Driving Rant - Introduction

As I eluded to in my prior post, Pittsburgh - There and Back Again, I am going to start a series of rants. Most of the topics are about driving in one fashion or another, however, some of them began at driving and just happened to run from there. At this time, there appears there are going to be eight subsequent posts to this thread, although that is subject to change. I am already looking at two more round trips to Pittsburgh in the foreseeable future. There is a weekend trip planned on the last weekend of the next two months. Who knows where this topic can go with an additional 45+ hours pending in driving time.

So, you may be asking yourself, where did all of these driving topics originate from? Well there are a couple of simple decisions that result in quite a unique situation. The first of the decisions was to drop the roof in my convertible for the drive home. I like to have my roof down as much as possible. Thus, this wouldn't seem to be an unusual situation. Well, you are absolutely correct, however, what follows the roof being down is that the volume required for the music to be heard comfortably over the rush of wind is higher putting more strain on the amp. Additionally, I was driving during the day. Daylight driving is considerably hotter than nighttime driving. One last point is that this trip I transported my golf clubs. Therefore, they were chilling in my trunk in very close proximity of the 4-channel amp.

This amp is known for cutting out, so when it decided to shut down, it was no real surprise. However, the entire drive to Pittsburgh was done without the amp shutting down. But you need to keep in mind that the conditions were completely opposite. Roof was up, volume was lower, and ambient outside temperature was lower. Yes, the golf clubs were there also, but I'm not sure how much of an impact that they have on the whole equation.

Ok, so now you are thinking, why did the amp shutdown just because the temperature was higher during the day. Well, AB class amplifiers are much less efficient than say a class D amp used for driving sub class speakers. AB amps have to be much more sensitive to frequencies and volume changes in a much wider spectrum than a class D amp. So, since they are less efficient, they generate more heat. The more heat generated, the more potential damage that heat can do over time. Therefore, the manufacturer of the amp put in a temperature sensor to protect the amp from destroying itself or worse if it were to get too hot. Therefore, to protect my equipment and my car even, I am glad that it shuts itself down. However, when it does it, it is quite an annoyance.

I have also noticed when the amp shuts itself down, it has a tendency to only perform for as long as it has been shutdown once the cycle begins. Therefore, my intentions were to leave it down for about an hour. Well, after a while of having it down and spending a bit of time in my head, I decided to just leave it down and see where I end up while in my head.

One of the very first things that I notice is that with the radio off I was able to stay focused on a thought longer. Driving doesn't require a huge mental commitment and thus this trip gave me plenty of time to poke around inside the matrix of my mind. The question I am still asking myself is, "How scary is spending an extended period of time in my head without distraction?" I guess it is a question that really doesn't warrant an answer.

As posts are made as a part of this series, I will update this thread as an index.

Driving Rant Posts:

• Post #1: Introduction
• Post #2: Driving Amnesia
• Post #3: The Drivers Utopia

So, one thing that I would like to stress is that although these posts are going to be more of a personal rant, I would like them to be a catalyst to conversation. Please, feel free to comment if you have an opinion on the topic. Yes, these means even if you agree with me.

So, stay tuned, there is more to come.