Kicker WARHORSE - How tf does it work?! Subwoofer amplifier
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- čas přidán 5. 06. 2019
- Please excuse the bracelet, my girl made it for me and imma wear that shit with pride! Anyway I couldn't pass up on this opportunity to show you guys first hand a couple of things about this very unique amplifier from back when 10,000wrms was pretty ridiculous from a single amplifier. I hope you enjoy!
These came out in 2008 and at the time only the Rockford Fosgate T15kW and JBL Crown A6000GTi were in this class of power. All of these amps were hella expensive, the Warhorse was $9999 USD, while the JBL was $7999. Rockford said "hold my beer" with the T15kW's $24,999 MSRP and the most limited production with only 20 units. KICKER planned on 1000 Warhorses, but the economy tanked in 2008 and they ended up producing "only" 750 Warhorses. I've been unable to obtain JBL A6000 numbers, but would suspect somewhere in the 500-1000 produced. Sam, as always your videos rock. Thanks for taking the time to make this, I may need to borrow a short clip or two for my full video on the Warhorse upcoming 👌
Jams 20 min or more worth of info into a 8 min video, love the no BS approach.
This is called tri-state pulse width modulation. The output can be either 'high' (positive voltage), 'low' (negative voltage) or 'high-Z' (high impedance, disconnected). The implementation with requiring dual voice coils and only putting the 'high' output on one coil and 'low' output on the other coil is probably because they are implementing boost conversion (like a DC-DC boost converter) as well to get 200V on the output instead of just 12V. Combining the two boosted outputs back together would probably require an enormous transformer, and since dual coils combine the signal back together mechanically anyway it's easier to just do that. Tri-state amps with a regular split-rail powersupply, no boosting and single output are far more common.
Wow that was a really cool explanation on how the Warhorse works. I always wanted know how it works
Besides the zero crossing distortion, I don't like driving each coil half wave. The reason: by cutting the duty cycle 50%, you can only increase the coil current by the square root of 2.(1.4142135). That's because the heat dissipated in a conductor goes up on the square of current. Therefore, you cannot double the current, just because you apply it for 1/2 the time. With both coils, that means you can only operate the sub at the square root of .5.(.7071067) Running both coils, full wave, really does give the woofer its maximum power handling capability. That's why this is such a rare amplifier. It's a fascinating concept, but, it's NOT the amplifier I would choose.
The cross-over distortion on this thing is hilarious!
Love your quick to the point technical explanations. Your pretty much a car audio genius
Awesome video. I wonder if they ever made a DVC woofer with the windings split so that one was suitable extending and the other for retracting. It would likely gain 3 to 6db of sensitivity. The next idea is to do more of the same with feedback of cone location. The then only drive the part of the coil that is in the gap at the instant... This might be good for 10 to maybe 20 db of increased sensitivity, depending on how many segments are used.
Hahaha wow! That crossover distortion is hilarious. It's like they decided to audio modulate a stick welder or something.
Dude you really really know your shit. I enjoy the videos a lot. I feel like I learn something every time I watch one of your videos
Great Video ! Crossover point was terrible...like a purely bad designed fully class B amplifier...
these things are supposed to be some of the most efficient amplifiers ever produced.
Truly amazing how a T-path amp works. Ive rebuilt many amps but never got my hands on one of these yet.
This is such an underrated Chanel!
Yep, purely a spl amp. Interesting design no doubt. I'm not a fan of kicker but I respect the Warhorse.
i loved this video. That amp seems very powerful but damnit if that sine wave didnt get my jimmies rustled. cheers mate always appreciated
Seen 1 of these in my local car audio shop back in 2008ish.. they had this amp and the JBL crown amp that was still in a crate..
Unusual design.. Glad you made this video because I almost bought a new unused one. My woofers wouldn't work even though I can wire them @ 2 ohm. I would need dual 4 ohm woofers and I have dual 2 ohm.
Wow, what a great video. Your knowledge of this stuff is very impressive.
Very informative video. I remember when these 1st came out. My buddy wanted one so bad, but neither one of us could afford it at the time. Just to upgrade the electrical that was needed to power it was too much for me. I've never seen one in person...so it was always a unicorn to me. 😂😂 It seems like it was a fusion between new tech at the time with some old school class A/B tech with some serious crossover distortion. But I would still like to see this thing perform. 👍✌