OWNER’S MANUAL
Models 150/250/400
© 1999 Directed Electronics, Inc
CONGRATULATIONS
Thank you for choosing a Directed Audio
power amplifier. Directed has been the
leader in high-quality and innovative
security products in the U.S. since
1990. Now we introduce to the car
audio industry the same winning
formula - products that meet the stringent standards of today’s mobile electronics enthusiast yet priced for
anyone’s budget. Featuring high-efficiency MOSFET power supplies, flexible
on-board crossovers, and state-of-the-art
audio design, Directed Audio amplifiers
will satisfy every music lover’s needs for
years to come. Your Directed Audio
power amplifier comes with a two year
limited warranty if it is installed by an
authorized DEI dealer. Amplifiers not
installed by an authorized Directed
dealer are covered are covered by a one
year parts-and-labor limited warranty.
Please save your sales receipt and refer
to the warranty section of this manual
for complete details.
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© 1999 Directed Electronics, Inc
TABLE OF CONTENTS
High-powered car audio
systems may produce
sound pressure levels that exceed the
threshold at which hearing loss may
result.
They may also impair a driver’s ability to
hear traffic sounds or emergency vehicles. Use common sense and practice
safe listening habits when listening to or
adjusting your audio system.
WARNING
Installation Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 2
Amplifier Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 4
Amplifier Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 5
Speaker Wiring Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 6
Crossover Setting and Gain Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 7
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 8
Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 9
© 1999 Directed Electronics, Inc
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INSTALLATION GUIDELINES
1. Please read the owner’s manual
carefully before you install the
amplifier.
2. Disconnect the battery ground
terminal prior to making any electrical connections.
3. Check for any hazards or obstruc-
tions such as gas tanks, fuel or
brake lines, and wiring harnesses
before mounting the amplifiers.
4. Pick a mounting location that will
provide adequate access and ventilation and protect the amplifier
from heat, moisture, and dirt.
5. Avoid sharp metal areas when
routing cables to the amplifier, and
run RCA cables away from the
power cables and other potentially
noisy car harnesses.
6. The amplifier should be grounded
with a short, heavy gauge wire
connected directly to the car at a
bare metal surface. Make sure
that the metal area is part of the
car chassis or frame, not a separate
part with poor electrical connection
to the chassis.
7. Always fuse your power connection
at the battery within 8-10 inches of
the battery terminal. Use a fuse or
circuit breaker rated at about 5-10
more amps than the on board
fuse(s) of the amplifier(s). The
gauge of power wire used should
take into account the total current
draw of the system, and the length
of wire used. IASCA and other
autosound competition organizations have charts available for this;
you can also find a chart in the
MECP study guide. Minimum wire
gauge recommendations for the
individual amplifiers are listed on
the specification page. It is a good
idea to use the same gauge wire
for the amplifier ground that you
use for the power wire. Be sure to
examine the battery ground cable
of the vehicle and upgrade it to a
gauge of wire that can accommodate the extra load created by your
amplifier installation. Remember,
the amplifier can only deliver its
rated output when it is not current
limited by the power and ground
supply wires.
8. This amplifier is designed to drive a
speaker load that measures from 28 ohms. Keep in mind that heat is
the long-term enemy of automotive
electronics and that the lower your
speaker load, the more heat
© 1999 Directed Electronics, Inc
INSTALLATION GUIDELINES (continued)
3
is generated. For low impedance
speaker applications or restricted
ventilation installations, an external
cooling fan may be advisable.
9. Your connections to the amplifier’s
speaker and power terminals
should be made with crimped spade
lugs, and the battery and ground
connections to the vehicle should be
made with crimped ring terminals
of the appropriate size (surface
area is what counts); soldering the
terminals after crimping is also
recommended.
10. Due to the high-frequency MOSFET
switching power supply used in all
Directed Audio amplifiers, filtering
the power cable is not generally
required (remember that the amp
can’t deliver full output if the power
supply is restricted). Proper
grounding of the signal source is
mandatory for the amplifier to
reach its performance peak. If the
RCA inputs are not grounded
adequately via the signal source,
electrical noise from the vehicle
may be picked up in the system.
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© 1999 Directed Electronics, Inc
1. GROUND TERMINAL - connect this
terminal to the car chassis with a
short heavy gauge wire, DO NOT
CONNECT TO THE NEGATIVE
TERMINAL OF THE CAR BATTERY or
to factory chassis ground points
already occupied by factory wires! If
you are grounding multiple amplifiers, you may use a high-current
distribution block with proper gauge
cables, or use individual grounds for
each amp attached to the vehicle at
separate but close ground points.
2. REMOTE TERMINAL - connect this
terminal to the amplifier remote
output from your head unit or signal
source, if it provides one. You may
also use the power antenna output
wire from decks that do not have
separate amp remote outputs. This
input requires a switched +12V
signal to activate the amplifier. Do
not connect this terminal to a
constant source of +12V.
3. +12V POWER TERMINAL - connect
this terminal to the positive terminal
of the car or separate audio system
battery. Refer to the installation
guidelines and specs page for proper
gauge of wire. YOU MUST PROTECT
THIS WIRE WITH A FUSE or circuit
breaker located close to the battery.
4. POWER FUSE - protects the ampli-
fier against electrical damage. DO
NOT REPLACE THE FUSE OR FUSES
WITH LARGER AMPERAGE FUSES !
If the fuse(s) blows, check your
system for wiring problems or see
your dealer.
5. SPEAKER OUTPUT TERMINALS
connect the speakers to these terminals. Refer to the speaker wiring
diagrams (pg.6) for different wiring
options.
AMPLIFIER CONNECTIONS
Refer to Figure 1 for details.
FIGURE 1—AMPLIFIER CONNECTIONS
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© 1999 Directed Electronics, Inc
1. RCA INPUT JACKS - accepts line-
level outputs from head units or
signal sources at voltages from
200mV to 8 volts. High-grade
shielded or twisted pair RCA cables
are recommended for this input.
2. GAIN ADJUSTMENT - controls the
gain (input sensitivity) of the
amplifier.
3. CROSSOVER SELECTION SWITCH controls the type of filter for the onboard active crossover. LPF setting
is for low-pass (subwoofer) output
frequencies, HPF is for high-pass
(mid-bass/midrange) outputs.
FLAT is used for full-range or mixed
stereo/mono applications.
4. LED INDICATOR - the green Power
LED lights to indicate normal operation. The green LED will shut off to
indicate amp shutdown due to
short circuit, DC offset, or overcurrent conditions detected by onboard protection circuits. Thermal
protection is also indicated by the
green LED shutting off.
5. CROSSOVER FREQUENCY- controls
the frequency range of the amplifier.
6. BASS EQ - this switch activates an
8 dB bass boost circuit. Use as
necessary for low frequency
enhancement.
AMPLIFIER CONTROLS
Refer to Figure 2 for details.
FIGURE 2—AMPLIFIER CONTROLS
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© 1999 Directed Electronics, Inc
SPEAKER WIRING DIAGRAMS
Stereo operation
Mono operation
Simultaneous stereo/mono operation
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© 1999 Directed Electronics, Inc
CROSSOVER SETTINGS AND GAIN ADJUSTMENT
Your Directed Audio power amplifier needs to be adjusted carefully to achieve
maximum performance. These are some guidelines to follow when fine-tuning the
amplifier.
• For full-range and simultaneous stereo/mono bass applications, the crossover selection
switch should be set to "FLAT". If the amplifier is driving your subwoofers, set the
switch to "LPF", and for mid-bass/midrange output, set to "HPF".
• The crossover frequency control needs to be adjusted to suit your particular system.
For subwoofer applications, try and keep the setting low enough to prevent image
smearing (you should not be able to hear male voices from the subwoofer) but not so
low as to create a gap between the subwoofer and the mid-bass/midrange speakers.
For mid-bass/midrange settings, try to keep the setting low enough to keep your
sound stage in front of you, without overdriving the speaker. It will be to your advantage to spend some extra time with this adjustment, listening to familiar music or
system set-up discs to achieve the kind of musical reproduction that you prefer.
• The gain adjustment allows you to set proper signal match for clean, quiet amplifier
operation. For full-range and simultaneous stereo/mono bass applications, start by
playing some music you are familiar with. With the gain adjustment on the amplifier
in the middle of its rotation, bring up the volume on your head unit to the 3/4 volume
setting or until you start to hear distortion or clipping. If you hear distortion before you
reach the 3/4 volume setting of your head unit, reduce the gain setting on the amplifier and start to raise the head unit volume again. When you can listen to the music
at or slightly above 3/4 on your head unit without audible distortion, slowly raise the
gain of the amplifier until distortion is heard, then back off the gain until the distortion
is not audible. This setting will allow you to reach full output with all but the quietest
of source material, while avoiding excessive noise in the system.
• The same procedure should be used for adjusting the amplifier when the on board
crossover is set to LPF or HPF, but you will also have to take into consideration the
effect that gain adjustment has on system frequency response and imaging. Again,
plan on spending some time with music that you know getting the gain and crossover
settings the way you like. Test discs and analyzers may help with this process, but in
the end it's your ears that count - listen to the music !
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© 1999 Directed Electronics, Inc
SPECIFICATIONS 150/250/400
RMS continuous power per channel, both channels driven into 4 ohms from 20 to 20,000 Hz,
with less than 0.08% Total Harmonic Distortion
@ 14.4 VDC
RMS continuous power per channel, both channels driven into 2 ohms from 20 to 20,000 Hz,
with less than 0.1% Total Harmonic Distortion @
14.4 VDC
RMS continuous power bridged into a 4 ohm
load from 20 to 20,000 Hz, with less than 0.1%
Total Harmonic Distortion @ 14.4 VDC
Dynamic power rating (IHF-202 Standard)
bridged into 4 ohms
50 75 125
watts watts watts
75 125 200
watts watts watts
150 250 400
watts watts watts
200 325 550
watts watts watts
model 150 250 400
Signal-to-Noise Ratio Greater than 95 dB
Frequency Response 20-20,000 Hz ± 0.5 dB
Damping Factor @ 4 ohm Greater than 200
Crossover Switchable high or low pass
12 dB/octave, continuously
variable from 50 to 500 Hz
Bass Equalization +8 dB, centered at 40Hz
Input Impedance 20K ohms
Input Sensitivity Variable from 150 mV to 8 volt
Output Impedance 2 to 8 ohms, stereo
4 to 8 ohms, bridged
Supply Voltage 10 to 16 VDC
Fusing and Power 20A 25A 50A
Cable Requirements (AWG) #12 #10 #8
(Per amp, trunk mounted)
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© 1999 Directed Electronics, Inc
Directed Electronics, Inc. (DEI®) promises to
the original purchaser, to replace this
product should it prove to be defective in
workmanship or material under normal use,
for a period of two years from the date of
purchase by the dealer as indicated by the
date code marking of the product
PROVIDED the product was installed by an
authorized DEI dealer. During this two year
period, there will be no charge for this
replacement PROVIDED the unit is returned
to DEI, shipping pre-paid. If the unit is
installed by anyone other than an authorized DEI dealer, the warranty period will be
1 year from date of purchase by the dealer
as indicated by the date code marking of
the product. During this 1 year period, there
will be no charge for this replacement
PROVIDED the unit is returned to DEI, shipping pre-paid. This warranty is non-transferable and does not apply to any unit that has
been modified or used in a manner contrary
to its intended purpose, and does not cover
damage to the unit caused by installation or
removal of the unit. This warranty is void if
the product has been damaged by accident
or unreasonable use, neglect, improper
service or other causes not arising out of
defects in materials or construction. ALL
WARRANTIES INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO EXPRESS WARRANTY,
IMPLIED WARRANTY, WARRANTY OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR PARTIC-
ULAR PURPOSE, AND WARRANTY OF
NON-INFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY ARE EXPRESSLY EXCLUDED TO
THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWED BY
LAW, AND DEI NEITHER ASSUMES NOR
AUTHORIZES ANY PERSON TO ASSUME
FOR IT ANY LIABILITY IN CONNECTION
WITH THE SALE OF THE PRODUCT. DEI
HAS ABSOLUTELY NO LIABILITY FOR ANY
AND ALL ACTS OF THIRD PARTIES
INCLUDING ITS AUTHORIZED DEALERS
OR INSTALLERS. Unit must be returned to
DEI, postage pre-paid, with: consumer’s
name, telephone number, and address,
authorized dealer’s name and address, and
product description. IN ORDER FOR THIS
WARRANTY TO BE VALID, YOUR UNIT
MUST BE SHIPPED WITH PROOF OF
INSTALLATION BY AN AUTHORIZED DEI
DEALER. ALL UNITS RECEIVED BY DEI FOR
WARRANTY REPAIR WITHOUT PROOF OF
DEI DEALER INSTALLATION WILL BE
COVERED BY THE LIMITED 1 YEAR PARTS
AND LABOR WARRANTY. Note: This
warranty does not cover labor costs for the
removal and reinstallation of the unit. BY
PURCHASING THIS PRODUCT, THE
CONSUMER AGREES AND CONSENTS THAT
ALL DISPUTES BETWEEN THE CONSUMER
AND DEI SHALL BE RESOLVED IN ACCORDANCE WITH CALIFORNIA LAWS IN SANDIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
LIMITED TWO YEAR CONSUMER WARRANTY
• SINGLE AND DUAL VOICE COIL SUBWOOFERS
• COAXIAL SPEAKERS
• COMPONENT SPEAKER SYSTEMS
© 1999 Directed Electronics, Inc • Vista, CA 92083 • All Rights Reserved
G45022 9/99
Always use a
DEI is a proud member of
• CLASS D MONO AMPLIFIERS
• 2 CHANNEL AMPLIFIERS
• 4 AND 5 CHANNEL AMPLIFIERS
• SIGNAL PROCESSORS
• SINGLE AND DUAL VOICE COIL DIE-CAST SUBWOOFERS
• HIGH PERFORMANCE POWER CABLES
• PREMIUM SPEAKER/AUDIO CABLES AND ADAPTERS
• POWER CAPACITORS
• GOLD-PLATED POWER DISTRIBUTION AND FUSING BLOCKS
• GOLD-PLATED POWER AND SPEAKER TERMINALS
• TUBE SUBWOOFERS
• POWERED SUBWOOFERS
• SINGLE AND DUAL VOICE COIL SUBWOOFERS
• COAXIAL SPEAKERS
• SINGLE AND DUAL VOICE COIL DIE-CAST SUBWOOFERS
• COMPONENT NEODYMIUM SPEAKER SYSTEMS
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