Zed Audio Corporation Announces New 2011 Car Audio Amplifiers

New products being introduced Mid February, 2011.

After many months of auditioning IC chip sets for the front end of our amplifiers, we have settled on a generation of chips from National Semi-conductor. They are superior to the Burr Brown chips (these are no slouches in their own right) in several key areas.

Specification National Burr Brown

THD 0.000003% 0.00008%
Input noise density 2.7nV/ root Hz 8nV/ root Hz
Slew rate 20v/uSec 15v/uSec
Full power bandwidth 10MHz 1.3MHz
Gain Bandwidth 55MHz 8MHz

How do they sound? In every listening test done under blind A-B conditions, we preferred the National chip.

Leviathan:

150w x 6 at 4 ohm, 300w x 6 at 2 ohm. Leviathan has several upgrades and changes.
Channels 1+2 High Pass crossovers now have a range of 55Hz to 4KHz at 24dB/octave.
Channels 3+4 High and Low Pass crossovers have a range of 55Hz to 4KHz at 24dB/octave.
Channels 5+6 High Pass has a range of 11Hz to 105Hz so now in conjunction with the Low Pass crossover (40Hz-240Hz) these two channels may be used for low midbass duties.

The distortion of the amplifiers has been reduced and the use of new high current high speed MOSFETs will enhance the sound quality.

The blue “ZED” logo now functions as a power on indicator, a logo and a protection indicator. If any of the protection mechanisms are activated the “ZED” logo will flash on and off.

The power supply has several improvements with regards to power regulation and sensitivity to pulses on the +12v battery buss.

Kronos will not be produced again as the need for a high power 2 channel amplifier is growing smaller and smaller. The new mono blocks and 4 channel amplifiers will amply fill this role.

Draconia:

We are reviving the name of the first 4 channel amplifier to be produced under the Zed name but this new amplifier is a different breed.

All the upgrades and chipset info applies to Draconia as well.

Power rating is 100w x 4 at 4 ohms and 200w x 4 at 2 ohms.
In bridge mode 200w x 2 at 8 ohms 400w x 2 at 4 ohms.
Channels 1+2 have a 24dB/octave Linkwitz-Riley High Pass crossover 55Hz-4KHz and a 24dB/octave Linkwitz-Riley Low Pass crossover 50Hz-4KHz. Flat, High Pass, Low Pas and Band Pass functions are available.

Channels 3+4 have the same compliment of crossovers and in addition there is a 24dB/octave Linkwitz-Riley High Pass crossover 10Hz-48Hz and a constant Q single band equalizer (40Hz centre frequency) which are both switched in when the “Sub-Mode” is selected. When “Sub-Mode” is selected, channels 3+4 receive their signal from a mono mix of all 4 inputs.

There are two further Mode switches. The first switches channels 3+4 to the signal path of 1+2, thus a two input signal source is only required.

The second is associated with channels 1+2 and allow the final gain stage and power amplifiers of 1+2 to select the signal source from 3+4. Therefore channels 1+2 will have the same signal content as 3+4 and this will be cool for those who want to use this as a 4 channel sub amplifier or simply want to have 4 channels with the same signal. The 3+4 inputs are thus used in this mode.

The constant Q equalizer is superior to the common versions on all other amplifiers. The Q (Bandwidth) remains constant no matter how much boost is selected. All other equalizers have very low Q at lower boost settings and only approach the desired Q at full boost (or cut).

Four clip LEDs are standard, one for each channel.

Draconia is the same size as the outgoing Kronos at 280mm (11”) long.

Dreadnought:

The name is in recognition of the First World War British battleships. This amplifier is truly a Dreadnought. Rated at 225w x 4 at 4 ohm and 400w x 4 at 2 ohms it is a true power house in the world of 4 channel amplifiers.
Bridged power into 8 ohm is 450w x 2 and into 4 ohm 800w x 2.
This should satisfy the power cravings from sub duty to tweeters!

The feature sets are identical to those shown above fro Draconia. The foot print is identical to Leviathan.
Minotaur:

The mythical half bull, half man from ancient Greek mythology is the name we have given to the first of our mono blocks.

Rated at 500w x 1 at 4 ohm and 1000w x 1 at 2 ohm this shall be the smaller of the mono blocks in our line up.

We begin with 4 RCA inputs…. Not to worry these do double duty as well.
Inputs 1 and 3 along with 2 and 4 may be paralleled at the push of a switch. So either two or 4 input signals are accommodated. In the two input configuration the gain of the front end is automatically compensated for the loss of the other two inputs. In the two input mode the 3+4 sockets are simple loop outputs for daisy chaining amplifiers.

A High Pass Linkwitz-Riley Crossover with an industry first of 48dB/octave, and a frequency range of 8Hz to 100Hz is the first signal block. This is followed by a variable phase shift circuit which allows the phase to be varied between 0 and 180 degrees. Following this is a Low Pass 24dB/octave Linkwitz-Riley crossover with a range of 45Hz to 230Hz.

The High and Low Pass crossover can be set so that a bandpass function can be set for those using QUAD amped systems and require high power for their lower midrange drivers.

Now for all you hardcore power junkies, a selector switch follows. The selections are “Flat”, “Preamp” and “Slave” modes.

In “Flat” the complete signal processing circuitry is eliminated and only the equalizer and level control remain in the signal path. This allows Minotaur to be used as a full range (Yes full range as in 20Hz-20KHz) mono amplifier. Any crossovers that may be required must be an outboard unit.

In “Preamp” mode the full preamplifier is active.

In “Slave” mode the amplifier becomes the slave half of a bridged pair. (More about this later).

There is a 5 band constant Q equalizer set at standard ISO frequencies of 25Hz, 31Hz, 40Hz, 50Hz and 63Hz. These are boost-cut controls which will allow the tailoring of the bottom end to suit all tastes.

A set of 4 LEDs allows you to keep track of the peak power output, -9dB, -6dB, -3dB and 0dB (125w, 250w, 500w, 1000w at 2 ohm and 63w, 125w, 250w and 500w at 4 ohm).

There are two (2) line outputs, one is at 0 degrees phase and the second 180 degrees out of phase. The 0 phase output can be fed to a second Minotaur which is set to “slave” mode and a second woofer can be driven with no bridging of the two Minotaurs.

The 180 output is fed to a second Minotaur which is then bridged together with the master Minotaur. Thus 1000w at 8 ohm and 2000w at 4 ohm are available from the bridged pair.

The Slave Minotaur uses the “1” input as its master input and no other RCAs are used.

Four (4) Minotaurs may be set up in a parallel/bridge configuration with the main master Minotaur being the only one whose preamplifier controls affect the other three. The output power in this configuration is a total of 2000w at 8 ohm and 4000w at 4 ohm

RA
The newest member of our family is called RA, yes that’s right “RA the remote”. RA was the Egyptian Sun God and our version has some rays of its own.

This remote control is absolutely unique in that it has features never seen before. It is a self powered remote meaning that it has its own internal switching supply and thus is not tethered to Zed amplifiers. It may be used with any amplifier as it is a line in-line out product. RA was designed with only subwoofer duty in mind.

It features two RCA inputs and a single RCA output.

A 24dB/octave Low Pass Linkwitz-Riley crossover with a range of 45Hz-240Hz (We included this as RA may be used with any other amplifier and we feel that our crossovers sound better) feeds a twin band Sub Harmonic Synthesizer. These two bands at 32 and 45Hz have been synthesized down to half their frequency, each with its own level control and a master control. This configuration allows complete control over the mix of the two bands and the absolute level. It is absolutely amazing the magic that this circuit performs.

A compressor with variable threshold (to suit the input level of RA) follows and this will tighten up the bass considerably. The attack and release times have been optimized for low frequency operation.

The last control is a volume control.

RA measures in at 125mm wide x 23.5mm high x 69mm high (4.9” x 0.925” x 2.7”).




Megalith or it as it may be called Pterpodactyl.

This is identical to Minotaur except that the output is 1000w x 1 at 4 ohm and 2000w x 1 at 2 ohm. So two of these puppies bridged will deliver 2000w at 8 ohm or 4000w at 4 ohm.

The Hybrid tube-solid state amplifier (The name shall only be announced at its introduction):

This is a 4 channel amplifier with a completely tubed front end and a new design of linear amplifier for the output stages. Rated at between 75 to 100w per channel this shall set a new standard for amplification in the mobile arena.

This amplifier shall be introduced in April, 2011.