Z-SP SERIES Owner’s Manual 1 Before operating the unit, please read this manual throughly and retain it for future reference.
Table of Contents A new standard in Sound Quality ................................................................................................................... 4 The birth of the Z-SP Series ....................................................................................................................... 4 Before you start your installation .....................................................................................................................
A new standard in Sound Quality Congratulations, on the purchase of your new Zapco Z-Series SP amplifier. We believe you now have the finest sound available in a car sound amplifier, and we think you should know a little bit about what makes this amp unique in a world of so many so-so products. To reach our goals we first developed a new forced air cooling system in a chassis with internal heat sink fins and fans to blow the heat off the chassis.
A quick rundown of the SP amp's unique features: • Cooling fans with thermal speed control • Insulator with 70% less thermal resistance of MICA for faster heat transfer • Proprietary RCA connectors with extra heavy plating soldered directly on the PCB (Zapco design) with 6 ground lugs on each, for an absolutely secure mount • Balanced and differential inputs with one tenth the normal resistance • New Op-amp with lower noise than even the current LX amps • Bass Boost that is out of the circuit when set to 0
Planning your power connections Some words about Power and Ground The power end plates of the Zapco SP amplifiers carry the power connections and the speaker connections and vary somewhat by the number of channels. For example, the power end of the Z-150.6 SP below has (of course) speaker connections for six channels. One model, the Z-150.2 SP has on-board fuses, while all other models will require and in-line fuse with a rating as in the specifications page at the end of this manual.
Mounting your Z-SP amplifier Mounting your Zapco amplifier is easy. Just keep in mind a few guidelines: • The amplifier can be mounted in any direction, on wood, metal, or carpet • The metal chassis of the amp can be grounded or left isolated • The amplifier requires adequate ventilation. Creating power creates heat, and cooling requires air.
Z-150.4 SP Input Ends Z-150.6 SP Input Ends The Z-150.4 SP is the 4Ch amp and has the same basic controls and features as the 2Ch amps but adapted for 4-channel use.
Speaker Wiring of the SP Amplifiers The Very Basics • No speaker wires can be shorted to, or touching either ground or each other. This will put the amp into protect and may damage the amplifier • When bridging the left and right channels of any SP amplifier, you use the left channel (Ch1) positive and the right channel (Ch2) negative, as indicated on the chassis by the speaker terminals Z-150.2 SP / Z-400.2 SP Speaker Wiring Stereo Mode • Commonly a pair of full range speakers with x10 swt.
4Ch 2-Way Mode Z-150.4 SP Speaker Wiring Standard 4Ch Mode The Z-150.4 SP four channel amplifier is virtually two 2Ch amps in one chassis and each set of four speaker terminal can be used exactly as you would use a 2Ch amp. The advantage of a four channel amp is primarily the saving of space (and a little money). Using a four channel also reduces the installation work, over installing two 2Ch amps. This is especially so with some of the unique features of the Z-Series SP amps.
2-Way w/Bridged Mono Sub BRIDGED 4 OHM MIN A similar setup uses a pair of full-range speakers with a mono subwoofer. • Front filter is set to HPF, the Multiplier is off (out), HP frequency is set just above the bottom of the full-range speaker's frequency range, where you will also set the woofer crossover • If the head unit has a sub out set the Input Mode to 4Ch. If it does not then you can choose to have a fader in 4Ch mode, or set it to 2Ch mode and use only the front inputs.
A One-Amp, Active 3-way System High Power 2-way System The Z-150.6 SP is a superbly versatile piece of gear. With the crossover features of this amp you can run a completely active 3-way system. You can run it as Tweeter, midrange, bass. You can also ruin it as tweeter, band-passed mid-range, and band passed mid-bass and then use a separate subwoofer amp. Below is an active 3-way system using a mono bass driver.
Technical Specifications Model Type Power (W) Channel/RMS THD S/N Frequency Response Z-150.2 SP 2-Ch, Class AB 2 x 165 (4Ω) 2 x 275 (2Ω) 550 (Br, 4Ω) < 0.1% > 104dB 10Hz - 30KHz Z-400.2 SP 2-Ch, Class AB 2 x 400 (4Ω) 2 x 700 (2Ω) 1400 (Br, 4Ω) < 0.1% > 104dB 10Hz - 30KHz Z-150.4 SP 4-Ch, Class AB 4 x 165 (4Ω) 4 x 275 (2Ω) 2 x 550 (Br, 4Ω) < 0.1% > 104dB 10Hz - 30KHz Z-150.6 SP 6-Ch, Class AB 6 x 165 (4Ω) 6 x 275 (2Ω) 3 x 550 (Br, 4Ω) < 0.
Modesto, California USA Since 1974 1 zapco.
