Top 10 amplifiers in the car

Designers from Saint-Étienne eat their bread for good reason - flaunting an even kilowatt (permissible single-load) amplifier Performance series manages in class D to demonstrate excellent sound quality - SOI 0.08%. True, the signal-to-noise ratio for it is only 76 dB, which immediately gives the nature of the “filling”.Nevertheless, the Sound Image Awards 2018 award is clearly not deserved for “beautiful eyes”.

The scheme of terminal cascades was originally made pavement, that is, one-coil “sub” can be easily connected to the outputs, hoping to get maximum power, not all single-channel ones can (they have a pair of outputs designed for strictly two-coil speakers or two subwoofers).

The set of settings is classic: cut-off frequencies, sensitivity, bass boost, phase rotation. Connection - only "tulips" line inputs, and outputs are provided for the cascade of amplifiers and subwoofer rear.

What is definitely attributable to the advantages of class D is the size and weight of the amplifier: it is much smaller, lighter and certainly does not turn into a “stove” in the long run at high power compared to the “pure analog” AB single-channel channels. .

This amplifier works in the “fair” AB-class, so you shouldn’t worry about the sound quality: the non-linear distortion coefficient on a dual-volume load is only 0.029%. This result looks excellent against the backdrop of most modern single-channel, which are increasingly collected on the D-class circuits. Payback for sound quality - increased power consumption, efficiency in AB mode does not exceed 50%. And in the load "Kiks" is able to give up to 600 watts, if you use a two-speaker speaker, or 350 watts at 4 ohms. So, it is not worth saving money with the cross-section of the power supply wires, and the capacitor will not be superfluous to smooth out the drawdowns on the peaks.

The set of functions here is traditional for single-channel amplifiers, which are used with subwoofers: adjusting the input sensitivity, phase rotation in the range from 0 to 180 degrees, cut-off frequency of the low pass filter, raising the low frequency. It is possible to connect an external control panel.

In connecting this amplifier is convenient in that it does not require the presence of a subwoofer output from the head unit - it has standard “tulips” of line inputs, summing the signals of both channels inside. Stop, and if I want to connect the amplifier to the rear, and the only pair of “tulips” is already taken? It's simple - there are not only linear inputs, but also linear outputs, so that you can connect another amplifier to the Kicx AR 1.350 in a chain without any tricks.

The GX-A3001 amplifier will be primarily interested in car owners with a station wagon, where a large open trunk volume does not require heavy-duty subwoofers to “penetrate” the sound into the passenger compartment, but the compact body can fit in regular luggage niches. Well, and if he does not fit anywhere, then let him remain in plain sight, the amplifier looks very attractive.

The power amplifier stage, operating in AB class, is 200 W for 4-ohm load or 300 W for 2-ohm load. The amplifier has a good signal-to-noise ratio, the benefit and most of the noise far beyond the frequency band, played out by subwoofer speakers. If your radio has no linear outputs - do not worry, a high level input is provided.

This model has few settings - sensitivity, cut-off frequency and bass boost. In principle, for most cases, more is not necessary, but having at least a “reserve” phase regulator would not be superfluous.

Let us turn to more "popular" amplifiers in the car. Dual-channel Pioneer GM-A5702 is built on an analog AB class circuit, so with decent parameters it is noticeably cheaper than premium class D amplifiers. The nonlinear distortion factor fits into 0.05%, the load on two-channel speakers in dual channel mode is up to 240 W, on four-volume ones 150

As befits the “two-channel”, the operation in bridge mode on the subwoofer speaker is also foreseen: for this purpose a switchable low-pass filter is adjustable in the range from 40 to 500 Hz. Bass boost - without smooth tuning, three-way switch, gain control is smooth, but there is no phase control. Simply put, we have an amplifier for sufficiently powerful, but still amateur installations, when the owner of the car does not need an abundance of adjustments, but the ability to connect to the power outputs of the “head” (for example, if the head unit is left) is just the way.

Note that nonlinear distortion is minimal in the area of ​​average power - that is, exactly where the amplifier will be used. On 4-ohm speakers, distortion is expected to be less. The bass booster works in both single-channel and dual-channel operation, which is also a plus - you can raise the bottoms on the rear "pancakes", and without installing a subwoofer, if the quality of the speakers and shelf strength allow. However, the rise of the woofer in dual channel mode is less than in single-channel mode — up to 3 dB, and a 12-dB boost can be output to a subwoofer.

Further, in the ranking of the best - an extremely minimalist design amplifier, which is not particularly impressive with its power - in dual channel mode for widespread 4 ohm speakers, it will give only 50 W per channel. Little? But, believe me, the sound quality is better for him than many “heads” with the same declared output power.If you want to connect two-speaker speakers to a head unit that does not support operation with such resistance, then an amplifier will be required in any case, and the output power will be 75 watts per channel: without chasing sound pressure records and selecting speakers with good sensitivity, you can content with this value. In bridge mode, the amplifier gives up to 150 watts, while the speaker can only be connected to 4 ohms.

It is possible to connect the amplifier to the linear outputs and directly to the end of the radio - high level inputs are also provided. Adjustments, alas, a minimum: filter mode (LPF / HPF on / off), raising low frequencies with a three-position switch, sensitivity. So, the amplifier, whatever one may say, is primarily designed for users with low complexity and acoustics power who do not need extra “bells and whistles”, there is no desire to tinker with the settings, and the radio tape recorder, quite likely, is standard, without linear outputs. But it is quite inexpensive, it sounds good and is easy to connect - so why not?

As far as Kicx is gray (that is black) and inconspicuous, so much does Infinity attract the eye, while doing without cheap kitsch. Of course, they do not measure up in power: here, with 4-ohm loudspeakers per channel, no more than 70 W are available (and you can actually get 100 W with a normalized SOI). But, if this power is enough for you, and high-quality sensitive acoustics are bought in the car, Infinity will open enough "chips".

One of them is the ability to connect directly to the power outputs of the radio, although there are no separate high-level inputs. We take the adapters from the terminal block to the “tulips” from the kit, insert them into the line inputs and simply flick the Input Level from Lo (line input) to Hi1 or Hi2 (high-level inputs with different sensitivity).In Hi2, the input impedance is further reduced in case the standard PG refuses to work, “not seeing” the load at the output of its amplifier. Simple and convenient, and a special thank you for having the included adapters.

The input channels are hard-coded as front and rear, but in fact their set of settings is identical - you can separately adjust the sensitivity, cut-off frequency of the high-pass filter or the low-pass filter chosen arbitrarily. However, the filters have a fixed band - from 32 to 320 Hz, that is, there is no such convenience in working with component acoustics like that of Kicx. There are also summed outputs for connecting a subwoofer amplifier in a cascade.

Another feature is the additional Halosonic line input, designed for the proprietary “Harman” active noise cancellation system: road noise is fed in antiphase here, and the speakers thereby muffle the sounds of the environment.

And if "we would be cheaper and more powerful"? Then, waving a hand with the words “yes I will listen to MP3 anyway”, we’ll look towards class D amplifiers. GM-D8604 is capable of delivering up to 100 watts per channel with a 4-ohm speaker, and is capable of more (the stated power in this mode is 200 W), but the SOI curve to this mark sharply goes up, and the sound quality decreases significantly. For dvukhomnyh speakers the threshold of "audibility" - within 150 watts per channel.

The connection is simple and clear - the line-in connectors are located in the center, and the regulators of each pair are spaced to the edges, you will not confuse. Any pair of channels can work in a bridge (connection in 2.1 format), but note one feature that is not very noticeable due to illegible marking: the polarity on the block does not alternate as usual (plus or minus plus or minus), and is symmetrical (plus minus minus plus).

The set of adjustments in each pair is minimal - gain, selection of the HPF / linear / low pass filter mode), filter cut-off band. You can also find the Input Select switch: in the 2CH position, only one pair of linear inputs is activated, and for each pair of channels the speaker is connected to the bridge, or the 2 + 1 circuit is being assembled, in 4CH mode, respectively, all inputs work. It is allowed to connect to line inputs as high level inputs, there are no separate operation mode switches.