Best car audio amp bargain on eBay
Written: Jan 24 '07
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Pros: performance, features, price
Cons: none
The Bottom Line: If you are on a budge, you have to check these amps out. Too cheap and good performing to pass up. Even for mid budget people, still worth a look.
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| dipitydoo's Full Review: Lightning Audio S2.1000.1D Car Amp |
Lightning Audio is a company under Rockford Corps. that offers a wide range of product lines, from very affordable ones sold at Walmart, to high end units sold at authorized dealers. There are three primary series of products: Bolt (entry level), Strike (mid-line), and Storm (high end). The Bolt series can be had for very low prices at Walmart or online. I have yet to try any of those, mainly because the Strikes series can be found so affordably on eBay. I paid $100 for the S2.1000.1 model, which is a mono channel class D subwoofer amp. This seemed to be a great price for a 1000w amp. The amp is rated at 400x1 at 3 ohm, 700x1 at 2 ohm, and 1000x1 at 1 ohm, all ratings at 14.4v.
Physically, the amp measures about 10”w x 13”l x 2.2”h, so its about average size for this power class. Power connections are on one side of amp, and they are quite large insert terminals, which looks to handle 1/0 awg wire, so power delivery should not be a problem here. Next to the terminals are (3) 40 amp blade fuses. The other end of the amp handles speaker connections and processing. The speaker connectors use smaller versions of the same insert terminals – nice quality for this class of amps. Input gain ranges from 150mv to 4 volts. The crossover is variable from 50hz to 250hz, which is the top end typical of class D subwoofer amps. The slope is nice and steep at 24db/octave, good for filtering out high frequencies to prevent localization of the subs. An always-on subsonic filter can be varied from 15hz to 40hz, and has a slope of 18db/octave, good for those of you using ported enclosures. There is also an adjustment to vary the center frequency of the remote bass boost control included with the amp. Once the center frequency is set, the boost can be varied from 0db to +12db. This amp is also a true mono design, so two of them can be bridged using slave/master connectors and buttons on the amp to put 2000w into a single 2 ohm load.
I installed the amp in my 95 Nissan Maxima. 1/0 awg wire runs from the battery to the trunk, where it is split into multiple 4awg wires via a distribution block. The car’s electrical system is basically stock, with upgrades in heavier gauge wires under the hood to the alternator and chassis. That’s about it. After having the amp in my car for several months, and running through a couple of subs (a pair of Alpine Type R 12’s, and a single Lightning Audio Storm 12”), playing a variety of different music, I found this to perform on par with most of the other 1000w class D amps I have used. Power output appeared to be as advertised. It got the most out of the Alpine’s. The Storm sub could have used more power, but that sub is a powerful machine that can soak up some series power. I have yet to use an amp that gave it serious trouble. Hooked up to the Storm sub, I drove from St. Louis to Chicago one weekend, blasting bass heavy techno, and some occasional bass songs, for a good part of the trip, and the amp never overheated. It got pretty warm after more than 4 hours of heavy workout, but never really hot. Granted, it was in the middle of November, so it wasn’t blazing hot outside. But I could remember back in the days, when my two MTX Black Gold amps would get hot enough to cook an egg on, or when my Alpine V12 amp would shut down after about 3 hours. These days, with the popularity of class D amps for subs, heat is rarely an issue, and I can safely say the same for this amp. Everything worked as advertised. The S2.1000.1 has many useful features, such as a variable infrasonic filter, a steep 24db/octave crossover, and a remote bass boost control. I would have preferred a remote “gain” control over a bass boost, but it does allow you to vary the center frequency.
Frankly, I’m surprised that these sell for such low prices on ebay. Perhaps people see Lightning Audio’s Bolt series at Walmart and associate these in a similar way. I can safely say that this is one of the best bargain amp series on the web. It is built solidly, has lots of power, is efficient, and offers lots of useful features. Plus, you can get 2 and 4 channel versions to power your mids and highs for very little money as well. These have since been replaced by Lightning Audio, but they can still be found online used and in good condition. For those of you who are on a tight budget, you don’t have to settle for off-brand items or low power output. These amps will give you top performance for the dollar. Highly recommended.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 100
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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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