really? 20 amps difference in fusing and 1 lb difference and you are questioning what it can do?

Fusing means very little, it is a safety feature to keep from burning your car to the ground. Fuses dont save amplifiers from damage.

It will easily put out 300 watts per channel @ 4 ohms. rated for 450 watts @ 2 ohms and 900 watts into 4ohms bridged. In its day there was very few amps out there that could compete for raw power as this. it was a beast.

you are not going to get more power at 14.4V like the alpine though. Hifonics series VII and VIII are tightly regulated amplifiers, so you will get rated power with 12-15volts of input, but not more. The Zeus also uses the "vari-power" circuit which is basically a Class G/H design before that got popular. its a great amp. How much did you pay for it, just out of curiosity.

 

I've seen a test where the Zeus VIII did 1156 watts. Here's the link:

Hifonics Zeus VIII


The Alpine 1505 did 973 watts. Here's the link:

http://amp-performance.de/721-Alpine-MRV-1505.html

 

Hi, With the amp fuse rating,I guess by the sound of it,That means nothing,Strange though that the lower alpine rms watt amplifer has an 80 amp fuse, verses the 60 amp fuse for the hifonics.Why would alpine put such a big fuse in there ,when it looks like it could have got away with a 60 or a 40 amp fuse. The 1lb wasn't much of a concern for me.It was just that it looked so much bigger in the pictures I'd seen,and it is physically quite a bit smaller than the alpine 1505. A smaller class AB amp,has always meant less power output than a bigger class AB amp to me,but I guess this oldschool hifonics amp can be made smaller.What throws me is, that it is double the 4 ohm rms watts compared to the alpine 1505 at 12 volts,while being quite a bit smaller.I guess the oldschool hifonics internals must be more compact or something.Are the hifonics zeus amplifiers able to produce high quality sound as well, if you were driving power hungry 3 way components with it.I know the sound quality of the alpine 1505 allows me to use it for either ,and have both sound good.This is my first oldschool hifonics amp,and have absolutely zero experience with them.I just read a lot of good things about them,and figured I would give one a shot. I probably paid a little more than I should have. I paid 300 for it,since it was not all scratched up,or rusty,with all original internals,and was just pictured in the guys car only hooked to one jbl 8 inch sub,So I figured ,since it was so powerful,that it was working easy just running the one small sub.Plus he was from Canada like myself. Thanks

 

hifonics back then were comparable to linear power and PPI. they were high end SQ amps with alot of power. I had many systems in the early 90's with Series VII and VIII hifonics. love them!

yes, they were very compact too. I mean this thing is not exactly small though! its like 12"-14" long. By today's standards it is small, I suppose.

that is a great price! they were about $8-900 new.

(I am a little jealous, I always wanted a Zues and a Gemini (50x4) for my system but could never afford the big boys.)

 

Sounds like it will be a good amp not only for power,but for SQ as well. You got me a little excited about putting this amp in.

 

That Zeus is even overbuilt by todays standards. Those were Stephen Mantz classics.

 

Since I'm new to these hifonics amps,after looking at the amp.I have a few questions about it. On the side of the amp.There is a button to press in or out to select 7.3V to 1.05V, when the button is pushed in,and when the button is out it is 1.05V to 0.15V. What is that for ?.Above that is a sunken in plastic dial,that you can turn up or down. Is that for turning both channels of the amp,up or down at the same time,to adjust how much power is being output to your speakers.Last but not least.There are no screw terminals on this amp,only a place where it looks like you would push the wires in.If they are spring loaded.How do you get fairly big wires, or any wires for that matter in, without the wires strands trying to separate,and stop the wire from going in.It doesn't look like there is anything to hold the spring terminals up when trying to get the wires in.If there not spring loaded,then what holds the wires firmly in place,when going down the road.Thanks

 

The button is to change the range of the gain knob. It has high and low range based on your signal level in. The dial is the gain setting

They are not spring loaded. You have to unplug those connectors from the amp. Carefully grab them with pliers and pull, they will slide out.
Once they are out you will see the screws that clamp the wire

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Hi, How do you know weather you should have the button pressed in or out,and where to turn that gain volume.My deck is the alpine 7909 anniversary edition, if this helps.So that dial does nothing to turn up or down the volume output to the speakers.Also I would have never guessed that there were screws behind that.Do you just leave the piece you snap off to get to the screws off.or do you thread the wires through the piece you snapped off,screw the wires down,then snap the piece back in place. Sorry for the questions,I just want to get it right the first time,without damaging any components since they are not easily replaced.Thanks

 

Do a search for setting gains. I would set it to the high voltage and gain all the way down to start.

Once they are out you will see how they work. You put the wire in the slots, tighten the screw and then put the connector back in.

sent from my phone using digital farts

 

Thanks for all your help with everything. Have a good one.

 

I guess I'm not quite done here yet. After reading quite a bit on gain setting .Most people agree with you to start low and go up. My question to help make things easier in the setting process is. With the hifonics zeus amp. With the button pressed in it says 7.3v to 1.05v. and with the button out it says 1.05v to 0.15v. Wouldn't I be at the lowest starting point right off the bat by selecting the button pushed out, which is 1.05v to 0.15v. Since the volt numbers look to be smaller. Also how come it says from 1.05v to 0.15v on the amp.It starts out with the highest voltage and goes down.Shouldn't it start with the lowest voltage number and go up.Since you always want to start at the lowest voltage.So to be at the lowest possible voltage when starting to set the amp. Would I have the button pressed out which selects 1.05v to 0.15v, and the dial with the arrow on it turned all the way to the right ,which would have the arrow on the dial pointing to 0.15v.With this being the lowest possible voltage I could select on the amp.I would hate to get it wrong ,and be at the highest volt setting on the amp. I've read bad things can happen if the gains are set too high.By the sounds of it.It is harder to hear if distortion or clipping is happening with subwoofers. Thanks

 

no, the lowest setting would be the dial all the way CCW and the button set to 7.3-1.05 volts. it seems backwards, but its not

 

Man,Am I glad to be talking with you about this,I would have had the gains all the way up by the sound of it. So If I'm pickin up what your puttin down. The 7.3 volts is the lowest setting on the amp,Where the amp will be putting out the least amount of power it can produce. If so I can dig it. Sorry I'm having 60's flashbacks.

 

yes that is correct

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The 60 amp fuse rating is for 4 ohm stereo operation.If you bridge or go 2 ohms stereo then a 100 amp fuse should be used.These amps came with a fuse holder that had the 60 amp fuse installed.
Also,the Zeus is smaller because it is more efficient.This is one of the benefits of class g/h and the smaller size was a selling point.
Since the Zeus is fully regulated it will produce its power down to around 11.5 volts.The Alpine will put out less power at this voltage.The previous links show both amps were tested at about 13.5 volts.

 

Ok, I think I got it now.Thanks for your patients.Also thanks for the heads up on the fuse.If I were to bridge it at some point,Is that a simple matter of switching the speaker wires around.If so,Where should they go to be in bridged mode.Also the fuse must be inside somewhere,Which I take the backplate off,or is there a better way to get at it. Also my alpine 3544 amps say they are bridgeable ,but when you attempt that. They heat up quickly,and would not last long in that mode before overheating and burning out. Can this hifonics zeus amp take it in bridged mode,or will it quickly heat up,and potentially burn up as well. Thanks

 

There are no fuses inside the Zeus.
All class A/B amps will get hot when driven hard.Use the L+ and R- when bridging them.

 

Here is a link to the Series VIII HiFonics amps. It should answer many of the questions that you have and possibly a few that you don't yet know to ask.

Link:

http://www.maxxsonics.net/manuals/hifonics/pdfs/hf_SERIESVIII.pdf

 

Hi, Thanks for the link to the manual for the hifonics amps. I've went through it, and oldschool hifonics amps look to be built well. For the other poster that posted to use a 100 amp fuse when running it in 2 ohm. If there is no fuses in the amp,and I can't see any on the outside of the amp,Where is the fuse located to be changed?My only other question is; I ran a large capacitor with my alpine 1505 amp.I am all wired up through the cap.Can I still use the capacitor when I switch to the hifonics zeus amp,or will it cause problems,or damage anything in the hifonics zeus amp.

 

You will have to add a fuse holder and yes you can use the cap.

 

Hi, My zeus amp never came with any fuse holder.All the amps I've ever owned just had the fuses on the side,where you just pulled the fuse or put one in. What should the fuse holder look like. Can you buy them straight from hifonics ,or do you have a good place to get one. I have never had to install one since all my amps had the fuse. How ,and where do you wire it in.This is the only question I have left.You guys have been great so far,answering all my rookie hifonics zeus amp questions Thanks

 

hifonics never came with fuses, any of them

Sent from my SM-T217S using Tapatalk

 

This is one type.

StreetWires ZN1-ILAGU ZeroNoise 1 Series AGU Fuse Holder 4 AWG

 

Thanks for the link to the fuse. So to wire it up to the amp.It looks like I put one wire in one end of the fuse,and another wire in the other end of the fuse,and then connect one end to the power wire on the amp,and the other end to your positive distribution block. Is this correct.

 

Many old amps had no fuse holder, that was an install item. Note the gain has nothing to do with how much power the amp can make. The setting is mostly back then if you had a line driver or ran speaker leads from a HU into the amp you use the higher voltage setting. The low voltage is because most HU put out pretty low power and today they put out more. Early HU put out 1-2v and 5v out the speaker leads iirc. When line drivers came out there was a huge range of input voltages to deal with, thus the adjustments to cope with that. Some of those amps (like mtx) used mosfets for outputs unlike most alpines that use transistors, the mosfets are smaller so take maybe half the room on the heatsink. A few alpines use them but most don't.

Yes put the fuse just before the amp, in the 12v power line to it. You should have one on your battery as well in case the cable itself shorts to the car unless the battery is right next to the amp. I have a 100A on my battery and then whatever needed on each amp I run off it in the trunk. The distro is also in the trunk.

 

Ok,I understand fully now.I just wanted to be safe,rather than sorry. You guys are why these forums are so great.Willing to help with anything.Even if it seems straight forward to most. Thank you to all of you.Keep up the good work.