Skinny amp?

More specifically, low profile. This one will sit under my seat and replace an old ADS that had it's heatsink shaved. (95 Civic coupe. Under the pass seat is already spoken for for other electronics) Hopefully there's something someone here knows about that can conform to the following specifications:

<2" high
>4x35W
...and preferably under 15" in the long dimension.

I've been scouring the net for a week and a half now, but nothing has caught my eye, new or used.

FWIW, the rest of the system:
DEH-P930
custom processing
*new amp goes here*
MTX 500D
Infinity Kappa components in the doors
10W6 in the trunk

Thanks

-dave

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This is not a sig. This is a duck. Quack.

Check on the Concept HP65.4 and some of the Memphis amps might be fairly small as well (at least they used to be).

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

WOW 2 inches? In depth?

May have to find something and shave the heat sink again?

Been around a while a that is probally why they shaved it in the first place.

Buy an amp you like and get the grinder out!

forbidden wrote:

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Check on the Concept HP65.4

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Link? Neither I nor Google seem to know of what you speak. I found lots of Coustic speakers, but no amps...

No joy with Memphis' current lineup. They're just a hair too tall. I really don't want to mill a brand new amp. Warranty and all that.

chucksnee wrote:

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WOW 2 inches? In depth?

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Yup. Honda didn't leave a lot of room under the seat pan for me. I have about 2" total, not including the carpet. In reality it's closer to 1 3/4".

chucksnee wrote:

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Been around a while a that is probally why they shaved it in the first place.

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Actually I shaved the ADS, while I had it apart, replacing every damn output device when it got fried. I took about 3/8" off the top. Now it's toast again, and I'm done with it. I bought it factory reconditioned, but should have left it at the shop.

-dave

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This is not a sig. This is a duck. Quack.

How about getting a pair of xtant amps. They make a little mono block that is 100 watts rms at 4 ohms and was designed for people who want to do a 5 channel systema nd want to hide the amps in the panels and what not. They are super small and even if they wont fit under the drivers side seat I am almost positive they could fit in behind the glove box or under the center console. They sound really good too.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

I looked at the Xtant 1.1i initially, and I'm still interested in it, but I have some suspicions about the design.

I've designed some high frequency class D stuff, and I'm a little bit leery about using them for full range applications. I've never been impressed with the slew rate, THD, and most importantly IMD of class D amps, and with the limitations inherant in the topology, I need to hear one before I'll lay down the cash for 4 of them.

The THD specification on the 1.1i (<1%) also scares me, despite the reviewers claims of a 105dB SN ratio and tested THDs below 0.7%. I can hear 0.5% easily on a good pair of speakers, and I really don't want to pay a couple of hundred a channel for something that will drive me nuts with distortion. I'd also really love to see a spectral THD plot and sime TIM/IMD measurements before I pay for a demo unit (since no dealer in their right mind would let me take it home and bench it without running my credit card).

That said, is there anyone in the suburbs of Chicago that will let me put one on my bench for an afternoon?

<crickets>

Thought so.

-dave

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This is not a sig. This is a duck. Quack.

www.conceptconcept.com

I am not sure if the new HP series of amps is on the site, let me go and measure one

<frogs>

<cougar attacking sheep>

<shotgun>

<crickets>

<shotgun again>

This exact amp is 2" high x 15" long x 6 7/8" wide. I'll be using it myself.

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

forbidden wrote:

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This exact amp is 2" high x 15" long x 6 7/8" wide. I'll be using it myself.

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I'll measure again, but I think my limit with the seat pan and the seat belt sensor cable is 1 3/4". I might end up hiding the as-yet-undetermined amp behind the left rear interior panel. Grr.

-dave

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This is not a sig. This is a duck. Quack.

Can you raise your seat a half inch??  Iv done it before to customers car, , , , , and they never even noticed it did it... muhaha

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2003 Chevy Avalanche,Eclipse CD7000,Morel Elate 5,Adire Extremis,Alpine PDX-4.150, 15" TC-3000, 2 Alpine PDX-1.1000, 470Amp HO Alt.

Alpine Guy wrote:

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Can you raise your seat a half inch??  Iv done it before to customers car, , , , , and they never even noticed it did it... muhaha

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I wish. I'm 6'4", and I have less than an inch to the roof as it is (silly moonroof flanges...). Plus, 3 of the 4 seat bolts run laterally into raised cleats, so raising the seat would require welding the holes and redrilling and retapping the risers. Not the kind fo major work I want to do to put an amp in.

At this point, it's looking like I'll either rebuild the ADS again, find someone to demo those Xtants for me, or just sit down and build something, and limp along with the head unit until it's done. I suppose I could hide it behind an interior body panel in the rear seat (drivers side), btu I'm worried about heat.

Sometimes I wish I could just drop it in the trunk, but I'm way too much of an engineer to let that fly

-dave

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This is not a sig. This is a duck. Quack.

...because it's too easy?

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

stevdart wrote:

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...because it's too easy?

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Because it's neither clean nor stealth. I'm the guy who spent 4 days integrating my speaker wires into the factory harnesses to the doors. My friends say I'm too anal for my own good, but it just feels nice knowing my version could have come from the factory.

I'm in the process of trying to design some kind of cool FG box to replace the JL stealthbox inhabiting the trunk. Plus, I think I can do a helluva lot better in terms of boom per watt. Simulation is hard bcause the volume is still indeterminate, but once I have something concrete I'll share.

-dave

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This is not a sig. This is a duck. Quack.

clif design makes a amp that is a kick ass 4 channel but it might be a little big for you it is 2.1 inches tall 10 inches wide and 16.5 inches long but is does 100 watts rms @ 4 ohms x4 model number is cd4.4lx

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my system
4 beyma ast05 tweeters
4 beyma w6 mid drivers
2 beyma nd 105 mid drivers
2 clif design competion 12subs
2 cd1.1lx amps
2 cd4.4lx amps
1 cd5.2lx amp
hu is a pioneer dehp8500 mp

Memphis MC2004.  50 wrms X 4 into 4 ohms with 0.03% THD.  Size is 6.5" X 11.8" X 2".  A nice clean 4-channel amp that runs fairly cool.

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Support the12volt.com

Warning: long rambling post ahead.

I did some soul searching last night while sitting in my mostly-gutted interior, and I've come up with two possibilities:

A. I'll miraculously find a way to get either the Xtant 1.1i's or something else under 1.75" tall, within my budget, and be happy with the sound.

or

B. I'll find an amp, any amp that tickles my fancy, and stick it behind the one interior panel that doesn't hide something already.

As has been noted already, A is unlikely. I may bite the bullet and order one off of CarDomain with the intention of abusing the return policy if I don't like it, but I'm not a real fan of laying out $300 for something I may or may not like, where the like result requires me to spend abother $900 to make my system go. On top of that, I really don't think my little Infinity tweeters need a 100W amplifier behind them. I can see getting 2 for the 6.5s and use a little 30W class A/B amp on the tweets if I was feeling masochistic, but that seems like overkill for a guy who isn't competing, and can't I find a 50x4 or soemthing that's little enough? With the amazing things they've done for amps in other markets, I'm kind of suprised at the stagnant nature of the mobile market.

This post marks (roughly) the 2nd and a half week I've been scouring spec sheets, websites, and eBay looking for a thin amp, and I'm getting a little discouraged. It seems that the industry has decided that 2" is just fine for "low profile" and aside from a few rabblerousers there just ain't nothin skinnier. Which is pushing me harder and harder toward B, even though it means wiring will need to be moved around, and there will be resin and bondo and 1oz cloth in my future, not to mention the purchase of a nice, clean, 4ch amp that just happens to have gobs of clean headroom.

I suppose I could fall back on the unwritten C: build an amp, since nothing in the market seems to satisfy my need, but that's a large proposition, since none of the power supply designs I've got have the power density required. Plus, that means 6 or 8 months of development time where I have no amp for the fronts at all, and that's just no fun.

Thanks for letting me roll this stuff around a little, run-on sentences and all. Decisions decisions...

-dave

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This is not a sig. This is a duck. Quack.

maybe look at lightning audio....iknow they used to be under 2".......

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The old alpine amps when they were black were dam skinny.  Imo there better than todays amps.

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2003 Chevy Avalanche,Eclipse CD7000,Morel Elate 5,Adire Extremis,Alpine PDX-4.150, 15" TC-3000, 2 Alpine PDX-1.1000, 470Amp HO Alt.

most of the old amps are better than todays amps imo

Harrison Labs is well known for really small amps. I had a friend who had one that put out 800 watts and it was half the size of my 400 watt amp. This thing was tiny. He told me they won an award for the worlds smallest amp/to power ratio or something like that, i dont know if thats accurate, but i do know it was tiny. It would work for your application.

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It is better to remain queit and have others think u are dumb, then to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Current lightning stuff is all 2+", as seems to be the case everywhere.

By old Alpines, do you mean the 3500 series? Because those were all 2.125" amps. I used to have several.

Harrison amps have very good power density, but at 3" in the small dimension, they're right out of the competition.

With the assistance of a friend tonight, I managed to locate the replacement parts for repairing my ADS PH15, as well as devise a system to hide the amp in the trunk without compromising the plans I have for it in the future, so at this point I'm looking squarely at option B, which seems to suit me just fine. A little fiberglass and some bondo and it'll be all set and ready to go. Should only take a weekend or two more. Yay

Thanks for the help guys.

-dave

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This is not a sig. This is a duck. Quack.