Too good to be true? Perhaps...
Written: Feb 24 '02
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Pros: Tons of power, remote bass level control, subsonic filter, price, efficiency
Cons: reliability issues
The Bottom Line: Awesome power, unbeatable price, lots of great features, and unfortunately, bad reliability history.
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| dipitydoo's Full Review: Lanzar Vibe 1200D Car Amp |
The Lanzar Vibe 1200d is a class D amplifier, a new breed of efficient amps generally designed to drive low frequency drivers. The Vibe series is the entry level line from Lanzar. It is a single channel amp rated at 250w at 4 ohm, 500w at 2 ohm and 1000w at 1 ohm. Due to high frequency switching noise, the 1200d, like all other traditional class D amps, is limited in frequency to the low end, utilizing a permanent, non-defeatable lowpass crossover with an upper range of 250hz, and a lower range of 50hz. The slope rate is -18db/octave, which should be sufficient for subwoofers. The subsonic filter is also variable, from 15hz to 50hz, and has a steeper rolloff of -24db/octave. One of the great features of this amp is the remote bass control unit. Essentially, you can mount the remote unit in the car where you can access it easily, and vary the level of bass to suite your needs. It uses a simple phone plug to connect it to the amp. There is also a polarity switch to simulate wiring the sub(s) in opposite polarity without having to switch the wires. Also included is a line output to connect to other amps. I also liked the terminal style speaker and power connectors. I prefer those over the barrier strip type screw terminals, which are more prone to shorts from a bad install.
I recommended and installed this amp for a friend I work with. The reason for my recommendation of this amp was Carsound Magazine's review of the amp, which was very favorable. In the review, it did 1263w at 1 ohm at 14v. The car it was installed in was a 93 Honda Civic. In this vehicle, to get a moderately powered system in it, a class D amp is a must. The alternator is rated at a measely 70amps, but even worse is the battery that is about the size of one that goes in a motorcycle. All this results in not much current available for a high powered system, which is why efficiency is a premium. Anyway, my friend installed an aftermarket battery that was slightly bigger and better than the factory one. There isn't much space, so not much could be done here. I installed the amp in the trunk, using 4 gauge wire, and a 100 amp ANL fuse at the battery. The subs of his choice were a pair of Hollywood Excursion 12's. These are dual 4 ohm voice coils, so they were wired in parallel for a final impedance of 1 ohm to the amp. This results in 1200+ watts from the amp. The subs were placed in a sealed box with a bit over 2cf of space. The remote was insalled near the steering column.
We played with the crossover and ended up at around 75 - 80hz to match up with the mids. The subsonic filter was set at the lowest frequency of 15hz, since we were using a sealed box. The gain was set to max at the amp, and the remote was used to adjust the bass level. Powered up, and with the subs in place, we went out for a test drive, and this thing just rocked. Bass was simply overwhelming, and I couldn't stay in the car for very long, even with the volume nowhere near max. (Note, that this was a function of the subs as well as power from the amp) There was some dimming lights at moderate to high volume levels, but this was due to the small alternator and battery. Even a moderate sized battery should fix the problem with most other cars. I could not believe that one can get this much power for so little money.
Ok, now for the bad news. This amp has worked fine after the installed, and as of a few months ago, it still works fine. But, I have found out that this amp has a history of problems with the protection circuitry kicking in for no reason. I frequent several car audio forums, and there have been countless numbers of occurrances of this amp failing. Several of the users actually have had a replacement amp fail as well. Based on this, I cannot recommend this amp, but if you are still interested in it due to the power, price and features, make sure you purchase it from someone who offers a warranty and backs it up well. Also, I would like to note that this amp has the same internals as the Boss REV3000d and the Planet Audio 2500d - basically, all three of these amps are the same with a different heatsink. However, I have not heard anything about the Boss or the PA amp having reliability problems. Despite the problems, I have to give this amp a rating of 3, since the one I installed did not fail and is otherwise such a fine amp.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 260
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Epinions.com ID:
dipitydoo
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Member: Jay Yoon
Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 4 members
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