Zapco ST-series D User Manual
Owner's manual
ST-series D
Great Sound - Big Power - Compact Chassis
Before operating the unit, please read this manual throughly
and retain it for future reference.
Protect your Investment
Note your information below for reference:
Model # Serial #
Date Purchased
And: Register your Zapco product now
At: www.zapco.com
Mission Statement
Committed to Excellence
Zapco is dedicated to the pursuit of audio fidelity. Our prime objectives are to design
and manufacture audio products of unsurpassed quality, to provide unparalleled support and
service for these products, and to conduct business in a manner that will enhance the quality of
life for all involved.
Experience: Knowledge from Doing
There is absolutely no substitute for experience; that is a simple fact of life. Another
simple fact is that Zapco has, for over forty years, been the leader in defining quality standards for
the car audio industry. These years of experience have led to a thorough understanding of the
challenges that are unique to the world of car audio. Zapco's relentless quest for sonic purity
consistently yields imaginative designs that utilize the most innovative technologies. The resulting
products set the criteria by which all others in the industry are judged.
The ST-Series D Full range Class D Amplifiers
Zapco introduced the industry to great sounding Class D amplifiers some 10 years ago
with the famous C2K-9.0XD. In those days, the filtering and control systems needed to make Zapco
sound quality in a Class D amplifier meant it had to be expensive and it had to be big.
Today's technology, however, has allowed us to develop a line of great sounding full
range Class D amps at an affordable price range and in a size that's an easy fit in today's smaller
cars. Small car doesn't have to mean small sound, and you won't have to give up the back seat for
an amplifier. And even motorcycles. In fact, at only 6.3" x 6.7", the ST2D is the ideal amplifier for a
motorcycle. Small size, big power. And talk about POWER! This tiny little monster is going to
give you 400watts RMS. With that kind of power on your bike, you're going to need louder pipes,
and, since these little power houses are Zapco amps, you know they're going to sound great.
Just like with the Z-Series and the ZX-Series, we kept the ST-D series simple. The feature
set is kept to the essentials. They all have 18dB crossovers, speaker level inputs, and optional
remote level controls, but, they don't have chrome or fancy paint jobs, and they don't look like
hot rod engines or computers. They look like car audio amplifiers. We put our efforts (and your
money) into great sound and reliable power.
Even though they're Class D they have less than 0.05% THD+noise and 90dB signal to
noise ratio. After all, loud is no good unless it sounds great as well. And these new amplifiers
sound awesome. Audition one today and you'll know what we mean.
And, though the 2ch, 4ch, and 5ch powerhouses have way more punch than you'd expect
from such a diminutive chassis, we know you're going to want dedicated bass amps as well. And the
ST-D series has 'em! You can choose 500 watts at 1 ohm or 1,000 watts at 1 ohm, and even the 1,000
watt amp is less than 10" long.
Power and Wire Gauge
The wire you use for the power and ground connections of your amplifier is
absolutely critical. The plain simple fact is that it takes power to deliver power. If
you do not provide the proper amount of 12V power to your amplifier, you will
never reach the full power potential of the amp. Take a look at the chart below.
If you want to have any respectable amount of power for your amp, you need a
4-gauge wire to the trunk as a bare minimum. If you are running any Zapco Z-series
amp in you trunk you need at least a 2 gauge wire. If you want enough
power to drive woofers, you’re certainly going to need at least a 2-gauge wire to
the rear and zero gauge is better.
Recommended Wire Gauge
Up to
20 A
35 A
50 A
60 A
85 A
105 A
125 A
150 A
You can certainly save money by buying cheap small gauge wire, but
remember...It will cost you in power and may even damage your car by passing
too much current and causing shorts or even fires. Protect your investment in
Zapco amplifiers by using high quality, proper gauge wire.
And remember... Current in the amplifier runs in a complete circuit from the
battery to the amp and back to the battery through the chassis and frame. The
ground wire us just as important as the power input wire. Positive and Negative
connections must always use the same gauge wire.
Installation Guidelines
Mounting your ST-Series Amplifier is easy. Keep in mind the following
guidelines:
The amplifier may be mounted in any direction, on wood, metal or carpet.
The metal case of the amplifier may be grounded or left isolated.
The amplifier requires adequate ventilation. Position the amplifier with
sufficient surrounding area for proper cooling. Keep fan and vent
endplates clear for proper internal cooling.
Keep the amplifier out of the engine compartment and other locations that
may cause excessive heat or moisture.
Make sure your ground point is at the frame or a chassis point with direct
frame contact. Note: the "quiet metal" on many new cars make body
panels very bad ground points, so always try to use the frame.
Do not mount the amplifier to a subwoofer enclosure or any other place
that may have excessive vibration!
4 Ft
14
12
10
8
4
4
4
2
7 Ft
12
10
8
8
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4
4
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10 Ft
12
8
8
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4
4
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13 Ft
10
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2
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16 Ft
10
4
4
4
2
2
2
0
19 Ft
8
4
4
4
2
2
0
0
22 Ft
8
4
4
4
2
2
0
0
28 Ft
8
4
4
2
0
0
0
0
Gain Setting
Matching Your Components for Best Sound
Proper gain setting is one of the most important factors in setting up a stereo
system. Unfortunately, gain setting is quite often done wrong. Turning up the
gain of an amp is the very last thing you should ever do to a system.
An amplifier is a step up transformer. Period. Any signal you put in is boosted by a
fixed factor, whether it's music, hiss, or any other noise. A large number of
noise problems are simply a matter of improper gain settings. The goal of gain
setting is to achieve the maximum amount of musical output from the amplifier
while getting the least amount of hiss or noise from the system. Your ST-Series
amplifier accepts an extremely wide range of input levels. As little as .5 volts
on the RCAs to as much as 8 volts. The basic gain setting is very simple and
requires no special tools. Whether you have a simple system with a deck and an
amp, or a system with a deck, line driver, equalizer, crossover, and amp, the
procedure is always the same. First, hook up the system with all gain controls at
minimum (turn the gain pot fully counter-clockwise with a small screwdriver).
Then turn on the head unit and turn up the volume. If you achieve clean sound,
and, more volume than you want, you don’t need to make any adjustments.
However, if you turn up the volume and begin to hear distorted sound before it
becomes loud, you are clipping (distorting) the deck (probably a little over ¾
volume). Turn the deck down just enough to hear clean sound again, and then
move to the next component in your system. With the deck playing at “maximum
clean volume” adjust the gain of the next component to its “maximum clean
volume”. If you adjust your gains this way, always starting at the head unit and
working down the line to the amplifier, you will get the most performance out of
your amplifier(s) with the least amount of unwanted distortion and noise.
Presenting
The Zapco Studio-D Series Amplifiers
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FEATURES
ST-2D
High efficiency Class D amplifier
(efficiency : 80% @ 4 ohm, at 1kHz)
2/1 channel bridgeable car amplifier
Ultra low power consumption
Ultra compact heatsink
Stable into 4 ohms bridged or 2 ohms stereo load
PWM MOSFET power supply
Input sensitivity (gain) control variable
18dB octave crossover slope
Variable,selectable FULL / LP/ HP crossover
12 dB bass boost equalization control variable
Signal input and output RCA connectors
High level input connectors
Multi-way protection circuitry
(thermal / over current / speaker short / speaker DC protection)
Tested voltage & THD: 14.4V & less than 0.05% THD
Operating voltage : DC10V~15.5V power input
ST-4D
High efficiency Class D amplifier
(efficiency : 80% @ 4 ohm, at 1kHz)
4/3/2 channel bridgeable car amplifier
Ultra low power consumption
Ultra compact heatsink
Stable into 4 ohms bridged or 2 ohms stereo load
PWM MOSFET power supply
Input sensitivity (gain) control variable
18dB octave crossover slope
Variable, selectable FULL/ LP / HP crossover
2 dB bass boost equalization control variable
Signal input RCA connectors
High level input connectors
Multi-way protection circuitry
(thermal / over current / speaker short / speaker DC protection)
Tested voltage & THD: 14.4V & less than 0.05% THD
Operating voltage : DC10V~15.5V power input
-3 -
FEATURES
ST-5D
High efficiency Class D amplifier
(efficiency : 80% @ 4 ohm, at 1kHz)
3 channel bridgeable car amplifier
5/
Ultra low power consumption
Ultra compact heatsink
MOS-FET PWM power supply
4 ohm bridged or/and 2 ohm stereo load
18dB octave crossover slope
Variable low pass filter
Variable high pass filter
Variable subsonic filter
Signal input RCA connectors
High level input connectors
Multi-way protection circuitry
(thermal / over current / speaker short / speaker DC protection)
Tested voltage & THD: 14.4V & less than 0.05% THD
Operating voltage : DC10V~15.5V power input
ST-500DM
High efficiency Class D amplifier
(efficiency : 80% @ 4 ohm, at 1kHz)
Ultra low power consumption
Ultra compact heatsink
MOS-FET PWM power supply
High level input connectors
Multi-way protection circuitry
(thermal / over current / speaker short / speaker DC protection)
Tested voltage & THD: 14.4V & less than 0.1% THD
Operating voltage : DC10V~15.5V power input
Wired remote controller
ST-1KDM
High efficiency Class D amplifier
(efficiency : 80% @ 4 ohm, at 1kHz)
Ultra low power consumption
Ultra small sized heatsink
MOS-FET PWM power supply
High level input connectors
Multi-way protection circuitry
(thermal / over current / speaker short / speaker DC protection)
Tested voltage & THD: 14.4V & less than 0.1% THD
Operating voltage : DC10V~15.5V power input
Wired remote controller
-4 -
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