SOUNDSTREAM REPAIRS:
Hello, my name is Wade Stewart. I am the engineer that designed and manufactured all Soundstream amplifiers and crossovers from 1981 through 1997. all REFERENCE and CLASS A’S. I am semi-retired now and am intrested in repairing all 'old skool' products. I will answer any questions you might have about those products, like I saw a posting where the gentleman wanted to know if there was any real difference between the REF500S and the REF700S. Yes, the 500s had 5 pairs of transistors per channel and the 700s had 7 pairs of transistors per channel. Like I was saying if you have any Soundstream amps you want fixed just contact me. I have 3 flat rates depending on the power of the model.
What about other brands of amps??? cause I have an Xtant 2140c that took a dump on me awhile back, I THINK it is just a bad power supply but dont know 100%
Or is there a way you could tell me how to check and what to check for to make sure that it is indeed the power supply??
how about some background on the design goals of the amps for the given time??? were they truly overrated and what are your thoughts now on the direction SS has gone?
What about other brands of amps??? cause I have an Xtant 2140c that took a dump on me awhile back, I THINK it is just a bad power supply but dont know 100%
Or is there a way you could tell me how to check and what to check for to make sure that it is indeed the power supply??
Hello Digg,
I have never worked on an XTANTamplifier, but most car audio amplifier design is pretty similar. If you wish to pay for the shipping I will give it a try. I have repaired several brands of amps before. I was wondering how much power and number of channels does this amp have?
I have a d,artagnan that's had a bad noise in the number 2 channel since new. I bought it as new old stock. The noise seems to be ground related, but is gradually getting worse and bleeding over to other channels. I'd like to get repaired for a back up. Pm with how much and I'll get back to you.
I have a d,artagnan that's had a bad noise in the number 2 channel since new. I bought it as new old stock. The noise seems to be ground related, but is gradually getting worse and bleeding over to other channels. I'd like to get repaired for a back up. Pm with how much and I'll get back to you.
SQHHR,
I did not design that amp, it was designed by another engineer after Soundstream took over there own manufacturing. I am going to talk with people I knew at Soundstream to get some info about it. Chances are I can repair your amp. I am guessing you have some sort of filtering problem, but I just won't knw until I look at it. My flat rate for an amp of that powr is $110.00, that includes return freight.
WoW am I glad to come across this thread and it is an honor to chat with you sir, and thank you for your involvement here.
I am putting together a SQ system with a Ref 604 driving 4 Boston component satellites (4ohm per chan)and a Ref 200S driving 4 JBL eights (2ohm per chan).
They are both happy and purring right now but life happens.
Apparently you designed those two - what are your thought on them - if I might ask?
Do you think the S and/or SX References are "lesser" amps than those without a suffix?
Lucas596,
I’m not quite sure I’m a legend, but thanks anyway. I don’t know how much detail you want about the history, but here’s how it goes. In 1981 I owned Stewart Electronics and I designed and manufactured Professional Audio Equipment. In fact in 1994 we won a TEC award from the Audio Engineering Society for one of our power amplifiers, an award only given a few time in the history of the AES.
I was approached by Soundstream to manufacture there amplifiers, originally designed by Nelson Pass. After those initial amps I started designing all of their amps and crossovers. All of the amplifiers used Darlington pairs as output transistors, driver and output transistors in the same case. They are physically connected together, this makes the amplifiers sound much warmer. Years earlier I designed a line of guitar amps using Darlington’s and guitarists were constantly mistaking them for tube amps because of there warmth. The next series of REFERENCE and CLASS A’s we added the Thermal Roll Back and a few other new features but they still only drove 4 & 2 ohms.
Then I noticed that other companies were offering hi-voltage and hi-current models. So I designed the next rev’s with a hi-power / hi-current switch. This allowed them to drive 4/2 ohms in hi-voltage and 2/1 ohms in hi-current. I realized at that time that Car Audio guy’s needed to drive lots of subs that’s when I started designing amp that would, and actually did, drive loads as low as1/8th ohm per channel, ¼ ohm bridged. Basically I designed the amplifier section to withstand all that the power supply could deliver, that way the supply would sag but the amp wouldn’t blow, and YES every amplifier that left my factory met power specs and then some. Products built after 1997 I’m not sure about.
As far as the amps not designed or built by me from 1998 on, I thought it was the kiss of death for Soundstream. All new amps would only drive 4 & 2 ohms. Making them just a me-too product in a market full of me-too products. Actually I recently approached the new Soundstream company with ideas about resurrecting some of the older designs and introducing new technology, but they don’t seem to be interested. Maybe some other company may be interested in my ideas.
I hope this is enough info, if there is anything else you want to know just ask. I’ll be here.
WoW am I glad to come across this thread and it is an honor to chat with you sir, and thank you for your involvement here.
I am putting together a SQ system with a Ref 604 driving 4 Boston component satellites (4ohm per chan)and a Ref 200S driving 4 JBL eights (2ohm per chan).
They are both happy and purring right now but life happens.
Apparently you designed those two - what are your thought on them - if I might ask?
Do you think the S and/or SX References are "lesser" amps than those without a suffix?
Ampaholic
Thank you and I’m glad to chat with you too. It sounds like you have a great system. As far as the suffix S or whatever I am sorry to have to tell you those were marketing decisions and had nothing to do with the quality of the product. I designed the amplifiers sequentially with new ideas and technology introduced as I came up with them. I can say that as time went on new features and ideologies were added to the amplifiers. They never existed until I actually thought of them. My goal was to always introduce products of the highest quality,
And the most musical sounding that I could. I used Darlington pair transistors with both the driver and output in the same case, I found the physical contact between the two gave the product a more tube like warmer sound. If you ever have any problems or want to know anything else, I’ll be here.
Good to know. I get people from time to time that still want to repair these amps. I have to ask, what was up with the continum. That big amp seemed to fail all the time. Same with the Ref604. When i worked at safari Audio back in 1996 it seemed i would have 4 amps on the shelf and i would have to go through all 4 to get one that would work. I will say when they worked i loved em.
Good to know. I get people from time to time that still want to repair these amps. I have to ask, what was up with the continum. That big amp seemed to fail all the time. Same with the Ref604. When i worked at safari Audio back in 1996 it seemed i would have 4 amps on the shelf and i would have to go through all 4 to get one that would work. I will say when they worked i loved em.
PTANNJR,
Yes I am here if anybody needs any information or repair work. As far as the CONTINUUM and the 604 I usually got direct feedback from Soundstreams repair department. they would produce sheets monthly showing repairs by model and any reacurring problems. If we noticed any re-accuring problems I would ake a few of them to the lab and go through them focussing on the problem at hand. Those amps never turned up as problimatic. There may be some wierd grounding problem with them and other people installed them differently. Thanks for the info. Its a little late to help you now. LOL
how about some background on the design goals of the amps for the given time??? were they truly overrated and what are your thoughts now on the direction SS has gone?
Lucas596,
I’m not quite sure I’m a legend, but thanks anyway. I don’t know how much detail you want about the history, but here’s how it goes. In 1981 I owned Stewart Electronics and I designed and manufactured Professional Audio Equipment. In fact in 1994 we won a TEC award from the Audio Engineering Society for one of our power amplifiers, an award only given a few time in the history of the AES.
I was approached by Soundstream to manufacture there amplifiers, originally designed by Nelson Pass. After those initial amps I started designing all of their amps and crossovers. All of the amplifiers used Darlington pairs as output transistors, driver and output transistors in the same case. They are physically connected together, this makes the amplifiers sound much warmer. Years earlier I designed a line of guitar amps using Darlington’s and guitarists were constantly mistaking them for tube amps because of there warmth. The next series of REFERENCE and CLASS A’s we added the Thermal Roll Back and a few other new features but they still only drove 4 & 2 ohms.
Then I noticed that other companies were offering hi-voltage and hi-current models. So I designed the next rev’s with a hi-power / hi-current switch. This allowed them to drive 4/2 ohms in hi-voltage and 2/1 ohms in hi-current. I realized at that time that Car Audio guy’s needed to drive lots of subs that’s when I started designing amp that would, and actually did, drive loads as low as1/8th ohm per channel, ¼ ohm bridged. Basically I designed the amplifier section to withstand all that the power supply could deliver, that way the supply would sag but the amp wouldn’t blow, and YES every amplifier that left my factory met power specs and then some. Products built after 1997 I’m not sure about.
As far as the amps not designed or built by me from 1998 on, I thought it was the kiss of death for Soundstream. All new amps would only drive 4 & 2 ohms. Making them just a me-too product in a market full of me-too products. Actually I recently approached the new Soundstream company with ideas about resurrecting some of the older designs and introducing new technology, but they don’t seem to be interested. Maybe some other company may be interested in my ideas.
I hope this is enough info, if there is anything else you want to know just ask. I’ll be here.
bkjay,
The rubicon amps were the first amps not designed by me. I have never actually tested or listened to one of them. The biggest difference between them and the reference series I quess would be the fact that they would only drive 4 or 2 ohms and the reference at the time would drive down to 1/8th ohm. They still used Darlington's like the reference series which was a good thing, but they were a different model transistor.
Sorry, but that's all I know about any other differences. Anything else you want to know just let me know
Wade
bkjay,
The rubicon amps were the first amps not designed by me. I have never actually tested or listened to one of them. The biggest difference between them and the reference series I quess would be the fact that they would only drive 4 or 2 ohms and the reference at the time would drive down to 1/8th ohm. They still used Darlington's like the reference series which was a good thing, but they were a different model transistor.
Sorry, but that's all I know about any other differences. Anything else you want to know just let me know
Wade
Thanks for your input. That sucks I guess I got the first of the me too amps lol!.They can do 1 ohm mono and 2 ohm stereo from what the specs say, but for how long is another thing lol! I get your point though. Thanks for your Time.
Actually I recently approached the new Soundstream company with ideas about resurrecting some of the older designs and introducing new technology, but they don’t seem to be interested
Crazy question, could you take a old amp and bring it back to life with new technology? I now the price to do this might not make sense but you never no.If you can get a one of a kind amp made by the master that would be cool as hell!
I have a Rubicon 1002 that has been in 1ohm Stereo every day since I got it in 1998. I prefer the Rubicons to the Reference amps. in today's market, who needs a High current amp? and one that goes down to 1/8ohm? To Wade, I take it your meeting with Don did not go over well?
Yea back in the day I had my rube. 702 running at 1 and a half ohm's for one summer, got too hot for liking. I was running two w6's,to tell the truth it sounded better when I ran it at 6 ohms.
Wade I have a reference 1000sx and havn't used it in a few years but If I remember right I could only get it to run in full pass and ended up using an external crossover in order to get it to push my woofers. Is that something you could fix?
Thanks for your input. That sucks I guess I got the first of the me too amps lol!.They can do 1 ohm mono and 2 ohm stereo from what the specs say, but for how long is another thing lol! I get your point though. Thanks for your Time.
bkjay,
I am not exactly sure about the loads that the rubicon could run I was told bby people that worked there that they would only drive 4 & 2 ohms. Well I am sorry but I just checked online and it saya that the Rubicon CLASS A 5.2 & 10.2 could drive 1/2 ohm bridged. I will have to talk to the people I ot the info from. Once again I'm sorry.
Hey Wade (and others) - I am soooo stoked cause I just scored a USA 305 - a modest 5 channel with and American flag design silk-screened onto the board!
Does anyone have any info about these amps - I have a pdf of the owners manual - but some inside scoop would be cool.
I would really dig ideas about how to mount with a plexi bottom to show off that board.
Soundstream Amplifier Repair
Re: Soundstream Amplifier Repair
cause I just scored a USA 305 - a modest 5 channel with and American flag design silk-screened onto the board!
Linear Mode
