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car vs rackmount

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Death_blooms View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Death_blooms Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: car vs rackmount
    Posted: 07 November 2007 at 5:52pm
why are car amps so much cheaper than rackmount ones. All i want is a cheap 1000w mono amp so im considering buying a car amp looking at the prices of rackmount ones if there isnt a big difference in performance is there one?
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GAZ. View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GAZ. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 November 2007 at 6:18pm
What are you planning to use the amp for?
100% Earth Moving Bass
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Death_blooms View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Death_blooms Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 November 2007 at 6:55pm
for a single 15" 1000w sub
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mattg View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mattg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 November 2007 at 8:55pm
how will you supply the 12v required for the car amplifier?
...you'd need a transformer, some big caps, rectifiers etc to make a supply. in fact, pretty much what your paying extra for in a normal amp Smile. Car amps are also often victims of suspect methods of output measurement- check the rms output, rather than the 'max output at 1khz for one second before the amp melted' spec.

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Death_blooms View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Death_blooms Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 November 2007 at 9:01pm
Will do but other than all that its all cool right? I just wanted to know if sound quality is the same and there are no compatability issues. I am aware of issues with power etc, etc. thanks for your help Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mattg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 November 2007 at 9:11pm
dunno about sound quality, normally car amps designed to cope with low impedances (4 or 2) so to get the most out of it you'll need a 4ohm driver in the cab, or 2ohm- what driver are you using?, dont think theres 2ohm pa drivers (are there??? i guess its possible to wind the voice coil to achieve any impedance you want really?) car audio drivers maybe.
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GAZ. View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GAZ. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 November 2007 at 10:22pm
The 12 volt power supplies for running car amps from the mains are HUGE!
I have some amplifiers for sale, will bridge to 1100 watts at 8 ohm if your interested.
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Death_blooms View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Death_blooms Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 November 2007 at 10:54pm
Im listenin... how much we talkin here?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SteveAATW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 November 2007 at 10:57pm
Sound quality of car amps is gash. THD is awful compared to a pro audio amp and the SNR is an order of magnitude or two worse normally as well. The power supply is a major issue but not only that because of the low output voltage the current for a specific power is very high - you get very large I squared R losses in the cable and voice coils - its not an efficent way of driving a speaker.

What you save in buying the amp you will pay out for in power supplies, it will sound rubbish and will be more likely to go wrong (car amps weren't designed to run PA systems flat out for hours on end) and it will be nowhere near as easily portable.

If your on a budget get a t.amp from thomann, will do you much better service
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mskeete Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 November 2007 at 10:34am
Have to disagree with some of that unless you're only looking at the cheapest of cheapest car amps. Any car amp worth talking about will have a switched mode supply to run the amp circuit at a higher voltage and the actual amp circuit won't be that different to what you find in some PA amps
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SteveAATW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 November 2007 at 1:22pm
True, but he was doing it to save money and so I presumed he was on about the cheapo ones. When you take the PSU into consideration using a step up based car amp is a very bad to try and save money.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djrockstar4u Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 November 2007 at 11:35pm
I would never use a car amp to run a PA speaker. The big reason, I NEVER trust an amp with no fan, reguarless if it's a touring amp all the way to consumer, never a good idea, reguardless of the amps effeciency.
 
But car amps aren't designed to be run for hours on end. They will over heat, no questions. But, you are asking for trouble using a car amp for that. Not to mention the numbers for wattages are no where close to what they say.
 
Just spend the money and buy a cheap rackmount, you will have A LOT LESS trouble in the end.
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