I bought a blown JL audio 500/1. Anyone on here feel comforatable taking it apart and reading off some part numbers for me? The one I bought is missing a few parts.

Thanks in advance!

 

Found the info I was looking for nevermind.

 

My comments so far about JL amps.
I would like to punch the engineer that designed the transistor retaining clips in the face.

 

So here is a good example why I think JL is overrated. I purchased a blown 500/1 for $60 its going to cost me $40 to repair.

If we look at the power supply we see 8 transistors And 4 audio transistors
.

If we look at the Phoenix Gold I paid $150 for we se the exact same 8 power supply transistors which one would expect for an amp that is stable to 1 ohm. But if we look at the audio transistors there are 12 of them.


Once fixed I could probably sell the JL for more then the PG. Which If I dont keep it for the boat I will probably sell it.

 

My final comments on this amp. It has a fairly stong power supply which is supported by all the power supply transistors. So a decent amp by any measure.

JL suffers from the same problem a lot of companies suffer from. They are making throw away electronic and this amp is no different. The cost to repair is the same as it would be to by a good used amp. A repaired amp isn't better then a used amp depending on who repaired it. When I repair an amp I replace all of the transistors. When one goes it usually causes strain on the others as they try to pick up the slack. So I replace all, this isn't common practice because transistors are expansive. I spent $30 in transistors fixing this amp.

The other negative is JL will not release schematics. Which means they control the obsolecents of this product. Meaning they choose not to repair it your only choice is to buy a new amp. Or find someone that can repair it. From what I have learned most repair houses hate this amp. I can't say I blame them this one has been a pitta to fix without a schematic. But as long as people continue to buy throw away electronics nothing will ever change.

 

Hey i've got a 500/1 also. I had to open it up before to re-solder a wire on the circuit board. Other than that I have'nt had any problems with it. It was also in the car with me when I got into a wreck though so maybe that caused it lol. But anyways, if you need any other help with it let me know and i'd be more than happy to help out.

 

Aren't those capacitors? (4 Big black round things, silver capped round things)

the transistors, that are visible, are the mosfet ones... JL looks like it uses 7 pretty large ones... tho i dunno if thats better than the 22 small ones that the pg one looks like it uses..

the pg ones are clamped underneath heat sinks... with about 2 per heatsink..

also the pg heat sinks aren't all on the outsides of the amp..

the jl ones are... the amp housing is made or designed to be a heatsink...

i dunno how good the chassis is at being a heat sink.. but if it was for a cpu.. it doesn't look like it could handle the temperatures.. without heatpipes...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bpr0422 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Aren't those capacitors? (4 Big black round things, silver capped round things)</TD></TR></TABLE>
Yes, Thats an easy way to detect the audio stage of an amplifier. The Audio stage usually has the larger high voltage capacitors. The power supply bumps the voltage up to approx 80Vdc and stores it in those large caps for the audio stage of the amplifier. For thos that don't know the power supply is to the right and the audio stage is to the left on both amps.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bpr0422 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the transistors, that are visible, are the mosfet ones... JL looks like it uses 7 pretty large ones... tho i dunno if thats better than the 22 small ones that the pg one looks like it uses..</TD></TR></TABLE>
Both amplifiers use the same transitor package TO-220 (which means they are all the same size). In fact the power supply transistors are the exact same part. IRFZ44. JL has 10 PG has 8. Which makes a little sense since the JL is in a smaller package and has no fan. The JL has 4 audio transistor and the PG has 12.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bpr0422 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the pg ones are clamped underneath heat sinks... with about 2 per heatsink..

also the pg heat sinks aren't all on the outsides of the amp..

the jl ones are... the amp housing is made or designed to be a heatsink...
</TD></TR></TABLE>
The PG layout is much better. The entire chassis on the PG is a heat sink, and the heat is distributed over a larger surface area.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bpr0422 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i dunno how good the chassis is at being a heat sink.. but if it was for a cpu.. it doesn't look like it could handle the temperatures.. without heatpipes...</TD></TR></TABLE>
The chassis is an excellent heatsink. You don't need heat pipes. Heat pipes are only needed when you dont have room to mount a proper heat sink. Copper is more expensive the aluminum and also conducts heat better. So on CPUs they usually combine the two. Copper heat pipes and aluminum heatsinks. A heatsink made out of entirely copper would be better. Or they just don have room above the cpu to mount a proper heatsink. So they use heatpipes to move the heatsink.

If I was in the market for an amp I would choose many others over the JL. JL charges a premium for there products and your just not getting "premium" product for your money. That's just my opinion.

 

I have read many of your post over the years (nsxxtreme) and it seems youve been in the buisiness a long time, or at least as have I 15 years and while I dont think the 500/1 is the end all be all of car amps its not the worst for the money, I have delt with jl amps from when they were first introduced up to now, I dont think you can actully call the 500/1 a "throw away" amp I would say its actually pretty reliable the others 300/4, 300/2 and the biggest troulbe maker 1000/1 are complete JUNK they break alot and dont sound anywere as good as the old school amps Im sure your used to ...... I dont know I think the bar has been lowered sooooo much the newer guys wont ever see what TRUE car audio is they are just stuck with ok sounding crap for almost half the price of what we would pay back in the day early 90s !

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by twogengsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have read many of your post over the years (nsxxtreme) and it seems youve been in the buisiness a long time, or at least as have I 15 years and while I dont think the 500/1 is the end all be all of car amps its not the worst for the money, I have delt with jl amps from when they were first introduced up to now, I dont think you can actully call the 500/1 a "throw away" amp I would say its actually pretty reliable the others 300/4, 300/2 and the biggest troulbe maker 1000/1 are complete JUNK they break alot and dont sound anywere as good as the old school amps Im sure your used to ...... I dont know I think the bar has been lowered sooooo much the newer guys wont ever see what TRUE car audio is they are just stuck with ok sounding crap for almost half the price of what we would pay back in the day early 90s !</TD></TR></TABLE>
I'm not in the "business", car audio is just a hobby. I'm an Asic designer EE. So there are others that are probably better experts in "install" and knowing off hand what is good and bad. I can only comment on design. I really don't buy much of this equipment anymore unless its blown for the fun of repairing it.

To be clear I dont think JL amps are junk by any stretch. But they are throw away and her is why. An average amp repair will cost you $100-150. You can find these amps used for those prices. A repaired amp may not be as good as a used amp depending on who repaired it. Most repair shops will only replace a nonfunctioning part. Most of these parts work in parallel. When something fails it puts stress on the other parts as well.

The other draw back is JL will not give anyone a schematic. You may think no big deal. All amps work similarily they have the same basic building blocks. No rocket science here. So a lot of failures are similiar and the basics are easy to fix. But most have protection schemes that can be fairly complex and vary drastically. So while the amp may work the protection mechanism may shut it down for no good reason other then that circuit is faulty. Fixing these types of circuits is like trying to find a penny in a bucket of nickels in the dark. Sure it can be done but how much effort are you willing to put into it. A lot of amps will be sent back from repair shops as unrepairable for that simple reason. Any excuse that a company wont provide a schematic to protect there intellectual property is BS. If someone wanted to copy their product they would have the resources to do so. This is done by these companies to try to control the life cycle of their products. In other words they want to try to control when you will need to buy a new product.

JL charges a premium for there amps. You would expect to get a premium designed product and premium support for the money you pay. This just isn't the case. They are average in design and support. Its up to you to decide if average is worth a premium price.

I chose the PG amp I got because it was cheap $150. I would definetly rather have the PG over the JL. If I was to buy new I would probably choose Soundstream or ARC. That's just my opinion. I guess I'm just a picky customer. When I shop for something I look at all product and compare. I try not to br brand loyal because things can change fast. "New School" amps aren't really new its just a new package same technology. The only thing new is class D amps introduction into the car audio world. And you have to wiegh the cost vs benifits here to see if its right for you.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nsxxtreme &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My comments so far about JL amps.
I would like to punch the engineer that designed the transistor retaining clips in the face.</TD></TR></TABLE>

LOL.

If I had to guess, I would say that the fewer audio transistors would have at least something to do with it being a sub amp.

Out of curiosity, what model is the PG amp?