Taramps TS 400x4

[Julian 641]

So I recently purchased a TS 400x4 from DJ Stage Gear. Shipping was fairly quick even though it came all the way from Florida to California.

 

My first impressions, extremely tiny, lightweight, relatively cheap, and seemingly well built. I like the look of the machined aluminum with the rubber isolating feet. It stays very cool which is quite nice.

 

The bad:

Starting with gain knobs, from the very lowest setting there is NO sound kind of like a volume knob. So you have little room to gain out any line noise, which in my system apparently there is a lot. There is a very loud staticy sound as if the gains are turned up too high, even with it mostly all the way down. When its turned up slightly from the lowest setting it seems that only one channel of the two works. There is an integrated fuse on the board that is inaccessible to the end user; instead of having one on the chassis as many amps do. The power/ground/remote screws are extremely tiny especially if you're replacing another amp with this one, you either have to change the wire or trim it down to around 10-12 gauge wire.  I absolutely despise the speaker wire attachment style plug. The connector would not accept 12 gauge wire, so I ended up having to splice a smaller 14 gauge speaker wire just to make it work. Although it's nice being able to completely disconnect all the speaker wire in one big block. There are no crossovers on the amp, just a LP, HP, and full switch. Which depending on your application could be a good thing or bad thing. 

 

End thoughts:

For the price, its not a bad amp. I needed it to replace a failed amp, it does the job. But would I recommend this amp to someone else? Maybe, if it fits the bill and you're able to over look a few things then it'll work. It would be excellent for tight spaces, motorcycles, or as factory amp replacement. I would give it a 7/10 but not the best 4 channel amp I've owned but not terrible.

 

 Here is two pictures.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Julian

[jonbearsmt 919]

 thank you

[Heisenberg 6]

we need more of these reviews. great write up man

[Julian 641]

Thanks guys,

I was very interested in the 8k but From this first hands on experience.. I'm not too confident now.

[Heisenberg 6]

Korean amps have that wow factor that these brazilian amps don't.

 

for what its worth.

[Julian 641]

Korean amps have that wow factor that these brazilian amps don't.

 

for what its worth.

For me power is power. As long it does that within reason  I don't care.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

Thanks for posting the review.  I would like to try one of their amps for business reasons.

[shizzzon 461]

I personally do not care for fixed xover points but I guess they want you to use their many processors if you want greater configurations.

I have messed with some of their other amps and their on board knobs are different than other brands. While you do not need tools to set knobs, they do not feel at stout, but that could be because you do not have a tool in your hand either.

The HD line is a full range line. Using it for bass is possible but the xover ranges about 5000hz

So it must be set carefully if critical xover point is needed. Of course if you have an external xover or on board processing on head unit then it's as easy as anything else out there.

[Julian 641]

I personally do not care for fixed xover points but I guess they want you to use their many processors if you want greater configurations.

I have messed with some of their other amps and their on board knobs are different than other brands. While you do not need tools to set knobs, they do not feel at stout, but that could be because you do not have a tool in your hand either.

The HD line is a full range line. Using it for bass is possible but the xover ranges about 5000hz

So it must be set carefully if critical xover point is needed. Of course if you have an external xover or on board processing on head unit then it's as easy as anything else out there.

once I have some time I will make a video of what it does. My 60 dollar alpine has better pots on it than the Taramps.

[mccleery3 166]

A bit discouraging hearing about the noise issues.

[Julian 641]

Its pretty bad,

Quick video detailing a few things. However it doesn't pickup the line noise because my camera sucks

 

[Sencheezy 689]

[Julian 641]

Waiting for shizz to reply

[shizzzon 461]

Waiting for shizz to reply

 

I shouldnt be up right now.. but i'll see this later.. but what do you want me to say?

 

In general regards to troubleshooting, isolate your noise issues first.

 

If it's narrowed down to the amp, let me know and i will forward results to technical department for consultation.

 

I will say that the low gain setting in your video is no excuse for "potentially" cutting corners "possibly" in engineering but at the same time, hardly any gain is not common used setting in install.  Again, it's still no excuse but not common setting.

In regards to that statement, i'm curious on results on higher gain setting.  If results are not satisfactory, i would consider forwarding results, on your behalf, to tech department for review to determine cause and engineering perspective.

 

If you are not satisfied, i am not satisfied. 

[jcarter1885 995]

Meh....

[Julian 641]

Waiting for shizz to reply

 

I shouldnt be up right now.. but i'll see this later.. but what do you want me to say?

 

In general regards to troubleshooting, isolate your noise issues first.

 

If it's narrowed down to the amp, let me know and i will forward results to technical department for consultation.

 

I will say that the low gain setting in your video is no excuse for "potentially" cutting corners "possibly" in engineering but at the same time, hardly any gain is not common used setting in install.  Again, it's still no excuse but not common setting.

In regards to that statement, i'm curious on results on higher gain setting.  If results are not satisfactory, i would consider forwarding results, on your behalf, to tech department for review to determine cause and engineering perspective.

 

If you are not satisfied, i am not satisfied. 

And yes particularly in my car it is very noisy electrically wise. So extra low gains are preferred to lower the noise ceiling, But regardless of the of the gain position I still get noise, I still get hissing as if the gains are too high.  

 

Meh....

?

[Julian 641]

 

Waiting for shizz to reply

 

I shouldnt be up right now.. but i'll see this later.. but what do you want me to say?

 

In general regards to troubleshooting, isolate your noise issues first.

 

If it's narrowed down to the amp, let me know and i will forward results to technical department for consultation.

 

I will say that the low gain setting in your video is no excuse for "potentially" cutting corners "possibly" in engineering but at the same time, hardly any gain is not common used setting in install.  Again, it's still no excuse but not common setting.

In regards to that statement, i'm curious on results on higher gain setting.  If results are not satisfactory, i would consider forwarding results, on your behalf, to tech department for review to determine cause and engineering perspective.

 

If you are not satisfied, i am not satisfied. 

 

curious to see if you forwarded this to the tech department. 

[shizzzon 461]

After speaking with technician, they suggest the following-

 

They believe that one of the channels is being driven by more input voltage than the other channel.

 

They want you to troubleshoot eliminating all noise and guaranteeing properly balanced preout voltage before concluding there is something wrong with the output section of the amplifier.  

They currently do not believe it requires service until the noise issue is completely removed first.

[Julian 641]

After speaking with technician, they suggest the following-

They believe that one of the channels is being driven by more input voltage than the other channel.

They want you to troubleshoot eliminating all noise and guaranteeing properly balanced preout voltage before concluding there is something wrong with the output section of the amplifier.

They currently do not believe it requires service until the noise issue is completely removed first.

All the channels are being driven by the same head unit so not sure where the difference would be. The noise issue will never be removed. Every single head unit and amplifiers have given a certain degree of noise, but the key factor was being able to gain the noise out. Exactly what the gain is for. That doesn't account for the constant hissing sound regardless of gain position.

[shizzzon 461]

i would advise removing the amp out of your car completely and putting it on a power supply and test it there.

 

Or just take a single 12v battery that is not connected to anything and hook the amp up to it.

Run rcas to it from something NOT installed in the car at all and see if you still get noise.

[Julian 641]

i would advise removing the amp out of your car completely and putting it on a power supply and test it there.

Or just take a single 12v battery that is not connected to anything and hook the amp up to it.

Run rcas to it from something NOT installed in the car at all and see if you still get noise.

After about 3 months of owning it one of the channels has just about stopped working. Only a very very faint sound is played through the speaker. Pretty fucking annoyed by this point.

[ManzKea 152]

What kind of car?

[jcarter1885 995]

What kind of car?

You open an old thread just to ask what car? Whats the relevance of the car?

Ford Mustang if it makes a difference.