# Stetsom 7Kd Inital impressions



## Hispls (Mar 12, 2008)

This might evolve as I have more time to play with this.

First of all, if you're looking for a SQ amp, WTF are you doing looking at 7KW?

Lets move on.... I've heard various bashing and forum boners for these for a few years now and decided to grab one to audition it. I've been going through a phase lately of just going obscenely loud and considering even doing some SPL competitions this spring/summer.

This is a direct swap with a pair of Sundown SAZ 3Kd's, though comaprison should be taken with a grain of salt as I was running them strapped to 2 8 ohm loads on parallel (dvc 4 ohm subs coils in series) OR amps "seeing" 2 ohms each, vs. Stetsom at 1 ohm with all coils in parallel.










First of all, this one has seen some love and some mods. It's been through a couple hands, but was originally used by Alan Dante in his 180dB build. Whatever connects the two boards inside the heatsink has been replaced with 1/0 guage, and the low voltage protect circuit has been disabled.

My initial thoughts opening it up were it looks really sloppily put together. I mean really sloppy. Then again I've been spoiled by using Zed, Aura, Sundown, Adcom, PPI, etc. for many years now, and as I've mentioned elsewhere some of my all time favorite amps have looked pretty sketchy .

First powering up, I get a turn-on pop. This is unsat for anything you'd consider SQ. I did NOT get this with any other amp I've used with this HU in this car. This may be fixable, but still no excuse.

Also the built in fan is quite loud when first powering up, but then quiets down to inaudible in the trunk. I've heard the fans on these older ones were noisy and expected this. Allegedly the newer models have quiter fans.

Next, there's no remote gain knob....not a deal breaker as there's other solutions, but it's a nice plus especially if you want to be a bit flexible to be able to tune on the fly for differently recorded tracks, and to be able to quake or actually listen to music with the least ammount of effort to adjust.

On to some testing. My electrical is holding a solid 14.2 at idle with a HO alternator and 2 additional deep cycles in the trunk. System is also running Zed Leviathan at moderate impedence and gain levels. (center channel amp is disabled).

This amp DOES deliver the goods with output. I am really impressed with the raw power this has on tap in such a small package. Also it seems that the efficiency seems pretty good though that's just rough guess based on output vs. light dimming LOL. Still long story short it'll do as much output as I dare throw at my subs without getting into any noticeable voltage drop. 

I have been super busy with work so I haven't had much more time to play it to see how hot it gets or test different impedence loads, or try to take any measurements. 

For the money I have into it and the space it takes up it's really impressive for what it does and in one package. Loads of no-frills power for short money. Would definitely reccomend this for SPL builds....For SQ, I'd say this is not the one merely for the turn on pop and fan noise. Beyond that, I'll do some higher impedence testing and see what happens. I suspect a watt is a watt and it'll be fine at reasonable listening and impedence levels in the <80hz range.


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## crucial24 (Jul 27, 2010)

good post bro had the 2k5d and was really impressed with that amp didnt have the turn on pop like u did that is weird.


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## Twisted-Woodroof (Sep 13, 2008)

Do you still have the Stetsom?


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## Twisted-Woodroof (Sep 13, 2008)

Well this is the one I modded in 2008, kicker hyperflex wire, resistor clipped out on one of the boards, has two holes in the side plate of the amplifier. And has AD under the speaker terminals that I did with a soldering iron, I got bored one day. If anyone knows where it is i would like to buy it back.


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## Twisted-Woodroof (Sep 13, 2008)




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## stetsomman (Jun 16, 2011)

Twisted-Woodroof said:


> Well this is the one I modded in 2008, kicker hyperflex wire, resistor clipped out on one of the boards, has two holes in the side plate of the amplifier. And has AD under the speaker terminals that I did with a soldering iron, I got bored one day. If anyone knows where it is i would like to buy it back.


hahaha im 99%sure ive got this amp sitting in my display cabinet in my living room and had a decal specialist completely redo the cover it looks amazing,ill fire some pictures


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## Hispls (Mar 12, 2008)

LOL. Funny I was just discussing this amp the other day on another board...sort of regretting selling it and thinking I'd buy another at the price I got this one for.

This went out on eBay shortly after the thread here. I used it for a couple weeks then flipped it on eBay. Picked it up at a smoking price for audition and re-sale. I know it stayed in USA when I shipped it, but could have changed hands a few times.

Were there more than one modded like this?


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## 808Munkyeee (Jun 6, 2011)

Twisted-Woodroof said:


> Well this is the one I modded in 2008, kicker hyperflex wire, resistor clipped out on one of the boards, has two holes in the side plate of the amplifier. And has AD under the speaker terminals that I did with a soldering iron, I got bored one day. If anyone knows where it is i would like to buy it back.


what diff did that make in the amp?


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## gsuchyta (Jul 28, 2009)

Hispls said:


> LOL. Funny I was just discussing this amp the other day on another board...sort of regretting selling it and thinking I'd buy another at the price I got this one for.
> 
> This went out on eBay shortly after the thread here. I used it for a couple weeks then flipped it on eBay. Picked it up at a smoking price for audition and re-sale. I know it stayed in USA when I shipped it, but could have changed hands a few times.
> 
> Were there more than one modded like this?


Yes my friend had one exactly like this one and he sold it on caco I believe almost a year ago. And I'm almost positive the one he got was one of Alan Dantes as well at least that's what the guy who sold it to him claimed


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## Twisted-Woodroof (Sep 13, 2008)

808Munkyeee said:


> what diff did that make in the amp?


Allowed this 16V amplifier to play @ 12V.


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## Twisted-Woodroof (Sep 13, 2008)

gsuchyta said:


> Yes my friend had one exactly like this one and he sold it on caco I believe almost a year ago. And I'm almost positive the one he got was one of Alan Dantes as well at least that's what the guy who sold it to him claimed


He bought it from Force on Caco, I sold it to force.


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## Twisted-Woodroof (Sep 13, 2008)

Hispls said:


> LOL. Funny I was just discussing this amp the other day on another board...sort of regretting selling it and thinking I'd buy another at the price I got this one for.
> 
> This went out on eBay shortly after the thread here. I used it for a couple weeks then flipped it on eBay. Picked it up at a smoking price for audition and re-sale. I know it stayed in USA when I shipped it, but could have changed hands a few times.
> 
> Were there more than one modded like this?


That is the only one i modded.


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## stetsomman (Jun 16, 2011)

i bought mine about a year ago off a guy in Pennslyvania,it was shipped to Lewiston New York and then i brought it home to Canada.Im Running 2 Ground Zero 4000watt subs with it after i literally blew 2 Crystal Competition x2 out of the trunk of my car"i think the box they were in was too small although it was built to spec"


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## Twisted-Woodroof (Sep 13, 2008)

stetsomman said:


> i bought mine about a year ago off a guy in Pennslyvania,it was shipped to Lewiston New York and then i brought it home to Canada.Im Running 2 Ground Zero 4000watt subs with it after i literally blew 2 Crystal Competition x2 out of the trunk of my car"i think the box they were in was too small although it was built to spec"


2 Crystal Competition x2?


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## stetsomman (Jun 16, 2011)

crystal compsx2 1600watts rms 3200 watts peak,dual 4ohm-wired them so i was running 1 ohm, made in the States" Crystal mobile sounds"


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## boom_squid_2 (Jan 29, 2008)

Hispls said:


> LOL. Funny I was just discussing this amp the other day on another board...sort of regretting selling it and thinking I'd buy another at the price I got this one for.
> 
> This went out on eBay shortly after the thread here. I used it for a couple weeks then flipped it on eBay. Picked it up at a smoking price for audition and re-sale. I know it stayed in USA when I shipped it, but could have changed hands a few times.
> 
> *Were there more than one modded like this?*



I think there were less than 100 of these modded in this way (Id like to say 25 was the number I was told by cant remember 100%)


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## 808Munkyeee (Jun 6, 2011)

How much power does it out out with the 12v?


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## stetsomman (Jun 16, 2011)

owners manual says 7200 watts @ 2ohms but the modified version can run all day at .5


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## 808Munkyeee (Jun 6, 2011)

wat???


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## xMplar (Feb 18, 2009)

probably not the right place for this post but sionce you guys are talking of modding amps has anyone ever modded a memphis MOJO 4kw so that it was ablke to go to 0.5 ohm safley with out dieing or blowing up and any ideas on how to keep it cooler 
Ren
xMplar


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## 808Munkyeee (Jun 6, 2011)

fans


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## Twisted-Woodroof (Sep 13, 2008)

808Munkyeee said:


> How much power does it out out with the 12v?


close to 6500 @ 1, at 16V it would do over 10k.


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## big bass joel (Sep 4, 2011)

Yeh i regret selling my stetsom 7kds 2 years ago,but i think the stetsom 14k2ds are overrated!I should know i own 2 of them!


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## SACRAMANIAC916 (Apr 9, 2011)

what subs are you using/planning to use with this amp?


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## stetsomman (Jun 16, 2011)

hey big bass joel im glad i bought the other 7K and didnt go with the 14K remember you sent me that email when you were selling your 7K finally i made a right choice god knows i made enough bad choices over the years LOL!


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## The real Subzero (Apr 13, 2010)

OK. so is this 7Kd a decent buy for $700


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## Hispls (Mar 12, 2008)

The real Subzero said:


> OK. so is this 7Kd a decent buy for $700


Absolutely. I quite miss both the Stetsom amps I've used. If you want big power in a small package they're really hard to beat.


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## The real Subzero (Apr 13, 2010)

Hispls said:


> Absolutely. I quite miss both the Stetsom amps I've used. If you want big power in a small package they're really hard to beat.


THanks man. my buddy is gonna order it toady, hope we get it by friday for testing saturday.


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## Hispls (Mar 12, 2008)

The real Subzero said:


> THanks man. my buddy is gonna order it toady, hope we get it by friday for testing saturday.


Make sure you have a stout electrical system if you plan to get max power and keep that amp alive.


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## The real Subzero (Apr 13, 2010)

Hispls said:


> Make sure you have a stout electrical system if you plan to get max power and keep that amp alive.


300 amp alt, 2 yellows 2 kenetik 2000s and one kenetik 2400. is that enough


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## Hispls (Mar 12, 2008)

I would feel pretty comfortable with that.


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