The Mouse That Roars!
Written: Nov 07 '02
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Pros: very reasonably priced, remarkably clean electronics and sound
Cons: low-budget packaging (hardware, manuals, etc.)
The Bottom Line: If 50W will do it, and your speakers are worth it, pick one of these amps up immediately -- for the price it simply cannot be beaten.
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| walzking's Full Review: US Acoustics USX-2050 Car Amp |
Once you descend into the mania of aftermarket car hi-fi and get past the 1st Level (i.e., swapping out the factory head unit for a Pioneer or Kenwood, and/or replacing the crappy factory speakers for much better aftermarket ones), the 2nd Level yawns before you: buying separate components for each main function (control = head unit, power = amplifiers, bass = subwoofers, surround and fill = midranges and tweeters).
It is intimidating, no doubt about it. Even steely-eyed shade-tree mechanics have come to grief getting line noise out of the amplifier loop, or phasing the midranges and tweeters right, or any number of other small but quite audible factors involved.
And the economy and our aggregate job security being what they are these days, you really want to spend a reasonable amount of money getting 2nd Level Sound (either that or you succumb completely to Car-Fi Mania and slide down to the 3rd and final level of its dark domain).
Thankfully, the guys as US Acoustics seem to know this, and have engineered a line of amps and crossovers that stretch from $70 to well over a thousand clams, but which features a nice friendly bulge right around $100-$200.
At the bottom end of said bulge is the USX2050, US Acoustic's bargain leader, a remarkably solid and clean-sounding 2-channel (or 1-channel, if you bridge it to mono and use it to power a lone subwoofer) amp that delivers an honest 50W RMS per channel with inaudible distortion.
Hook this young gentleman up to a pair of good 6X9's, a a set of good 6 1/2" components (separate tweeter and midrange) or a kickin' sub, and you have car-filling sound that makes no apologies for price whatsoever.
The USX2050's safety features (shielding, fuses, etc.) are all top-drawer (remarkably so for this price point), and its performance features --- high- and low-pass filtering for components, voltage control for matching to the head unit output and the sheer visual appeal of the unit --- are exemplary.
A few niggles: there's a serious lack of mounting hardware boxed with the amp, and the very basic installation manuals describe how to mount the thing but not how to optimize its performance once installed --- a fairly notable omission in a 2nd Level product, since tweaking the sound is what you're all about at this level.
But if a no-fuss install and solid performance afterwards are what you seek, and the modest 50 watts a side is all you need, look no further than the USX2050. It's made by folks who care about their product for people just like you.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $74
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Epinions.com ID:
walzking
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Reviews written: 3
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