Phoenix Gold S1000.1 Mono Amplifier
I would like to first thank Morgan and Kevin with AAMP for setting me up with this amp to review. There are pretty much no PG dealers in my whole state, so I have a better chance of seeing aliens in a cornfield than I do seeing one of these amplifiers in a store display. Getting a product out to someone like me for a review of it says a lot about commitment to their fans, and I really appreciate the opportunity to pick this product apart. I am a big fan of "old school" PG products, and have had mixed feelings of the company and its products during the turmoil of the past several years. Since AAMP acquired PG last year they have put a lot of effort into getting the company back on track, and hopefully by the time you finish reading this review you can form your own opinion of how far they have come, or if they have succeeded.
Packaging:
I probably don't dwell on packaging very much, as I have always been the kind of person to want effort put into the product, not its packaging. In this case though the packaging was simple yet effective enough to actually make me feel good about the product prior to even doing anything with it.
When you open the main box you are greeted with a sealed inner box and a signed checklist of the amps final quality check. This level of detail is not really what I would expect with a mid level amplifier. I am sure some of you have noticed in the above photos the amp is manufactured in Korea. I am like a lot of people and would prefer to see "Made in the USA" on it, but I am also realistic enough to realize those glory days of car audio are behind us. I feel PG actually deserves credit for printing where it is made, instead of sweeping it under the rug as a big mystery.
Overall the packaging is very good looking, plus double boxing it will most likely keep the amp in great shape on its mystical journey (shipping). I do have a suggestion for PG though. Since they put the effort into making the packaging bright, informative, and with graphics covering every surface, they might as well went ahead and put a photo of the amps circuit board on the bottom side of the box as part of the display. At least it might also keep 10% of the people out there from opening up their amp when they can just see what it looks like from the photo on the bottom of the box (maybe).
There are some goodies in the box, two wrenches, and a high level input harness. Suggestion, PG can you please put 4 screws and 4 plastic washers in the bag as well, so those who care will mount the amp without trashing the sheet metal mounting tabs on it? I would prefer to see the screws and washers instead of the wrenches. Notice the warranty card. One year standard, and up to three if you use AAMP products for installation. I probably have not been keeping up on warranties over the last several years, but I think it has been a long time since I have seen a three year warranty on a car audio product.
Cosmetics:
Cosmetics are so much about opinions, I don't know how useful any of my comments can even be. To start with, I don't like the look of the amp. I am a big fan of the old ZPA and ZX amp cosmetics. They are made of bent sheet metal in such a way as I have never seen anyone ever come even close to, or even try for that matter. This amp is like 99% of the amps on the market, an aluminum extrusion with sheet metal ends and bottom. It is not ugly to me, it is just not impressive or exciting in any way. It is small though REALLY, REALLY SMALL! Being small is a major positive these days. With more challenging installations, the smaller the amp the easier it is to integrate. This amp is actually smaller than the JL HD750/1. Now, it is not full range like the JL, but just how many people are looking for an 800W full range mono amp anyway?
I can comment on the fit and finish of the amp though. The black coating on the amp is nice. It has the right sheen to it to not look cheap, and it is of the right thickness to not look thrown on. The extruded heatsink is cut smooth and has only slight chop saw cutting marks. The silk screening of the model on the top and the controls on the sides could be more crisp. Also I can't tell of the paint is white, silver or grey, but what ever it is, I don't think it is right. I think it should be the same silver used on the raised PG logo for continuity of aesthetics.
Speaking of the PG logo, it is an excellent touch, but has a few issues. It has a bit too much flashing around it. Since there is nothing else really on the top of the amp to look at, the logo has to be as perfect as it can, as it is what defines how nice looking the amp is overall. I like the fact the logo is made of metal, but honestly if it could be made to look better by using plastic, I would be on board with that idea. Either way though, I am glad it is a raised separate part than just a painted on logo as it easily could have ended up being.
I found my first major issue with the amp...
Excess thermal paste is not acceptable. Even though this is a mid level amp, if I bought one and put it in a new car, I would be very discouraged if impossible to remove white thermal paste ended up on my seats! This was a very small amount of paste, but no amount is acceptable on the outside of the amp. If I find some out of place on the inside, that is tacky, but not really a big deal as it will stay put.
Build:
Build quality is very good. This is a Class D amp, so I expect its layout to be pretty chaotic and it is. The bottom cover has felt to dampen vibration against the heat sink, a nice addition. Six screws hold the bottom on, and the bottom also includes the mounting tabs for the amplifier.
Here is the output filter required to bring the Class D signal back to music.
A large main power transformer has more than enough mass for the 800W (1000W dynamic) rating of the amplifier.
The amp uses thru-hole parts on the main board, and has smaller surface mount cards to reduce space. This is pretty common in the industry.
The control potentiometers are high quality units.
Nice large terminals are well secured.
For the power supply side of the amp there are six P50N06 MOSFETs. Rated at 50A each, six should be plenty for an amp this size. For the output there are six IRF640 MOSFETs, again more than enough. By my calculations these parts are roughly twice what the amp actually needs to produce 800W into a 1 ohm load. But, we all know the more the better!
I am slightly concerned by the end plates on the amp. They are coated only on one side, and in a somewhat damp environment which car audio can be, I fear these will rust heavily, which could actually cause problems if the rust makes its way on to the circuit board. This may turn out to be no issue at all, but only time will tell.
Overall the amp is well built with the guts needed to get the job done. Now I will power it up and see if it performs as expected.
Performance:
To produce 800W RMS output at 1 ohm, this amplifier would need to produce a 28.3V RMS output. To start with I connected the amplifier to my power supply which produces a 13.8V output, and I fed the amplifier a 40Hz tone and then a 100Hz tone recorded at 0db. There were no speakers or load connected. I measured a clean 37V RMS output with my oscilloscope and DMM. This would be sufficient for 1369W of output at 1 ohm.
I now connected my 2 ohm dummy load to the amplifier and proceeded to determine the max unclipped output under load. I found it to be about 29V with a 40Hz tone and 30V with a 100Hz tone.
With my 2 ohm load I got about 420W out of the amp prior to clipping @ 40Hz. I measured the input voltage to the amplifier to be 13.0V which is significantly less than the 14.4V input the amp is specified to be at in order to get 800W RMS at 1 ohm and 550W RMS at 2 ohm. I am confident the amp would produce these numbers at least for the 2 ohm test if I had a 14.4V input voltage to feed it, considering the power supply is unregulated.
I will compare these numbers to in car measurements when I connect the amplifier to a subwoofer for some real world testing.
While testing this amp I learned a bit more about how it works. This amp has its (-) negative output tied to datum ground, and the (+) positive output is "live". So, in theory it may be possible to "strap" a pair of these amps using a 180deg phase adapter on the input, and tying their (-) negative outputs together. This is just in theory, so if you go ahead and do this don't bug me about it if your amps blow up. There is nothing in the manual about this, and I am confident it is not recommended.
In car testing:
I called up my friend who is a car audio fanatic to come over so we could install the amp in his car and see what it can do. The installation consisted of a 4ga power wire from the front to rear, with 2 capacitors installed (each 1 farad), an average quality head unit, and for a sub, the Rockford Fosgate Team RF 12. Rated for a nominal 1.4 ohm per voice coil, we ran the coils in parallel (0.7 ohm) to the S1000.1, knowing that this is under the recommended minimum impedance of 1 ohm.
The result? This amp has what it takes! Although we ran the amp well past clipping levels, bass response was still smooth with minimal audible distortion, and I constantly measured readings of 40V RMS, with peaks as high as 45V RMS. You do the math, that is some serious power out of an amp half the size of most other amps!
Suggestions for PG:
After being so impressed by this amp, my friend and I sat down to discuss what we liked about the amp, and what we would do to change it. He was very pleased with the cosmetics of the amplifier. I also had on hand a Ti800.4 for testing, and he preferred the look of the S1000.1 over it by quite a bit. We both feel the S1000.1 should be made slightly longer to exactly match the size of the 4-channel model in the same product family. While lengthening it, adding 2 more FETs on the power supply, and 2 more FETs on the output would reinforce its ability a bit, making it all that much better. With a 2 ohm rating of 550W, and a 1 ohm rating of 800W, it would be nice if the 2 ohm rating could be brought up to around 800W by adding the additional parts and making the needed adjustments to the rail voltages. If not, 800W at 1 ohm, with more parts would still be great.
This amp is begging to be made able to strap two together. Since only the (+) terminal is live, I would guess all the amp needs is a 180 deg phase switch on the preamp. If it can't do it, then making the changes to allow for it might be well worth it. The only thing better than this amp would be a pair of them.
The last addition would be to make and sell some nice clean simple endcaps for the amp to hide the wiring. Flow the same lines from the top surface down into the mounting surface with a cast endpiece. Maybe even make a link to connect multiple amps together into one.
Final Thoughts:
Aside from the spot of thermal paste I found on the outside of the amplifier, I have very little to complain about in the way of quality. This amp is built well, with top notch fit and finish. Performance was impressive, and I must be honest, I did not expect it to be. After looking over the design, and doing some measurements on the test bench, I completely expected to be unimpressed when trying the amp in a vehicle. My expectations could not have been any more wrong. The S1000.1 easily does what it is rated to do, and gave me every indication it will continue to do so for a very long time. This has to be one of, if not the, smallest amp in the industry producing these levels of power. That in itself makes it a tremendous value for the dollar, considering its MSRP of only $499.
As always, if you have any thoughts, complaints, or suggestions, please feel free to email dr.fosgate@gmail.com and I will take them into consideration.
EMD (2010)