Sundown SIA3500 Amp Problem

[SlugButter]

No room for a surfboard amp. I'm hoping that Down4Sound will exchange it out for me.

What are you running on your mids and highs?

 

[Kickstand Premium Member]

Bobby
Wasn't this the amp you got because the SFB crapped out on you
I could be remembering that wrong, I'm not as young as I once was

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

I don't think that $400 is really inexpensive for an amp. Maybe I shouldn't have bought the first version of the amp.

Man, $400 for 3500 watts? 3500 watts should be $700-800 or so, for the quality of amp I'd want.

These new full bridge amps just aren't going to do music like more traditional amps. I really should research the terminologies better so that I could explain this more specifically. I just don't know the technical terms, but it all has to do with the way the electricity flows in between parts, and the inherent design of these full bridge amps that are relatively pretty dang cheap for their output.

You are going to get what you pay for. I have sensitive ears, this is actually scientifically proven with hearing tests (multiple ones). I can hear the difference between good and crappy amps, depends on the quality of other parts of the systems. I've tested crappy amps vs good amps, and it totally makes a difference.

If I buy a salt amp vs your full bridge, I can say, with a certain amount of certainty, that I will be able to play lower than you, if I copied your entire system, except for the amp. That's how much of a difference this makes. Amplifiers aren't just for signal boosting; they contain many electrical based quality control items inside, and those items help clean the signal up to the sub and help mechanically control the sub (through proper impedance spike handling).

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

What are you running on your mids and highs?

4 - 6-½" coaxials and two super tweeters on an American Bass GT950.4.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

Man, $400 for 3500 watts? 3500 watts should be $700-800 or so, for the quality of amp I'd want.

These new full bridge amps just aren't going to do music like more traditional amps. I really should research the terminologies better so that I could explain this more specifically. I just don't know the technical terms, but it all has to do with the way the electricity flows in between parts, and the inherent design of these full bridge amps that are relatively pretty dang cheap for their output.

You are going to get what you pay for. I have sensitive ears, this is actually scientifically proven with hearing tests (multiple ones). I can hear the difference between good and crappy amps, depends on the quality of other parts of the systems. I've tested crappy amps vs good amps, and it totally makes a difference.

If I buy a salt amp vs your full bridge, I can say, with a certain amount of certainty, that I will be able to play lower than you, if I copied your entire system, except for the amp. That's how much of a difference this makes. Amplifiers aren't just for signal boosting; they contain many electrical based quality control items inside, and those items help clean the signal up to the sub and help mechanically control the sub (through proper impedance spike handling).

It plays low notes fine. 148.5 @ 32 hz. is pretty damn good for 4 - 8's. Outlaw or not. Even my 2 - 8's in my Bug did 142.9 @ 33 hz. So, I don't know why you think that these amps can't play low notes.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

It plays low notes fine. 148.5 @ 32 hz. is pretty damn good for 4 - 8's. Outlaw or not. Even my 2 - 8's in my Bug did 142.9 @ 33 hz. So, I don't know why you think that these amps can't play low notes.

That’s not what I meant by low, sorry. I mean lower than that.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

That’s not what I meant by low, sorry. I mean lower than that.

There's a video somewhere where a SFB amp outperformed a SALT amp. I'll have to track it down. I think that the SIA can stack up @ one ohm against the Koreans, but can't compete @ ½ or ¼ ohm. The SIA line is a lot cleaner and plays lower than the SFB line.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

This is why nobody has any SALT amps right now. Down4Sound has about 12 pallets of them. Anywhere from SALT 2 to SALT 12.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I can hear the difference between good and crappy amps

And yet Richard Clark still has his 10,000$.

 

[mastershake575]

SALT 3 retails for 999.99$
SAZ3500 (discontinued) had MSRP of 1,199.99
Everybody who has been around the block a while expected a higher than normal rate of failure on these Chinese Soundigital knockoffs.

Agreed. People that are geniuely running that type of power (either long term daily or competition) are all using $800+ amps. What's funny is he complained months ago that it's unfair/unlogical that you need a $500 alternator to run a $400 amp but reality is that wattage should cost much more (there's no downplaying 3500 watts, that's a ton of current especially for a non-competition car)

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

Agreed. People that are geniuely running that type of power (either long term daily or competition) are all using $800+ amps. What's funny is he complained months ago that it's unfair/unlogical that you need a $500 alternator to run a $400 amp but reality is that wattage should cost much more (there's no downplaying 3500 watts, that's a ton of current especially for a non-competition car)

Sorry if you thought I was complaining. I just didn't think that I needed an AGM, one bank of lithium, and a 320 amp alternator for a 3,500 watt amp. I have all three in my truck right now and still dip into the 12's sometimes. I'm on my third amp right now in my truck (one SFB and two SIA's). The first two went into protect at low volume and while my truck was turned off (multiple times).

 

[Kickstand Premium Member]

Man, $400 for 3500 watts? 3500 watts should be $700-800 or so, for the quality of amp I'd want.

There was a time when it would cost you $2000+
Those Orion HCCA 2100's and the higher end Phoenix Gold stuff came with price tags that involved handing over your first born.
The trend seems to be going down so I would go off the company's reputation more than the price tag.
Unless of course the company has recently been bought by some big conglomerate.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

There was a time when it would cost you $2000+
Those Orion HCCA 2100's and the higher end Phoenix Gold stuff came with price tags that involved handing over your first born.
The trend seems to be going down so I would go off the company's reputation more than the price tag.
Unless of course the company has recently been bought by some big conglomerate.

I remember when the original Rockford Power 1000's were well over $1,000 back in 1989. I paid $500 for my Nakamichi 440 watt mono amp that same year. I know things have changed a lot since then. I went with Sundown instead of Taramps because of reputation this time around.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I remember when the original Rockford Power 1000's were well over $1,000 back in 1989. I paid $500 for my Nakamichi 440 watt mono amp that same year. I know things have changed a lot since then. I went with Sundown instead of Taramps because of reputation this time around.

And if you got a dud I'm sure your money will have been well spent for the low hassle warranty exchange.

The first two went into protect at low volume and while my truck was turned off (multiple times).

Amps shouldn't be failing due to voltage between 12 and 15. How certain are you that there isn't some sort of short happening? Scuffed speaker wire or something touching a speaker terminal to ground or the amp chasis? What is the impedance the amp is seeing?

Three amps in a row failing quickly and even if they were really ****-tier amps I'd start to suspect something else is going wrong.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

And if you got a dud I'm sure your money will have been well spent for the low hassle warranty exchange.


Amps shouldn't be failing due to voltage between 12 and 15. How certain are you that there isn't some sort of short happening? Scuffed speaker wire or something touching a speaker terminal to ground or the amp chasis? What is the impedance the amp is seeing?

Three amps in a row failing quickly and even if they were really ****-tier amps I'd start to suspect something else is going wrong.

Because I've checked the wiring and it never happens when I'm doing a demo. It happened twice while my truck was off. It went into protect right when I started my truck. And when I installed the new amps everything was fine. Down4Sound even took a video of the amp blinking in protect and told me that I didn't do anything wrong.