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AMPLIFIERS
I opened the box from Blaupunkt and there they were, all shiny new and, well, plastic — yes, Blaupunkt’s plastic amps had arrived — two PA4100s, one PA215, and a PA2100 — and I was going to be putting them through their paces.
The first thing that I noticed about the amplifiers was that they came in really big boxes, which actually confused me because what I had seen at trade shows and in demo vehicles were amplifiers that were pretty small. The box kind of threw me until I opened it and realized that inside was not only an amplifier, but a whole lot of other goodies. Blaupunkt has always been a rather non flashy, down-to-business company — simple but effective. Yes, they have cool colors on their head units and other "gee-whiz" kind of stuff, but, in my mind, they were, and maybe still are, a function-before-form sort of company. Enter this product, and out the door went that thought (not really, but I’ll get to that later).
Inside was the amplifier with a blue cover, the owner’s manual, complete with a birth certificate and power ratings, a remote gain control, four different colored lids, and mountings so you can use the amplifier out of its plastic case. The size was impressive — the amplifiers were at least half the size of what you would expect for their power rating, but the weight seemed right, yet very heavy for what I thought was plastic.
I proceeded to do what I do with every amplifier I have had my hands on — I took it completely apart. Companies cringe when I do this, and with good reason. If you really want to see what care and attention goes into manufacturing a product, take it apart and you’ll quickly find out. Now, for most you, you immediately void your warranty, so you might want to leave it to me to take them apart. In this case, I found out some interesting things.
Hey, That’s Not Plastic?!
The lid came off easily and I was left with a bottom piece attached to the amplifier. So far, this is quite alright for anyone, because even in the directions they tell you how to take the amplifier apart to hide it without its cosmetic external case. The top part is clear plastic and the bottom looks like gray plastic. That is until you take it off and realize that it’s actually a cast aluminum piece, really cool and quite heavy. When this is done, you’re left with a very small and completely usable amplifier. But I delved further and took it completely apart! Well, one panel later I was done and starring directly at a very simple, well laid out board — so simple it’s actually quite Zen-like. The amplifier is based upon the TriPath chip — some call this Class T and others Class D. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care as long as it works. For the sake of this review, let’s call it a "switching amplifier" and understand that it’s full range.
All of the amplifiers come with on-board filters that will handle high-pass, low-pass, and even band-pass on some, so all of the options are covered. Additionally, the amplifiers offer a bass boost that seems to be centered at 45 Hz. The amazing fact that all of this was accomplished in the space that I saw before me support my belief that function was still first for Blaupunkt — they’ve just gotten a lot more hip to the times. With the amplifier autopsy complete, I put the amp back together and moved on to installation.
For those of you who don’t know, when I test things, I like to see how logically things are built and I skip my normal step of reading the directions — this would prove to be a large mistake later, but did prove that the amplifier is simple to install.
Oh Yeah, Baby!
Let’s talk installation. First off, all of the connections are at one end of the amp, which I love. They are, however, not easy to conceal, so they don’t get my highest rating possible, but they’re pretty darn close due to the fact that they do have very nice Bosch connectors for the power and speaker connections. Using those types of connectors allows you to make all of your connections to a connector first and then simply plug the amp in. It comes in really handy if you’re an idiot, don’t read directions, and have to replace and amp say once or twice... Anyway, the connectors are cool and get a huge thumbs-up.
The remote gain control is cool and offers a nice blue LED that lets you know that amplifier is on, regardless of where it’s hidden, and uses a common telephone type connector to plug into the amp. It doesn’t disconnect at the module, so plan your wire run ahead of time. Included in the direction are instructions on how to use your own gain pot for custom mounting of a knob — once again, a really nice touch. Once installed, the amps looked great and I was ready to try them out.
Wow!
Let me shorten the story and just tell you that reading the directions is good — really good. If you did read the directions, unlike your faithful reviewer, you’d find out that the amplifiers are rated for a minimum 2-ohm load — any less, and no power. So, in my case, I kept having either a lot of bass or no bass at all. Either way, when I finally replaced the 2-ohm woofer in the truck with a 4-ohm woofer, what I ended up with was bass, and a lot of it!!
O.K., fast forward from my two weeks of stupidity and I have a 5.1 system all powered by Blaupunkt plastic amps. What was the difference from the amplifiers that they replaced? Nothing — except for the fact that I now have a lot more space (and I mean a lot more space), less heat (a lot less heat), and a much cooler look that I can even change from week to week, thanks to the customizable front plates. The amplifiers perform exactly as you would expect from amps in their power class, all this with good looks and a small size. Yes, they’re everything you need in the package that you want.
So, here’s my thought: if cloning ever becomes legal, and you can pick what you want in a human, I want Blaupunkt to be authorized to make mine first, because while you may think plastic is cheap, once you get your hands on these amps you’ll be hard pressed to use something else. Yes, size does matter!
Price & Contact: Call for pricing; 800-950-BLAU, www.blaupunkt-usa.com
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