PERFORMANCE/BENCH MEASUREMENTS
On the bench, the ZXi60.4+1K performed well, and came away with very good specs. It’s difficult to control the noise from the Class D amp in a design like this, but the ZXi60.4+1K measured a very respectable -85dBA at 1 watt, which is better than some other amps even without combining a Class D! Frequency response was quite wide and very flat, and the crossover filters operated correctly. The amplifier also developed more than rated power at any impedance, and when I did ugly things to it like dead shorting the outputs, it simply protected itself and waited for me to fix the problem and cycle the power. No drama, no sparks, and no loss of the special magic smoke that is responsible for making all electronics work.
CONCLUSION
A five channel amplifier makes a lot of sense when you look at the problem logically. Why bother with several power wire runs, distribution blocks, and finding space to mount multiple amps when you can get it all in one convenient package? And when the solution sounds good, costs less than multiple amps, has a front end flexible enough to work with almost any system design, and it’s dead reliable, it’s the kind of logic I can live with. For more visit www.maxxsonics.com
