anyone heard of this amp?
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=118219
Printed Date: April 29, 2024 at 10:43 AM
Topic: anyone heard of this amp?
Posted By: spmpdr
Subject: anyone heard of this amp?
Date Posted: December 04, 2009 at 12:32 AM
Monitor1 MK4.70 ,I have never heard of the brand, I have an oppurtunity to buy one for around 150.00 dollars . Please give info about product.
-------------
-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-
Replies:
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: December 04, 2009 at 1:11 AM
I have heard of several amps, but I have never heard of that brand. They may make a decent product, but chances are, it is not the next brand that is to blow the market wide open.
Posted By: haemphyst
Date Posted: December 04, 2009 at 2:15 AM
I would have guessed the same thing, till I did a little bit of research...
About half-way down on this page is a picture of the internals. Seems to look respectable... i am?? Input here? Tiffany style input jacks, insulating cambric on the leads of all the transistors... Nice little touches like those CAN make an amp look like jewelry, but my grandpa always told me: "You can't polish a turd... You can try, but all you have left is a shiny turd..."
Also of note is the "Made in USA by ARPA of America" label. A little more research, and I discovered through this Google search information telling me that it MAY be a better amp than surface might mention! ARPA is also the "parent" company of Zapco, and are HQ'd in Modesto...
DYohn is WAY more into this stuff than I am... That guy seems to know EVERY parent company, of every manufacturer on the planet... Input, DYohn?
Even with all this being said, I think I have to agree with i am an idiot. Maybe good, maybe not, but not anything earth-shattering, methinks... ------------- It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."
Posted By: boogeyman
Date Posted: December 04, 2009 at 9:17 AM
good amp, as haem mentioned ....Aarpa built (zapco / Arc)..........Many if not all monitor amps have no built in crossover all power.
Posted By: spmpdr
Date Posted: December 04, 2009 at 9:38 AM
haemphyst wrote:
I would have guessed the same thing, till I did a little bit of research...
About half-way down on this page is a picture of the internals. Seems to look respectable... i am?? Input here? Tiffany style input jacks, insulating cambric on the leads of all the transistors... Nice little touches like those CAN make an amp look like jewelry, but my grandpa always told me: "You can't polish a turd... You can try, but all you have left is a shiny turd..."
Also of note is the "Made in USA by ARPA of America" label. A little more research, and I discovered through this Google search information telling me that it MAY be a better amp than surface might mention! ARPA is also the "parent" company of Zapco, and are HQ'd in Modesto...
DYohn is WAY more into this stuff than I am... That guy seems to know EVERY parent company, of every manufacturer on the planet... Input, DYohn?
Even with all this being said, I think I have to agree with i am an idiot. Maybe good, maybe not, but not anything earth-shattering, methinks...
Thanks haem.. I found that same link , and did the same search I figured I would ask the pros before I bought it though. Since it has no crossover will the crossover in my h/u be enough to cross my subs at 70hz? The h/u has a dedicated sub crossover point. ------------- -A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-
Posted By: haemphyst
Date Posted: December 04, 2009 at 10:45 AM
*IF* that amp is as decent as the "on the surface" research I have uncovered in that little bit of searching, and the one additional feedback here, I wouldn't waste it on a subwoofer application. Seriously. I can only imagine how good that amp would (or could) be, driving highs. There's probably good reason there are no crossovers in that thing...
That's my take on it...
In actual answer to your question, though, I couldn't tell you what YOU want to hear. For me? No, 70Hz @ 12dB (a typical built-in deck slope) would sound like crap, and I'd recommend strongly a better quality external crossover. For MOST applications, and it really TRULY depends on how fanatical you are about your SQ, probably it'll work...
-------------
It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: December 04, 2009 at 11:04 AM
Sorry, been travelling. If they are from Arpa then they'll be well designed amps. Let me do a little research. ------------- Support the12volt.com
Posted By: spmpdr
Date Posted: December 04, 2009 at 1:55 PM
thanks dyohn
-------------
-A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: December 04, 2009 at 10:10 PM
Before the link got removed, I looked it over. The amp pictured was a 2 channel amp. It had 6 output devices per channel. But it had only 2 power supply transistors. Rockford amps that had only 2 power supply transistors include the Punch 45 and punch 75 from 1985 era. Punch 40 and the punch 60 from 91 or so. The punch 150 from 85 had 4 power supply transistors. The punch 100 from 91 also had 4. The newer punch 125 from only a few years ago has only 2. This amp was from after they changed the way they rated their amplifiers. So technically the 125 was actually a 62.5 by the rating system from years ago. I have no idea what the 4 channel amp he is looking at has in the supply. In an effort to cut costs, a lot of people are reducing the number of devices they put in their amplifiers. I just would not feel comfortable with an amp with 6 output devices per channel, 3 positive and 3 negative, that had only 2 power supply devices. When the punch 100 from 91 or so had 4 output devices per channel and 4 power supply devices.
Posted By: spmpdr
Date Posted: December 05, 2009 at 10:12 AM
i am an idiot wrote:
Before the link got removed, I looked it over. The amp pictured was a 2 channel amp. It had 6 output devices per channel. But it had only 2 power supply transistors. Rockford amps that had only 2 power supply transistors include the Punch 45 and punch 75 from 1985 era. Punch 40 and the punch 60 from 91 or so. The punch 150 from 85 had 4 power supply transistors. The punch 100 from 91 also had 4. The newer punch 125 from only a few years ago has only 2. This amp was from after they changed the way they rated their amplifiers. So technically the 125 was actually a 62.5 by the rating system from years ago.
I have no idea what the 4 channel amp he is looking at has in the supply. In an effort to cut costs, a lot of people are reducing the number of devices they put in their amplifiers. I just would not feel comfortable with an amp with 6 output devices per channel, 3 positive and 3 negative, that had only 2 power supply devices. When the punch 100 from 91 or so had 4 output devices per channel and 4 power supply devices.
thanks again "i am" , informative as always and thanks for the advice heamphyst about how you would use or not use the amp. ------------- -A vision without a plan is just a hallucination-
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: December 05, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Monitor-1 was a mid-90's entry-level product line designed by former Zapco and Arc Audio engineers. Built in China it was intended to offer entry level performance for those who could not afford the Zapco or Arc brand. It was sold by Arc Audio but was never sold by them in the USA. It was NOT built by Zapco or Arpa and was never supported by them. ------------- Support the12volt.com
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: December 08, 2009 at 3:53 PM
Updated and accurate info from one of the original designers, see previous post. Sorry for the earlier bad information. ------------- Support the12volt.com
|