Great sounding amp for the price.
Written: Jun 13 '02 (Updated Jun 13 '02)
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Pros: 500W RMS x 1 4ohm, 700x1 2ohm, great thermal protection, great looks
Cons: Gets HOT
The Bottom Line: Phoenix Gold makes GREAT amps, their midline XS is no exception, too bad they don't make this line anymore.
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| liquidrezin's Full Review: Phoenix Gold 2-Channel Power Amplifier XS2500 |
I needed a new amp to drive my pair of IDQ10 DVC Subs. They can take 250Wrms each so I wanted a nice amp to drive these. At first I wanted a Kicker ZR360, but my installer suggested this little XS2500. He said it puts out 500W x 1 at 4ohm clean so I beleived him.
They don't make this amp anymore which is a shame because it's a GREAT amp. My subs sound clean, punchy, and louder than my previous amp.
The only problem I had with this amp was it got too hot. I even burned my hand once after messing with the amp after a long drive pounding the bass :) The heatsink getting hot is a good thing if you think about it however. Since this amp has no active cooling solution, the heatsink must do all the work, and work it does. My installer had to install a fan blowing across the amp and it alleviated all problems with the thermal circuitry turning off the amp. Since then my amp has been pounding my subs day in and day out with no problems whatsoever.
The x-over on this amp is a 24db/octave type, but the only problem is that there is no dial to change your crossover frequency. Instead all of the changing and such is done by resistors that you (or your installer) will have to configure, pretty peculiar if you ask me, but you stick in resistors in the bottom of your amp to get the desired cutoff frequency, I guess it's not really a problem since once you set them, they stay that way.
It's kind of hard to judge the sound quality of the amp as they're powering subs and not highs, but I could not get my amp to clip for anything which tells me there's ample power coming from this amp. The bass is wonderful, clean, precise, i'd LOVE to run my Diamond Hexs with this amp, but I think I'll get a Ti series amp if anything for them.
If you can find one of these and you need a nice amp in the 500-700W range, go for it, you won't be disapointed. I feel the new tantrum line that replaces the XS are not as good even though the specs are simlar. The only difference I noticed was that there's an actual knob to set the crossover frequency and the crossover on the new tantrums is only 18db/octave. Plus the XS line looks better :)
The IASCA rating is
50 x 2 @ 4ohms
The following ratings are at 14.4V
125W x 2 @ 4ohms
250W x 2 @ 2ohms
500W x 1 @ 4ohm
700W x 1 @ 2ohm (Nowhere in the manual will this rating show up, this is due to the fact that Phoenix Gold recommends GOOD cooling to run this amp this way, if you want proof that this amp can handle a 700x1 load, dig it up on the web, Phoenix Gold's page used to have this information when they still made the amp)
The certificate including with my particular amp had the amp rated at 500Wx1 @ 4ohms at 13.8V. I tested the voltage going to the amp with a voltmeter and I was getting 13.9V so I guess im pushin a scant over 500Wrms
I was hoping the tantrum line would improve upon the XS, but apparently not. Things that would make the XS better would be a dial for crossover frequency and an active fan, other than that, GREAT AMP!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 275
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Epinions.com ID:
liquidrezin
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Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 1 member
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