Lancaster

Hey gang,

Well I've been waiting patiently for my D3, matting and foaming my interior to pass the time and doing as much research as possible. It seems the time has come.

I've collected:
speakers- (Focal 165v2 polyglass; JL Audio 10w6v2)
boxes- (Nazar door pods, Zenclosure stealth sub box)
head unit (Pioneer Avic-D3, complimented by ipod, CD changer, sirius, and bluetooth)

Until now I've been back and forth on possible amps to complete the system scheme. At the end it was down to JL (300/2 + 500/1) and Zapco Reference (200.2 + 500.1) ...and I think I've decided to go Zapco..

I was happy to see a nice discount on woofersetc.com for both of the amps..but then I discovered on the Zapco forum, that Zapco Proper consideres woofersetc an 'unlicensed distributor' and that most products they've seen in for warranty work, (purchased from woofers) has obliterated serial information..in essence zero official warranty. The thread had a very negative tone, sort of "when we find out who's providing woofersetc with our products they will be cut off immediately". so...to the Qs >>

1.) Can anybody recommend a proper vendor to talk to concerning Zapco products...and do the licensed dealers offer discounts off suggested retail? (suggested retail, listed on the main site is really starting to get out of my price range

2.) Symbilink question>> Some of the system diagrams in the online pdf manuals confused me slightly. As I thought, you need a transmitter box near the head unit to up the voltage from your preouts for the trip back to the amps. On some of the suggested setups, they only were connecting a RCA converter symbilink cable from the preouts, straight to to balanced line-in on an amp. Without the transmitter box, are you not getting the benefit of the higher voltage signal..thus leaving out the primary reason for using firewire lines?

I'm sure I'll think of something else tomorrow. In a nutshell I want to run a 200.2 + 500.1 with full symbilink utilizing a bass controller from a SLB-U. There was good info on Zapco on the site...just wish there was more of it ^_^

Thanks in advance for any insight,

-Rob

16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

zapco does not, and will not support any online places...what they are saying about obliterating serial numbers is compeletely true. THis is the case with woofers, indoaudio on ebay and af ew others...we at DLS are trying to stop it as well. If you think about it, the serial numbers on often on the INSIDE of amps, even ont he circuit boards, that means, someone acutally took apart the amp, and killed the serial number so we cant track it...what this means is that what you are getting is NOT new in box, but previous opneed and tampered with, it also means you have no way of knowing your amp is new, used , real or fake... so if you really want zapco and want a full warranty, you would need to go to an authorized dealer. If its a good dealer however, they wont sell you below MAP pricing, whcih is a bit higher than ebay prices.

on the issue of simblink...i honestly dont think you need it...just run it with normal RCAs back from the D3, add a line driver to kick up the voltage if you need to. But honestly, doing full simblink in your case wont matter all that much. except to spend a bit more money. the equipment you got just really doesnt justify going to those means...it simply wont make any noticable impression

my two bits...

Lancaster

Thanks for the info Bing. I really appreciate all the time you put in to posting on this board...and to think it's always correct and helpful too

I called and spoke with my local Zapco dealer. Wasn't the best conversation. He made sure I knew that he knew more about audio installs than I did; then insulted my 10w6 like omg why would I use that piece of crap
But the most interesting thing was after I described what I was looking to do. He kept reiterating that I should go with 2 350.2 amps. Run two 350s...two 350s...thats what I should be doing. Bridge one on the sub, and use the other for comps. He said the fact that it had an EQ on board made the 350.2 a better option than going with a mono channel amp.

...I didnt even want to run 350 watts on the components just 100 watts RMS each would have been more than enough. But *sigh* I suppose this confusion comes with the do it yourself territory.

Bing, if I can do a quick follow-up? The Symbilink cables acually didnt seem to be much more expensive than if I had splurged on some really nice RCAs. I did learn after talking with the rep, that the new reference lines and up power the cable directly; so there's no need for line drivers coming out of the head unit. But what I was getting to, do you think the balanced channel/ noise reduction aspect of symbilink is universally overkill or perhaps just overkill considering the equipment/vehicle I'm working with? I mean if it doesn't actually cost more then...

Oh one more thing, for anybody~ is the ability to do some EQ controlling on the sub frequencies as important as this guy was leading me to believe? Important enough to bridge a 2 channel amp rather than go with a dedicated mono~

702Fairlady

iTrader: (5)

Woofers is a good place to buy some things. They are authorized dealers of alot of the stuff they sell. But there are a few exceptions as you have seen. Zapco makes great amps though and if you can find em for cheap I would take those over the JL amps.

16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

can only say this about simbilink...i have done hundreds of installs with normal rcas (Not even super duper expensive ones), and never had a noise issue. proper running of wires, and espeically good equpment (you will be suporsed now much the quality of the amp means to noise rejection)...is important.

my point is that with what you are trying to achieve, i dont think you need simbilink...if you are going all out on sq, going competeing, or trying to achieve as high of a level as posslble, sure go ahead...but again, if costs aint that much higher, go for it...i guess i am used to not charging my customers at all for RCAs, i just use midlevel ones (entry level twisted pair shielded) and costs me at cost about 10 bucks per pair

again, it comes down to if you want the simblink just so you have it, becuase i strongly believe you can achieve a zero noise system without it

on your experineces with the zapco dealer, based on what you said, i dont thin kyou should really go there...anyone who has been int he industry long enough that puts down JL 10w6 is not in their right mind and are so opinionated and pushy about their own line i just wouldnt trust them. I think he falls into the stereotypical guy who ust want to push as much gear as possible on you...i for one, NEVER ever puts down JL, beucause honestly, its a good product, i may say you can perhasp get similar performance for less money, but at the end of the day, its a solid performer...

anyway, if you want more advice ont he system, just PM me...zapco, like i said, is good, but if you cant find a good dealer with you, perhaps i can point you to the ways of DLS haha...

b