Directed AMP's???

ecrawford · 10-22-2007, 11:43 AM

Anyone with experience with these?

Bhudda454 · 10-22-2007, 11:56 AM

under different names, but all pawn shop quality. not something i would bet the house on.

ecrawford · 10-22-2007, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bhudda454

under different names, but all pawn shop quality. not something i would bet the house on.

Yeah, I know that they own quite a few companies now and someone tried the owner of MMXpress.com tried to recommend them to me today. I worked with a friend of his for years ago when he was getting up and running and thought that I could get some pretty good advice from him.

Bhudda454 · 10-22-2007, 12:27 PM

you can get a real good amp for about the same money they sale that product for. Product is actually spelled "Crap" but I decided to be polite as a friend of your is involved. I know the guru's on here frown upon it, but I have had nothing but excellent results with MTX brand. Not the best stuff, but affordable and pounding for amps. They do only make their best output at 2ohms though. Makes speaker selection a bit more involved. About the only reason I would shy away from them.....

Now that I have stated this, I fully expect the flames of our guru's to lick upon my feet for the evil rumors I start. LOL

**t22a80** · 10-22-2007, 12:35 PM

Unfourtnatley most of the brands that Directed owns, Precision Power, Orion, etc all went down hill after they were bought. I'm not saying its all junk but Directed is best at making remote starters.

The really old MTX stuff and the new MTX stuff is ok, there was a time when it was nothing special though.

Bhudda454 · 10-22-2007, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t22a80

Unfourtnatley most of the brands that Directed owns, Precision Power, Orion, etc all went down hill after they were bought. I'm not saying its all junk but Directed is best at making remote starters.

The really old MTX stuff and the new MTX stuff is ok, there was a time when it was nothing special though.

How True How True....

PPI and Orion used to be the only thing for SPL cars/trucks..... Oopsie bought by Directed and now a skeleton of former self. If even that.

Older MTX got me started, missed the bad years in the middle. Now back on the wagon.

ecrawford · 10-22-2007, 12:50 PM

Yeah...I'm trying to find something decent but for every item that I find that someone likes there is another person calling it crap. I've always had kicker products but haven't gotten anything from them in about 5 to 6 years. In the past I have always been happy so I'm just tempted to go with what I know at this point.

Bhudda454 · 10-22-2007, 12:54 PM

Same here, I am thinking a Kicker solo sub and an MTX amp. I am only doing a single when I get around to it, so I think I should be safe. I am not looking to advertise my truck to the local thieves guild.

**t22a80** · 10-22-2007, 12:57 PM

Just remember times change. Espeically with car audio.

Here is an interesting link. You seem like the type to over analize things (no offense) so check this out.

http://ampguts.realmofexcursion.com/

It has hundreds of amps listed with pics inside and out and also gives you specs for most of them.

I'm sure there are amps on there that you have never heard of!

**t22a80** · 10-22-2007, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bhudda454

How True How True....

PPI and Orion used to be the only thing for SPL cars/trucks..... Oopsie bought by Directed and now a skeleton of former self. If even that.

Older MTX got me started, missed the bad years in the middle. Now back on the wagon.

YOU KNOW IT! haha A lot of amps like Precision Power and Orion was made in the USA. Since Directed bought them they are mostly made overseas. Now, I'm not saying that makes it junk but typically the amps made overseas are all about cost cutting and thats why people do it. However Sundown does it different. They are still made overseas but they use more bullet proof construction. Look at the internals of the Sundown amps, lots of glue and evertyhing is very secure in there. I'm sure Jacob could comment about what else he does to make his amps very robust.

ecrawford · 10-22-2007, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bhudda454

Same here, I am thinking a Kicker solo sub and an MTX amp. I am only doing a single when I get around to it, so I think I should be safe. I am not looking to advertise my truck to the local thieves guild.

I know first had that setup will rock. My last system was three 12" solo's with a MTX 1000D and it was a beast. The enclosure was built by yours truley

It was good enough to sale to a local installer here in town after my wife and I had our little girl and I got my first truck. One of the best sounding systems that I've had.

Bhudda454 · 10-22-2007, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecrawford

I know first had that setup will rock. My last system was three 12" solo's with a MTX 1000D and it was a beast. The enclosure was built by yours truley

It was good enough to sale to a local installer here in town after my wife and I had our little girl and I got my first truck. One of the best sounding systems that I've had.

Yeah, I have a comrade who used a homemade box and a junk amp with a solo. Scary inside but not advertising out of truck. Just what I need. I am sure a Sundown from James would be the thing as far as the amp. I am just to greedy on floor space for one of his enlosures.

**t22a80** · 10-22-2007, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bhudda454

Yeah, I have a comrade who used a homemade box and a junk amp with a solo. Scary inside but not advertising out of truck. Just what I need. I am sure a Sundown from James would be the thing as far as the amp. I am just to greedy on floor space for one of his enlosures.

Get a box like mine for a single 10" It only goes under 1/2 the back seat. I leave the 30% side up all the time for putting crap.

sundownz · 10-22-2007, 01:49 PM

Most of the Directed amps out today are "get the job done" and thats about it type amps. Nothing really special. If you are on a budget it may suit you, although, I would suggest Cadence amp over most of the Directed stuff out there these days. Again, another "get the job done" type amp, but they are even cheaper than Directed amps.

I was running a Directed 6-channel before starting Sundown Audio -- it worked okay, but as soon as I dropped in some of my SAX amps in place the system really came to life. The Directed unit simply didn't have any headroom at all... the internal build would indicate as much:

http://ampguts.realmofexcursion.com/..._6/inside2.jpg
* Directed 6-channel

http://ampguts.realmofexcursion.com/....2/inside1.jpg
* Sundown SAX-100.2

The Directed amp utilizes 12 output transistors for a rated total of 350 watts at 4 ohms stereo operation.

The SAX-100.2 utilizes 12 output transistors in the same style casing for a rated total of 200 watts at 4 ohm stereo operation.

As for the power supply on the Directed unit... I can't tell which TO-220 case units are power supply FETs and which are rectifiers in the design in the pictures, and I don't recall off hand. For the sake of argument lets say that four devices are rectifiers (typical) -- then it has 10 power supply transistors.

The SAX-100.2 utilizes 12 TO-220 casing transistors in the power supply, actually enough to supply a 1000 watt Class A/B amp (250 x 2 stereo).

So what does this mean for you? In the SAX-100.2 each transistor is under less load, meaning it's parameters remain more linear in operation. There is also sufficient "meat" in the amp to reproduce large transients in music. Extra devices will also be less prone to failure as they are ran much farther from their limits -- the SAX-100.2 has had two failures total to date, one was complete user error (screw through speaker wire into chassis), one was actually a factory defect and not a failure over time.

---

Anyhow... moral of the story, perhaps you should consider spending a bit more today to be happier with your amps for the longer term.

P-Dizzle · 10-22-2007, 03:53 PM

Yep. Sundown for sure...