I intend to purchase either the DEI 1100d5 or Viper 1100.5 but was
curious if there are actually any real differences between the two
other than cosmetics since their specs look identical. Because of the
discontinuation clearance I can get either model new for $450 so price
isn't a factor, just quality.

I've heard Viper is/was supposed to be the flagship line, do slightly
higher quality parts go into the amps than Directed Audio versions?
That doesn't seem the case since unlike PPI, Orion, or a/d/s/, Viper
seems to be a totally in-house DEI brand and I'd guess the same
engineers work on both.

I figured this is the best place to ask my questions because I found
lots of very informative old posts from DEI's John Durbin and would
love to hear from him if possible. And if you're reading this, could
you tell me if you're coming out with a 2004 amp equivalent to the
models in question that will have features worth waiting for?

Thanks
Aaron

And if you're reading this, could
you tell me if you're coming out with a 2004 amp equivalent to the
models in question that will have features worth waiting for?

http://www.mainstreet-audio.com/dire...plifiers.shtml

The Viper series was indeed redundant, and there will only be a Directed line
in 2004

You can see the new models at the link above

..
www.MAINSTREET-AUDIO.com
~ ~ ~ Where SERVICE never goes out of style ~ ~ ~

V I S I T O U R F O R U M
http://63.74.14.174/forum/phpBB2/index.php

The Viper has a few functions that are variable rather than fixed on/off
- phase, bass EQ, and the subsonic filter come to mind. Other than that,
they have the same power supplies & output stage, so the only
differences are in the connectors and heat sink look.

The 2004 equivalent is the 1200/5 in the Directed Audio line... has been
shipping since December.

JD

CatalystX wrote:

I intend to purchase either the DEI 1100d5 or Viper 1100.5 but was
curious if there are actually any real differences between the two
other than cosmetics since their specs look identical. Because of the
discontinuation clearance I can get either model new for $450 so price
isn't a factor, just quality.

I've heard Viper is/was supposed to be the flagship line, do slightly
higher quality parts go into the amps than Directed Audio versions?
That doesn't seem the case since unlike PPI, Orion, or a/d/s/, Viper
seems to be a totally in-house DEI brand and I'd guess the same
engineers work on both.

I figured this is the best place to ask my questions because I found
lots of very informative old posts from DEI's John Durbin and would
love to hear from him if possible. And if you're reading this, could
you tell me if you're coming out with a 2004 amp equivalent to the
models in question that will have features worth waiting for?

Thanks
Aaron

Thank you for the reply, I went with the Viper model because of its
variable controls. BTW, I can't find any photos of the new Directed
line, are they online at all?

Aaron

In article , John Durbin
wrote:

The Viper has a few functions that are variable rather than fixed on/off
- phase, bass EQ, and the subsonic filter come to mind. Other than that,
they have the same power supplies & output stage, so the only
differences are in the connectors and heat sink look.

The 2004 equivalent is the 1200/5 in the Directed Audio line... has been
shipping since December.

JD

CatalystX wrote:

I intend to purchase either the DEI 1100d5 or Viper 1100.5 but was
curious if there are actually any real differences between the two
other than cosmetics since their specs look identical. Because of the
discontinuation clearance I can get either model new for $450 so price
isn't a factor, just quality.

I've heard Viper is/was supposed to be the flagship line, do slightly
higher quality parts go into the amps than Directed Audio versions?
That doesn't seem the case since unlike PPI, Orion, or a/d/s/, Viper
seems to be a totally in-house DEI brand and I'd guess the same
engineers work on both.

I figured this is the best place to ask my questions because I found
lots of very informative old posts from DEI's John Durbin and would
love to hear from him if possible. And if you're reading this, could
you tell me if you're coming out with a 2004 amp equivalent to the
models in question that will have features worth waiting for?

Thanks
Aaron

Working on that, or so they tell me... maybe in the next 2-3 days.

FWIW, the changes are not huge, we kept the basic mechanical design but
used a much nicer automotive-type silver paint on the top panels, plus
they have new model #'s etc. The class D abnd hybrid models pick up the
power ratings from last year's Viper models. We also added high-level
inputs to the 200/2 and the 250/4, which are the smallest 2- and
4-channel models, went from variable to fixed crossover design, and
dropped the price on these models drastically.

Other changes include a new 75W x 2 model (same feature set as the
200/2, above) called the 300/2, and the 1200t which is a 1,000 watt
class T model (full-range class D driven by a Tripath chip) that has
programmable features you can set via our handheld Bitwriter programming
tool. That one won't be out until later this quarter, but all the other
new models are shipping.

JD

CatalystX wrote:

Thank you for the reply, I went with the Viper model because of its
variable controls. BTW, I can't find any photos of the new Directed
line, are they online at all?

Aaron

In article , John Durbin
wrote:



The Viper has a few functions that are variable rather than fixed on/off
- phase, bass EQ, and the subsonic filter come to mind. Other than that,
they have the same power supplies & output stage, so the only
differences are in the connectors and heat sink look.

The 2004 equivalent is the 1200/5 in the Directed Audio line... has been
shipping since December.

JD

CatalystX wrote:



I intend to purchase either the DEI 1100d5 or Viper 1100.5 but was
curious if there are actually any real differences between the two
other than cosmetics since their specs look identical. Because of the
discontinuation clearance I can get either model new for $450 so price
isn't a factor, just quality.

I've heard Viper is/was supposed to be the flagship line, do slightly
higher quality parts go into the amps than Directed Audio versions?
That doesn't seem the case since unlike PPI, Orion, or a/d/s/, Viper
seems to be a totally in-house DEI brand and I'd guess the same
engineers work on both.

I figured this is the best place to ask my questions because I found
lots of very informative old posts from DEI's John Durbin and would
love to hear from him if possible. And if you're reading this, could
you tell me if you're coming out with a 2004 amp equivalent to the
models in question that will have features worth waiting for?

Thanks
Aaron

The Viper has a few functions that are variable rather than fixed on/off
- phase, bass EQ, and the subsonic filter come to mind. Other than that,
they have the same power supplies & output stage, so the only
differences are in the connectors and heat sink look.

Any plans for any of the Directed-owned companies to market 4 or 6 channel
amplifiers with internal bandpass crossovers like what some of the a/d/s/
amps had?

Other changes include a new 75W x 2 model (same feature set as the
200/2, above) called the 300/2, and the 1200t which is a 1,000 watt
class T model (full-range class D driven by a Tripath chip) that has
programmable features you can set via our handheld Bitwriter programming
tool. That one won't be out until later this quarter, but all the other
new models are shipping.

What kind of programmable features?

Both the 2001-2003 PCX and the new DCX amps have 4 channel models that
support that. You can slo do it with combinations of 2 or 4 channel
amps, since the line out can be configured for HP or LP as needed on any
of these models.

No current plans for 6 channel in any other brands at the moment - the
industry sales trend for multi-channel amps is just brutal over the past
2-3 years. We do have a 6 channel Directed Audio piece, was called the
6550 last year and returns for 2004 as the 700/6. It's an asymmetrical
class AB design with two power supplies, one driving a 75x2 output stage
and the other a 50x4 section. But it can't be bandpassed unless you add
a 2-way crossover ahead of one of the sets of inputs. I may be able to
get the extra crossover required for that added in the next product
generation possibly.

JD

Mark Zarella wrote:

The Viper has a few functions that are variable rather than fixed on/off
- phase, bass EQ, and the subsonic filter come to mind. Other than that,
they have the same power supplies & output stage, so the only
differences are in the connectors and heat sink look.



Any plans for any of the Directed-owned companies to market 4 or 6 channel
amplifiers with internal bandpass crossovers like what some of the a/d/s/
amps had?

Turn-on delay time, by .25 sec intervals as I recall

External fan control options (there's a jack on the end panel and you
can pick from ON/OFF/AUTO - on being on with remote in, off is fan never
runs, auto means fan is thermally controlled via the amp)

Programmable input sensitivity - allows you to pick a narrow range of
voltage for the input gain, after that turning the gain pot will only
allow adjustment within that voltage range

Anti-theft - the unit has an ESP I/O port on the end panel, and can be
plugged into our ESP2 security systems. Those units transmit arm &
disarm signals on the ESP bus, along with a unique unit ID and other
messages including valet on/off, and extra output channel #'s. If you
arm your alarm, the amp sees the arm command and will not power up again
until it sees a disarm message from the same alarm CPU. There are two
different levels of security to choose from, one that can be reset with
a Bitwriter and the second that requires a learned PIN to reset although
I am not 100% sure both will be available in the first-gen code.

Valet mode - just what it sounds like, put your alarm in valet and the
amp won't power up until it sees the alarm come back out of valet mode.

Built-in diagnostics - no more trying to re-create amplifier shutdown
events so you can fix the problem - this amp will tell you via LED
flashes what the last few shutdown events were triggered by (thermal vs.
low voltage or short circuit etc.). Menu for this is still being
tweaked, but essentially it should do for amp troubleshooting what our
built-in alarm diagnostics feature did for the security/remote start
business several years ago.

There's some other odds and ends of stuff that the unit is capable of,
including the ability to transmit to an external device information on
operating conditions like supply voltage, output levels, temperature
etc. but some of this won't be deployed initially.

This amp was developed jointly by Directed and one of the legends of the
amplifier industry, it's actually pretty damn cool.

JD
it sounds great too, FWIW

Mark Zarella wrote:

Other changes include a new 75W x 2 model (same feature set as the
200/2, above) called the 300/2, and the 1200t which is a 1,000 watt
class T model (full-range class D driven by a Tripath chip) that has
programmable features you can set via our handheld Bitwriter programming
tool. That one won't be out until later this quarter, but all the other
new models are shipping.



What kind of programmable features?

Turn-on delay time, by .25 sec intervals as I recall

External fan control options (there's a jack on the end panel and you
can pick from ON/OFF/AUTO - on being on with remote in, off is fan never
runs, auto means fan is thermally controlled via the amp)

Programmable input sensitivity - allows you to pick a narrow range of
voltage for the input gain, after that turning the gain pot will only
allow adjustment within that voltage range

Anti-theft - the unit has an ESP I/O port on the end panel, and can be
plugged into our ESP2 security systems. Those units transmit arm &
disarm signals on the ESP bus, along with a unique unit ID and other
messages including valet on/off, and extra output channel #'s. If you
arm your alarm, the amp sees the arm command and will not power up again
until it sees a disarm message from the same alarm CPU. There are two
different levels of security to choose from, one that can be reset with
a Bitwriter and the second that requires a learned PIN to reset although
I am not 100% sure both will be available in the first-gen code.

Valet mode - just what it sounds like, put your alarm in valet and the
amp won't power up until it sees the alarm come back out of valet mode.

Built-in diagnostics - no more trying to re-create amplifier shutdown
events so you can fix the problem - this amp will tell you via LED
flashes what the last few shutdown events were triggered by (thermal vs.
low voltage or short circuit etc.). Menu for this is still being
tweaked, but essentially it should do for amp troubleshooting what our
built-in alarm diagnostics feature did for the security/remote start
business several years ago.

There's some other odds and ends of stuff that the unit is capable of,
including the ability to transmit to an external device information on
operating conditions like supply voltage, output levels, temperature
etc. but some of this won't be deployed initially.

This amp was developed jointly by Directed and one of the legends of the
amplifier industry, it's actually pretty damn cool.

Boy oh boy. Will it perform tune ups and diagnostic checks on my car as well?


Sounds pretty cool.

Nick