I thought I would share my thoughts on Arc Audio's new class D amps. This is a review of their 6 channel version the XDi 1200.6. I apologize now for the long winded post.
I bought this amp from Jerry (neibur3) from Hi Def Mobile Audio and once again his customer service was top notch.
In my opinion this amp is quite easy on the eyes. Very nice to look at and when holding it feels very substantial and well built.
This amp has a very simple yet sexy look to it with it's brushed charcoal aluminum look. I really enjoy it's visual design.
Not every amp in this line has the same chassis, there are different sizes but they are all relatively close in size. I believe the 1100.1 mono is the same size and the 1100.5 is only 1/2" difference in length so mounting these should be relatively easy.
Stats on the amp for power,
Channels 1-4: 150 watts rms @4ohm and 2ohm.
bridging these channels gives you 300 watts rms @ 4ohm
Channels 5&6: 150 watts rms @4ohm
300 watts rms @2ohm
bridging channels 5&6 gives you 600 watts rms at 4ohm
Pretty powerful little guy for only being 13" x 6.25" by 2" in size.
It has bandpass crossover capabilities for channels 1&2 and 5&6. channels 3&4 you can lowpass up to 5500hz.
In the box a remote bass knob is included for channels 5&6. It also comes with short rca cables with stripped wires on the other end for hooking up to a factory hu! nice touch.
There is a cosmetic trim on the top of the amp. This trim has the arc audio logo over the blue light in the middle and easily comes off by taking out 4 small hex bolts. This is a nice touch to prevent cosmetic damage. My amp is under my passenger seat. I don't want to risk scratching it so the cover comes off since it won't be seen anyway. If I mount it in the trunk in the future I can put the cover back on after it's mounted to make it look nice. Pretty cool if you ask me.
There are quite a few controls for crossover and such which makes it a flexibile amp. With 6 powerful full range channels you could easily run a 3 way front stage off one amp. Throw a mono amp in there and you have a powerful 4way system in a small small package.
After mounting it and wiring it up I turned on the power. The center light blinks a couple times before going solid and sending power to the speakers. I assume this is to avoid turn on pop?
Wire connections are solid and easy to connect. No funny angles or funny connection devices to deal with. Everything hooked up without a hitch. All the connections are on one side of the amp which is always handy. channels 5&6 controls are on the wire connection side. channels 1-4 are under the cosmetic cover. I would have liked to not have to take the cover off to get to the gain and crossover controls but since I was taking it off it wasn't a huge deal. This might be annoying to some but not a huge deal.
I have a tru technologies line driver sending the voltage to the amp and 4guage power sending the juice. midbass and tweeters are connected to channels 1-4 and my IDMAX 12 is connected to channels 5&6 bridged.
The sound!!!!!!
The first thing I noticed was that this little guy makes my sub move surprisingly well. I honestly don't feel like I am missing much going from 1200 to 600 watts on my sub. I noticed a touch of dynamic loss at high volume but it is pretty minor.
When listening to my front stage the first thing I noticed was that "it sounds different" and I still stand by that statement. I don't really know how to explain it but it does sound different than my JL Audio HD amps. If you still think all amps sound the same you have to be nuts, there was a noticeable difference. After about a week and a half of listening to this difference I can say it is a good different. The best way I can think of to describe it is "crisp." Everything has a crispness to it I was missing before. I didn't know I was missing it until I heard this amp. The vocals are more in front and stage is higher. I do feel like I lost a tad bit of depth but I could probably do some fine tuning for that.
One anomaly with this amp that I cannot figure out is the staging of my music. I haven't touched the time alignment since I fired it up and haven't felt the need to. Vocals are pretty much center without T/A. With any other amp T/A was always needed. Ive never had an amp that gave me staging this close to perfect right out of the box. The center stage wanders a little bit but not much at all. You would really have to hear it to believe it. I can't seem to figure it out. The upper end also has a different "good" sound to it. Cymbals specifically have a really nice defined and real sound to them.
The amp seems to supply plenty of power to my front stage. I would say right there with the JL HD amps that I used previously. Detail is good, frequency response to my ears appears good and the rta on my phone showed actually a hair flatter than the previous amp although gain levels play a part in this and I haven't done any detailed tuning yet. Just going off of it's performance out of the box. I ran it pretty hard for a couple hours the other day and being in the same mounting location as my JL HD amps it actually only got about half as hot as the JL amps did.
So to sum it up, this amp has a really nice detailed sound to it with plenty of power and dynamics.
It never sounds harsh and to me has a unique sound to it that I have never heard before. Vocals are out in front, cymbals sound real and have really good presence, height is great and like I said before it has an awesome "crispness" to it. It's a small small sexy amp that doesn't seem to get hot and packs a punch. You really can't go wrong with it.
Pics include cosmetic cover on and off. I apologize for the crappy pics. I scratched the lens on my phone so every pic now has a fuzzness to it.
I bought this amp from Jerry (neibur3) from Hi Def Mobile Audio and once again his customer service was top notch.
In my opinion this amp is quite easy on the eyes. Very nice to look at and when holding it feels very substantial and well built.
This amp has a very simple yet sexy look to it with it's brushed charcoal aluminum look. I really enjoy it's visual design.
Not every amp in this line has the same chassis, there are different sizes but they are all relatively close in size. I believe the 1100.1 mono is the same size and the 1100.5 is only 1/2" difference in length so mounting these should be relatively easy.
Stats on the amp for power,
Channels 1-4: 150 watts rms @4ohm and 2ohm.
bridging these channels gives you 300 watts rms @ 4ohm
Channels 5&6: 150 watts rms @4ohm
300 watts rms @2ohm
bridging channels 5&6 gives you 600 watts rms at 4ohm
Pretty powerful little guy for only being 13" x 6.25" by 2" in size.
It has bandpass crossover capabilities for channels 1&2 and 5&6. channels 3&4 you can lowpass up to 5500hz.
In the box a remote bass knob is included for channels 5&6. It also comes with short rca cables with stripped wires on the other end for hooking up to a factory hu! nice touch.
There is a cosmetic trim on the top of the amp. This trim has the arc audio logo over the blue light in the middle and easily comes off by taking out 4 small hex bolts. This is a nice touch to prevent cosmetic damage. My amp is under my passenger seat. I don't want to risk scratching it so the cover comes off since it won't be seen anyway. If I mount it in the trunk in the future I can put the cover back on after it's mounted to make it look nice. Pretty cool if you ask me.
There are quite a few controls for crossover and such which makes it a flexibile amp. With 6 powerful full range channels you could easily run a 3 way front stage off one amp. Throw a mono amp in there and you have a powerful 4way system in a small small package.
After mounting it and wiring it up I turned on the power. The center light blinks a couple times before going solid and sending power to the speakers. I assume this is to avoid turn on pop?
Wire connections are solid and easy to connect. No funny angles or funny connection devices to deal with. Everything hooked up without a hitch. All the connections are on one side of the amp which is always handy. channels 5&6 controls are on the wire connection side. channels 1-4 are under the cosmetic cover. I would have liked to not have to take the cover off to get to the gain and crossover controls but since I was taking it off it wasn't a huge deal. This might be annoying to some but not a huge deal.
I have a tru technologies line driver sending the voltage to the amp and 4guage power sending the juice. midbass and tweeters are connected to channels 1-4 and my IDMAX 12 is connected to channels 5&6 bridged.
The sound!!!!!!
The first thing I noticed was that this little guy makes my sub move surprisingly well. I honestly don't feel like I am missing much going from 1200 to 600 watts on my sub. I noticed a touch of dynamic loss at high volume but it is pretty minor.
When listening to my front stage the first thing I noticed was that "it sounds different" and I still stand by that statement. I don't really know how to explain it but it does sound different than my JL Audio HD amps. If you still think all amps sound the same you have to be nuts, there was a noticeable difference. After about a week and a half of listening to this difference I can say it is a good different. The best way I can think of to describe it is "crisp." Everything has a crispness to it I was missing before. I didn't know I was missing it until I heard this amp. The vocals are more in front and stage is higher. I do feel like I lost a tad bit of depth but I could probably do some fine tuning for that.
One anomaly with this amp that I cannot figure out is the staging of my music. I haven't touched the time alignment since I fired it up and haven't felt the need to. Vocals are pretty much center without T/A. With any other amp T/A was always needed. Ive never had an amp that gave me staging this close to perfect right out of the box. The center stage wanders a little bit but not much at all. You would really have to hear it to believe it. I can't seem to figure it out. The upper end also has a different "good" sound to it. Cymbals specifically have a really nice defined and real sound to them.
The amp seems to supply plenty of power to my front stage. I would say right there with the JL HD amps that I used previously. Detail is good, frequency response to my ears appears good and the rta on my phone showed actually a hair flatter than the previous amp although gain levels play a part in this and I haven't done any detailed tuning yet. Just going off of it's performance out of the box. I ran it pretty hard for a couple hours the other day and being in the same mounting location as my JL HD amps it actually only got about half as hot as the JL amps did.
So to sum it up, this amp has a really nice detailed sound to it with plenty of power and dynamics.
It never sounds harsh and to me has a unique sound to it that I have never heard before. Vocals are out in front, cymbals sound real and have really good presence, height is great and like I said before it has an awesome "crispness" to it. It's a small small sexy amp that doesn't seem to get hot and packs a punch. You really can't go wrong with it.
Pics include cosmetic cover on and off. I apologize for the crappy pics. I scratched the lens on my phone so every pic now has a fuzzness to it.