoff of a Soundigital design.

You have the buck a watt companies actually paying for proper engineers and innovation but the real problem with the industry is that the stuff we have is good enough for the mass market so it's in nobody's interest to pay what it would cost to really advance things. If one of you guys hits the lottery or something contract with someone like Stephen Mantz, Peter Werback or Robert Zeff put their skills to the task but those guys don't work cheap and whatever design you pay for will probably be (poorly) copied by China in short order.
 
It really doesn't even matter if Sundown can get good quality control so long as the price makes up for whatever failure rate they need to eat. Full bridge has been around for a while and while advances in semiconductors make for improvements I don't think we are going to see much real advancement beyond that and little stuff they're doing like putting adequate power and ground terminals on the amp itself. The issue is whichever company does sink half a million dollars into R&D is just going to be copied by China. Just saw a video the other day of Soundstream branded Chinese made full bridge that seemed to be a knockoff of a Soundigital design.

You have the buck a watt companies actually paying for proper engineers and innovation but the real problem with the industry is that the stuff we have is good enough for the mass market so it's in nobody's interest to pay what it would cost to really advance things. If one of you guys hits the lottery or something contract with someone like Stephen Mantz, Peter Werback or Robert Zeff put their skills to the task but those guys don't work cheap and whatever design you pay for will probably be (poorly) copied by China in short order.
Quite so! And that is the bite in the arse that a lot of leading brands have had to suffer by the hands of the Chinese manufacturers. Then there's the DS-18's and Hifonics amongst others who just go the Chinese and pay to mass manufacture cheaper versions of complex board designs and schematics from other brands who have invested millions.... which is where it gets disheartening as an audiophile sigh... Anyway.... those into budget builds "get what they pay for" in my opinion. You want a $200 or $300 amp, don't expect to beat it up too much and for it to keep going like those on the top shelf if u know what I mean... and it's basically that. Sundown has good credibility and performance from my experience in amp repair, I just think that if Sundown can keep their reliability consistent unlike Taramps with their poor QA, I think they'll be alright and make quite a penny with full bridge! For so long full bridge has been widely misunderstood and misused by many. Maybe if a company like Sundown can have people reconsider... IF THEY RUN THE AMPS PROPERLY!!! lol. Maybe then we might see a whole new scene come about from full bridge... Not anytime soon though I'd imagine lol
 
Sundown has never done any real R&D and I wouldn't count on them advancing the state of full bridge amplifiers beyond just making the market more accepting of the idea. Considering the half bridge stuff is still using the same 20+ year old designs I'd say don't hold your breath in any big breakthroughs coming from the Far East.
They do do a lot of R&D on subs though right?

I’ll edit to say I know they aren’t doing R&D that revolutionizes the audio world like XBL^2 etc. They at least spend money on tooling which to most companies is still some type of R&D.
 
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They do do a lot of R&D on subs though right?
Meh, probably do a lot of testing and pass some suggestions to the buildhouse but certainly no real engineering or innovation such as Thilo stompler and LMS motor design (among other useful patents) or Dan Wiggins and his work with XBL^2, or Alex Salvatti and other JBL engineers who patented use of copper shorting rings.

Asking China to make a huge ass surround and a deeper frame is about on par with the """invention""" of quad coil and using flat wound wire in coils. Somewhat innovative and certainly expensive to get the tooling made up, but hardly significant advancement.... then again, there has been little fundamental changes in the loudspeakers since Peter Jenson invented the moving coil loudspeaker 105 years ago. So either there's not much more room for big improvement/innovation, or nobody has ponied up the dough to put a real genius engineer on the job to try to dream up something really revolutionary.

Still though, when we consider the big advances in technology in the last 20 years or so, Salvatti, Stompler, and Wiggins are the only 3 that I'd say were doing any groundbreaking engineering. Everything else is just slight design modifications or quality of life gimmicks. I'll give Jacob credit where due for the few nice things he has had added, but let's not pretend he's paying some engineering department in-house big 6 figure salaries to dream up really new technology.
 
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