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Features
Controls
Connections
Features
Five-Channel Full-Range Amplifier: The JL Audio HD900/5 is a
Class D five-channel, full-range amplifier that is rated at 75 to 100 Watts RMS x 4-channel
(front/rear) and 500 Watts x 1-channel (subwoofer) in 1.5-4-ohm at 20 to 20kHz
with a signal-to-noise-ratio of 108 dB and a total
harmonic distortion of 0.03% while receiving 11 to14.5 Volts. The front and rear
channels of the amplifier can
also be bridged to output 150-200 Watts RMS x 2-channel in 3 to 8-ohms.
High-Fidelity Class D (HD) With Single-Cycle Control: The JL Audio HD900/5 utilizes patented Single Cycle Control Class D technology
for all channels. This technology delivers reference-grade sonic performance
while requiring far less current from the vehicle's electrical systems than a
conventional amplifier. Single Cycle Control is a unique approach to
controlling a full-range Class D amplifier. By tracking the audio signal,
comparing it to the real PWM waveform and then correcting it in each and every
cycle (over 400,000 times per second), a multitude of distortion-causing
mechanisms can be tightly controlled to enable pristine amplification.
While there are certainly less expensive ways to make a full-range switching
amplifier, no other Class D control system works faster or more accurately than
Single Cycle Control.
Compact/Efficient Design: The JL Audio Class D amplifier on average is
13% smaller overall and over 1/2-inch shorter in height than most class AB
amplifiers. The HD900/5 features outstanding overall efficiency (80% at 1/2
rated power) which allows for huge power from a tiny chassis and is easy on your
vehicle's charging system, drawing 60% less current than a class AB design of
equal power.
R.I.P.S. (Regulated, Intelligent Power Supply): R.I.P.S. stands for
"Regulated, Intelligent Power Supply" and is a central feature of the JL Audio's
JL Audio HD amplifier. The JL Audio R.I.P.S. System ensures consistent power
delivery over a wide range of battery voltages and load impedances. This
technology provides optimum power at any impedance level between 1.5 ohm to 4
ohm per channel and at any vehicle voltage level between 11V and 14.5V.
- Regulated Power Supply: "Regulated" means that the power supply
adjusts its operation so as to maintain the amplifier's rated power output
and low distortion operation over a wide range of vehicle voltages (11V-14.5
V). This allows the JL Audio JL Audio HD amplifier's the rail voltage and clean
power output to remain stable in real-world car-audio systems, resulting in
superior fidelity and stability.
- Intelligent Power Supply: The "Intelligent" portion of the
R.I.P.S. System is a circuit that actually monitors output current to
optimize the amplifier's output power over a wide range of load impedances
(1.5 ohm to 4 ohm per channel). The R.I.P.S. System detects the actual
impedance being driven and adjusts output rail voltages to deliver optimum
output. The entire process is seamless, automatic, and results in incredible
dynamics for satellite channels and consistent power output for a wide range
of subwoofer configurations. It also takes into account the real impedance
of your car-audio system, rather than relying on often inaccurate
assumptions based on a speaker's rated impedance.
RealSink Heat Management With Rollback Protection:
This JL Audio amplifier employ and advanced type of heat management, called RealSink. This features takes advantage of
convection and radiation effects to remove heat from the amplifier circuitry.
For optimum cool performance, the vertical heat sinks located at the sides of
the amplifier should be exposed to as large a volume of air as possible. If a JL Audio HD amplifier should ever reach an unsafe temperature, its unique Advanced Rollback Protection circuit also adjusts power until the amplifier
cools down, without ever shutting your music down.
Differential-Balanced Inputs: The JL Audio amplifier features
differential-balanced input architecture to effectively control noise and ensure
compatibility with a wide variety of source units, including many OEM
systems. Without resorting to line output converters, you can directly connect
most OEM source units to the JL Audio amplifier without creating any noise or
compatibility issues. Unlike conventional single-ended inputs, the
differential-balanced design does not connect one side of the audio signal to
chassis ground. This eliminates any voltage sensitivity between one input
terminal and ground and greatly reduces the incidence of alternator whine in a
typical car audio installation. The JL Audio HD amplifier provides range switching
on each of its inputs via the "Input Voltage" switch. This permits connection to
a wide range of source voltages while retaining excellent sensitivity setting
precision.
Note: You will need three speaker wire to RCA adaptors (136XDCLR2S,
sold separately) to connect this amplifier to your headunit via
speaker-level.
Protection Circuitry With Status Indicator Lights: There is
a single multi-color LED on the control panel of the amplifier to indicate the amplifier's operating status.
- Flashing Green: When
the LED is flashing green, the amplifier is powering up and audio output is
muted.
- Constant Green: This LED lights green to indicate that the
amplifier is turned on and operating normally.
- Constant Red: This Red LED lights to indicate that the amplifier
has exceeded its safe operating temperature, putting the amplifier into a
shelf-protection mode, which reduces the power output of the amplifier. The
red light will shut off and the amplifier will return to normal, full-power
operating mode if the heat sink temperature drops back to a safe level.
- Constant Yellow: This amber LED lights to indicate that the
impedance of the speaker load connected to the amplifier is lower than the
optimum impedance load range for the amplifier. When this light is on, a
protection circuit engages and reduces the power output of the amplifier.
The amber indicator will also light when a short-circuit is detected in the
speaker wiring.
- Alternating Red/Green: The LED alternated between Red and Green to
indicate that the amplifier is experiencing a fault that may require service
of the amplifier, its wiring, or the vehicle's operating system. Audio is
muted when this fault occurs.
Note: There is only one condition that will shut down the
HD900/5 completely and that is if the battery voltage of your vehicle
drops below 10 volts.
Mounting Options: The HD900/5 has two mounting option to choose from
during installation.
- Standard Mounting: The standard method of mounting
requires removal of the four corner caps with the included hex-wrench. Using the appropriate mounting screws (not included), you can
then secure the amplifier in all four corners and replace the corner caps.
- Lateral Mounting Feet: Lateral Mounting Feet are also included
with the HD900/5 to provide an alternative mounting option. Each mounting
foot should be attached to the bottom of the amplifier by screwing the
provided bolts into the bottom of the amplifier and up into the corner cap
with the supplied hex-wrench. Then, using the appropriate
mounting screws (not included), you can secure the amplifier by its four
lateral mounting feet.
Controls
Control Panel Cover: The
HD900/5 features a Control Panel Security Cover which protects and hides the
amplifier's controls. When installed, the cover ensures that the amplifier's
settings are not accidentally changed while creating a clean aesthetic look for
the amplifier and your installation. The control panel security cover is
pre-installed at the factory and must be temporarily removed for access the
amplifier's controls. The security cover is secured by a single hex-head
screw.
Simplified Gain Setting: The amplifier's R.I.P.S. feature also allows
for easy gain setup. Because the amplifier will always deliver the same amount
of power within its operational range of impedances and supply voltages, the
maximum, unclipped output is very predictable. This makes setting the gain level
of the amplifier via the input sensitivity control very simple. All you need is
Digital AC Voltmeter (142TK12V, sold separately) and a Test CD Disc (503CD104,
sold separately) with a sine-wave test-tone recorded at 0 dB reference level in
the frequency range to be amplified for that set of channels (50 Hz for
subwoofer channels, 1 kHz for a midrange application).
Flexible Input Section And Active Crossover Network: The JL Audio HD amplifier provides a
flexible input section and a comprehensive
crossover network to fine tune your system effectively and accurately. The
variable filter design employed in the JL Audio HD amplifier crossover sections
allow you to seamlessly switch slopes, easily change filter frequencies and
address what frequencies the preamp outputs will pass. The HD900/5 offers the
following independent crossover adjustments for the front, rear, and subwoofer channels
along the unit's front panel, behind a removal cover plate.
- Input Mode: This
switch allows operation of all five amplifier channels with only one pair of
input signals (2ch); with independent front and rear input signal pairs
(4ch); or with discrete front, rear, and subwoofer signal pairs (6ch).
- Input Voltage: This
switch allows you to choose between using a low-level input signal
(200mV-8V) or high-level input signal (200mv-2V).
- High-Pass or Low-Pass Filter:
The HD900/5 has three individually
adjustable filter controls for the Front, Rear, and Subwoofer channels. The
Front and Rear filters are high-pass filters (attenuate low frequencies),
while the Subwoofer channel filter is a low-pass filter (attenuates high
frequencies). For each filter, you can select from a shallow (12dB/oct)
filter slope or a more aggressive (24dB/oct) slope.
- Filter Frequency: This
control selects the frequency at which each high-pass or low-pass filter
begins to attenuate the signal and refers specifically the frequency at
which output has been attenuated by -3dB. You can select from 50-500Hz.
- Infrasonic Filter (subwoofer only):
The Infrasonic Filter is a 24-dB/oct
high-pass filter, with a fixed cutoff frequency of 30Hz. This filter is
designed to conserve amplifier power and protect subwoofer systems, without
audibly degrading the subwoofer's bass output.
Connections
Power/Ground/Turn-On Plug: The amplifier features a Power/Ground/Turn-On plug which detaches from the
amplifier to make connecting your power, ground, and remote turn-on lead wires
more convenient. Once your connections are made the Power/Ground/Turn-On
connector simply plugs into the amplifier.
- Power and Ground: The JL Audio amplifier's set-screw Power and Ground connections
found on the detachable Power/Ground/Turn-on plug are designed to accept 4 AWG power wire.
A hex-wrench is supplied for making connections.
- Remote Turn-On: The JL Audio HD amplifier's set-screw
turn-on lead found on the Power/Ground/Turn-on plug will accept 18 to 12 AWG wire. A hex-wrench is supplied for making
connection.
Note: The Amplifier is not equipped with a fuse. An
external 60-amp AFS, AGU, or MAXI fuse (not included) must be installed on
the power wire. If a wiring kit is used which includes a fuse with a value
other than 60-amps, the original should be replaced with a 60-amp fuse
Speaker Output Plugs: The
amplifier features three Speaker Output plugs (Front/Rear/Sub) which detach from the amplifier for
easier speaker wire connection. Once your speaker wires are connected to these
plugs, they simply push into the amplifier. The front and rear speaker output plugs feature
four set-screw terminals, while the subwoofer speaker output plug features two
set-screw terminals. The HD900/5 amplifier's ten set-screw speaker
terminals found on the Speaker Output plugs will accept 16 to 12 AWG speaker wire. A hex-wrench is supplied for making
connections.
Preamp Inputs: The amplifier features three sets of differential-balanced
RCA jack inputs (Front/Rear/Sub). The amplifier features a
dedicated Input Sensitivity gain control for the front, rear, and subwoofer channels of the
amplifier. These controls are designed to match the input sensitivity of the
HD900/5 to the specific signal source that is feeding it. The amplifier's input level can be set independently for the front and rear channels to Low (200mV-2V RMS) when connecting the amplifier to a low-level preamp signal or set to High
(800mV-8V RMS) when connecting the amplifier to a high-level speaker signal.
Remote Level Control: The amplifier features a standard telephone
connector for adding an optional wired remote level control. With the addition
of the optional wired Remote Level Control (136HDRLC,
sold separately), you can control the volume
of one or both channel pairs of the HD900/5 form the front of your vehicle. This
is useful for subwoofer level control or even as a master volume control for
your system. If desired, multiple HD amplifiers can be controlled from a single
HD-RLC controller using a simple phone line splitter and multiple phone cables
(all sold separately).
Note: All inputs and outputs are located on the
rear
side of the amplifier to make installation of the amplifier simple and neat.
