JL Audio 300/4 4 channel amplifier
JL Audio made it's reputation as a premier subwoofer manufacturer. Since their introduction they have dominated the competiton circuit. They then moved to component speakers and a line of coaxial speakers that became an instant success complementing and finishing off their speaker line up. Once again they come full circle with their introduction of their new line of amps.
I bought the JL 300/4 4 channel amp a couple of days ago. This an average size amp but it is a hefty amp. It really is a brick. Puns aside the aesthetics of this amp is far from industrial. It features a brushed aluminum front cover with green LED lights.
The heat sinks are located at the top, the design of the spacing of the fins permit an install of a side to side amp from either the left or right to make them look like one big long amp. Most amps have the power and signal running the opposite ends to avoid picking up any unwanted noise but JL does not. Though this amp is designed this way there is not a hint of noise from this unit at all. The power is plentiful here, with R.I.P.S. the rated 75 watts is constant regardless of power voltage and impedence to 1.5 ohms.
Pros:
Handsome amp and it does sound as good as it looks. This is the cleanest amp I have ever owned. In car-listening revealed no unwanted artifacts added to the meduim. DVD movies I auditioned made left me in awe. Though I have listened to Star Wars Episode 1 at least a couple of dozen times in the car and with different home systems there was just some sound effects that I never heard before. The sound seperation of this amp is amazing. It is that clean! My Bostons never sounded this good! The impact of blasts and explosions just blew me away. The imaging was just breath taking. The plethora of signal processing in this amp is superb you can pretty much dial in and dial out the sound you are looking for. Music is still the number duty for this amp and it does it so well. Though my initial set up still needs some work my quick set up showed me how good this amp really is. With so little tweaking I got the system to sound like this. Given some more time and I know it will even sound better.
Cons:
Though the equaliztion is pretty good more equalization is definitely welcome. This is a hefty amp it probably weighs around 12-15 pounds. I wished the included allen wrench was made of a better quality. The edges tend to get rounded after just a few turns.
Installation:
As easy as any amp in the market. The power cables that this amp accepts can be that fat. Just amazing I will have to buy and upgrade to the thicker cable for the final installation. Every hardware to install this amp(except for the rca cable and power cables) is complete including an outboard fuse of high quality with included fuse. The tweaking is what will take the most of your time in setting this amp but this is definitely worth the wait from the results that you get.
Conclusion:
The best sounding amp I have used to date including PPI,Phoenix Gold,Orion,Rockford Fostgate,Alpine,JBL,MTX to name a few. This amp is superb in respect to it's ability to equalize and process the sound without adding unwanted artifacts without smearing the imaging of the system. The detail is amazingly pure-- you hear what was meant to be heard when the meduim was recorded no more no less! There is one thing that dissapoints me--I have to wait a few days to get my hands on the JL 500/1 and 300/2. Oh well!!!!! For complete specs see link below.
http://www.jlaudio.com/amps/3004.html
JL Audio made it's reputation as a premier subwoofer manufacturer. Since their introduction they have dominated the competiton circuit. They then moved to component speakers and a line of coaxial speakers that became an instant success complementing and finishing off their speaker line up. Once again they come full circle with their introduction of their new line of amps.
I bought the JL 300/4 4 channel amp a couple of days ago. This an average size amp but it is a hefty amp. It really is a brick. Puns aside the aesthetics of this amp is far from industrial. It features a brushed aluminum front cover with green LED lights.
The heat sinks are located at the top, the design of the spacing of the fins permit an install of a side to side amp from either the left or right to make them look like one big long amp. Most amps have the power and signal running the opposite ends to avoid picking up any unwanted noise but JL does not. Though this amp is designed this way there is not a hint of noise from this unit at all. The power is plentiful here, with R.I.P.S. the rated 75 watts is constant regardless of power voltage and impedence to 1.5 ohms.
Pros:
Handsome amp and it does sound as good as it looks. This is the cleanest amp I have ever owned. In car-listening revealed no unwanted artifacts added to the meduim. DVD movies I auditioned made left me in awe. Though I have listened to Star Wars Episode 1 at least a couple of dozen times in the car and with different home systems there was just some sound effects that I never heard before. The sound seperation of this amp is amazing. It is that clean! My Bostons never sounded this good! The impact of blasts and explosions just blew me away. The imaging was just breath taking. The plethora of signal processing in this amp is superb you can pretty much dial in and dial out the sound you are looking for. Music is still the number duty for this amp and it does it so well. Though my initial set up still needs some work my quick set up showed me how good this amp really is. With so little tweaking I got the system to sound like this. Given some more time and I know it will even sound better.
Cons:
Though the equaliztion is pretty good more equalization is definitely welcome. This is a hefty amp it probably weighs around 12-15 pounds. I wished the included allen wrench was made of a better quality. The edges tend to get rounded after just a few turns.
Installation:
As easy as any amp in the market. The power cables that this amp accepts can be that fat. Just amazing I will have to buy and upgrade to the thicker cable for the final installation. Every hardware to install this amp(except for the rca cable and power cables) is complete including an outboard fuse of high quality with included fuse. The tweaking is what will take the most of your time in setting this amp but this is definitely worth the wait from the results that you get.
Conclusion:
The best sounding amp I have used to date including PPI,Phoenix Gold,Orion,Rockford Fostgate,Alpine,JBL,MTX to name a few. This amp is superb in respect to it's ability to equalize and process the sound without adding unwanted artifacts without smearing the imaging of the system. The detail is amazingly pure-- you hear what was meant to be heard when the meduim was recorded no more no less! There is one thing that dissapoints me--I have to wait a few days to get my hands on the JL 500/1 and 300/2. Oh well!!!!! For complete specs see link below.
http://www.jlaudio.com/amps/3004.html