Installation guide
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BATTERY VOLTAGE:
Cadence ZRS Smart Series ampliers are rated and regulated to 13.8 volts and below.
Increasing voltage to 14.4 volts will increase the power output of the amplier in the
same proportion. Maximum input voltage is 16 volts while the minimum voltage is 12
volts.
*** DO NOT EXCEED 16 INPUT VOLTAGE. ***
PROTECTION CIRCUITRY:
Cadence ampliers incorporate many outstanding protection circuits to help protect the
amplier from being damaged during operating conditions.
Thermal Protection: When the amplier reaches an unsafe operating temperature of 80
degrees Celsius the amplier will turn off. Once the amplier cools down, simply reset
the amplier by its Remote connection, (turn the amplier off and then on again once
you have given the amplier a chance to cool down) and the amp will once again begin
to play.
If you live in a hot climate we suggest installing additional cooling fans in your trunk to
exhaust the hot air which can build up in the trunk this will help keep the ambient temperature
in the trunk as low as possible so that your amps work awlessly and without any
musical interruption.
Speaker Short Circuit Protection: Should your speakers short circuit due to voice coil burn
out, or should the amplier sense an impedance too low to handle the LCD display will indicate
a diagnostic condition. Turn off your system, disconnect one speaker at a time and try to
determine which speaker might be faulty. Correct the condition and restart the amplier. You
must reset the amplier by turning it OFF and then ON again by the Remote power connection
after correcting a diagnostic condition. (Turn your radio off and then on again.)
Clipping or total shutdown may also be a result of a bad ground connection or loose
ground. If you nd that your speakers and speaker wires are not shorted, please check
your ground connection.
Input Overload Protection: This circuit will either shutdown the amplier completely
or make the amplier spurt on and off indicating that it is in a diagnostic condition.
Turn the system off and reduce the gain on the amplier or volume from your head
unit, this should result in a corrected condition.
DC Offset Protection: Should any DC voltage try to enter the amplier via the
speaker terminals it will cause the amplier to shut down and not operate until this
condition is remedied. This circuit will also protect damaging high DC voltages from
reaching your speakers should your amplier ever malfunction.
INSTALLATION BASICS:
Before you begin with your installation, disconnect the NEGATIVE (-) terminal from
your car’s battery. This safety precaution will avoid possible short circuits while wiring
your amplier. Cadence ampliers operate on 12-volt negative ground systems only.
It is recommend that you layout your sound system design on paper rst. This will help
you during the installation so that you will have a wiring ow chart and not miss-wire any
of your components.
Mount the amplier in the trunk or hatch area of your vehicle. Never install an amplier
in the engine compartment or on the rewall. Please be sure to leave breathing room
around the amplier heat sink so that it can dissipate the heat it produces efciently.
The amplier can be installed either horizontally or vertically.
When mounting the amplier on the trunk oor, be sure to watch for your gas tank,
gas lines and electrical lines. Do not drill or mount any screws where they might
penetrate the gas tank of your car.
REMOTE TURN ON CONNECTION:
The remote turn on connection is located on the barrier strip next to the power and
ground connections. This connection is responsible for turning the amplier on
and off with the rest of the system. A smaller gauge wire can be used to make this
connection to your radio’s power antenna lead. Should your system not have any
turn on leads, you can wire the remote terminal to an accessory lead, which turns on,
with your cars ignition.
your sound source to the inputs of the amplier. We suggest the use of high quality
shielded RCA patch cords to help reduce and eliminate unwanted electrical noise to
your system.
Be sure to run the RCA cables on the opposite side of the vehicle that you used to
carry the power and ground leads of the amplier.
USING THE BUILT-IN LOW PASS ELECTRONIC CROSSOVER
All the ZRS Smart Series ampliers feature 12dB per octave fully adjustable low-pass
and high pass electronic crossovers.
For Low Pass sub woofer systems, set the CROSSOVER MODE switch to
LOW PASS. For 2 channel amps the knob marked LPF will control the low pass
frequencies depending on the model anywhere from 45Hz to 250Hz. The D250.2,
D350.2, and D100.4 feature a frequency multiplier button (10X) allowing you to reach
frequencies ranging from 150Hz to 4.5KHz. A frequent error made is setting the low
pass frequency too low, especially when using vented sub woofer enclosures. We
recommend that for most installations you do not set the frequency knob lower than
80 - 100Hz (the 12 o’clock position).
When using D250.2, D350.2, and D100.4 ampliers for component speakers or co-
axials, you will want to set the CROSSOVER MODE switch to HIGH PASS. The HPF
control knob adjusts the high pass frequencies between 10Hz and 300Hz. These
ampliers also feature a frequency multiplier feature (15x) allowing you to reach
frequencies ranging from 150Hz to 4.5Khz. Do not attach tweeters directly to the
amplier, (even in the high pass mode) without a secondary passive crossover to
protect them. 300Hz high pass is not a frequency high enough for tweeters.
SUBSONIC FILTERING
For sub woofer installations with a passive LP crossover, you can set the amplier’s
CROSSOVER MODE selector to HIGH PASS while setting the HPF knob to 30Hz, this
will act as SUBSONIC FILTER for all signals below 30Hz. This is especially useful for
vented enclosures where the port tuning frequency falls below the sub woofer tuning
frequency to protect against sub woofer unloading.
POWER/GROUND WIRING:
The ZRS Smart Series ampliers are supplied with built-in fuses, never replace the fuse
that the amp came with, with one of a larger value.
We suggest you construct a Red wiring harness with 2 additional fuses. One fuse should
be located near the car battery. This fuse near the battery offers protection against
damage from short circuits to the car chassis between the battery and the amplier. A
second fuse closer to the amplier offers additional safety to the amplier itself. This
fused red power wire should be attached to the amplier power terminal marked 12V+.
The wire harness should be made of red primary cable of at least 8 gauge for the D250.2
and at least 4 gauge for all other larger models. The harness should terminate in a large
ring terminal for connection directly to the positive terminal of the car battery. Use a
spade plug to attach the wire, which connects to the amplier location marked 12V+.
A second black color wire of equal gauge should be used as a ground connection to a
welded chassis member. When connecting the ground wire make sure that there is no
paint or other insulator blocking a good ground connection. When installing multiple
ampliers, mount them in close proximity so that they can all share the same ground
point. Attach the black ground wire to the amplier screw terminal marked Ground.
We recommend that you use the Cadence AMPKIT4 or AMPKIT8 amplier installation
kits, which contains all the cabling and accessories necessary for a good, reliable
installation.
Over the years we have received ampliers back to our service department with melted
power/ground terminals. The cause of this is a bad ground connection. When there is
a lack of good ground, heat builds up at the weakest point which happens to be the
contact screw of the amplier terminal. Over time the heat generated will begin to melt
the terminal. It is a good practice to feel the power and ground wires with your hands,
near their amplier connection after having played the amp for a while. If the wires feel
hot to the touch you probably have a bad or loose connection. If you are sure of your
connections and the wires still feel hot to the touch, you should upgrade the gauge of
wire to next heaviest gauge.
SETTING THE CONTROLS:
AUDIO PREAMP INPUT
The ZRS Smart Series ampliers feature RCA pre amp inputs. Run RCA cables from
INSTALLATION
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