Rockford and PPI were my go-to amps back in the day. Still some of the best sounding amps to this day. That's one beauty you got there BigD. Hard to believe these amps are over 30 years old already. Great video as always BigD!! 👌🏆🥇🎖🏅
@@wal2 buddy. Are YOU SERIOUS right now. Lol you got a XTANT amp? Between the 2 xtant amps I had and the 2 Audio Art Amps I had. I’ve been wanting to get them back ever since. I miss them so much
While today's good Class D amps are quite efficient and can make a lot of power I do have a real love for a good 90's amp. Much like you said there's something about their SQ that is a little different than most of today's amps. Thanks for spotlighting this PPI unit!
@@wal2 damping factor is part of that. Modern amps dont have a damping factor more than 50, Thd is above 1%, sn ratios are under 100 db, modern amps are total garbage imo
@@Juggernaut-fg2up agreed " most " is correct but I hafta say modern audio control amp have a really high dampening factor that is as good or better than some of the best old school amps like linear power & McIntosh
I absolutely love the old PPI amps. I'm still running a PowerClass PC4400.2 in my van, driving a set of Rainbow 6.5" components up front in active mode. I also have a PPI DCX124 12 inch sub in the back that is rated for 1000W RMS, running off an old MB Quart Q1.1500D mono amp & that does punch pretty well. These PPI equipment take a beating everyday & I have yet to experience any issues. No overheating, no coil burning smells, nothing.
PPI, ZAPCO, Rockford, Autotek, PG, Xtant and many of the old SQ amps all sounded great, used high end components and bumped pretty good for back in the day. The sound was much cleaner than many of the class D amps of today. The super clean sound makes more of a difference than people realize. Great video as always!!!!
@@Only-Memories-In-The-End oh boy were those some setups. My buddy was running 8 Protech 15s in his Jeep Cherokee off of 2 Audio Art High Current 100s and let me tell you about old school hair tricks. Lol my hardest hitting system was 2 eclipse 12s in a ford escort GT running off of an Autotek 600s.4channel. I was pulling 144-146 on the meter at DB drag events and no one could believe it. Wasn’t the best spl, but for what it was it was crazy loud. And same for the music here. Old school is king!!!!
I remember seeing a few of these in a pawn shop I used to frequent because they always had good car audio stuff. This was around 1999 or so. I loved that time. Car audio was huge. All kinds of bass comps in Daytona, FL and around. Take me back!
A shop I worked at in the late 90’s sold these as their high end line. The PowerClass as they were, were fantastic amplifiers. The PC-2350 was the top dog, rated at 2x350 into 4 ohms stereo or 1,400 bridged. Class A-B goodness. If I can come across one, I’ll send it your way.
@@wal2 I have a pc2600 chrome amp that I would love to have tested to make sure it’s still good. I stopped using it cause I thought something was wrong with it and caused my IDmax 12 to fail. VC separated from cone.
I had a precision power 2150, I think it was back in 91 or 92. It was the Black version. And it's one of the cleanest sounding amps I ever owned. I think because of the clean sound and the signal to noise ratio being so high it makes the amp sound bigger than what they are. Great video Big D!
Couldn't agree more. I had a single 2150am running rockford midbass, midrange and tweeter on each side and bridged to 2 12 inch rockford in sealed boxes with a nakamichi td 500. Sounded so good. Just had desert audio in phoenix recap and new thermopaste. Can't wait to hear it again.
I have watched a grundle of tests on this channel now and several that involve the quad box. It was making my heart go pitter patter just watching how in control and clean those subs were. I was like FINALLY!! A true old school experience. Man… thanks for that!!
So awesome to see the review and test of this old school amp. I would say thanks for the trip back in time, but I have one in my garage waiting to run my front door speakers. Bought it off of a friend 20 years ago. Ran a pair of 10" subs in a sealed box (2ohm bridged) about 6 years ago and it did a great job; but boy did it get hot! Watching videos like this might motivate me to make project happen. God bless and thanks for the amazing work you do!
It may only be 400 watts but the high current output of those amp were insane. And that gave it the clarity that had also. I used to run the old early 90s hifonics amps. I ran a 400w Boltar on 2 12’s and had it turned close to all the way down, they reach their xmax with it all the way down.
I remember these amps!! They were one of my three. Alpine. Prec pow and sound stream. Well I picked the alpine. Had two of them running 1400w with my homemade box and speakers. Phillips speakers from Germany. This was 1990. My 1988 mustang was bumping!!
PPI amps, mb quart mids and highs with JL audio subs. Was a sure fire killer setup back in the 90s. Knew a guy who ran 4-15 kickers in a wall with a pro Mos 2350 on his midst and highs and a 2300 on his subs. Sounded amazing.
Was in Florida in the mid to late 90's and can confirm that many of the best SQ systems used this combination. I still have some MB Quart "competition" separates from that era. Focal K2 Power and Utopia are what I use now. Want to hear some Stereo Integrity!
In my senior year of highschool(2000) I had a PPI art series amp pushing 2 15’ Orion HCCA’s. Them jokers made my 72 Chevelle quake like no other. I did a lot of overtime and trading to get that system but today kids got it made. The watt per dollar value today makes it so much more obtainable for a bangin system. That’s my option anyway. 🔊 💥
Get your handheld Dyno to show actual power to your speakers: SMD AMM-1: lddy.no/106tm Search eBay for Used ProMOS Amplifiers: ebay.to/3s39H4G *Like these old school amp videos? Support me for more like this!* www.patreon.com/OldSchoolStereo Shop for Down4Sound Amps: is.gd/D4Samps Shop for Savard Hi-Q Subwoofers: amzn.to/2Nh1qcf Check Out My Main Channel: www.willistonaudio.com Video Index: 0:00 Intro 1:11 Cleaning the Amp 2:15 Lineage and Previous Tests 3:27 Features and Specs 4:34 Amp Dyno Tests 8:50 Do it Bump Doe? 10:38 Thermal Imaging 11:17 Amp Guts 12:31 Final Thoughts 13:01 Extras Check Out My Main Channel: www.willistonaudio.com SMD / D'Amore Engineering Amp Dyno: goo.gl/sJTcf7 XS Power D1400 Batteries - lddy.no/11odv XS Power PSC60 Charger - lddy.no/11odw Fluke 1000A AC/DC Clamp Meter: amzn.to/2Rw5WDA Handheld Dyno SMD AMM-1: lddy.no/106tm My Favorite Screwdriver Kit: amzn.to/2x0VzcE *_DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase from one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases_*
Agree with Big D. There’s something besides watts that made these amps sound so good. Hard to explain but every system with the old PPI amps would blow you away with how good they sounded and how much impact they had.
Home audio nuts have known this for years. High quality amps for two channel home use can cost 10K or more and weigh in at over 60 pounds easy. My favorite is a nice Luxman L-509AX integrated, which puts out "only" 120 WPC at 8 ohms and 220 WPC at 4, with very good dynamic power. It would be interesting to see what the Luxman would do on the dyno - LMAO. Honestly while it may not be that impressive from a pure power standpoint, the sound from an amp like the 509 AX is otherworldly through correspondingly high quality speakers. Class D is great for providing the raw power required by subs to reproduce very low frequencies, and powered subs for home theatre use are awesome, but nothing is better than high quality Class A and Class A/B for accurate 40 HZ and up bass, as well as clean mid and high range sound in a critical listening environment. This old 90's era PPI Class AB amp has some of those good traits I suspect. I like power as much as the next guy, but I like finesse too. Class D has come a long way though, one can spend big bucks and get truly high end performance out of a well deisgned system for home use. Some go with Crown Amps, which are surprisingly smooth and good sounding now, inexpensive to buy for the built in EQ and stupid power they provide.
Talk about a blast from the past! 😱 Back in the day, ‘91-‘92, I had a PPI 100 bridged alongside a Rockford Punch 150 bridged. I had a 12” box and a 15” box that I’d switch back and forth from. That pair of amps would hammer, almost equally, on ANYTHING you threw at them!!!
With good clean Old School American Made Class AB power ya don’t need a lot of it to be loud 😉 I’m using an Old School Zed built American Made RōDEK RA-250 driving an Old School American Made PPI SVC 8 ohm 12 inch sub.. it is very loud.. nothing like Old School 🇺🇸😎
I saw the picture man I had one of those! Brought back great memories. Had it in a 1968 mustang running two 15 in kickers that took up my whole trunk. Thing rattled like a tin can.
That PPI is the exact one I had. I tied for the #1 SQ run. I had 2 10"MTX Blue Thunders in a isobaric 4th order, Pioneer Pro series components, Alpine head unit, Electric Crossover and Clarion EQ. Man, if you want to let that go, I might be interested!
I remember the precision power art series very well. They had great power for dollar. And I also had a series of sansui amps which were rebranded PPI amps. They also had a series of those amps called Black Knight which were rebranded precision power as well. Love sharing the memories brother.
Really loving these old school amps. Class A and A/B is all about quality of sound. It’s also very raw on some with the beefier power supplies. Not so high on efficiencies, but oh that sound is something fierce. Thanks Big D for putting it up and pounding it out! Stay safe my mates!😊👍🏻😁🛠
You got me feeling old showing this PPI. Damn audio from the early years. I kinda miss being the big dawg in a small town just because my old man had a table saw and band saw. Made so many Redneck boxes. Actually got pretty good at it. Even started understanding building my own cross over networks. Used a lot of the RadioShack horns for the highs
Memories... had ppi 4100am running my mb quart satellites a a pro Mos 50 running my jl aud 10w4's in my total truck with te alpine 7515 and alpine preamp with crossover. Sounde alright
What a bit of nostalgia. I had a series 6 Hercules back in the day. I still have a SS Reference 5.0 and a Picasso in the basement that I may break out some day.
Back in the day PPI was the best sounding amplifier hands down I ran a PPI PC 100.4 on the front Boston Acoustics 6in components and rear fill with a PC 1800 on a custom pair of 12in subs. It was best system by far.
I had a couple Art series back in the day, always amazing amps. One of the best PPI amps I ran was a PC2100 (grey muffler can) in the late 90's. Had 1 JL 12w3v1 in an S10 extra cab and it slammed! Still one of the very best combos I had run, but I wish I had played with Image Dynamics subs back then. I have a IDQ 10 d2 v4 now and holy crap does that little 10 kill the JL stuff I had been loyal to for so long. Makes me wanna hunt down the old gear and build a new system. Total watts vs clean watts just don't compare.
Man I miss bumping my cheap Pyramid and Audiovox system while cruising through South Square Mall in Durham, NC. Go play some arcade games, eat at the food court and then see a movie.
Big D I'm lovin the PIP of the AMM1 while you're bumpin subs! Really gives us a feel for "real world" watts instead of the raw dyno #s. You always 1uppin yourself we appreciate it brotha 😎🔥
I spent so much money on PPI amps in the mid to late 90s id love to see an Old Skool PPI tube drive on the dyne not for the power but for the current draw to power efficiency
PPI black mosfets like the 2075 were my scene in 1989. People used to dance like big D's pop lock when I rolled up to the college liquor store at CSUN. Outside lol
Man precision made some of the coolest amps. But that price tag,, ouch. That was a grip of chedda back then. Even at $600 when the price dropped. Used cars were that much
I love those amps. I remember people buying those amps with jl audio 3 subs for competition. I had a lanzar white amp 50 x2 but never knew how good it was.
Man, when I was 16 I bought one off a buddy that I’m certain was stolen. It was 1998 and I had no idea what I was doing but it pushed 4 6x9’s real good
You were BOSS if you had one or two of these in your system back in the day!! I have a PPI-2075M Mosfet Power Series sitting on a shelf in my garage, man was it awesome when it was in my Mustang. Well, it is awesome sitting on the shelf as well.. lol...
The old school amps,just have a different sound. Old school PPI,HIfonics, Fosgate,MTX,etc, produced crushing bass and very warm mids,and crisp highs. 90's amps has something going on
The Pro Mos amps were some of the best PPI offered. This one seemed to really come alive against a reactive load. Over 500 watts on the AMM-1 a couple times. The Quad Box sounded great and was really bumpin'! I wonder how a Pro Art 50 would fare on the AMM-1 and a reactive load? Very interesting results and test. Thanks Dereck!
Nice amp! I remember those well. The dynamic power doesn't have much to do with capacitance. The power supplies on these old PPI amps were so stiffly regulated that the rails just don't sag under load, which also means they have little to no dynamic headroom. This is evidenced by their full power operation at low voltages. Also the bridged power into 2 Ohms is only .3 dB or so below rated so you'd never hear that.
I’d love it you could test some of the .2 series of amps from PPI. I’m running a full Focal Flax mid/high setup off of an A404.2 as well as a 4ohm JL13w3 off of an A600.2.
Hey Big D! I noticed the xtant amplifier up in the top left of the shot. Have you done a video on that one? Those were top dogs for their time! So clean! Thanx for all that you do! Always enjoy the videos!
I knew you were getting amps in the mail and however else you get them but I had no clue you had that many i mean... Man that's crazy to see something like that and that was just a percentage I'm sure. I'd love to just see all the amps in person that I grew up wishing I had in the 90s pee peeping magizines.
I've been using a promos 50 for my front mids & highs for over 20 yrs now. Still runs perfect. However, I wasn't even aware this amp ran at 1ohm. I've always ran it at 4 or 2 ohms! One of my first really serious subwoofer systems used a promos100 (800w) and 4 kicker 12's. I'm really surprised I still have any hearing left. Traded the promos100 for a laptop many years ago. Wish I still had it! I now run a PPI Black Ice 2600.1D with 2 10's (at 2ohms). Still haven't been able to find a dyno on that amp.
I remember seeing the JL Audio van at the autorama in Sacramento. It had 16 15's and had either 8 or 16 of these amps under a clear plexiglass floor. The dude had ear muffs on and was still about 30 ft away from the van ....crazy loud
Dopenesss the guy that ran the only car audio shop in our town had a couple art series amps in his MX3. Never once heard it bump tho he only cranked it up at competitions- in cities far away from our town 😆
This is why I watch you channel Big D...I could care less about the new Chinese/ Korean or Brazilian BS. I am in the minority ,I am sure, but the foreign stuff is a dime a dozen, one is the same as the next...and boring...love your channel Big D
It actually looks nearly identical to a boss amp that I have and have had for 25 years... So much so while watching this video I've been kind of thinking wondering if there's some connection between them and why don't I go dig that old boss amp out and see what she'll do these days I just had her on a couple of JL audio 10"s back in the day, and I did truly love that sound you couldn't tear those JL audio 10s up for nothing!!!! AND THEY WOULD HIT SO HARD I MEAN EVERYTHING COULD BE WRONG ABOUT THE WHOLE SETUP AND THOSE JAILS WILL JUST COME THROUGH LIKE LIKE HEROES!!! I JUST DIDN'T SEEM TO BE VERY PICKY WHATEVER YOU GAVE THEM, THEY MADE THE BEST OF IT!! Anyway sorry for the tangent thanks for the video guy
In aboht '92 I bought a 100×2 rms amp from Crutchfield with their name on it. I later found out that they were made by Precision Power. I had it pushing two free air Pioneer twelve inch subs.
That woofer at one point was moving like a..... FAMILY FRIENDLY CHANNEL! Nelson Pass and others have been saying for years that certain output devices often have characteristics that are unmatched by other kinds of parts used in the signal chain or in the output stage. or maybe it's just the way that it's made. Big Power, and a lot of it just sounds better being a high current design I would gather. And if your heater is ever broken in your car, just install a few of these amplifiers.
Yes....there's always more to these great amps than just numbers. That's why the ProMos 50 is one of the "greats". Some of you hi currents amps didn't sound as good but these did....if not better than their normal everyday models. Of course, you can see and hear this in the first models of Xtant amplifiers, as they were owned and designed by Jeff Scoon. I'm also pretty sure, since he took her with him, Ms. Hall was responsible for Xtants unique exterior. Come to think of it Mr.DW, how many if any Xtants have you tested sir? I have a few....lol.....and I'm so willing to let you test and record them! These amps deserve to have their numbers verified! I'm betting you're gonna see the same issues where the numbers to experience points (chill bumps lol!) don't seem to line up! I had 2 of the Xtant 3300c amps of theirs back in 97. I was lucky to have a friend (Rob Hephner... you interviewed him a few months back) that would sell me these at cost from Hi-Fi Buys. Of course Rob ended up working for Xtant. The 3300 was a 3 channel, 2 stereo 1 mono, that was 75x2 and 150x1. I had an a/d/s 5.25 coaxial component set in my 92 Mustang 5.0 coupe (Trunk) kick panels. Then a 6.5 a/d/s component set with the woofer in the doors and tweeter in the dash 3.5in locations. The trunks in these barely existed lol. So we cut the rear deck out and "hung" a sealed box containing 4 KIcker Solo-Baric 10's.....2 firing up and 2 firing into the now removable rear seat. I had 2 PPI DEQ-230's and ran on the left and the other on the right as I did the same with each 3300 amplifier. I was a beautiful simple system. I would love to hear it now with only upgrading to a modern DSP. Of course I was showing 600 watts total on paper but OOOOOOMG! There's just no way! Either power was way off.....but these were heavily regulated power supplies or they had some of that PPI "Special Sauce".....because......DAMN....IT WAS LOUD! Tuned for SQ, it would still hit 140db+ and the wipers would bounce off the windshield by like 2-3 inches! It was and incredible build that I knew could have had a great competition career but my father passed away in 1998 (took me 2 years to build this car) on May 15....his 50th birthday. 24 years ago in a few days! WOW....sorry this got out of control! That's the power of nostalgia! So let me send yo a few of my Xtants as you need to preserve their place in OLD SCHOOL CAR AUDIO history. Nope not His-Story but Amp-Story! (Insert "You big dummy!" clip!}
a BIG shout out to "Mr Clean" the BIG D WIZ.... That ERASER there REALLY made a difference.... like MAGIC even.... OH YEAH, TERMINAL STRIPS making a COMEBACK in 2022 thanks to the BIG D!!!!.... Nice Video of the old school Orion esq gear of them times. COOL. BDBD/2022
![AMPLIFIER ART? 1994 Precision Power Art Series A404 and A600 Amps [4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XE2uuY-zKKE/mqdefault.jpg)
Rockford and PPI were my go-to amps back in the day. Still some of the best sounding amps to this day. That's one beauty you got there BigD. Hard to believe these amps are over 30 years old already. Great video as always BigD!! 👌🏆🥇🎖🏅
We are getting old my brother! But it’s a part of life and these old amps are still dope!
@@wal2 buddy. Are YOU SERIOUS right now. Lol you got a XTANT amp? Between the 2 xtant amps I had and the 2 Audio Art Amps I had. I’ve been wanting to get them back ever since. I miss them so much
@@wal2 have you done a test on the late 80’s Orion 425 HCCA?
Yes sir 👏
@@Only-Memories-In-The-End all of the ZED made amps were great. My favorite of the ZED amps were ESX, Rôdek and US Acoustics.
While today's good Class D amps are quite efficient and can make a lot of power I do have a real love for a good 90's amp. Much like you said there's something about their SQ that is a little different than most of today's amps. Thanks for spotlighting this PPI unit!
I wish there was a way to show it via Science. It had those subs thumping like no tomorrow and SO clean!
I 125% agree.
@@wal2 damping factor is part of that. Modern amps dont have a damping factor more than 50, Thd is above 1%, sn ratios are under 100 db, modern amps are total garbage imo
@@Juggernaut-fg2up agreed " most " is correct but I hafta say modern audio control amp have a really high dampening factor that is as good or better than some of the best old school amps like linear power & McIntosh
@@jarvislarson6864 really? I'm going to have to go check out their specs then. Thanks for the heads up
I will always love the oldschool equiptment times
You and me bof
I absolutely love the old PPI amps. I'm still running a PowerClass PC4400.2 in my van, driving a set of Rainbow 6.5" components up front in active mode. I also have a PPI DCX124 12 inch sub in the back that is rated for 1000W RMS, running off an old MB Quart Q1.1500D mono amp & that does punch pretty well. These PPI equipment take a beating everyday & I have yet to experience any issues. No overheating, no coil burning smells, nothing.
Awesome 👏
PPI, ZAPCO, Rockford, Autotek, PG, Xtant and many of the old SQ amps all sounded great, used high end components and bumped pretty good for back in the day. The sound was much cleaner than many of the class D amps of today. The super clean sound makes more of a difference than people realize. Great video as always!!!!
Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@Only-Memories-In-The-End absolutely!!!! I miss the good old days.
@@Only-Memories-In-The-End oh boy were those some setups. My buddy was running 8 Protech 15s in his Jeep Cherokee off of 2 Audio Art High Current 100s and let me tell you about old school hair tricks. Lol my hardest hitting system was 2 eclipse 12s in a ford escort GT running off of an Autotek 600s.4channel. I was pulling 144-146 on the meter at DB drag events and no one could believe it. Wasn’t the best spl, but for what it was it was crazy loud. And same for the music here. Old school is king!!!!
I remember seeing a few of these in a pawn shop I used to frequent because they always had good car audio stuff. This was around 1999 or so. I loved that time. Car audio was huge. All kinds of bass comps in Daytona, FL and around. Take me back!
Awesome 👏
i bought a pair of 2050 ppi amps from a pawn shop around 99-2000. both were missing speaker plugs and hardwired. still have them.
A shop I worked at in the late 90’s sold these as their high end line. The PowerClass as they were, were fantastic amplifiers. The PC-2350 was the top dog, rated at 2x350 into 4 ohms stereo or 1,400 bridged. Class A-B goodness. If I can come across one, I’ll send it your way.
Thanks! I had one on my bench a few years ago and it had issues so I didn’t get a full test. I’m sure I’ll come across another
@@wal2 I have a pc2600 chrome amp that I would love to have tested to make sure it’s still good. I stopped using it cause I thought something was wrong with it and caused my IDmax 12 to fail. VC separated from cone.
@@thecarbonfiberkid I had a pair of them running dual 12 L7's.
I had a precision power 2150, I think it was back in 91 or 92. It was the Black version. And it's one of the cleanest sounding amps I ever owned. I think because of the clean sound and the signal to noise ratio being so high it makes the amp sound bigger than what they are. Great video Big D!
There is some special sauce for sure
Couldn't agree more. I had a single 2150am running rockford midbass, midrange and tweeter on each side and bridged to 2 12 inch rockford in sealed boxes with a nakamichi td 500. Sounded so good. Just had desert audio in phoenix recap and new thermopaste. Can't wait to hear it again.
Classic Precision Power has always been my #1 favorite since day one!
I have more to show, so stay tuned!
I have watched a grundle of tests on this channel now and several that involve the quad box. It was making my heart go pitter patter just watching how in control and clean those subs were. I was like FINALLY!! A true old school experience. Man… thanks for that!!
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Precision Power Amps back then were pretty expensive and they truly kick Butt
I had this same PPI. Wired bridged to a single 12 JL. It boomed so hard. Loved it
😬👍
So awesome to see the review and test of this old school amp. I would say thanks for the trip back in time, but I have one in my garage waiting to run my front door speakers. Bought it off of a friend 20 years ago. Ran a pair of 10" subs in a sealed box (2ohm bridged) about 6 years ago and it did a great job; but boy did it get hot!
Watching videos like this might motivate me to make project happen.
God bless and thanks for the amazing work you do!
Thanks for watching and commenting! I love making these vids 🤘
I honestly didn’t think the quad box was even gonna move like that with such little wattage. Very impressed.
It's a pretty efficient setup, but man this amp really had them sounding great!
I still using this amp in my car. Awesome sound.
I remember this amps in the early 90’s very good amps good to see they still around good video 👍🏻
😬👍
It may only be 400 watts but the high current output of those amp were insane. And that gave it the clarity that had also. I used to run the old early 90s hifonics amps. I ran a 400w Boltar on 2 12’s and had it turned close to all the way down, they reach their xmax with it all the way down.
I had a good friend back then that had 2 of those, powering 2 RF subs. That sheeit was slammin'!
Oh man!
I remember these amps!! They were one of my three. Alpine. Prec pow and sound stream. Well I picked the alpine. Had two of them running 1400w with my homemade box and speakers. Phillips speakers from Germany. This was 1990. My 1988 mustang was bumping!!
👌😬👍
PPI amps, mb quart mids and highs with JL audio subs. Was a sure fire killer setup back in the 90s. Knew a guy who ran 4-15 kickers in a wall with a pro Mos 2350 on his midst and highs and a 2300 on his subs. Sounded amazing.
👌😬👍
Was in Florida in the mid to late 90's and can confirm that many of the best SQ systems used this combination. I still have some MB Quart "competition" separates from that era. Focal K2 Power and Utopia are what I use now. Want to hear some Stereo Integrity!
In my senior year of highschool(2000) I had a PPI art series amp pushing 2 15’ Orion HCCA’s. Them jokers made my 72 Chevelle quake like no other. I did a lot of overtime and trading to get that system but today kids got it made. The watt per dollar value today makes it so much more obtainable for a bangin system. That’s my option anyway. 🔊 💥
Get your handheld Dyno to show actual power to your speakers:
SMD AMM-1: lddy.no/106tm
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Check Out My Main Channel: www.willistonaudio.com
Video Index:
0:00 Intro
1:11 Cleaning the Amp
2:15 Lineage and Previous Tests
3:27 Features and Specs
4:34 Amp Dyno Tests
8:50 Do it Bump Doe?
10:38 Thermal Imaging
11:17 Amp Guts
12:31 Final Thoughts
13:01 Extras
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My Favorite Screwdriver Kit: amzn.to/2x0VzcE
*_DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase from one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases_*
Agree with Big D. There’s something besides watts that made these amps sound so good. Hard to explain but every system with the old PPI amps would blow you away with how good they sounded and how much impact they had.
It’s actual and factual
Home audio nuts have known this for years. High quality amps for two channel home use can cost 10K or more and weigh in at over 60 pounds easy. My favorite is a nice Luxman L-509AX integrated, which puts out "only" 120 WPC at 8 ohms and 220 WPC at 4, with very good dynamic power. It would be interesting to see what the Luxman would do on the dyno - LMAO. Honestly while it may not be that impressive from a pure power standpoint, the sound from an amp like the 509 AX is otherworldly through correspondingly high quality speakers.
Class D is great for providing the raw power required by subs to reproduce very low frequencies, and powered subs for home theatre use are awesome, but nothing is better than high quality Class A and Class A/B for accurate 40 HZ and up bass, as well as clean mid and high range sound in a critical listening environment. This old 90's era PPI Class AB amp has some of those good traits I suspect. I like power as much as the next guy, but I like finesse too.
Class D has come a long way though, one can spend big bucks and get truly high end performance out of a well deisgned system for home use. Some go with Crown Amps, which are surprisingly smooth and good sounding now, inexpensive to buy for the built in EQ and stupid power they provide.
One of the most beautiful amps made in my opinion
Some of the best looking amps ever made. I got a soft spot for them and the Us amps line. Rockford would always be my go to tho...
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I had a pro mos 25 running my highs and the 50 art series when I was 16. Who knew ppi would become classics from back in the day
Yeah really!
High damping factor, super low thd, high s/n ratio. Great amps
You said it 🤙
Wow, that is an assortment of amps. Very cool.
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This was top of the line back when I first started driving, this company made these killer metal subs that were nice
These amps would drive nails back in the day but sounded clean glad 30 years later the tech agrees. Thanks for the awesome video
Love these 90s amps!
Yo, me too!
Talk about a blast from the past! 😱
Back in the day, ‘91-‘92, I had a PPI 100 bridged alongside a Rockford Punch 150 bridged. I had a 12” box and a 15” box that I’d switch back and forth from.
That pair of amps would hammer, almost equally, on ANYTHING you threw at them!!!
Thanks for watching and commenting!
With good clean Old School American Made Class AB power ya don’t need a lot of it to be loud 😉 I’m using an Old School Zed built American Made RōDEK RA-250 driving an Old School American Made PPI SVC 8 ohm 12 inch sub.. it is very loud.. nothing like Old School 🇺🇸😎
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Definitely love old skool PPI. But it’s amazing how much they used to cost.
I saw the picture man I had one of those! Brought back great memories. Had it in a 1968 mustang running two 15 in kickers that took up my whole trunk. Thing rattled like a tin can.
Awesome 👏
Xtant , PG and Blade Amps Rocked the 90's as well!!!!!!
Great report!! Love the SQ on these PPI amps especially on mids and highs.
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I remember seeing a precision power van back in the day it was bad ass!
That PPI is the exact one I had. I tied for the #1 SQ run. I had 2 10"MTX Blue Thunders in a isobaric 4th order, Pioneer Pro series components, Alpine head unit, Electric Crossover and Clarion EQ. Man, if you want to let that go, I might be interested!
I remember the precision power art series very well. They had great power for dollar. And I also had a series of sansui amps which were rebranded PPI amps. They also had a series of those amps called Black Knight which were rebranded precision power as well. Love sharing the memories brother.
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Really loving these old school amps. Class A and A/B is all about quality of sound. It’s also very raw on some with the beefier power supplies. Not so high on efficiencies, but oh that sound is something fierce. Thanks Big D for putting it up and pounding it out! Stay safe my mates!😊👍🏻😁🛠
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You got me feeling old showing this PPI. Damn audio from the early years. I kinda miss being the big dawg in a small town just because my old man had a table saw and band saw. Made so many Redneck boxes. Actually got pretty good at it. Even started understanding building my own cross over networks. Used a lot of the RadioShack horns for the highs
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Memories... had ppi 4100am running my mb quart satellites a a pro Mos 50 running my jl aud 10w4's in my total truck with te alpine 7515 and alpine preamp with crossover. Sounde alright
What a bit of nostalgia. I had a series 6 Hercules back in the day. I still have a SS Reference 5.0 and a Picasso in the basement that I may break out some day.
Let me know if you decide not to break out those SS amps to use and I’ll trade ya for some cheddah 😬
Damn, I remember seeing these in high school back in the late 90's and even back then they looked like beat up hell. Brings back memories
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That was my first amp I ever installed into a car, after high school. I installed 1 on on the rear speakers I for Sub.
Awesome 👏
Back in the day PPI was the best sounding amplifier hands down I ran a PPI PC 100.4 on the front Boston Acoustics 6in components and rear fill with a PC 1800 on a custom pair of 12in subs. It was best system by far.
Awesome 👏
Old PPI amps were SO PRETTY, they got me wanting to paint my amp and subs
Oh Lawd don’t do that 😳
@@wal2 Ima get some brushes and go full Bob Ross on an amp sometime.
I had one in 93 loved it
I had a couple Art series back in the day, always amazing amps. One of the best PPI amps I ran was a PC2100 (grey muffler can) in the late 90's. Had 1 JL 12w3v1 in an S10 extra cab and it slammed! Still one of the very best combos I had run, but I wish I had played with Image Dynamics subs back then. I have a IDQ 10 d2 v4 now and holy crap does that little 10 kill the JL stuff I had been loyal to for so long. Makes me wanna hunt down the old gear and build a new system. Total watts vs clean watts just don't compare.
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I also got a PC200 after my original ppi amp was stolen.
@@eversoul43 Still got my PC2100 It is currently out of service but has been a great amp!
Man I miss bumping my cheap Pyramid and Audiovox system while cruising through South Square Mall in Durham, NC. Go play some arcade games, eat at the food court and then see a movie.
Big D I'm lovin the PIP of the AMM1 while you're bumpin subs! Really gives us a feel for "real world" watts instead of the raw dyno #s. You always 1uppin yourself we appreciate it brotha 😎🔥
Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate you guys letting me know what you like and not 🤘
I had this one powering my clarion 6.5 three ways back in 1998.
D I loved this video! The way you explained the SQ and output of the amp on the quad-box was my favorite thx.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
I spent so much money on PPI amps in the mid to late 90s id love to see an Old Skool PPI tube drive on the dyne not for the power but for the current draw to power efficiency
Awesome 👏
PPI black mosfets like the 2075 were my scene in 1989. People used to dance like big D's pop lock when I rolled up to the college liquor store at CSUN. Outside lol
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Yo this is the content I been looking for 🤩
Awesome 👏
Man precision made some of the coolest amps. But that price tag,, ouch. That was a grip of chedda back then. Even at $600 when the price dropped. Used cars were that much
Man this is so true!! When you compare (with inflation) to todays prices, these amps were hella expensive back then
Blast from the past! Totally had that exact amp. And yep Danny Caballero, Fosgate and PPI was my go to as well.
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I had this exact same one, but with a black 25x2 matching for a while. Absolutely loved it!
There are a couple like you describe on Ebay right now for around $750. A 25x2 and a 50x2.
Awesome 👏
Had a 500 w PP amp in 97 on (2) Orion xtreme 12’s & it was drumming in a GMC jimmy!!
Sweet !
I love those amps. I remember people buying those amps with jl audio 3 subs for competition. I had a lanzar white amp 50 x2 but never knew how good it was.
Man, when I was 16 I bought one off a buddy that I’m certain was stolen. It was 1998 and I had no idea what I was doing but it pushed 4 6x9’s real good
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Yes back in the 90’S I ran Fosgate or PPI Amps and Kicker or JL Audio Subs.
Great video Big D I love Old School Precision Power Amplifiers 👍❤️
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I'm rockin a Precision EQ (E.7) in my GMC. Really helps bring out clean highs way on top
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They were some beautiful amps. Had an almost mint A1200.2 I regret letting go
I have a black one with the silk screened board layout on the heat sink. It’s so cool looking 🤙
You were BOSS if you had one or two of these in your system back in the day!! I have a PPI-2075M Mosfet Power Series sitting on a shelf in my garage, man was it awesome when it was in my Mustang. Well, it is awesome sitting on the shelf as well.. lol...
I wanted the 4200AM to run mids/highs then wanted 2150 for subs
Wow. I remember these days. Thanks big D 👍🏻
Thanks for watching and commenting!
I love this amp! I had one on 2-10s and 2-12s earthquake’s and it it was awesome!!
Excellent 👏
The old school amps,just have a different sound. Old school PPI,HIfonics, Fosgate,MTX,etc, produced crushing bass and very warm mids,and crisp highs. 90's amps has something going on
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The Pro Mos amps were some of the best PPI offered. This one seemed to really come alive against a reactive load. Over 500 watts on the AMM-1 a couple times. The Quad Box sounded great and was really bumpin'!
I wonder how a Pro Art 50 would fare on the AMM-1 and a reactive load? Very interesting results and test. Thanks Dereck!
I agree brother. It blew me away with the Quad Box with not only the amount, but the quality of the bass
@@wal2 It's all about damping factor. ;-)
Nice amp! I remember those well. The dynamic power doesn't have much to do with capacitance. The power supplies on these old PPI amps were so stiffly regulated that the rails just don't sag under load, which also means they have little to no dynamic headroom. This is evidenced by their full power operation at low voltages. Also the bridged power into 2 Ohms is only .3 dB or so below rated so you'd never hear that.
True and true. Regulated amps don’t allow big dynamic bursts
The Art Series PPI Amps were tough in the mid 90’s
Looks like some the amps I had in my iroc Z 28 back in the day.
I have the a200.2 hanging on my wall retired in great condition, I ran it for many years.
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I’d love it you could test some of the .2 series of amps from PPI. I’m running a full Focal Flax mid/high setup off of an A404.2 as well as a 4ohm JL13w3 off of an A600.2.
Those PPI "graffiti" amps were unbelievable. Super delicate tho never any fuses.
The art series was my favorite for that era.
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Hey Big D! I noticed the xtant amplifier up in the top left of the shot. Have you done a video on that one? Those were top dogs for their time! So clean! Thanx for all that you do! Always enjoy the videos!
I haven’t yet. It’s still in the original white wrap, so I’m a bit hesitant to break it out. I’m sure I will in a future vid tho 😊👍
I knew you were getting amps in the mail and however else you get them but I had no clue you had that many i mean... Man that's crazy to see something like that and that was just a percentage I'm sure. I'd love to just see all the amps in person that I grew up wishing I had in the 90s pee peeping magizines.
Many of what you saw is test equipment and such. Not that many amps
I've been using a promos 50 for my front mids & highs for over 20 yrs now. Still runs perfect. However, I wasn't even aware this amp ran at 1ohm. I've always ran it at 4 or 2 ohms! One of my first really serious subwoofer systems used a promos100 (800w) and 4 kicker 12's. I'm really surprised I still have any hearing left. Traded the promos100 for a laptop many years ago. Wish I still had it! I now run a PPI Black Ice 2600.1D with 2 10's (at 2ohms). Still haven't been able to find a dyno on that amp.
Hell yea keep up the good work I love the videos
Thanks for watching and commenting!
I remember seeing the JL Audio van at the autorama in Sacramento. It had 16 15's and had either 8 or 16 of these amps under a clear plexiglass floor. The dude had ear muffs on and was still about 30 ft away from the van ....crazy loud
Yo that’s awesome!
Lanzar amp was good too back in the days
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I still got my pro mos 25s been on the shelf long time, they were so SWEET!! can’t decide to leave em retired or put em n my truck 🤨
Thermal compound is prob dried up and could use recapping
Dopenesss the guy that ran the only car audio shop in our town had a couple art series amps in his MX3. Never once heard it bump tho he only cranked it up at competitions- in cities far away from our town 😆
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This is why I watch you channel Big D...I could care less about the new Chinese/ Korean or Brazilian BS. I am in the minority ,I am sure, but the foreign stuff is a dime a dozen, one is the same as the next...and boring...love your channel Big D
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It actually looks nearly identical to a boss amp that I have and have had for 25 years... So much so while watching this video I've been kind of thinking wondering if there's some connection between them and why don't I go dig that old boss amp out and see what she'll do these days I just had her on a couple of JL audio 10"s back in the day, and I did truly love that sound you couldn't tear those JL audio 10s up for nothing!!!! AND THEY WOULD HIT SO HARD I MEAN EVERYTHING COULD BE WRONG ABOUT THE WHOLE SETUP AND THOSE JAILS WILL JUST COME THROUGH LIKE LIKE HEROES!!! I JUST DIDN'T SEEM TO BE VERY PICKY WHATEVER YOU GAVE THEM, THEY MADE THE BEST OF IT!!
Anyway sorry for the tangent thanks for the video guy
I don’t recall PPI making amps for Boss but it’s a possibility 🤷♂️
@@wal2 Me either, Crutchfield and Special Edition were made by PPI.
PPI made great sounding amps. I still have two art series amps, a 204 and a 404.
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Had one in a vert back in 91 one 4 punch series 1 10in subs! Wham wham wham...
In aboht '92 I bought a 100×2 rms amp from Crutchfield with their name on it. I later found out that they were made by Precision Power. I had it pushing two free air Pioneer twelve inch subs.
Yes PPI OEM’d several brands and Crutchfield was one of them
Xtant amp test would be great!! i spotted the box on the shelf! 👍🏼👍🏼
Yes that one is brand new, still in protective plastic 😲
So many choices!
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I see you have some nice Dls amps there. The ultimate series amps where really popular in Sweden back in the days.
David Yeh is one of my favorite amp designers, he did the Audio Art 100HC and DLS Ultimate amps
That woofer at one point was moving like a..... FAMILY FRIENDLY CHANNEL!
Nelson Pass and others have been saying for years that certain output devices often have characteristics that are unmatched by other kinds of parts used in the signal chain or in the output stage.
or maybe it's just the way that it's made.
Big Power, and a lot of it just sounds better being a high current design I would gather.
And if your heater is ever broken in your car, just install a few of these amplifiers.
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Yes....there's always more to these great amps than just numbers. That's why the ProMos 50 is one of the "greats". Some of you hi currents amps didn't sound as good but these did....if not better than their normal everyday models. Of course, you can see and hear this in the first models of Xtant amplifiers, as they were owned and designed by Jeff Scoon. I'm also pretty sure, since he took her with him, Ms. Hall was responsible for Xtants unique exterior.
Come to think of it Mr.DW, how many if any Xtants have you tested sir?
I have a few....lol.....and I'm so willing to let you test and record them! These amps deserve to have their numbers verified! I'm betting you're gonna see the same issues where the numbers to experience points (chill bumps lol!) don't seem to line up! I had 2 of the Xtant 3300c amps of theirs back in 97. I was lucky to have a friend (Rob Hephner... you interviewed him a few months back) that would sell me these at cost from Hi-Fi Buys. Of course Rob ended up working for Xtant. The 3300 was a 3 channel, 2 stereo 1 mono, that was 75x2 and 150x1. I had an a/d/s 5.25 coaxial component set in my 92 Mustang 5.0 coupe (Trunk) kick panels. Then a 6.5 a/d/s component set with the woofer in the doors and tweeter in the dash 3.5in locations.
The trunks in these barely existed lol. So we cut the rear deck out and "hung" a sealed box containing 4 KIcker Solo-Baric 10's.....2 firing up and 2 firing into the now removable rear seat.
I had 2 PPI DEQ-230's and ran on the left and the other on the right as I did the same with each 3300 amplifier. I was a beautiful simple system. I would love to hear it now with only upgrading to a modern DSP. Of course I was showing 600 watts total on paper but OOOOOOMG! There's just no way! Either power was way off.....but these were heavily regulated power supplies or they had some of that PPI "Special Sauce".....because......DAMN....IT WAS LOUD! Tuned for SQ, it would still hit 140db+ and the wipers would bounce off the windshield by like 2-3 inches!
It was and incredible build that I knew could have had a great competition career but my father passed away in 1998 (took me 2 years to build this car) on May 15....his 50th birthday. 24 years ago in a few days!
WOW....sorry this got out of control! That's the power of nostalgia!
So let me send yo a few of my Xtants as you need to preserve their place in OLD SCHOOL CAR AUDIO history.
Nope not His-Story but Amp-Story!
(Insert "You big dummy!" clip!}
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Keep up the good work Sir
Thanks for watching and commenting!
I have a bunch of old school ppi's wrapped up sitting in my closet. You should test a Pro Mos 450
It’s literally 2 of these inside one heatsink
a BIG shout out to "Mr Clean" the BIG D WIZ.... That ERASER there REALLY made a difference.... like MAGIC even.... OH YEAH, TERMINAL STRIPS making a COMEBACK in 2022 thanks to the BIG D!!!!.... Nice Video of the old school Orion esq gear of them times. COOL. BDBD/2022
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Terminal Strips: (6 position) amzn.to/3G4YdmX
For your convenience 😝