ZAPCO STXDSPIII High End Carhifi Buy Amplifier Instructions

: June 23, 2024
: ZAPCO

Table of Contents

General Instructions
CH Class, Power, Heat
All Wire is not created equal
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

ZAPCO STXDSPIII High End Carhifi Buy Amplifier Instructions

General Instructions

The installation of the product must be done by professional technicians. Always contact a ZAPCO Authorized Dealer.

Before you start your installation

ZAPCO highly recommends that a fuse or circuit breaker be placed within 18″ of the battery. The protection device should be placed where it can be accessed easily and all wiring should be routed safely and correctly according to the following guidelines:
Do not run wiring close to hot or spinning objects
Always use wire grommets when routing wire through the firewall or any other metal panels
Make sure that the potential for pinched wiring is avoided by routing all wires away from moving objects, including brake, gas and clutch pedals, etc.

Planning your power connections

The +12V B is the main power input. This must be connected the vehicle battery’s positive (+) terminal
The GND is the main ground or negative connection. This must be securely attached to bare metal at the vehicle frame
The terminal between the main power and ground is the +12 turn-on input (REM) and can be connected to the head unit turn-on output wire. If none is available it can be connected to an accessory (ACC) terminal

Mounting your amplifier
Mounting your Zapco amplifier is easy. Just keep in mind a few guidelines:

The amplifier requires adequate ventilation. Creating power creates heat, and cooling requires air
Keep the amplifier out of the engine compartment or other locations that may cause excessive heat or moisture
Do not mount the amplifier to a subwoofer box or other place that may have excessive vibration

Setting Gains
Gain pots are not volume controls and should be used only if absolutely necessary. Turning up gain controls causes increased noise, makes distortion more likely and reduces the dynamic range of your system.
Continuous exposure to excessive sound pressure levels may cause hearing damage. ZAPCO strongly advises that you use common sense when setting volume levels. Everything written in this manual is for the proper use of the products. Some features or specifications could be modified during production to improve the product performance. The technical specifications and functionalities stated here are current as of the time of publication.

CH Class, Power, Heat

When buying or selling a car audio amplifier you need to consider more than just the power output. The basic design platform of the amplifier (Amplifier Class) will influence how the amp will work in any given situation, for any given user. All amplifiers make small signals bigger and in doing so create heat. Class A produces the most heat and Class D produces the least. If the amplifiers are not properly cooled, they will get too hot and problems will arise. Either the amp will be damaged, or protection circuits will engage to shut the amp off until it has cooled down enough to safely work again. Conversely, better cooling will allow an amp to make more power, longer, without damage or thermal shut down.

Class A/B amplifiers are used when audio fidelity is the primary goal and efficiency is of secondary concern. Class A/B amps have superior sound quality but with lower efficiency, they generate more heat and need more cooling.
Sound Quality and Dynamic Range : Our amps are designed solely for the best possible sound quality, so we do not current limit the amps. This gives Zapco amps more Dynamic Range that other amplifiers. Dynamic range, the ability to go from very quiet to extremely loud without distortion, is a major reason Zapco amps sound better than others. So, with Z-AP amplifiers, consumers have more dynamics plus the sound quality of class A/B amplifiers. If the Zapco Class A/B are used at the maximum dynamic range without distortion, they don’t need so much cooling and never will shut down. But if they are driven into its distortion the amplifier will more easily reach maximum temperature and will shut down.
Critical : Volume does not make a system sound loud. Distortion sounds loud. With clean sound it is easy to drive an amp to full power and not know it because it still sounds clean. But when the power requested of the amplifier takes it into distortion the amplifier will overhead and shut down… and possibly be damaged. Zapco offers both Class A/B and Class D amps. Class A/B for the user who puts sound quality and dynamics first, and Class D for the user who wants big power in a small box
Installation and Cooling: All the amplifiers need cooling, whether they are class A/B or class D. For cooling, the heatsink of the amplifier needs to exchange heat with air around it. So, the amplifier cannot be covered or put in a space where there is not enough air or ventilation. As noted above, in many cases a good installation needs to use external fans to make the ventilation more efficient. Some amplifiers have fans inside, but the problem is not solved if the fans cannot have an exchange of air with the environment.

All Wire is not created equal

Do not use CCA wire with Zapco amplifiers

It is easy to think of wire as just wire but the fact is there are major differences between the types of wires being offered today. The price of copper has gone up quite a bit lately, but you will notice that you can still buy heavy primary wire at very reasonable prices. How can this be? Simple… That lower price wire is not all copper, it is CCA wire. CCA stands for Copper Clad, Aluminum. That means it is aluminum wire with a thin coating of copper around the outside of the wire. Does it look like copper wire? Absolutely. But does it conduct electrical current like copper? Absolutely Not.
Two things can and likely will happen:

Because CCA wire can not conduct DC electrical current like copper wire can, your amp will not get the current it needs to produce its rated power. That means you get less power and more distortion. It also taxes the amplifier that is trying to make its power, shortening the life of the amp
CCA wire corrodes quickly and causes terminals that used to be tight to become loose. This causes arcing when electrons to fly around all the open space lookin for more copper. This causes heat that damages connections and can even eventually melt the terminal blocks on your amplifier

In short: While CCA wire is excellent for high frequency AC current (like tweeter voice coils), it is absolutely bad for high current 12V DC like power and ground for a car audio amplifier. We have seen CCA wire become a major cause of amplifier failures as buyers are offered CCA as a low cost alternative to pure copper wire. So always look at the description of the contents of wire that you purchase. When someone offers to save you some money with CCA wire just say “No, thank you”. Protect your investment with real copper wire.

Wire Size

The second most common cause of under performing amplifiers is insufficient power current or a poor power connection. The most common cause of under performing amplifiers is insufficient ground current or a bad ground connection. 12-volt current: Battery power works only if it travels in a complete circuit from the battery positive terminal to the battery negative terminal. Main power input, of course, is attached to the battery positive terminal. Ground current is returned to the battery through the chassis to the point where the battery is grounded. The current available for your amplifier to use to produce power will be restricted by the smallest gauge of wire in the circuit and by the weakest physical connection in the circuit.
It’s often surprising how many people will obsess about signal wire but routinely provide the amplifier with only a fraction of the current it needs to do its job. The most common wire gauge used in car audio is 10-gauge, and the most common location for amplifiers is in the trunk.

Wire Sizing Chart| | Length`|
---|---|---|---
0-20 amps| 14| 12| 12| 10| 10| 8| 8| 8
20-35 amps| 12| 10| 8| 8| 6| 6| 6| 4
35-50 amps| 10| 8| 8| 6| 6| 4| 4| 4
50-60 amps| 8| 8| 6| 4| 4| 4| 4| 2
65-85 amps| 6| 6| 4| 2| 2| 0| 0| 0
125-150 amps| 2| 2| 2| 2| 0| 0| 0| 0

Let’s look at a fairly small system. If you use a 50 watt/ch amp (25 amps) for the highs and a 100 watt/ch amp (40 amps) for the woofers, you need at least a 4-gauge and maybe a 2-Guage wire to provide 65 amps at the trunk. Use the Wire Sizing Chart. Add up the fuse values on the amplifier(s) then choose the proper size wire based on the distance from the car battery to the amplifier location.Always use the same gauge wire for the main ground as you do for the main power. Always make your ground as short as possible and secure it to a clean solid surface, preferably the vehicle frame

ST-68X DSP III Input/Controls

The ST-68X DSP III is a 4-Channel amplifier with on-board Digital processing. The input functions are described below.

6 Channels of RCA level inputs for the internal amplifier
USB Port for PC control connection
Comm Port for BT modules
USB: The blue LED On indicates that the unit is stably connected to the computer. PRT: The red LED On indicates that the unit internal amplifier is on and it is functioning normally. If the LED is Off, it indicates that the amplifier is off or it can indicate a malfunction. PWR: The green LED indicates that the device is turned on
Analog input level (gain) controls with 2-stage clipping indicators

ST-68X DSP III Output/Speakers

The other side of the ST-68X DSP III with the output functions, Auto turn-on, and the speaker/power connector

8 Channels of processed RCA outputs for external amplifiers
Auto turn-on selector
OEM Connector for speaker In/Out and Power

SPEAKER OUT	HI-LEVEL IN	POWER

ST-4X DSP III Input/Controls/Output/Speakers

The ST-4X DSP is a 4-Channel amplifier with on-board Digital processing. The input functions are described below.

4 Channels (1/2 and 3/4) of RCA level inputs for the internal amplifier
4 Channels (5/6 and 7/8) of processed RCA outputs for external amplifiers
4 Channels High-level OEM input plug
USB Port for PC control connection
Auto turn-on switch to turn the system on by signal sensing
The Toslink connector provides an SPDIF digital input
Comm Port for BT modules
Analog input level (gain) controls with 2-stage clipping indicators
Power (Ground, Rem, +12V Battery) 10• Fuses 11• Speaker terminals

ST-6X DSP III Input/Controls/Output/Speakers

The ST-6X DSP is a 6-Channel amplifier with on-board Digital processing. The input functions are described below.

6 Channels (1/2, 3/4, 5/6) of RCA level inputs for the internal amplifier
2 Channels (7/8) of processed RCA outputs for external amplifiers
6 Channels High-level OEM input plug
USB port for PC control connection
Auto turn-on switch to turn the system on by signal sensing
The Toslink connector provides an SPDIF digital input
Comm Port BT modules
Analog input level (gain) controls with 2-stage clipping indicators
Power (Ground, Rem, +12V Battery) 10• Speaker terminals

Model| Type| Power (W) Channel/RMS| THD| S/N| Frequency Response
---|---|---|---|---|---
ST-68X DSP III| 4-Ch, Class AB| 4 x 25 (4Ω) 4 x 35 (2Ω)| < 0.2%| > 90dB| 15Hz – 30KHz
ST-4X DSP III| 4-Ch, Class AB| 4 x 65 (4Ω) 4 x 90 (2Ω) 2 x 180 (Br, 4Ω)| < 0.2%| > 90dB| 15Hz – 30KHz
ST-6X DSP III| 6-Ch, Class AB| 6 x 100 (4Ω) 6 x 130 (2Ω) 3 x 250 (Br, 4Ω)| < 0.2%| > 90dB| 15Hz – 30KHz

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Road, Guancheng Street, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, CHINA, 523008

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