Soundstream Technologies 501 User Manual
RUBICON
501/
Power Amplifier
Owner’s Manual
and
Installation Guide
1
Congratulations!
You now own the Soundstream RUBICON amplifier, the product of an uncompromising design and engineering philosophy. Your Soundstream
RUBICON amplifier will outperform any other amplifier in the world.
T o maximize the performance of your system, we recommend that you thoroughly acquaint yourself with its capabilities and features. Please retain this
manual and your sales receipt for future reference.
Soundstream amplifiers are the result of American innovation and the highest quality control standards. When properly installed, they will provide you
with many years of listening pleasure. Should your amplifier ever need service or replacement due to theft, please record the following information which
will help protect your investment.
Model and Serial #
Dealer’s Name
Date of Purchase
Installation Shop
Installation Date
CAUTION!
Prolonged listening at high levels may result in hearing loss.
Even though your new Soundstream Rubicon amplifier sounds
better than anything you’ve ever heard, exercise caution to
prevent hearing damage.
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Table of Contents
Design Features.............................................................p 4 - 5
Rubicon Amplifier Diagram.............................................p 6 - 7
Crossover and Phase Adjustments................................p 8
Hawkins Bass Control™ Theory and Use......................p 9 - 10
Installation: Wiring, Diagram, and BIO Port....................p 1 1 - 12
Installation: Mounting .....................................................p 13
Installation: Level Setting and Front Spoiler ....................p 14
Protection Circuitry and Troubleshooting: ......................p 15
Service and Specifications .............................................p 16
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DESIGN FEATURES
¨ ¨
SLA/SH™ (Speaker Load Adapting / Subwoofer Hyper-Efficient) This
¨ ¨
new dual function technology currently operates in two different ways in
different models. In subwoofer applications the power supply tracks the
incoming audio signal and increases or decreases its own voltage level
to mirror the input. This design results in enormous low impedance, low
frequency stability and maximum efficiency, since no power is wasted
maintaining an unnecessarily high voltage level in the power supply.
¨¨
¨ BIO™ Port (Bridging In and Out) Enables two identical mono amplifers
¨¨
channels to be fused together into a single subwoofer load with double
the output power.
¨¨
¨ STACT™ (STabilized Apex Current Topology) Reduces power supply
¨¨
stress by 50%. Typical designs degrade the stereo image due to phase
reversal of even-order harmonic distortion that occurs between the inverted channels. In the STACT design, inversion is done at the power
amplifier drive stage. Since the fully symmetrical power amplifier produces no even-harmonic distortion itself and all preamplifier circuitry is
run completely in-phase, no even harmonic distortion phase reversal
occurs.
¨¨
¨ Trident™ Protection Topology provides three types of protection:
¨¨
1. Output protection against short circuits or improper loads.
2. Ground fault detection: Shuts down the amplifier when a significant
voltage (> 5Volts) fluctuation occurs between electrical (turn-on lead)
and battery ground.
3. Thermal Protection: Puts the amplifier into thermal rollback or shuts
the amplifier down in extreme thermal conditions.
¨¨
¨ Hawkins Bass Control - Fully adjustable subwoofer equalizaton circuit
¨¨
providing frequency and boost (“Q”) adjustment for optimum subwoofer
performance. A frequency tracking subsonic filter protects woofers from
potentially harmfull low frequency information and maximizes output in
a usable range.
¨¨
¨ Harmonic Bass Alignment™ The 2nd and 3rd order harmonic peaks
¨¨
are critically aligned to fundamental peaks at low frequencies. This
produces tighter, more accurate bass reproduction.
¨¨
¨ Drive Delay II™ Amplifier section powers up 2 to 3 seconds after the
¨¨
power supply eliminating turn-on and off pops. The turn off process is
reversed: Amplifier section turns off first, followed by the power supply.
4
¨¨
¨ Output Clipping Indicator indicates clipping on the output stage of
¨¨
the amplifier. Monitoring the clipping indicators allows the user to achieve
maximum Sound Pressure Level without clipping the amplifier.
¨¨
¨ Dynamically Optimized Power Grid™ Power grid is evenly distrib-
¨¨
uted between primary and secondary power supplies, providing greater
dynamics and improved RF filtering.
¨¨
¨ Chassisink™ All transistors are ideally located and sandwiched be-
¨¨
tween the circuit board and the heatsink to provide cool efficient amplifier operation.
¨¨
¨ Differentially Balanced RCA Input eliminates ground loop related
¨¨
noise in the audio.
¨¨
¨ Continuously Variable Crossover Network: 24 dB/Octave lowpass
¨¨
crossover variable from 40 to 160 Hz.
¨¨
¨ Flexible Input Level Control allows 200 mV to 5 V input sensitivity.
¨¨
¨¨
¨ Symmetrical Discrete Balanced Class A Drive Boards auto-adjust
¨¨
for linear performance while driving low impedance loads.
¨¨
¨ Removable Front Spoiler allows for stealth installation of RCA, Bal-
¨¨
anced Line, Speaker and Power wiring.
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