Amazon Basics 80 Watt Amplifier Teardown

[don'ttrustauthority]

I'm so happy you did this. I wanted to know more about this unit when it came out but I never thought anyone would review it. Good job!

 

[Harmonie]

Thanks Amir.
But I would like to understand WHY does it measure that bad ?

Amazon basic features often good cables and good equipment (office shredders aso).

It seems that by today's standards, in order to get such bad measurements, you almost need to make it intentional.

So Why ?

 

[GGroch]

it actually makes a lot of sense if you think of this product as intended for the ambient music system of a small shop or restaurant. this way the employees will have less of an opportunity to mess with it....

RIGHT! This was developed as an integrator/installer product, released in 2017 as the OSD XMP100 and Here on Amazon. Not just for businesses, this is the kind of amp installers like to put in the electronics closet of homes with built in multi-room systems to power in-wall, in-ceiling, outdoor, and bookshelf speakers. It has a lot of good features for that use including:

• Left/Right Balance Control
• Bass/Treble Tone Control (located in the rear so that integrators can set them and forget them)
• 2 input sources
• Ability to connect & switch 2 pairs of speakers and to safely play 4 speakers simultaneously
• Bridgeable Mono Option doubles the power
• Real speaker binding posts, not spring clips
• Auto Input selection/Prioritizing (allows source to be switched remotely amp to be hidden away,
• Auto On/Auto Off power circuit
• 12 V trigger

Sound matters, but because of the intended use reliability and ease of install would matter more.

 

[GGroch]

Thanks Amir.
But I would like to understand WHY does it measure that bad ?.......It seems.......in order to get such bad measurements, you almost need to make it intentional.

Perhaps I am missing something that you see in the measurements and I don't. On Amir's THD+N for power amp chart I see 17 models rated worse.
These include the Anthem MRX 520 ($1400), The Sony UDA-1 ($800) and the SMSL AD-18 ($140). I will never own the Anthem or Amazon, but I did own a UDA-1 and AD-18 and neither sounded horrible. The SMLS AD-18 is extremely popular with lots of happy, (clueless?) owners reviews on Amazon.

As I mentioned above, OSD designed it for purchase by installers for business or home integration use. Thousands of this type of system are installed every year by installers and DIY homeowners. The end users are not audiophiles but just people who want to hit a few buttons on a wall panel or smart phone and stream Pandora around the house. What matter most is that they work reliably and are quick to install and integrate with home entertainment controllers.

 

[Harmonie]

Perhaps I am missing something that you see in the measurements and I don't. On Amir's THD+N for power amp chart I see 17 models rated worse.
.

I don't want to argue, but this maybe ?

But fully agree with you that everything has it's purpose and your former post #23 explains it well to me.

 

[Jimster480]

Awesome teardown, I actually had one of these a year ago and I am pretty sure I offered you to test it but you weren't interested.