sundownz

I have always been a bit SQ fan. Clean and clear sound is what brought me into car audio but I had to make a detour towards output for most of our company history so far in order to meet my customer demands. Of course... that has not stopped me from implementing features for lower distortion in many of our models But now I feel it is time to really gear a product DIRECTLY towards SQ. I've started development on what I consider a true Reference grade component set... one with objective distortion levels up there with the BEST products on the market at any price level. This complete set will be priced under $1,000 from an authorized dealer; how much under that I do not know yet. This set certainly is NOT for everyone but it is what I want to have in my own cars. Nearly every part will be custom tooled... tweeter housing and internals, midrange frame, cone, surround, spider, crossover housing, etc, etc. So this will take some time and effort to accomplish but will be a world class set no question. I was waiting for the time when this sort of tooling was feasible for Sundown as a company to make a product like this. On to the initial renderings... I will only give out limited information until parts start to be physically completed. But I will go ahead and do the usual teaser shots for everyone to think about until then. * Powerful Neo motor with very thick top plate (hint hint)... the surround is a specially tooled until to have identical forward and rearward compliance. The motor features two internal shorting rings and a naturally low inductance already. I will say that this driver does feature double-digit one-way excursion (linear) so will offer very powerful mid-bass. * Very open frame similar to Dynaudio or Scan-Speak and the like but this particular unit will be tooled just for this driver. As this is an SQ unit we opted for a large open pole vent to keep air noise to a minimum. The coil is a fairly large diameter unit for a mid so thermal handling is not a concern. * Specially tuned rear chamber (the shape is for specific acoustic purposes) * The housing mounts similarly to many other high-end tweeters so bears a resemblance to a few but this particular housing will be tooled for the specific internal needs of our tweeter. Higher end tweeters such as this unit have quite a bit going on internally to damp the rear wave and tune the Fs of the unit. ----- This set will be a two-way upon introduction. We may develop another crossover and a dedicated midrange for a three-way setup later on if demand exists. The crossover is also still in development phase... I am working on some neat features for it. I am also considering selling the set "a-la-carte" so you can buy the mid, tweeter, and crossovers all separately to meet your needs. An ETA is NOT yet available.

I did some early prototyping around this time last year on some mid-level sets and they were quite good, IMO... I decided to re-evaluate them a bit based on the listening I've had with them since that time. I received the first early prototype of the new mid-level set a few days ago and I will be replacing the 2011 prototypes in my car with these soon. The biggest change is the cone material... for a set like this that crosses over higher I prefer a paper base vs. the composite base (woven material) that the other set utilized. The set is NOT done as I plan to modify the frame on the mid as well as the motor ventilation. There will be no fancy eye-candy to the set -- very basic cosmetically with as much focus on the actual sound as possible. Once I finalize the details I will talk more about the pricing level on them. For the level of sound quality that I am shooting for it will be very fair. Here are the photos of the early set : * The crossovers use an "open tool" plastic housing but do offer some nice features; 12, 6, or full range slope on the mid LPF and also 0, -3, and -6 tweeter level adjustment. The grilles will remain a very basic model that offers good protection with little sonic interference. * Fairly standard silk dome tweeter; no frills but a nice sounding unit that is not harsh. * I really like this cone material... very smooth and natural sound. * This basket and motor are not vented at all on this early set -- that will change for thermal and acoustic reasons. * High quality spider with tight weave utilized I will work on the packaging a little bit but I don't plan to make it super fancy and waste money where there is no performance gain to be had. Once I feel the design is final I will be able to give an ETA -- as of now I cannot give one.

We should have it in a week or so to test ourselves; factory testing has went very well and it is meeting all of our design goals. Length without feet = 18.89" With the feet total length is roughly on par with the original version (20.15") -- then the case is of course narrower. So overall foot-print is down. Will get some side to side pics when the prototype gets here.

Production started this week. Typical lead-time is 90 days but I will say to be safe expect them at the end of August. I am going to go ahead and open up ordering since I know many of you have waited anxiously for the 2012 models to start rolling out. As with any pre-order delivery times are an ETA (estimated time of arrival) and are not a guarantee of the delivery date. I do feel pretty solid on this one as the new amp factory is working pretty quickly for us so far on the NS-1 models, though. SAZ-1500D v.3 : Pre-Order Price : $445.00 Regular Price : $525.00 SAX-125.4 : Pre-Order Price : $425.00 Regular Price : $500.00 Pricing is shipped in continental 48 states. Contact us for a SH quote to AK or HI. !!! THIS IS FOR USA ONLY !!! To order get in touch with your favorite local or online dealer or send a Paypal in to us at [email protected] All production amps will have the "tiffany" style RCA cables; these are NOT pictured on the prototypes. SAX-125.4 PHOTOS AND SPECS: ORIGINAL THREAD 8.30” x 2.32” x 11.02” -- WITHOUT MOUNTING FEET Factory tested power as follows @ 1 % : 138x4 at 4 203x4 at 2 438x2 at 4 * Hard to tell but there are small holes in the board on the right for the fan on the opposite side of the board to breathe. * 1500D v.3 and the 125.4 together * WOW * 99% of the crossovers... only lacking the 12/24dB slop switch. Fixed at 24 dB now. SAX-1500D v.3 PHOTOS AND SPECS: ORIGINAL THREAD SAZ-1500D: 8.30” x 2.32” x 16.53” -- WITHOUT MOUNTING FEET Little bit of testing in Derrick's Explorer -- using my Extech power clamp meter (which always reads low vs. separate meters method) : 26 Hz 46.6v 43.7A 2036 Watts 1.06 ohm 27Hz 48.2v 40.4a 1974 watts 1.19 ohms * The fan blows through the board to expel air out the sides of the amp. Will do a heck of a job in terms of cooling :thumbsup:

Amps will be into port Friday which puts them with us at some point next week. I will leave this pre-order open until Friday.

On the next production run; which I do not have an ETA for yet.

I have two to build so far -- IIRC this one was a drill slip into the surround. In any event -- just finished the first one and it looks neat so I took a few photos : * This is where it really varies from our other kits. The spider spacer along with dual triple joint rings. You cannot see the 2nd triple joint ring but it is in between the spider layers. It did take a good bit of time to assemble; which is why these kits are "expensive" compared to our other SA kits.

There was some "concern" about the "high" rating of 1% THD in the factory spec that I posted originally... in any event as one can see on the full THD graph at the full rated 125 watts per channel we are at the sub 0.1% THD level. The power difference from 0.1 to 1.0 is in fact very insignificant. The 1% figure is the CEA-2006 standard measurement for reference.

More 2012 amplifier prototypes will be rolling in before too much longer as well... the SAZ-2500D v.2 will be the next one coming in for testing. Hopefully withing a week or so! We do have one final run of "2011" model 2500/3500D amps due into port around the 18th... I know quite a few folks are waiting on them as this production run has taken an unusually long time to be completed. I do not expect them to last long so if your "older" amp needs a mate this would be the time to get one

Looks good.

Production starts next week on the SAZ-1500D v.3 and SAX-125.4 so stay tuned for pre-ordering information.

MAP is $500 on these vs. $385 on the old units. For 25% more juice cost is up about 30% -- for that we are also getting metal gain and feature control POTs, much smaller sizing, 19v stability, tiffany RCA jacks, etc. All in all pricing is inline with what the extras are. Expect pre-ordering soon on these and the 1500D v.3 models.

Yes... the 1200/2500/3500 are being re-done. A new 2-channel 150.2 is in the works too.

The THD spec will be less at rated (hence the rating) -- at a still acceptable 1% the rating is exceeded. Simple really.

Here it is! Super small little amp Without mounting feet included the new amps are sized as follows : SAZ-1500D: 8.30” x 2.32” x 16.53” SAX-125.4: 8.30” x 2.32” x 11.02” Factory tested power as follows @ 1 % : 138x4 at 4 203x4 at 2 438x2 at 4 I'll be pretty busy for at least a few days but I will get my testing as soon as possible. On to the photos with the 1500D v.3 and the 100.4D revision : * Hard to tell but there are small holes in the board on the right for the fan on the opposite side of the board to breathe. * 1500D v.3 and the 125.4 together * WOW * 99% of the crossovers... only lacking the 12/24dB slop switch. Fixed at 24 dB now.

I updated the first post today with new information.

I do not have the ETA 100% nailed down yet as the tooling all has to be made, tested, approved, etc, etc but we should start seeing these in action before the end of the year!

I have the go-ahead to show the frame renderings by my patent attorney as I've been assigned a patent application number... we will enforce the patents to the fullest extent of the law as well. In any event here we go : Click to see a larger view. A few people may have been expecting some crazy weird cosmetics -- but this is Sundown Audio where performance is first. The functional layout of the landings, clearances, bolt pattern, mounting lip, terminal location, etc were developed first then the legs and base were designed with the strength required to hold the motor weights we plan to utilize (and then some). Cosmetics fell in place based on the function required -- just like the SA-8 v.2 frame (also patent pending for reference). So what we have here are the strongest frames I know of, period (about 3x the material of a 12-spoke frame)... with the highest clearances I am aware of on a one-piece frame as well. Not to mention wide enough spider landings to take advantage of it. This was a Facebook exclusive from Sunday until now so to answer a question that was already asked -- no, there is no spider plateau venting. We will utilize a vent spacer like the SA-8 v.2, the SA-10/12/15, and the Z v.3 18 do now. These spacers work much better with my air-flow designs than a wide open design (yes, I did test that here at my shop with my own test methods). Also... these will be used on lines BIGGER than the SA line. They are simply too costly to use on the SA line. So the upcoming X line, the Z line, and the NS line. An 18" version is in the works but will be handled separately next year. Until then I have a bigger spider adapter ring I am tooling for the 6-spoke 18" frame (same size as my tooled 15" basket) as well as a beefier surround to support it.

Little bit of testing in Derrick's Explorer -- using my Extech power clamp meter (which always reads low vs. separate meters method) : 26 Hz 46.6v 43.7A 2036 Watts 1.06 ohm 27Hz 48.2v 40.4a 1974 watts 1.19 ohms The super low frequency is a bit different than normal testing as well -- I'll get it in one of my other setups and do testing in the more typical range (more similar to my "official" amp clamp thread) when I get a moment but Derrick was up so we threw it in his Explorer! We kept it down below any point of audible distortion for testing. Time does not permit details testing and dialing in today... just a quick test and we are very pleased thusfar. Watching my power clamp we saw 1500-1600 watt continuously on music as well. So far I haven't had to fan turn on in any of my testing nor has the case been even lukewarm to the touch. Also some 16v testing will be done as time permits. We usually squeeze a bit more out of our units between prototype and production as well. * With big brother NS-1 * Derricks low tuned box featuring some OA-12s * XS Power batteries on tap

Got it in today. I will be doing some testing over the next few days -- here is a comparison to the 1500D v.2 model -- the new v.3 is longer to fit all of the new parts and the fan but is narrower. The newer 2500D v.2 and 3500D v.2 will actually shrink in width AND length compared to the old units for reference. * The fan blows through the board to expel air out the sides of the amp. Will do a heck of a job in terms of cooling :thumbsup:

No it is not -- FR Class-D to get the small size.

We are looking @ second week of May to receive these.

GUTS of SAX-125.4 model -- lots of stuff packed in there... we did opt for some surface mount parts in this guy to pack it in as small of a case as we could. Traditionally we shy away from them but I think they will work well in a multi-channel unit and afford us the small size our customers want. Crossover is equal to the SAX-100.4d except we had to lose the 12/24dB selection on the crossover -- it is fixed on 24 dB now.

SAX-125.4 Hmmm... this sure does look small, huh ? Tested Power Factory Spec : 138x4 at 4 203x4 at 2 438x2 at 4

I am pretty flexible with that... provided that something with adding the cover didn't hurt the amp (slipped with drill and hit a part, etc).