From: william@pvcs.pvamu.edu (Devine, William Charles)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.car
Subject: Re: Autotek Amplifiers?
Summary: Has anyone had any experience with them?
Date: 11 Apr 92 01:40:00 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Apr10.041531.7286@helios.physics.utoronto.ca>, biancol@bullet.ecf.toronto.edu (BIANCOLIN  FABIO S) writes...
> 
>  Hi there
>	just curious, i was at this dealer recently, and he tried to
>convince me that Autotek Amplifiers were completely awesome.

  They are....to an extent.....

>   He said "I would easily put this in the same class as Phoenix Gold Amps"

    I wouldn't say that though!  They don't handle 1ohm loads.

>    Thats a direct quote, what i want to know since i saw the post
>  made by Clyde Waters (the list of components, and makers) 
>  How good are these amps?  Do competition Cars use them? 

    Yes they do...They are real famous on the USA Crank it Up competions.  
    With their low cost, decent reliability, huge power rating, and bass 
    bass and treble boost, they're good amps for high spl but i would not
    really say they sound real good on highs.

>  Are they available all over?  

    Yes...they're available EVERYWHERE....except in my small town!!!
    I bought mine mail-order from Stereo Warehouse in New York State  
    ( think that's their name?).  I paid a whole $589 plus shipping annd
    handling (extra $20) and had it in my grubby little hands the next 
    morning!!! surprise surprise surpise Homer!!!
      I used this amp (ohh..I bought a 7600...yes the 900 watt monster!)
    to power (at first) the four fifteen inch Kickers i had in an enclosure
    as a replacement of my back seat (in a 1986 Grand am).  I had it in 
    this configuration for about 3 months then decided i wanted my back 
    seat back so i pulled everything out and sold my fifteens and bought
    a pair of Cerwin Vega 18's. I built a bandpass enclosure for these 
    and used all of 3.7 ft^3 for each of them..It sounded AWESOME!!!
    I could hit low notes all the way down to about 17-18hz!!!
    Then i got tired of it and sold the 18's and bought 6 Kicker 15's
    (back to the old standbys)  I used the 7600 to power all of these
    speakers in my wall of terror...then one day the worst happened...
    (I was running the amp with 3qty 4ohm speakers on each channel...
    calculated out to about 1.33 ohms per channel)  the amp was handling 
    the load fine then one night while i was showing off and cranking
    it to it's full capacitys with DJ magic Mike's 'Do you want Bass'
    the amp just cut out....i took it out and opened it up and the
    power wire (+) had melted out of the board (the solder melted) so
    being young and stupid i resoldered it with higher heat solder.
    All was well for about 2 weeks then it happened again. and i fixed
    it again..then 1 week later at a block party (my car being the complete
    audio system with two 50 amp power converters as juice) the amp
    again cut out!! i took it home fixed it again then when i turned it
    on...crackle...pop...smoke....the amp self destructed..i checked it out
    and then replaced the whole complete power system (12qty IRFZ44's) and
    the positive and negative rectifiers..this set me back about $80.
    I soldered them in and replace two capacitors and resistors and powered
    it up off of my spare battery in my house and it turned on and played
    good. so i put it in my car and pow, bang, boom...nothin'''''
    The complete power supply burnt again.. SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    i then took the amp out and it set for 2 weeks until a friend offered
    to buy it from me then i could use money to fix it and then keep 
    whatever was left...it was gathering dust anyways.!!!....it cost
    about $200 to repair it at Autotek in Cali. when we got it back and
    hooked it up...it worked for about 2 days then fried...i shipped it COD
    to them and they fixed it for free and now its still running fine on
    four of the firfteen inch Kickers he bought from me!!!   It sounds
    awesome...BUT...

 MORAL?
       don't buy an autotek (except the high current ones) unless you
       plan on running it in its specified limits..if you overstep its
       boundaries..it will fry itself!!!  My suggestion would be to get
       a PPI amplifier (2200 or 2300) for a little more than this amp
       costs and save you the headaches...It's good while it lasts but
       you can't listen to your system when it's in the shop.
>  What are they worth?
   As i said...i paid about $589 for the 7600 model...(semi-wholesale)
>  Can they handle 2 ohm loads (mono and stereo?)?
   Yes, but only 2ohms per channel maximum (not 1 ohm or less)
>  
>   Thanks,
      Sure, no problem..anything to save you the trouble i had..
>  
> 	Fabio  - biancol@ecf.toronto.edu

                              Whiz Kid
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william@pvcs.pvamu.edu       -------------       devine@riphys.rice.edu
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Newsgroups: rec.audio.car