Work of Art: The Newest and Greatest - As Close To Perfect As Possible!
Written: Feb 06 '04 (Updated Feb 11 '04)
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Pros: The best sounding amps in a LONG time- reminiscent of old a/d/s/ - but BETTER!
Cons: Manual clarity and mounting system- minor complaints for a true work of art!
The Bottom Line: A step UP from older a/d/s/?? Is that possible?!?!?! I believe it is- SoundStream VanGogh amplifiers are the REAL DEAL. Brax quality at a fraction $$$
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| nick1326's Full Review: Soundstream Van Gogh VGA500.4 Car Amp |
I've been getting beyond my normally fanatical ways in the quest for the best sound within the confines of my Bimmer's plush interior. Involved in mobile audio and home audiophile hi-fi for the better part of my life (and running a small custom mobile install business) it's obvious the music is a super important part of my life. Making my casual observations in the mobile audio market, there's alot going on, and alot ot take in. Some are out there strictly to pump out the most bass possible- they care about flipping quarters on roofs and getting the biggest numbers possible on a dB-meter. I could care less about that and have a simple goal of acheiving the best, most musical and listenable ENJOYABLE experience possible. It makes too much sense- at least from an audiophile perspective. The average American joe spends over 4 weeks in her/his car per annum. That's probably also a conservative figure for audiphiles too- I mean think about it... Demographically, have you seen the price of your typical decent audiophile grade stereo system??? They're getting MORE expensive!!! This would imply that your average audiophile is probably employed and if you're employed you probably commute... I can vouch for my own self on this one- I spend way more than 4 weeks a year in my car on commute alone! Let alone road trips and other driving. I love listening to music and having it sound great- you BET I'm fanatical about my system!
So enter the newest audiophile grade SQ (sound quality) oriented amplifiers from Soundstream. Built in tank-link fashion, these beasts conservatively weigh in at about a metric ton! The Chassis is a brand new design, built from chunky blocks of polished billet aluminum and brushed top-sheet alloy, these handsome amps are as much art in the way of decoration as they are in sound. As an installer and owner of a strictly-SQ oriented custom install business, a/d/s/ used to be the root of all wonderful sound; boasting ridiculous 120+ signal-to-noise ratio (when industry standard was 90-95) a/d/s power plates provided me with the ultimate sounding power to work with- things were great. Times have changed though- and I've spent the last 5 years looking for the best amps both on paper and in practice. It's been a long time, but I think I'm on to something good here- very good infact.
The VanGogh series circuitry was designed by an intuitive engineer/designer named Karl Cummings. Karl is one of the main reasons I chose to pursue this amp, and I'm sincerely happy to have run into him and done my homework. The VG series is equipped with one of the most sophisticated and elaborate circuitry arrays ever dreamed up- 2 independent power arrays, superior power-regulation and Cap-bank ensuring powerful assertive transients with rock-solid efficiency and reliability, this amp truly, TRULY has it all. AND it comes with a price-tag that is far more than reasonable.
A very interesting thing has happened in mobile audio- namely, the market has gotten very polarized: Specifically, truly "audiophile" worthy equipment has shot right off the beaten path into the stratospheric realms of ultra-expense and ultra-quiet. Names like McIntosh quietly stepped back- you can get them, but you're gonna pay BUCKS. How about Brax? Serious goods? ABSOLUTELY. But also in the thousands! Soundstream has done something truly special here- they've constructed an amp with the sole intent of delivering the ultimate in sound quality and bridged the gap between the ultra-BLANG-BLANG and the realistically priced perfectionist-gear... Well.. I'll be damned- By George, I think they've really done it: The 500.4 and 320.4 are priced on the street at about 450 and 365 respectively- and well worth every penny!
SPEC: The VanGogh's are perhaps the most impressive amps to be seen on paper in a very, very long time. Aside from killer specs, shown below, I'm going to also show you that they've built these wonderful amps at a very usable size- unlike the behemoth monster-chassis competitors amps (check out the PPI 4125 that I love, except for it's massive size- see my review) The VanGogh's are very fittable and very usable- clearly, these things very extremely well thought out.
On paper, signal to noise of 115+dB, 500+ damping and .02% THD, well under inaudible. Distortion DOES NOT increase with an increase in input voltage- this is key, and a big part of why the circuitry is so ingenious. Frequency response extends far beyond what is audible, from 10-50K hZ. Because of the intuitive design, these amps are intended to be used to draw maximum watts with minimal distortion or color- with proper installation (proper gains setting specifically) you can crank these things up to "ear-bleed" and hear virtually no color- your car's interior limitations will become a limiting factor well before the amps capabilities limit you, this much is for sure.
Again, these things are built in a tank-like fashion, and are truly pieces of art just on appearance. The VG's are available in plenty of various flavors to suit just about any install:
2 channels: 400.2, 600.2 800.2 and 1000.2
4 channels: 320.4 500.4
multi channel: 800.5
RMS power is conservative. The 500.4 is rated to deliver 125 x 4 RMS at 4ohms stereo. The amp easily comes in at about 140-145 a channel! These watts are CLEAN- which inherently makes them usable. The sound is so clean that even if wattage-wise, they exceed speaker's spec, the speakers are not going to suffer- the sound waves are pure and undistorted. Rememeber, too LITTLE power destroys speakers because the distortion the waves take in in trying to be amplified without enough power: It's like trying to blow up a 35mm picture to 20x30 inches, you're going to get some dsitortion. However if you start with a bigger, cleaner source, like medium-format, you have a cleaner starting point and can get that size more easily without sacrificing clarity- it is the same game with sound.
I am using a 500.4 and 320.4 to power: MB quart PCE216 2 ways up front, quart Dk69 in deck and a boston pro 12.5lf sub in a sealed box. Overkill wattage? Not really! and the whole damned system sounds better than it ever has! I have a 500.4 powering the RCE 6.5 mid-basses up front on channels 1/2 and 3 and 4 are bridged into 4-ohm mono, delivering approximately 580 watts to the boston sub (amp spec is 500, but actual is more like 550+). The 320.4 is powering the front MBQ tweets (they're obviously bi-amped) on ch 1/2 and then 3/4 are stereo to the rear deck 6x9's. If you had more to power, you could easily do this by not bi-amping the front seperates- just simply putting channels 1/2 in stereo to the RCE216s non-bi-amped... The amps power is far more than enough to sound fantastic=- however I was lucky enough to have the room to do such an install, so I decided to bi-amp.
In terms of sound, these amps are just stupendous. The power is so clean and just sooooo soooo usable, the front mid-basses player lower and louder AND CLEANER than ever- 6.5's are rated to play down into the mid 40s (I believe 42hz) This is always an unrealistic number, or so I thought- however with these amps on them, and with just a touch of low-end boost from the hawkins EQ (combined with a great sub-sonic filter that's adjustable from 10-100 hz) I can have the mid basses play right down into the 50's to keep my bass focus neatly up front WITHOUT experiencing bouncing or distortion. The roll-off let's me hear a nice slope down into the 40 hz region on the 6 1/2s (something I've never been able to do, even with the a/d/s/ amps!) and I can keep my subwoofer level pretty strong, without sacrificing imaging or front-shifted stage. As for the tweets, Quarts always speak clearly, however the PCE216's just never sounded so damned good- aside from the aforementioned 6 1/2s doing a superb job, the tweets scream- I have them adjusted to -6 dB and compensate for upper-mid-range on the EQ in my head unit. I've never heard these seperates sound so good. The Subwoofer pounds- it's a touch clearer than with the PPI 2125 I just bought 2 weeks ago (Great amp- it is for sale now though - seriously, email if interested) Because i wanted matching amps for the car- the Van Gogh's were the choice. I'm confident I chose wisely. While the VanGogh doesn't beat the hell out of the boston quite like the PPI, the tone is clearly more musical and the bass is much more melodic- no other way to describe it, except to say in short, that the system is unmistakably more listenable.
The only 2 complaints I have about the amp are 1) SoundStream needs to send someone to a writing course to prepare their manuals for them! There are plenty of spelling errors! Nothing troublesome or preblematic, but it's a poor statement considering how amazing these amps are. It would really be a shame for someone to judge a book by its cover on this one- don't let the typos fool you- these amps are really in the ultra-superb realm, but the manual doesn't imply so- let your ears make the decision though, not your eyes!
Also, I think SS should have included uptional aluminum rails for mounting: Right now, the amp includes 4 "L" shaped feet which fasten to the amps chassis with self-tapping screws. It's stable (althuogh decievingly small) however instead of just the "L" feet, I would have liked to see 2 straight pieces of aluminum stock as options- so you could have more flexiblity in mounting the amp with more surface supprt. Just an observation- I think 2 two minor complaints are pretty irrelevant, being that I just saved 4400 dollars by not having to buy Brax amps to acheieve essentially the same sonic goal! Not to mention, if you really wanted the aluminum rails, you could get a pair easily enough from a home-depot like place, or a machine shop.
Soundstream is on to something very special- with Karl Cumming's super-intuitive ideas and clever circuitry solutions, the Van Gogh's are going to be one of the most sought after amplifiers available- they're very new thus far, and right now is a great time to get your hands on one and check 'em out!
Kudos Soundstream on a job well done and an amp line as close to perfect as could be asked! Karl's clever use of circuitry and artistic flare has added up to something truly special in this VanGogh Series amplifier line-up- undisputably worthy of the VanGogh name, these amps are masterpieces both visually and sonically. A true superstar of the new '04 product line!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 450
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Epinions.com ID:
nick1326
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Location: Long Island, NY
Reviews written: 232
Trusted by: 93 members
About Me:
Music, Motorcycles, Drumming, Surfing, the finest cigars and living life to its fullest...
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