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Pioneer GM-D1004 4-channel Car Amplifier Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
It is true but ETON amp is measured from a german magazine with an AP device and ALPINE is a serious brand and quite respected in car audio.
I provided Canada warranty service and mass modifications for Alpine of Canada for years. It was like the lonely Maytag repairman because the product was so solid. The stuff was built very well. The warranty service rate at the time was something like 0.5% and most of what I saw for warranty service was due to being run long and hard or simply being damaged by abuse and not because of poor manufacturing defects.
If you go to that site there are tests of many amps but in general JL AUDIO has more powerful amps with a bit higher distortion
Is that still the case with them? I saw some tests of KENWOOD EXCELON amps i found them well built how do you find these?
I don't know. I've been out of consumer electronics for some years now.
I'm using this Pioneer amp in my RV, and when playing music fairly loud for a while, the amp became noticeably warm, even hot, to the touch. I was playing music into Dahlquist ALS-3 speakers (4 ohms nominal, but I've never seen them tested). The amp was bridged, so driving four-ohm speakers will mean it is current-limited. The amp is fuse protected, but in my case my testing blew a fuse in the speaker before the amp ran out of steam. Sound is quite good considering the acoustical nightmare that is my 50-year-old GMC motorhome.
I mounted the amp on the inside of a fold-up panel that covers the fuse block for the chassis 12-volt systems. The power for the amp and the head unit comes from the house 12-volt system, and the main power feeding the amp comes from a fuse-protected circuit straight from the main power take-off terminal that the chassis battery is connected to. I'm using the amp-control signal line output from the head unit, which is a Kenwood in-dash car stereo from about 15-20 years ago. That works well--when the Kenwood unit is in "Standby", the amp turns off. Inputs are from the line-level outputs of the Kenwood unit.
Note that I did not shorten the wiring harnesses. The proprietary harnesses might be difficult to source in the future and there's always a chance with my stuff that I'll move it around to other applications.
Amir mentioned that the amp only became warm. I think mine was more like "hot".
I'm using the head unit to drive the front speakers, which are in the ceiling adjacent to the cockpit seats. The Kenwood head unit is rated at 50 wpc, whatever that means. Those speakers are 3" full-range 4-ohm car speakers, and the Dahlquists are like subwoofers in comparison.
Rick "data points for posterity" Denney
I mounted the amp on the inside of a fold-up panel that covers the fuse block for the chassis 12-volt systems. The power for the amp and the head unit comes from the house 12-volt system, and the main power feeding the amp comes from a fuse-protected circuit straight from the main power take-off terminal that the chassis battery is connected to. I'm using the amp-control signal line output from the head unit, which is a Kenwood in-dash car stereo from about 15-20 years ago. That works well--when the Kenwood unit is in "Standby", the amp turns off. Inputs are from the line-level outputs of the Kenwood unit.
Note that I did not shorten the wiring harnesses. The proprietary harnesses might be difficult to source in the future and there's always a chance with my stuff that I'll move it around to other applications.
Amir mentioned that the amp only became warm. I think mine was more like "hot".
I'm using the head unit to drive the front speakers, which are in the ceiling adjacent to the cockpit seats. The Kenwood head unit is rated at 50 wpc, whatever that means. Those speakers are 3" full-range 4-ohm car speakers, and the Dahlquists are like subwoofers in comparison.
Rick "data points for posterity" Denney
I'm using this Pioneer amp in my RV, and when playing music fairly loud for a while, the amp became noticeably warm, even hot, to the touch. I was playing music into Dahlquist ALS-3 speakers (4 ohms nominal, but I've never seen them tested). The amp was bridged, so driving four-ohm speakers will mean it is current-limited. The amp is fuse protected, but in my case my testing blew a fuse in the speaker before the amp ran out of steam. Sound is quite good considering the acoustical nightmare that is my 50-year-old GMC motorhome.
I mounted the amp on the inside of a fold-up panel that covers the fuse block for the chassis 12-volt systems. The power for the amp and the head unit comes from the house 12-volt system, and the main power feeding the amp comes from a fuse-protected circuit straight from the main power take-off terminal that the chassis battery is connected to. I'm using the amp-control signal line output from the head unit, which is a Kenwood in-dash car stereo from about 15-20 years ago. That works well--when the Kenwood unit is in "Standby", the amp turns off. Inputs are from the line-level outputs of the Kenwood unit.
Note that I did not shorten the wiring harnesses. The proprietary harnesses might be difficult to source in the future and there's always a chance with my stuff that I'll move it around to other applications.
Amir mentioned that the amp only became warm. I think mine was more like "hot".
I'm using the head unit to drive the front speakers, which are in the ceiling adjacent to the cockpit seats. The Kenwood head unit is rated at 50 wpc, whatever that means. Those speakers are 3" full-range 4-ohm car speakers, and the Dahlquists are like subwoofers in comparison.
Rick "data points for posterity" Denney
I have this amp that I just installed in a camper an it gets really hot. I used it before in a truck before and did not noticed the amp got this hot. Did you change or do something to keep the amp from getting really hot?
Car amps get hot. I mean oil burning, steam inducing, finger hurting heat. What impedance/speakers are you running off the amp?
4 ohm..
Hmmz... 4 Ohms should be a good load for that amp. It does draw 15 Amps according to the fuse and so I would expect some power inefficiencies that create heat. The thermal cutoff is probably 85C. At 85C it will be very hot and cause pain within moments of touching it.
GM-D1004 - 4-Channel - Class D, 400w Max Power - Compact Bridgeable Amplifier
4-Channel - Class D, 400w Max Power - Compact Bridgeable Amplifier
I will redo the power and ground connections this evening and hopefully that will help. I was told that campers sometimes have weak power systems.Hmmz... 4 Ohms should be a good load for that amp. It does draw 15 Amps according to the fuse and so I would expect some power inefficiencies that create heat. The thermal cutoff is probably 85C. At 85C it will be very hot and cause pain within moments of touching it.
GM-D1004 - 4-Channel - Class D, 400w Max Power - Compact Bridgeable Amplifier
4-Channel - Class D, 400w Max Power - Compact Bridgeable Amplifierwww.pioneerelectronics.com
I’ve used this amp in my truck behind the radio in the past then sold the truck and haven’t used it in a year. The power and ground was connected to my stock radio power and ground wires and I connected the remote wire to the fuse box under the dash by using a fuse tap. I bought the amp from PlugNPlayKits.com and that is how it was set up and connected to the radio power and ground wire.
Now I am trying to use this amp in a camper. The radio/receiver in the camper has a 15amp fuse and the amp has a 15amp fuse on it. I connected the power and ground to the radio power and ground wires. Then I connected the remote wire to the power wire and added a toggle switch so the amp is not always on.
Thanks
My speakers are also nominally 4-ohm, but of course there's a lot in that word "nominal".
Mine is wired very directly to the main power bus. I ran a power bus from the main 12-volt positive terminal where the batteries connect (using 2-gauge cables) to an Anderson Powerpole strip. These use 30-amp Powerpoles (which look just like 15-amp Powerpoles but use different metal terminals), and the strip is protected by a 30-amp inline fuse. I use the same strip for my 2-meter amateur radio, but there is never a time when the amp would be pulling a lot of power when the radio is transmitting. The wire used for all of that is 10-gauge finely stranded copper, which is pretty common for 12-volt automotive circuits rated for 30 amps. The main point is that none of the wiring I used for this amp goes through the vehicle's chassis wiring harness or connections (which is separate from the 12-volt house wiring circuits). But there are times when it sees only battery voltage, not charging-system voltage, and it does fine.
The amp is rated for 90 wpc output (when bridged into a stereo pair) into 4 ohms, and when operating at exactly 12 volts, that's 7.5 amps per channel. It's a Class D, which may be 90% efficient, so that means the draw from the power system will be more like 17 amps, less the effects of the crest factor. The 13.3 volts needed to supply the amp at 15 amps, given that 90% assumption, will be routinely supplied in an automotive system with the engine or shore-power converter/charger running, as long as the wiring can deliver it.
But 10% of 180 watts is 18 watts, and 18 watts being dissipated by a power resistor will still get pretty toasty.
Rick "doubting these ever get very close to rated output for more than a few milliseconds at a time" Denney
Mine is wired very directly to the main power bus. I ran a power bus from the main 12-volt positive terminal where the batteries connect (using 2-gauge cables) to an Anderson Powerpole strip. These use 30-amp Powerpoles (which look just like 15-amp Powerpoles but use different metal terminals), and the strip is protected by a 30-amp inline fuse. I use the same strip for my 2-meter amateur radio, but there is never a time when the amp would be pulling a lot of power when the radio is transmitting. The wire used for all of that is 10-gauge finely stranded copper, which is pretty common for 12-volt automotive circuits rated for 30 amps. The main point is that none of the wiring I used for this amp goes through the vehicle's chassis wiring harness or connections (which is separate from the 12-volt house wiring circuits). But there are times when it sees only battery voltage, not charging-system voltage, and it does fine.
The amp is rated for 90 wpc output (when bridged into a stereo pair) into 4 ohms, and when operating at exactly 12 volts, that's 7.5 amps per channel. It's a Class D, which may be 90% efficient, so that means the draw from the power system will be more like 17 amps, less the effects of the crest factor. The 13.3 volts needed to supply the amp at 15 amps, given that 90% assumption, will be routinely supplied in an automotive system with the engine or shore-power converter/charger running, as long as the wiring can deliver it.
But 10% of 180 watts is 18 watts, and 18 watts being dissipated by a power resistor will still get pretty toasty.
Rick "doubting these ever get very close to rated output for more than a few milliseconds at a time" Denney
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