Best Monster Amp

Northwinds

Veteran and General Yakker
Joined
Mar 18, 2013
Messages
7,543
Location
Coventry, CT
Tagline
Fondler errrr... fan of all Nav's avatars
#41
I bet that sounded sick Mike. Best movietrack I have heard cranked was Apollo 13 when the rocket lifted of. I was running both A & B sets of Infinity SM-150's. At the time, I was running a Yamaha B2. I bet Krakatoa blowing was way better :happy2:
 

laatsch55

Administrator,
Staff member
Joined
Jan 14, 2011
Messages
74,124
Location
Gillette, Wyo.
Tagline
Halfbiass...Electron Herder and Backass Woof
#44
Me too, I was having some chicken noodle soup for lunch and I suddenly started cracking up and Jani was like WTF???
 

Lazarus Short

Veteran and General Yakker
Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Messages
14,293
Location
Independence, MO
Tagline
I'm the Red Knight, by grant of the Black
#46
Nose noodles - ha!

The most monstrous amps I ever saw and heard were two mono amps out of CAT (or was it MRI?) scanners, supposedly made by Crown, and with a few mods, they pumped out 700 - 800 watts each. At the time, I thought they sound good for solid-state. Each one was the size of a window air conditioner.
 

eminence1963

Chief Journeyman
Joined
Nov 18, 2013
Messages
698
Tagline
---
#49
I bet that sounded sick Mike. Best movietrack I have heard cranked was Apollo 13 when the rocket lifted of. I was running both A & B sets of Infinity SM-150's. At the time, I was running a Yamaha B2. I bet Krakatoa blowing was way better :happy2:

These kind of 152's?




Yup I still own a pair.... Doing Garage duty is where they are
 

eminence1963

Chief Journeyman
Joined
Nov 18, 2013
Messages
698
Tagline
---
#50
Boooo. Hang them in ur living room and run 4 speaks.
Our friend 30weight is a Bose Fanatic so to speak he has 6 pairs of them. Yes I said it 6 pairs!!!!:happy2:
Photo of his listening room

This guy has some stuff. I got his permission before I uploaded the photo;-)
 

Lazarus Short

Veteran and General Yakker
Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Messages
14,293
Location
Independence, MO
Tagline
I'm the Red Knight, by grant of the Black
#51
What the hell? What are power amps doing in diagnostic equipment?
Don't confuse a scanner amp with an audio amp - they had to be modded to operate in the audio range of frequencies - at least, that was what I was told by the guy who did the modding...
 
Last edited:

Lazarus Short

Veteran and General Yakker
Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Messages
14,293
Location
Independence, MO
Tagline
I'm the Red Knight, by grant of the Black
#52
Techron gradient drive amps. Techron is a division of Crown .
I had one of those scanner mri amps at one time. Probably what he had Dennis.
You didn't get yours from Buzzz Collins, did you Mike? I forgot to mention that the distortion of these amps is not measured in percent (%), but in parts-per-million (ppm).
 

Fairchild

Veteran and General Yakker
Joined
Jun 14, 2010
Messages
2,937
Location
Springpatch, IL
Tagline
It's Beer Season!
#53
http://dozin.com/godzilla/amp.htm#

I don't think you will find one but

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]GODZILLA FEATURES PURE CLASS A OPERATION- ACKNOWLEDGED BY MOST AUDIO COGNOSCENTI AS SYNONYMOUS WITH THE ULTIMATE IN AUDIO AMPLIFICATION. CLASS A CIRCUITRY MEANS THAT OUTPUT TRANSISTORS WILL ALWAYS BE OPERATING AT A CONSTANT AVERAGE AMOUNT OF CURRENT. EVEN THOUGH THERE MAY BE NO SIGNAL AT THE AMPLIFIER'S INPUT. SINCE THE OUTPUT TRANSISTORS DO NOT VARY THEIR AMOUNTS OF CURRENT. CROSSOVER NOTCH DISTORTION IS COMPLETELY ELIMINATED, AND REMAINING DISTORTION CONSISTS OF IMPERCEPTIBLE LEVELS OF INOFFENSIVE LOWER-ORDER HARMONICS. AN IDLE CURRENT OF NINE AMPS ENABLES GODZILLA TO OPERATE IN THE PURE CLASS A MODE NOT ONLY INTO EIGHT OHMS, BUT FOUR AS WELL. TO FURTHER INSURE AGAINST SIGNAL DETERIORATION, GODZILLA EMPLOYS FULLY-COMPLEMENTARY SYMMETRY WHICH RESULTS IN COMPLETE CANCELLATION OF EVEN-ORDER HARMONIC DISTORTION PRODUCTS.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]THERE IS MORE TO GODZILLA'S GREATNESS. ITS POWER AND STABILITY, FOR EXAMPLE, ARE AWESOME. GODZILLA IS SO COMPLETELY IMMUNE TO SPEAKER LOADING EFFECTS THAT GAS COMPANY ENGINEERS HAVE SUCCESSFULLY USED IT AS AN ARC WELDER WITH NO ILL EFFECTS. SUCH DRAMATIC CAPABILITIES SUPPORT OUR CONFIDENCE IN GODZILLA'S LOW-IMPEDANCE RATINGS. THE CLASS-A GODZILLA BELIEVERS 400 WATTS PER CHANNEL OF POWER OUTPUT INTO A ONE-OHM LOAD. AND, IF A CLASS A GODZILLA DOESN'T HAVE ENOUGH POWER FOR YOUR APPLICATIONS, IT IS ALSO AVAILABLE IN A CLASS AB VERSION WITH THE ABILITY TO DELIVER 1000 WATTS PER CHANNEL INTO A TWO OHM LOAD.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]BUT POWER OUTPUT ISN'T THE WHOLE STORY EITHER, GODZILLA HAS A VOLTAGE SLEW RATE OF 600 VOLTS PER MICROSECOND - AN UNPRECEDENTED FIGURE IN AN AUDIO AMPLIFIER. THIS ASTONISHING SLEW RATE IS EVEN MORE MIND-BOGGELING WHEN VIEWED TOGETHER WITH GODZILLA'S BANDWIDTH OF 350KHz. FRANKLY, THERE IS NO MUSICAL SIGNAL - HOWEVER COMPLEX OR WIDEBAND, HOWEVER LOUD OR TRANSIENT - THAT CAN CAUSE GODZILLA TO SLEW. GODZILLA IS THE FASTEST HIGH POWER AMP ON MOTHER EARTH.[/FONT]
[HR][/HR][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Again, These are one of a kind amplifiers. Their fully balance dual mono amps.
I asked what is fully balanced mean? To say it simply as a microphone is a balanced source and both + and - signals are contained within a shielded cable a balanced amp is one which first has a balanced input but also has a balanced output. Voltages change on both the + and - speaker leads as opposed to the - usually being tied to the chassis or ground and not anything more than a current return for the positive lead to the loudspeaker. Also a balanced amp has a balanced feedback loop with what amounts to input error nulling as opposed to negative feedback. Don't be confused by the use of two amplifiers put together one for the + and one for the - . This is not a true balanced amp.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Only 23 Great American Sound "Godzilla" AB amplifiers were made.[/FONT]



Or any of these

In the early 80's Phil Lesh approached Andy Hefley (owner of GAS Amps) to build him some special amps. So he built him 150 lb 2500 watt mono amps under the name of Precision Innovative Electronics or "PIE" He made 4 amps for Phil. 2 he used and 2 were for back up. The front panel was 12" high!

Jim
 

Peter Stoffregen

New Around These Parts
Joined
Sep 21, 2014
Messages
13
Location
Hillsdale, Ontario, Canada
Tagline
---
#57
Yet another dumb question; basically, how can I tell if my PL 700 is clipping.

My new (less efficient) RCF subs produce 92 db w/ 1 watt at 1 meter. Specs claim 97.5 db but this is probably broad band, below 150 Hz, I'm getting 92.

My goal is concert level sound but better than PA quality. At levels approaching 120 db, I can't be sure if my old 700 is running out of head room, or if it is bass reflex port wind noise or just to damn loud.

The VU meters are pegging, but the manual says that's no problem. (They were broken off when I got it!) This amp was apparently used by The Who, and then Triumph, (no proof).
I 'wopl'ed' one of my 700b's, and I think maybe got 460 wpc before clipping.
Really less than 2 db gain. I have an led power bar but it is doesn't tell me much, last 2 led's are 256 w and 512 w. How could that last one light?
How could the white oak board increase power? It is still using the same + & - 100 Volt rails. I am considering bigger filter caps and higher current bridge. I have replaced the caps before,but I used the same size caps (9800 ufd) I think, because I was concerned about fit. I could mount another 2, out board, if it is worth it.
I was also thinking of just using a Crest CA 18 for the subs, that might be a bad word around here, and I am sort of attached to my Phase's. Thanks for any opinions.
 

laatsch55

Administrator,
Staff member
Joined
Jan 14, 2011
Messages
74,124
Location
Gillette, Wyo.
Tagline
Halfbiass...Electron Herder and Backass Woof
#58
That's not a bad word around her. Are they 8 ohm or 4 ohm subs? Could be the 700 is running out of juice. Clipping should be easy to distinguish by ear. It'll be a very loud, irritating buzz or crack.
 
Top