I was showing my current set-up to this guy at work. He asked meif I was done tweeking my system and I told him no, but I like how it sounds a lot better than before. We made mention of how I should get new amps and because my 12w3s should be hitting a lot harder. He said I should get digital amps cause they are the best. I was thinking in my head, digital would be nice but not every digital amp is going to sound good. And why is it that I haven't heard of companys like JL, X-tant, Rockford Fosgate, come out with digital amps. In my defense the levels on my amps are turned down because the one (HiFonics) powering the highs sound distorted, and the one powering the subs (Sound Stream...well I don't want too much bass because I hate all the rattling. On the Sound Stream, I can turn the levels up more before it starts clipping, so maybe I should turn them up so he can shut his mouth. Anyways my question is are there any good digital amps out there that are worth my time to look into, cause I am thinking of getting a new amp to power my JL component set. Thanks in advance.

 

Digital amps (or class D) use pulse width modulation. So, instead of having your output transistors on at all times they are switched. This is a much more efficient design. However, it has a drawback. While you will not hear the switching of the transistors at lower frequencies, at higher frequencies the amps sound pretty bad.

So digital amps are just sold as sub amps, not whole system amps.

-Dan

 

Thanks for the reply and the explanation of how they work. I have another question. I am curious, which companys make digital amps? When I was going to buy my SoundStream Rubicon 702, the salesperson tried to sell me a Cadence digital amp. So I know of one of them so I am curious of other brands.

 

You might want to start refering to them as class D amps. Alot of people on dedicated audio forums will flame you for calling class D amps "digital."

Just about every amplifier company makes a class D amp. Do a search for it in a search engine, and you will find them. Also try ebay: http://listings.ebay.com/aw/plisting...797/index.html

This is all the class D amps on there right now.

 

Ok, now I know. Not sure but I think that I have a digital amp then, I think my soundstream amp has a class D circuit board. My amp has this thing call high current and it comes on when the level are turn up more then they are now and the volume reaches a certain point. At least from what I have observed. I read in some audio forum that this guy "swaped" his class D amp to class A or A/B. Not really sure. But he was a lot happier and was talking about how uch cleaner and how much harder his subs are hitting. I was under the impression that class D amps are better suited for subs. Or is it better to have class A or whatever, amps? My bass sounds clean enough for me but I wonder how much cleaner the bass would sound with what this guy did. Thanks for the info, I love it when I learn something interesting.

 

umm...the 250/1, the 500/1 and the 1000/1 are all class D amps.

and yes you will get flamed for calling them digital.

eric

 

I wasn't aware that Soundstream makes, or made, a class D amp. Are you sure your amp isn't just going into overload protection?

 

Yeah you are right, I guess I thought I read it in the owners manual, but in all actuallity I think I reading an online manual late at night. Good looking out. My amp does kick in to high current mode so it's not the overload protection.