I've sold my JBL power series amp and am going to buy a bigger one for my Solo-Baric. Right now I am torn between the AudioBahn Class D 1200 Watt amp or the Precision Power 800 watt class A/B amp. I know the benefits of the class D design over the class A/B design in subwoofer applications. I've also heard nothing but good reviews from Precision Power, but not much about Audiobahn amplifiers. My question is this. Is AudioBahn that much worse of a name brand than Precision Power that I should sacrifice the extra 400 watts and go with an excellent name brand? They are around the same price too. About $525 plus shipping. I know tough decision huh.

 

Well I would go with the Percision Power and yes they are that much better reason being. First they really underrated by 100-150 watts given the amp you have, the have better internal filters so you get cleaner amplified sound, and the Persion Power has huge built in caps which means the amp actually stores power so when it hits it actually draws from it's own power supply before the battery so the amplified signal is more precise. The audiobaughn is not a bad amp but if you really want to build a kickas$ system then go with the Precision it's rated a great amp for the reasons I gave you and you will be very happy with it.

 

I thought Precision Power was going bankrupt. maybe it was a rumor. If not i would go with them or get a Kicker or Massive class D (my own personal preffrences).

 

I've been told that a class D is only more efficient than a class A/B though when it's played at low volumes. That and the distortion is crazy on it. I know, I know it's only a sub but I would like to hear "clean" bass. Well the sub is only rated at 1000 Watts RMS but I figure Audiobahn rating theirs at 1200 is only in ideal situations. Besides that it's rated that at a 1 Ohm mono load but on most/all speakers Ohm's of resistance fluctuate according to the volume their played at and the frequency (Hz) at which their played. Whereas the PP amp is rated at 400 Watts X 2 into a 2 Ohm load on each channel. Since my sub is a DVC 2 Ohm per VC sub I figure I can just split my RCA's out before the amp on the PP so I still get a mono-esque signal and I can get 800+ watts of clean power.

Whew! Sorry about the long post but there is so much useless info running around in my head about car stereos and home theater and stuff that sometimes it's hard to see the obvious through it all. Tunez, or Dan might be able to help me with some of this a little bit also. It seems that they know their sh*t when it comes to car audio.

 

Hey Tunez he left me out of the loop??? sad.gif oh well I guess I'm useless sad.gif lol.

 

I'm sorry Jaws99. It's just that you already replied. I was curious to hear what they thought as well. I'm gonna give you some stars to make up for leaving you off "the list".

 

One note about Class D amps.

They're more efficient at any volume. Class D amplifiers use high speed switching to send their signal to the speaker, using the mechanical and elecritcal properties to "average" out the signal that you really want. This is far more efficient at any volume, ESPECIALLY high volumes.

Most class D amplifiers are perfectly clean in the subwoofer ranges, and some are even acceptable at full range applications. (There is switching noise and quantization errors at very high frequencies, still. Switching speed isn't quite fast enough, yet.

Because of their high efficiencies, class D amplifiers make excellent subwoofer amplifiers.

 

So you're saying AudioBahn/Class D? Or is just going to be up to personal preference?

 

I haven't had any experience with Audiobahn, but from the standpoint of efficiency to your electrical system, the class D will draw a lot less power to put out the same (or more) power to the subwoofer. That's basically just the nature of class D amps. I'd want to have a very critical listen to each amp, to the same subs, before I made a decision, though.

PPI I KNOW makes an excellent quality amp, and I'd probably go that way for me personally. I also know that the PPI amp is going to last -- And I really don't need/want the extra 400W for my musical tastes. The 800W fromt he PPI would give me LOTS of headroom, for the applications that I'd use. If you're a basshead, then the extra 400W might make a difference. (About 2 dB. )

 

I AM a basshead, but I try and be a "well grounded" one. (Pun intended) I think you are right Dan. From a reliability and SQ P.O.V. there is really no debating the choice. I will go with PP. Even though the extra 400 Watts is tempting and I really do think that Audiobahn makes some quality stuff. I've heard nothing but the best reviews of PP equipment. You just re-affirmed what I was already thinking. Thanks for the help man! smile.gif