Bought an amp

[RoundEye]

It’s called Audio Source. Its full name is Phoenix Gold Audio Source. I wonder if its made by the car audio company. It has a Torrid transformer like car audio does which is rare for home stereos. Something I found while doing a little research. A 12000 watt car amp made by Phoenix Gold. You’d have to be seriously competitive to want that thing in your car. It’s a beast!

The One pushes the rich tradition of limited edition amplifiers to a new level. This is the most powerful amplifier Phoenix Gold has ever built, 12,000 watts RMS into a single channel. Part beast, part piece of artwork the massive internal components are visible for all to see via the plexiglass cover. Each amplifier is truly unique as the limited edition unit number is CNC cut into the heatsink, so no two amplifiers are alike. Limited quantities available.

Key Features
• Limited Edition Production Run
• 3 Ounce Gold Plated Circuit Board
• Six Power Supplies with Hand Wound Transformers
• Temperature Controlled Fan Cooling System
• High Efficiency Class D Topology 24dB
• Detented Low Pass and Subsonic Filters
• Operates up to 16 Volts DC
• Two amps are linkable for 24,000w


Specifications
The One
• POWER RATING
12,000w x 1 @ 1 ohm
• POWER RATING
8,000w x 1 @ 2 ohm


Holy ***** batman!


Here’s the amp I bought.



Specs

Number Of Channels
2 Channels
Power
450 W, 150 W
Product Type
Amplifier
Total Harmonic Distortion (thd)
1%
Manufacturer Part Number
AMP310
Product Model
AMP310
Brand Name
Phoenix Gold
Rms Output Power
450 W

It seems to have pretty good reviews from what I read.

My new sub. It’s a 4 ohm DVC.



The cone feels like Tupperware but it’s made of some kind of volcanic ash and polypropylene


Subwoofer Size
12"
Subwoofer Design
Round / Circle
Main Cone Color
Black
Voice Coil(s)
Dual
Impedance (per voice coil)
4 ohms
Peak Power Handling
1400 watts
RMS Power Handling
400 watts
Woofer Composition
Injection Molded Polypropylene (IMPP)
Woofer Surround
N/A
Minimum Sealed Box Volume
.85 cubic feet
Maximum Sealed Box Volume
1.75 cubic feet
Minimum Ported Box Volume
1.25 cubic feet
Maximum Ported Box Volume
2.05 cubic feet
Sensitivity
91 dB
Frequency Response
20 - 180 Hz

[Sava700]

There has only been one brand amp from a vehicle level to ever push what it says its designed to push if not more and that's Rockford Fosgate! I've seen so many on test benches during my days in car audio and hanging out at the Crutchfield main location in years past to see this first hand.

That being said, if the home unit does you well then great.

[Humboldt]

sweet

[YARDofSTUF]

Rockford Fosgate always gets a lot of love from review sites. Another brand I hear great things about is Cadence.


And that 12k watt amp is sick. You could mount that on a wall as a piece of geek art.

[RoundEye]

sweet

It’s hard to realize how bored I get at times. I can’t drive and I’m stuck at home all day, mostly by myself. My A/V system helps keep me entertained and I’m slowly upgrading it. Next is my center channel and front left and rights for my surround. I have a 52 inch high def plasma and a 5 X 100 Sony for my surrounds which feeds low level into the other amp for the sub. I think between 30 and 140 Hz. It’s an expensive hobby but it keeps me entertained, literally. All my wires are stashed in the walls it’s neat looking but a pain in the ass to upgrade. I forgot all about the wires for the DVD player, so I feed sound through fiber optic to the stereo and S-video through the front of the TV. All the speaker wires are hidden in the walls and they are 12 gauge oxygen- free copper. I did most of this before I got sick, I’d never be able to do the cabling now. I’ll tell you what, for a flat screen that sumbitch is heavy. When I was healthy it was hard to put on the wall. I’d never be able to do it now. I can also hook my PC to the A/V system, which is cool. Even though I failed on the business aspect of it, I had my own structural cabling business for a while. I know how to do it and do it right.

[RoundEye]

...And that 12k watt amp is sick. You could mount that on a wall as a piece of geek art...

No kidding, you’d have to be stuck at redline on stoopid to put two of those in your car for 24K. Which can be done.

I wonder if it comes with a trailer hitch to tow a generator behind your car. That thing has to suck a lot of power.

[RoundEye]

Those round donut looking things with all the wire wrapped around it are the Torrid transformers. That’s what the home amp has in it instead of a square box looking transformer. The wires are coated with a plastic varnish of some type. So they don’t physically touch each other, just the electrons flow. That amp has six power supplies when most have one. That and the full name is what makes me wonder if Phoenix Gold and Audio Source are not one and the same. Phoenix Gold makes some quality. High end amps too.

[Sava700]

That and the full name is what makes me wonder if Phoenix Gold and Audio Source are not one and the same. Phoenix Gold makes some quality. High end amps too.

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... rmd%3Divns

Phoenix Gold, whose full name is Phoenix Gold International, Inc, is an American based in Portland, Oregon and founded in 1991, specializes in making equipment audio and video, hi-end home and car systems, home- theater, and audio accessories. La compagnia vende i propri prodotti sotto i marchi Phoenix Gold®, Carver Professional™, ed Audiosource®. The company sells its products under the brand names Phoenix Gold ®, Carver Professional ™, and Audiosource ®.

[JC]

Damn, I wish I would of known you were looking for a home amp. I've got a B&K 200.2 in perfect condition you could of got a heck of a deal on.

[JC]

There has only been one brand amp from a vehicle level to ever push what it says its designed to push if not more and that's Rockford Fosgate! I've seen so many on test benches during my days in car audio and hanging out at the Crutchfield main location in years past to see this first hand.

That being said, if the home unit does you well then great.

The old Xtant amps were way underrated. I had a 1000/1 in my truck that put out over 1600 RMS.

[Sava700]

The old Xtant amps were way underrated. I had a 1000/1 in my truck that put out over 1600 RMS.

Got a test log of this? I know many builders of amps are putting out test log sheets in the boxes now as a way of copying Fosgate as they were doing it from the start. I've seen the larger Punch's run a clean 3000 RMS with just a rating of 300, now keep in mind these were pushing something like 15"s 8ohms in mono to drop them down quiet a bit. When this was done of course amps would get hot and start clipping but not Fosgates even in blazing hot summer sun.

[JC]

Got a test log of this? I know many builders of amps are putting out test log sheets in the boxes now as a way of copying Fosgate as they were doing it from the start. I've seen the larger Punch's run a clean 3000 RMS with just a rating of 300, now keep in mind these were pushing something like 15"s 8ohms in mono to drop them down quiet a bit. When this was done of course amps would get hot and start clipping but not Fosgates even in blazing hot summer sun.

No test log, it was done with a scope and some other equipment. The amp was pushing 2 Eclipse titanium 12's @ 1 or 1.5 ohms. With this system I also had an Eclipse head unit with a balanced line output of 16V to the amps, that really makes a difference.

[Sava700]

No test log, it was done with a scope and some other equipment. The amp was pushing 2 Eclipse titanium 12's @ 1 or 1.5 ohms. With this system I also had an Eclipse head unit with a balanced line output of 16V to the amps, that really makes a difference.

I love looking at numbers but sounds good. I don't dabble in it no more and I'm going to pull two 15 legacy solo barics out of my truck this spring. I think I paid over 350 for each boxes included at 1.5 cubic ft. I'll sell them but at no less than 150 each since even after 13 years them suckers still sound brand new.

[RoundEye]

Thanks for the info Sava. I had a strong feeling they were the same, makes me feel better about the amp. I ordered it unseen and unheard.

[RoundEye]

Talk about uber rare and underrated is this amp. When Rockford Fosgate bought David Hafler, this is one of the first amps they produced. I have one, never bench tested it, but it puts out way more than 40 watts a channel. It’s a four channel amp and that thing rolls. From past experience of installing and repairing automotive electronics I can tell you that thing is way underrated. If I get to driving again I’m putting that amp back in. That thing Rock&Rolls!



It’s almost impossible to even find information on. There’s a lot of amp in a little package. It gets so hot I bet I can roast hotdogs on it. It’s still humping and bumping after all these years. I bet I got the amp around the mid 80’s.

[Dan]

I remember installing hafler,great stuff !
I've been installing car audio since 1978 and I kept a few things,this audiomobile amp and preamp works and is about circa 1981.this was high end gear in the day,anyone remember it ?

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[RoundEye]

I remember installing hafler,great stuff !
I've been installing car audio since 1978 and I kept a few things,this audiomobile amp and preamp works and is about circa 1981.this was high end gear in the day,anyone remember it ?

I don’t remember the Audiomobile but I’m glad you remember Hafler. It wasn’t built at a slant on the heatsink like the other ones, it was just that big rectangle brick as shown. That thing jams and sounds good doing it. Definitely an amp worth holding on to, especially since it’s four channel and can be bridged into three or two channels. It is a very rare amp.

[RoundEye]

If I remember right, it was MOSFET all the way through. Power supply and final outputs. That supposedly gives a solid state amp a tube amp sound. I do know it’s a great sounding amp.

[RoundEye]

...There has only been one brand amp from a vehicle level to ever push what it says its designed to push if not more and that's Rockford Fosgate!...

I missed this before, there is more amps out there that will push what they say or maybe a little more.
Rockford Fosgate is not the king. There is better amps out there. I repaired and installed custom automotive sound systems for well over ten years, I’ve seen tons of systems.

Let me brag a bit, me and another guy built the third loudest car stereo at the time. The only ones that beat us were Rockford Fosgate corporation and Orion corporation. We were using Orion amps, I think a little over 16,000 watts. It was an Astro van, it was so damn loud it would shake the doors open when it cranked up. We welded some studs on the inside the doors and they would protrude through a hole drilled in the door and bolted closed with wing nuts when it was ready to crank. The first time we cranked it was with the doors open, it shook most of florescent lights out of the fixtures of the warehouse we were in. It had 15, 1000 watt amps, and 15 specially wound 15 inch woofers. Orion wound them to one ohm for us. I think we built a rabid beast.

[Sava700]

I missed this before, there is more amps out there that will push what they say or maybe a little more.
Rockford Fosgate is not the king. There is better amps out there. I repaired and installed custom automotive sound systems for well over ten years, I’ve seen tons of systems.

Yeah I was at some IASCA competitions, did the installing and repairing with Crutchfield training and so on..but I've never seen any out perform on many levels that RF did. I've seen similar stuff, seen people blow windshields out just for the hell of it lol yea funny stuff. There may be better amps now but in the early and mid 90's.. Fosgate was champs!

[Humboldt]

Let me brag a bit, me and another guy built the third loudest car stereo at the time. The only ones that beat us were Rockford Fosgate corporation and Orion corporation. We were using Orion amps, I think a little over 16,000 watts. It was an Astro van, it was so damn loud it would shake the doors open when it cranked up. We welded some studs on the inside the doors and they would protrude through a hole drilled in the door and bolted closed with wing nuts when it was ready to crank. The first time we cranked it was with the doors open, it shook most of florescent lights out of the fixtures of the warehouse we were in. It had 15, 1000 watt amps, and 15 specially wound 15 inch woofers. Orion wound them to one ohm for us. I think we built a rabid beast.

While I think this is way cool and records are meant to be broken or at least threatened...why on earth do people put so much money into systems they can't listen to at anywhere close to their potential?

Again, this is not harping on you, I'm just trying to understand why consumers go for stuff like this that they can't listen to anyways, short of making themselves deaf within x number of seconds.

[Sava700]

While I think this is way cool and records are meant to be broken or at least threatened...why on earth do people put so much money into systems they can't listen to at anywhere close to their potential?

Again, this is not harping on you, I'm just trying to understand why consumers go for stuff like this that they can't listen to anyways, short of making themselves deaf within x number of seconds.

Most of it was for hobby, many would just do these things for competition too or just flat out bragging rights.

[blebs]

KISS. What's it doing for you? How does it sound?

[Mark]

speaking of old car amps, i have an old fosgate punch 75 from the mid 1980's, should i sell it or junk it, not sure if i will ever put a sound system in my dodge dakota, what do you all say ?

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg20 ... G_2900.jpg

[Dan]

speaking of old car amps, i have an old fosgate punch 75 from the mid 1980's, should i sell it or junk it, not sure if i will ever put a sound system in my dodge dakota, what do you all say ?

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg20 ... G_2900.jpg

there is a market for "old school" car audio stuff on Ebay.

[Sava700]

speaking of old car amps, i have an old fosgate punch 75 from the mid 1980's, should i sell it or junk it, not sure if i will ever put a sound system in my dodge dakota, what do you all say ?

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg20 ... G_2900.jpg

I'd keep it.. those older ones were the best, the 90's Punch series were great nice thick heat sinks

[RoundEye]

there is a market for "old school" car audio stuff on Ebay.

That’s what I was thinking. If both channels work properly stick it on ebay. That’s an old legacy amp that should fetch a pretty penny.

[RoundEye]

there is a market for "old school" car audio stuff on Ebay.

“old school” for me was the oldAlphasoniks. Remember them?

[RoundEye]

While I think this is way cool and records are meant to be broken or at least threatened...why on earth do people put so much money into systems they can't listen to at anywhere close to their potential?

Again, this is not harping on you, I'm just trying to understand why consumers go for stuff like this that they can't listen to anyways, short of making themselves deaf within x number of seconds.

It’s all just competition and bravado. Look at the NHRA, those dragsters do a quarter mile in less than five seconds. Don’t think about turning it or going a half mile. It’s useless in that aspect.

[Dan]

yep !

when I started installing,we were putting in the last of the 8track players,I have seen it all in 32 years,

I remember when a zapco eq preamp & amp with switchable inputs and a blaupunkt frankfurt am/fm & a nakamichi 250 cassette player was high end.


then the concord am/fm/cass came along and we were tapping into the volume to bypass it ourselves for amplified installs,we would build fiberglass enclosures right into the doors for sealed mids and use philips dome tweeters,and we would build our own x-overs with caps and chokes to for the system.

[RoundEye]

Zapco is a name I haven’t heard in years.

The van was a shop van, demonstrating what we could do. It belonged to some 19 year old kid whose parents helped him buy the place I was working at. It was all downhill from there. After two years or so, he closed down a place that had been open some ungodly amount time.

[RoundEye]

… when I started installing, we were putting in the last of the 8track players, I have seen it all in 32 years ...

The guy that previously owned my shop was older then dirt. He showed me the predecessor to the 8-track, which is four stereo channels. He had shown me 4-tracks which were 4 mono channels. The oldest radio I ever worked on was a 1938 Delco AM radio. I’m not that great with tubes and this radio was full of them. To be honest I don’t think I ever repaired that radio, as much as I tried.

My old (literally) boss was Ed Conrad. He got his start importing radios straight from Japan as replacements for factory OEM radios. I started repairing and installing automotive and home audio in the early 80’s and did it to around the late 90’s.