AMPLIFIER ART? 1994 Precision Power Art Series A404 and A600 Amps [4K]
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2024
- #CarAudio #AmpDyno #PPI
Starting in the late 1980's, Precision Power began offering special amplifiers in white with artwork by Carolyn Hall Young (RIP). CYH continued to create art work for banners, advertisements as well as amplifiers, crossovers, EQ's and more up until the mid 1990's. Today we'll take a look at a couple of near MINT examples of these amazing amplifiers and show off the artwork. I'll also hook these amps up to the SMD Amp Dyno and try them out for power output. Unfortunately, no gut shots today as these amps use the bottom cover plate to insulate the transistors. I'll show internals of different PPI models in the near future.
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![Car Audio Time Machine? 1994 KICKER 200si Amplifier Reviewed and Amp Dyno Test [4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ph5ZbyanCOc/mqdefault.jpg)
![Early 90's Precision Power (PPI) ProMOS 50 Review and Amp Dyno Test [4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/X3eAg5rliU8/mqdefault.jpg)
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Williston Audio Labs thank you for doing these amps on the DYNO. I’m 20 years old and have both of the .2 versions of these amps running my system. Have had them for 4 years now and I absolutely love them. May not be the most powerful amps but some of the cleanest sounding amps I have ever heard.
Dude all I got to ask is does your wife ever look at you and say really Derek another amp!!?
Some of the best SQ cars I heard in the mid 90's used these amplifiers!
@@johnclark3067 agreed
My cousin had the 50.4 on his mids and highs that was the best system he had 3 12's in a 83 Buick lesabre 4-door you could hear him from 5 blocks LoL i forget what Eq he had i think it was a 10 or 12 band Clarion but these amps are the shiznit....Thanks for another great video.....
Absolutely incredible seeing these back in the 90s at the local car audio shop. I couldn't afford one though always admired them in the glass cases where they were displayed. Kool seeing them on the dyno too! Big thumbs up to Big D!
These amps combined with JL Audio W6 subs, and MB Quart speakers were the ultimate setup back in the day!
You got that right the A600 on 3w6 banged
I had two A600’s on 8 jl audio 15w1’s. A300 pushing my jl audio stealth box. I can’t remember what models I had on my mb quart 6.5’s and 5x7s. Audio control crossovers and two 32 band eq’s. Perfect 20 Rta. And 154.6 spl. The 15’s were on a toggle switch.
I had 2 a600s running 4 10" Kickers, and a yamaha ypa 1000 running MB Quarts, going through a Sony XEC 1000 crossover in 1990 mitsubishi eclipse. I cannot emphasize enough how killer it sounded. My whole system got ripped off in a parking lot. I'm still crying.
Still are . Ppi used to be top shelf equipment.
Back in the day we called those "a dollar a watt".
I would still choose these Amps over most New amp. I dont care if they didn't meet the power. I still think its better quality. Id love to see some Xtant. That is my go to still to this day
Back in the 90's I was a installer for a PPI authorized dealer.. I had those same amps in a Dodge Dakota 2 seater with 2 ADS S10 subs and ADS components in the doors.. One of the absolute best sounding systems I've ever heard. I miss it and I would love to get my hands on those amps again.. I'd NEVER give them up! Great stuff!!
I have a set of ads 5-1/4 components, but the coils are seized. Wish I could get them rebuilt
I have both the amps in this video. And i have the a300 and i have a crossover from that time period that is ppi also. I wonder what its worth
Around 1998 a guy asked me if I would facilitate a trade deal because he didn’t know much about car audio and didn’t want to get screwed over. He had a punch 800a2 and two 12” audiobahn dvc(that actually sounded great and performed well surprisingly), a guy he knew wanted to trade him a ppi a600 for his rf 800a2. I installed the a600 in his Camaro and it sounded great but was maxed out, the 800a2 easily over powered the subs and had to be turned down. I advised him the a600 is a good match for his subs but is not as powerful as his 800a2. He greatly appreciated my advice and I ended up doing many builds and installs for him over the years. So turns out the guy which had the a600 had 3 15w6’s in a escort hatchback. I never heard it, but heard it was epically loud, the box was built by a local expert installer. Supposedly later the guy with the a600 tried to have his buddy build him a box for 6 15w6’s and two a600s but said it was never as loud as the professional built box with 1 a600 and 3 15w6s. Sorry for the long story, but these amps bring back great memories. I think I still have a half working a404 around somewhere.
Loved these amps!!! I owned both the white and black art series. I worked at a stereo repair and installation store. When these amps came in 'stolen' they never had the dang connectors. We would have to solder pigtails directly to the board. Just owning a PPI Art series amp back in the day commanded respect. Then PPI products went to shit and the subwoofers cones went flat piston.
PPI was good but if you had McIntosh, you got mad respect and thick wallet.
I dreamed of those in high school!!!
I dreamed of girls, but I had already bought and installed a ppi 2150am.
I agree.
I had 2 of the 600.2's back around 1996.
In my 1995 Eclipse I had them in a false floor under a 1/4" plexi and vinal wrapped Beauty panel that was on the passenger floor in the front seat. When I had passengers or the car had to go in for service the floor mat just went right on top of them and nobody ever even knew.
In the hatch I had one Percision power flat coned 12" sub
Everything else was Focal. This was the focals home stuff because they didn't make car stuff back then.
In the dash I had focal tweeters that were under the stock grills that had Clutch less door lock actuators I put that made them rise up out of the dash firing right at you instead of hitting the glass first. This was done with clutchless door lock actuators and a coat hanger if I remember right. Jeez that was a long time ago I wish I had pics or a video like we all would today .
I worked at a car audio shop in Mesa Arizona called Mobile audio from 1994 to 1998. Before that I worked at unique car audio in Mesa Arizona .
Once a year we would get these dealer accommodation deals where you would get a certain percentage off of dealer cost. Man those were the days .
By the way I love your podcast. I listen to it while I'm at work with my headphones.
I remember hearing Focal in cars back then. Morel was in some SQ cars also, Dynaudio and B&W too. I had MB Quart competition separates back then. I've had nothing but Focal mids and highs for almost 15 years. Recently bought the top K2 Power three ways except with 4" mids and four 6.5" and over 1000 watts rms of Mosconi One series power! Wish I could see your old install...
Those are some of the best looking amps ever along with the old school blue Soundstream. I didbt get my a404 will around 1998 and loved it. If I was able to drive I would love to setup an old school install. Art amps, JL subs and Quart front stage.
My favorite Soundstreams were the chrome class A and the 1/4 ohm stable cheater amps. Had a friend who ran an Audio Art 800 on four Alumapro 10's.
These PPIs are all about sound quality. A friend of mine gave me his A300 from back in the day, and if it's not pushed too hard, it sounds amazing. Nice to see a couple of them in mint condition!
I owned one of these in highschool, saved up all summer to buy this a404 with a 1 farad cap. Powered a set of MB Quart comps up front and a DVC Image Dynamics 12 in the dynomatted trunk. Nakamichi head unit fed an audio control line driver to the amp. Sold the system with the car after I finished college. It was all custom fab by me, but i do wake up at night thinking about that amp from time to time. It was a simple clean system, no one could ever believe it was just one 12 in the trunk. Sound quality was amazing!
Part of the Holy Trinity of amps back in the day. PPi, RF, and Orion. Sure, there were many other outstanding amps but those three are what most people remember.
OxBlitzkriegxO what about Phoenix Gold? Those are the tippy top in my book....
OxBlitzkriegxO pg should at least be in the top 3 I think
@@martintaylor984 I almost made the exact same comment... I don't think PG had as large of a distribution network as a lot of the other companies. I had to drive 2 hours away to buy mine, but 10 minutes away were Kicker, RF, PPI, Xtant, Adcom, etc... Just my experience there though.
And soundstream.
..man back then wages was cheap...and the gear price was $$$$
Oh man....back in the day the A1200 and 3 JL 12w6s were the bread and butter for us installers. That combo could even make a sloppy installer look like a hero lol
I bet that’s a great combo 👌
I personally was never amused by the strange graphics of those amplifiers. My beautiful favorites are the oldschool Autotek, Memphis Belle chrome and Brax.
Nice to know that these Precision Power are not as precise (pun intended).
The Black Art amps were cooler looking to me. Go check em out
I've also vote for the black amps. They also seem to be less common, but that might just be where I'm finding them. I always thought the white amps looked cartoonish. It turns out they were just "too '90s" for my taste now that I'm looking back at it.
Gotta say the best looking amps back in the day were probably the Xtants, IMO. I do like my white Zero Point Phoenix Golds too though. I sort of have a thing for amps without heatsinks as it turns out.
The art series is one of the best SQ amps ever made.
You're right. PPI wasn't about monster numbers, they were for super clean sound.
I was stationed in Florida in the mid 90's. Many SQ folks were running MB Quart, PPI and JL subs. It was a recipe for success back then. I had a similar setup but with a six channel McIntosh amp.
Even the lower line PPi Sedona stuff still sounded really nice back in the day. PPI is absolutely in my list of nice sounding amps.
@@johnclark3067 sounds about right. Mine was Denon deck. 15" JL 15W1's on ppi 600am. Punch 75 on Rockford 6.5 and 5.25s on a homemade crossover so had a midbass and midrange. Rockford series 1 amp on RF 1" dome tweets. Coustic xm3 crossed over the subs and tweets. Took your breath away and sq was beyond anyone in my area. Miss that set-up.
@@TheBrokenLife I still have two PPI Sedonas. Trying to figure out what to put them in! Also have 3 JL12W3D6-V1's. I hoard audio equipment lol.
There is a later revision model of the 600, the A-600.2 I bought mine on the dealer accommodation program in 1995. I have the 300, 404, and the 600, but I bought mine in black. They look even classier with the board schematic screen printed in gloss black on the satin black heat sink. When our stores were aquired by SBC Ameritech all the inventory was offered to us (the employees) in a ridiculous blowout garage sale type affair. I bought everything I could grab. I got 2 A-1200's for$125 each, 2 5075DX amps for $50, a 4100AM for$25, a 2050AM for $25, a 2150AM for $50, I also picked up a DCX1000, an RCM1000, a PAR225 and a gaggle of other PPI gear as well as a ton of stuff from other brands that we carried. They sold all of the Alpine 3555 amps for $100 each! We carried PPI MB Quart Audio Control JL Nakamichi MTX Sony Clarion Kenwood and a few others, it was quite a sendoff for all of us (who were of course fired after the aqusition).
Oh man that’s cool. My only concern with the .2 models was the way PPI used CHY’s art work without paying her royalties. They are great amps though. Good deal with the extreme low prices, I would’ve done the same 👍
Had these exact 2 amps in a 1990 camaro back in the day. 2 jl 12w0's and mb quart 3 ways in the front. Man i miss those days.
Great setup, I just grabbed a trio of A404s and plan a similar install. I have a set of Mb quart 2 ways, but i'm still on the hunt for a 4" driver to add to them. Going with a JL 10TW3, each voice coil will get 200w (or more like 185w after watching this video), the midbass drivers will get 200w each (again more like 185w), then I have 50x 2 for tweeters and 50x2 for rear fill or midrange. Stuffing it all into an AW11 MR2.
What's up, I had and still have a black a600. Back in the day I had it pushing 4 orion xtr dvc 12's. It hit hard...I have a few ppi amps.
I have
2 black a600's
2 white 4200's
1 white 4100
2 black 2050's
1 white pro mos 450
I have found a few as well,
A404
A300.2
Pc275
Pc2100
Pc1400(X2)-grey
Pc1800-chrome
The a404 sounds so nice.
I think one of the best old school amps were the Earthquakes mean machines. I had a 44(22×2) pushing 2x15..4-6-1/2's& 2 boss tw17 tweeters. And it was clean as hell.i loved the Ppi amps with the antifreeze lines running through them also
Those amps where the bees need back I'm the day for the super clean mids and highs . But I've seen the 4x50 push bridged some 8" and 15" that the sound was unbelievably good.
Those are a couple of beauties. I always preferred the black circuit board design heat sink but both black and white were just stunning.
Had these in A200 (2-Ohm mixed-mono with a center) and A300 (bridged 4-Ohm) forms along with a Phantom Powered crossover. Best amps I've ever had the pleasure of owning, IMO. They crushed my Soundstream AXXX amps in both SQ and and crispness.
I might have to buy them back from my brother.
I worked at a shop back in ‘95 - installed tons of PPI amps. Those were the days!
I have a 1200.2 that I’ve had since 1998 and a 600.2 with original box, stickers and manual and then a 300.2 that I’ve owned since new in 1996. All of them are in amazing shape and will be installing them in my ‘91 LX 5.0 Mustang. Taking me right back to high school.
Wow! Im stunned at the condition of these PPI amps! I had a PPI for my first real amplifier on 2 old school kicker 10s with the Gold logos! Miss those days!
Those are unregulated power supply amps i think. Run them on 15-16volts and see what you get.
I heard the same thing but was never brave enough to try it!!
Looks straight outta the '80s. Me likey. Need to be in an Samurai! :)
You never disappoint Big D. Beautiful amplifiers
Yep, used to install these and many others back between 87 and 94. PPI, Redline, fosgate, Alpine, some nice Kenwoods as well. I remember when these artwork amps first came into the store, we could never see the purpose of it.
Beautiful! They capture a whole era in art and quality. Very nostalgic when I see these. Nice video, thanks!
Thanks for watching and commenting!
These amps were used in sound quality installs back in the day. Heard several of these amps with MB Quart mids and highs and they were outstanding.
Yessir 👌
I had an a404 an a600 and an a1200 in my jeep back in the day. I'd die to have those bad boys back.
They may not make a ton of power but they were clean as can be and sound awesome.
Btw they have regulated power supplies so they basically have the same output regardless of input voltage...
Only drawback to that is if your voltage drops too low you can damage the amp... ask me how I know 😀
(Hint... my a1200 was upgraded to an a1200.2 in its second coming)
👌😬👍
I blame it on age they went a little under, plus that odd transformer or chock noise could be a component going. Their just tired old amplifiers, to think their almost 30 years old! But they do excel in sound quality and of course good looks.
All the test I've seen,even on the models after this one,does the same thing..I use to work for a audio place,that use to sell the model after these(90's+).they sounded great, but couldn't keep up with Rockford fosgate and mtx(power wise)
I tested 5 total amps from this series and you’ll see in future vids they all performed almost exactly the same. Even the ones with updated components
I worked at a shop that sold these new BITD. Also sold Rockford Fosgate. I really liked this series, but the RF always sounded more powerful. Now we know why! Lol. But this was the paired combo that seemed to work. Very clean sounding amps, Especially with the MB Quart or Altec Lansing mid/highs and JL subs, usually a pair of 10W5s or 12W5s for subs (and their giant ported boxes). We tried loading them down to 2 ohm mono, and they would do it, but they got really hot. Hot enough to melt the solder off of the power connector. And once they got hot, they didn't cool down very well either. There was some talk about water cooling. I remember seeing some pics of a few setups. I think the coolant was piped into extruded tubes on either side of the shell. I think I remember the shop owner had a setup with the big A1200 running 8 compound Isobarik JL 10w5s in the custom fiberglass mount JL had then. It was in a Jeep Cherokee sport. Cool setup. Very clean, and loud system, especially with the MB Quart 8" three way set in the doors.
Oh my gosh!! What a blast from the past :) I remember my BFF had them both installed in his geo storm :)
I still have my A-600.2. I wish I would’ve kept my A-404.2and A-200.2. I had the matching amp bridges between them. The sound quality of them was unbeatable at the time. Good job Big-D, this was the amp review I’ve been waiting for
Beautiful! I have quite a few of these models Myself! Tons of power! CLEAN! I have several of these. They are designed to be water cooled! That's what the hollow channels on th sides are for! CRAZY!
I remember that now! Maybe I saw them water cooled in magazines; not sure if I did in person. I went to many car audio competitions and car shows in Florida in the mid to late 90's. Wish my Mosconi One series were not so industrial looking. Sound incredible though!
I remember those vividly. Solid episode
Thanks for watching and commenting!
These have always been some of my favorite amps. Beautiful design. I had a few back in the day. I wish I had never sold them.
These never ever put out more power than rated. That was what RF was for back in the day.
Hey Big-D, these amps were designed by Jeff Scoon at PPI back in the day with regulated power supplies - hence they will output the same power almost regardless of input voltage. This may also explain the lack of 'dynamic power' you found. This was PPI's point of difference to rivals from RF and SS that offered very losely regulated power supplies and, hence, more power at higher voltages.
Ha. I just posted the same info. Good on you man. 😀👍
PPI The only way to go ? No, Actually Rockford is the only way to go if you have money but in 1994 any amp was the way to go even if you only had home speakers to put in your car... WHAT AM I THE ONLY ONE TO PUT FISHER OR SANSUI 15's in his Ride? Didn't think so.
My first car, 96 sunfire. My first speakers were two tower speakers with 15" woofers from Fisher. Layed flat with the backseat down. Sounded good! Still had sex in that car as it was
In 1994, if I had unlimited money, it would have been McIntosh amps. Truth is that through the rest of the '90s there were just lots and lots of great amps to pick from. But... The top of that pile isn't RF, IMO.
I feel the caps are dried out thats why its didn’t do rated
I have tested thousands and thousands of caps, some 30+ years old. An over whelming majority are within spec on the high end equipment. It is the cheap low end Chinese crap now days that suck. A lot of it depends on the initial quality, how much they have been used and how they have been stored (temp). Just because we have all heard they can go bad does not imply they are all bad as often mentioned in audio forums.
Wishbone20t. Thats awesome to hear!! I usually replace all my old caps myself im a kind of a bit much with that, all starting from my old marantz recivers they all needed recapped so i do it to all of my old 90”s car amps and they play alot better i can hear it after the recap so thats my experience with caps. the fact in spec on a meter does not mean in the circuit under a load it will play like a fresh cap so i replace especially one that has sat for years like these amps have...
I remember some of those PPI amps was liquid cooled they had a option where you could buy pump and reservoir
Man this takes me back to the 90s I love These videos I can almost smell the Box And the fresh Electronics
I had a set of the Art Series back in the day, loved them.
"Made in the USA"
Manual says "This Product is not for use in Ho Chi Minh areas" :o)
👈😝
This was awesome to see. I had the 404 pushing infinity 4" separates and the Orion DVC in a bandpass and it was awesome. What a good throwback, surprised they didn't hit over their rating!
Beautiful amps! I remember them back in the day. I began my car audio fixation in the late 80's.
Been waiting for the Art series to make an apperance, thx BigD!
Awe yeah
I would either throw on some clear vinyl (Stek or similar) over that art work for posterity. Dream amps. Nice find !
Great idea yo!
Between these and the Orion HCCI would be my top pick for best old school amplifiers
a punch 80
Had an Orion 2150SX and two 250SX in the late 80's. Couldn't afford HCCA. Almost bought a new 3000 for nostalgia reasons. Not a bass head so don't need 5k. May buy a next gen XTR to play with.
Imagine how hard it must have been to keep them looking so good and everything. Respect to the person.
Beautiful amps had the black ones back in the day ! They had the internals screen printed in place of the art work
I have an A1200 like that I’ll show in future vid
thomas padgett - I had 2 of them. Great sounding amps !!!
My buddy has 2 of the a404's (one he has had since the 90's and 1 he bought a few years ago for 30$!! and a pc2150 he has had since the 90's. These old ppi's are a really amazing clean sounding amps. They run really hot and are known to let out the magic smoke now there getting older.But well worth fixing!!
They sure do deserve to be saved 👍
PPI art series amps were the best sounding amps I've ever heard. Great bass control and imaging. They blew away the Soundstream Reference amps.
Superb looks and sounds!
These amps never gave me any issues . Got these 2 in the video with a A300. Running everything
active with 4 ohm load. 3 way front stage .
Agree 100% the PPI's were the best
Love these amps. I had 2 a600 black that shows the guts
👌😬👍
I still have a PPI 450 is gray but I’ve had it for years and it works like a beast
I used to have a shop w/ some buddies back in the early -> mid 90s. Rockford Fosgate and PPI was da shit. We loved these Art Amps from PPI. I'd love to have some of those for a system now. They were really strong and clean.
i'd really like to see an old power coustic 460 it was the favorite amp i ever owned. i had it hooked up to 2 10 inch round solo barics and 2 12 inch round solo barics in a standard cab s-10 and it hit so hard it would blur your vision. it was stolen and i never had the chance to have it tested.
the amp was stolen before I upgraded to the 12 inch L7s. the kicker amp was rated on the title or whatever the paper in the box was @ i think 740 or so @4ohms and i went from the truck to a caviler I couldn't tell if it hit as hard. if i had a time machine, lol.
Loved these amps! Me and a friend used to rival each other, back in the day. He was PPI and I rocked my PG MS275 and MS2125, which I still have in perfect condition. Would love to see a Dyno battle between these two.
This was INSANE! These were like the PG M25 Series II I had. Box. Mint, unused, perfect powder coat, gleaming heatsinks, manual, sticker, IASCA card, and PG accessories/apparel. These PPI are MINT! Saw the shine as soon as you took them out of the bag. Best friend had an A600 in his GF's car back in 1996. Nice sounding amps.
The 404 was my dream amp back when I couldn't afford it. 👍
I'm drooling!
I was in I was in there car audio pretty heavy when they were new. Always great sounding. I have been surprised to see old ppis consistently test lower then rated. Fosgate from the same era on the other hand we're always underrated sound almost as good and we're cheaper.
You hit treasure I would do anything for them
These amps will always be awesome!!!
I had an ax400 and a600 in a '86 GTI pushing MB Quart and JL Audio subs. They were black with a subtle graphic of the circuitry. I loved that system right up to the point when the car was stolen and stripped. I love that you still look back at some of the classic amps, great content.
Oh yes Thumping car stereo right up the road from me. This amp sure does bring back memories.
👌😬👍
I remember being at CES in 1990/91 and Sean Plummer (Precision Power sales manager) showing me the product launches for that coming year. I have always admired the design
I have 6 art series amp same two each of the ones here. Always loved them. Grail piece is a 2350dsm.
Has a service tag! Seal isn't broken!
That doesn't exactly mean that it hasn't been opened. As a former authorized service tech, they would send me new seals with every replacement parts order that I'd put in. I still have a dozen or so of them sitting around in my PPI schematics folder, even though I've been out of the game for almost 20 years.
My fav's were the black art series but you cant find them anywhere anymore! Great video pal!
You’ll see one in a future vid 😏
@@wal Oh wow, you sir are amazing! Can't wait brotha!
Probably the best looking amps ever.
Agreed!!
That low power output could mean bad caps. Considering there was no burst output whatsoever. Especially that loud whine they made. Don't box those amps up, get them recapped before they are destroyed :(
Not true. You’ll see why I say this in a future vid.
@@wal Ok, i look forward to it. Those amps are simply gorgeous, and im paranoid of bad caps.
I remember those
Always loved the Art series. I did notice that the 404 was always down on power versus other amps of the day. I also ran the MPS and MS series of the phoenix gold amps of the same year. I still have two of the A600’s in black and have used them for almost 24 years consistently and never had a problem. One is bridged to 2 15’s at a 3 ohm load and virtually never goes into protection. It gets so hot you can’t touch it and I’ve been waiting decades for it to fail. But I’m still loving em! Thanks big D
They may have been down on power but musically I enjoyed running these over 99% of all the amps made at the time.
Love the old school .
I used to run an a600 in 4 ohm mono at 14.5 volts to a single Kicker 15” in a tuned box along with the A404 for the front stage. Let’s just say they performed very nicely, clean sound and the sub hit when you wanted it to. Bought the pair off a guy in like new shape in 1998 and to this day I am sad I sold them in 2004 :(
Beautiful amps. I remember those
Oh those PPI Art series amps were the most beautiful amps ever made AND they could be water cooled! Yeah water cooled amps available roughly 30 years ago!
I left that part out of the video but will mention in a future PPI Art vid 😬
Super! I had an A404 in the 90s too. MB Quartz Discus series with JL Audio 12w1’s. Also had a PPI 4-band in dash EQ. Think it was called the PEQ-114?
All that in a ‘92 Ford Tempo!
That’s a sick setup!
Thanks Big D. Pretty sure the stereo tripled the value of the car.
I had a sorta similar setup. Adcom GFA-4404, Quart Reference components, 4 JL 10W4s, PG ZPA 0.5. Best sounding system I ever had and I fortunately still have it all! Always wanted a PPI, but I like my Adcoms way too much to change. I remember your EQ too! Sales guys at the PPI store loved that thing.
Love the Art series!! PPI for the win
Awe jeah
I have a whole cabinet full of those ppi amps. Watching your video makes me want to put them back to work. Some of these amps I have had since the 90s
So close. Still a beautiful old school SQ amp. Those had a regulated power supply. The reason there's no dynamic headroom. Should sound sweet though. Great video BigD!! 👌
Regulation is good and bad, but yeah no doubt these are beauties in more than one way
I had a few art series amps back in the day. They where borderline impressive.
I always kinda knew that they could not out perform. Thanks for clarifying that. The where very expensive too.
Sound quality is what they where all about.
The only art series amp I have left over from that era is the a606.2 and it’s really a show piece.
I never owned these but I felt maybe the same about a/d/s P80/P120 amps, overrated, barely borderline and way too expensive.
@@geezler4083 As many have stated here. The PPI art series amps were possibly the finest sounding amps ever made. They had great bass control and amazing depth and imaging. Many amps that were just as expensive didn't come close. Here in Canada all car audio back in the late 80s and early 90s was double the cost relative to the US.
This is going to sound crazy but believe it or not those super stiffly regulated power supplies in those art series amps would sometimes make more power at 12 volts than 14.4 or whatever the test voltages were. I would like to see the power output at 12 volts and see if there was any difference.
Back in the day I never thought my art series were “powerful “; but they sounded sooooo much better than my other amps
I would totally hang one of these amps on my wall next to my paintings
Agreed 👌
Have you ever dynoed a U.S amps HC-100 ultra ?
Whatcha know about Art series PPI amps? Around 1995, these were THE amps to get, along with JL subs. I had a PowerClass 450, used for front mids/highs. PowerClass replaced Art series, I believe (around 1997?) The only difference (besides not looking nearly as good) is on-board crossovers on the PowerClass amps.
Yeah I remember those days. Guy from my old neighborhood had 2 of these on 3 JL 12's in a Dodge Daytona. Could hear him coming a mile away. Won all the competitions.
Man, I haven’t seen a Power Class amp in ages, those were all over the magazine installs in the late 90s. I had no money at the time, but I bought the lower tier PPI 5440 5 channel based on reputation. It didn’t pump out a ton of bass but I was able to play with running active mids/tweets and a sub without any other equipment, which was unheard of in the year 2000. I forked out hard earned cash for Eclipse components and regret to this day selling those.
Those days the PPI SOUNDSTREAM and Fosgate amps were the shit With some JL 12s
Where in the heck did you find these gems? Nice!
I had a close friend that had those exact amps setup in a 87 nissan pickup. They may not be over achievers like some but they worked flawlessly. He had 2 jl audio 8inch w3s and they shook the entire truck it was awsome. I am so jealous of those where did you score those beauties in such great condition.
Had these exact amps in my 1989 T-Bird. Best amps I've ever owned. I really wish I could find 2 404s and a 600 white in mint condition but all the ones on e-bay are abused. :(
The Arts, I Love them dearly. I like the previous model's, shape wise but they spared no expense with their Art graphics on these series. Absolutely Beautiful. Another Sweet Video D, thanks 👍
Back when precision power was crazy
Love the old ppi art series. I have a couple old XTANT amps from early 90s. Would love to see one of those on the dyno.
The Giver the Xtant will make their power then some for sure. The company never made a bad product before or after buyout
I just got an Xtant 3ch amp I’ll show in a future vid
Look forward to seeing that video. Thanks for what you do. Really enjoy the channel.
My best friend had a very similar set, with MB Quart components and 2 GS Redline 10 inch subs. I would say 93-94.