[crxsir121]

Yeah though I've never heard mine kick on even in high heat on long trips. But in a hot trunk it is a huge benefit.

Your fans don't kick on at all? Mine turn on as soon as I power it up. Wonder if its due to the smaller size...

 

[RocketBoots]

How, exactly, will you use the 4180 or 2180 to power the SI BM? Since these don't bridge, and even if power doubles at 2-ohm, it's still 360w, which, despite what Nick says, I think is a little underpowered.

I have a BM MKIV, and would love to use these amps. I saw BT a while ago, but always wondered how they sounded for SQ. IME, bikes generally want things LOUD, but not necessarily detailed or nuanced, since you can't hear nuances anyway.

Also, do you know if the 4180 could bridge two channels internally for 3-way operation? (the dream)

Then there's the whole too good to be true thing...

 

[TrickyRicky]

The only thing I can say is how the hell are you suppose to hear the SQ of these amps over a LOUD ASS HARLEY!!???

 

[RocketBoots]

The only thing I can say is how the hell are you suppose to hear the SQ of these amps over a LOUD ASS HARLEY!!???

:beerchug:

My thoughts exactly!

 

[TrickyRicky]

:beerchug:

My thoughts exactly!

Not to mention all the road noise...the road noise on motorcycles must be like 10x higher than in most vehicles

I thought they made headphones for motorcyclists...

 

[thehatedguy]

No gain controls and no bridging are strikes against them for me.

 

[2010hummerguy]

How, exactly, will you use the 4180 or 2180 to power the SI BM? Since these don't bridge, and even if power doubles at 2-ohm, it's still 360w, which, despite what Nick says, I think is a little underpowered.

I have a BM MKIV, and would love to use these amps. I saw BT a while ago, but always wondered how they sounded for SQ. IME, bikes generally want things LOUD, but not necessarily detailed or nuanced, since you can't hear nuances anyway.

Also, do you know if the 4180 could bridge two channels internally for 3-way operation? (the dream)

Then there's the whole too good to be true thing...

Per my post above, bridging is possible but not very beneficial. They're better off using a higher powered module like two UCD400's or one UCD700 on a 4180 PSU:

Yes, bridging must be done internally but easy to do. Though I am not sure there is much benefit, sounds like they are amperage limited and operating a single unit at 2ohm would yield better results than bridging two units at 2ohms (or even bridged at 4ohms):

bridging ucd amps - diyAudio

For more power, a user would be better off swapping to UcD400OEM or UcD700OEM modules. This would require a custom Frankenstein amp and the current power supplies have not been tested to support this but in theory a BT4180 PSU would support a pair of UcD400OEM modules or a single UcD700OEM module.

No gain controls and no bridging are strikes against them for me.

The lack of gains hasn't been an issue for anyone I know who has used them, I think it is definitely worth trying. Hopefully we'll see larger module versions this year for people who need more power, especially for big midbass drivers and subs.

Regarding SQ on a Harley, those guys are nuts...though being able to play clearly over the noise does present a challenge to most amps/speakers and these are capable of sounding clear even at full output. But yeah, I am definitely baffled by the Harley crowd

Not to mention all the road noise...the road noise on motorcycles must be like 10x higher than in most vehicles

I thought they made headphones for motorcyclists...

Almost all big Harleys come with a full stereo from the factory. I had no idea either until just a few years ago.

 

[mosconiac]

I know ALL ABOUT those harley audio systems, I hear them going by the house all the time in the summer. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Nazareth, & Foghat never sounded so clear...LOL

 

[Babs]

The only thing I can say is how the hell are you suppose to hear the SQ of these amps over a LOUD ASS HARLEY!!???

You mean you couldn't hear all the best subtle nuances on a bike like this going down the road with wind whipping at 80mph? LOL!!!

Which is why 'this' is my road tunes when I'm two wheeling it:

 

[RocketBoots]

The lack of gains hasn't been an issue for anyone I know who has used them, I think it is definitely worth trying. Hopefully we'll see larger module versions this year for people who need more power, especially for big midbass drivers and subs.

But yeah, I am definitely baffled by the Harley crowd

Almost all big Harleys come with a full stereo from the factory. I had no idea either until just a few years ago.

So will you wire you SI BMMKIV one each channel with a 2180? And would this equate to 360w to the sub, since it's a DVC?

 

[2010hummerguy]

So will you wire you SI BMMKIV one each channel with a 2180? And would this equate to 360w to the sub, since it's a DVC?

Yes sir, you are exactly correct

 

[cajunner]

a 12" sub needs at least 400 watts.

haha...

 

[RocketBoots]

I'd be interested in a group buy if they can provide units without the 45 Hz filter.

 

[Scott Buwalda]

Last Summer at the Helen Southeast Victory Rally

Is that Helen GA? If so, I live 45 minutes away and go up there with my family to relax at least 6X/year.

 

[Babs]

Is that Helen GA? If so, I live 45 minutes away and go up there with my family to relax at least 6X/year.

One and the same. I'll send you the Southeast Vic Rally info if I can find it shortly. Biggest Victory rally in the region. Fun times. The best Venders in the business are there. I had my cams and performance work done right there then dyno tuned by one of the best in the business. Three of the four best performance guru's in the world were there. I'd think a guy could really busy into the market with audio goodies for the gazillion Cross Country and Vision riders there who like their tunes. I'd be glad to introduce you to the guys who run the best aftermarket companies who'll certainly be there. Great folks. I'll check Facebook now for the info. Sadly my scoot is a Hard-Ball. No fairing to install audio.

http://victoryrally.com/
https://www.facebook.com/VictoryRally

 

[2010hummerguy]

I spoke to aznlunatic this evening, he installed a BT4180 in his car on Friday night. He told me he was up til 3am listening to music so I take that as a good sign . He did attempt to run front passive comps with two channels and a pair of SI BM MKIV subs with the other two channels. He said it sounded great even with the fixed high pass filter in place but the input DSP would not let him use the HU to gain up the sub channels. This makes sense since the input DSP is designed to match input voltage to the Hypex module's optimal range, though I know small db increments seem to work (how I tuned my active front stage, left tweeter/mid are slightly attenuated due to closer proximity). So I am going to speak with the designer this week to figure out the limitations of the input stage DSP. I am 99% sure the DSP could be bypassed for independent use of the four channels. Or two 2180 input stages used in a 4180...or use two 2180's. Again, if you plan to use a 4180 out of th box for an active front stage, you should be fine. But splitting a 4180 between subs and upper range drivers may pose an issue. More details to come!

 

[aznlunatic]

I would like to first off thank Architect7 for letting me test this amp for the next few days. He was local to me, so I figured I'd ask to see what this amp is all about. I'm not here to thread jack, I'm here to provide more info and how this amp performed in my type of application for those that are curious about this new type of amp and my first impressions. As Architect7 already mentioned I stayed up until around 3am getting my first impression of this amp and this is after getting off a 13 hour work day.

So a little about my setup, before installing the BT4180 I was running an Audison LRx 5.1k running my 6.5in Hybrid Audio Clarus components active and my two SI BM MKIV's. I decided with this BT4180 I would go a different direction and go back to a passive setup with the Hybrids since this amp gives out 180 watts from each channel and would be more than enough power to get my Hybrids moving and I would go ahead and hook up my two SI BM MKIV's to the rear channels. First impression after turning this amp on the first time and playing some music through it is that its very clean power, no noise at all when the volume is down, I'm not quite sure how to explain it but I was able to make out all the lyrics at very low volumes and when cranked up to see what the amp has, it surprised me. With the 180watts it got my mids moving pretty good and the clarity over all is as good if not better than my audison.

Now as Architect7 mentioned I did have issues not being able to turn up the volume on the sub stage that was running off the rear channels of the amp because of the auto gain feature inside the amp. I run a pioneer 80prs and when I would adjust the sub volume from 0 to +6 the volume of the subs would stay the same due to the auto gain feature inside the amp keeping the volume at a preset level no matter how low or high the input voltage. Architect7 has told me he will be contacting the designer to get more information about this feature and whether its something that us consumers can disable or change to were we can manually set the gain.

In a day or so I will be doing some more testing with this amp, I will go back to a active setup and run just the highs and mids off the BT4180 and have my audison sub channel run the two SI BM MKIV's and I will report back with my results. To wrap this long review up, I'm impressed with what this amp delivers, its impressive for such a small form factor and not to forget it sounds great.

 

[Babs]

With the 180watts it got my mids moving pretty good and the clarity over all is as good if not better than my audison.

Whoah I didn't expect that!! Wow! That's impressive.

 

[quality_sound]

Whoah I didn't expect that!! Wow! That's impressive.

I wouldn't put too much weight on that statement. He switched from active to passive when he swapped amps. That was probably the difference he was hearing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[2010hummerguy]

He told me that he is going to test the 4180 full active on his front stage this week