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Amazon Basics 80 Watt Class D Amp Review

Jim777

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Do other manufacturers do the same thing? I thought this was only in the manual, not the product itself.
I lived in Québec, where it is more strict than in the rest of Canada. You'll need French on the product itself there (the cheapest way to comply is to include stickers in the box that nobody will use). Or offer both versions (and they can't sell the English one in a store where the French one is out of stock), that happens a lot for keyboards and laptops.
 

m8o

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On purely a THD basis, this is 4.5x worse than what was the expectation for good "hi-fi" in the 1970s. [!] Very big but sad lol.

And also, as someone who fiddles with bass and treble on a song by song basis thus perhaps adjusting it more than volume (tone control is -not- parametric equalization that adjusts for speaker or room imperfections), the ergonomics of this can't be more worthless to me. Wow, is this a miss.
 
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GGroch

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On purely a THD basis, this is 4.5x worse than what was the expectation for good "hi-fi" in the 1970s. [!] Very big but sad lol.

My admittedly foggy memory is different from yours. The biggest selling receiver in the mid 70s, the Pioneer SX-650 had a THD of .3% (compared to .046% here). When Kenwood released the KR-4070 with just .1% THD it was a major selling point. Back then common stereo store wisdom was that .2% was the audibility threshold. I am sure Amir measures THD differently than the old FTC rules mandated, but still.
 

PeteL

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This thing is simply not worth existance. The parts are better not assembled into one of these. I would definitely take a 1990s AVR with a couple broken buttons over this for a garage or shop. There are way better chip amps around this price too. There is no point. What's with the ugly virtue signaling bilingual case? Just use icons and cover all of humanity without ruining the aesthetic.

They should put a tube buffer in this and pretend that is causing the wierd measurements. ;)
25+ years AVR have a very good chance of needing maintenance already, knowingly or not by the seller or buyer, or any day from then on. I think that's the point people buy new, they know it will work.
 

FrantzM

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PeteL

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Steamrolly

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Do other manufacturers do the same thing? I thought this was only in the manual, not the product itself.
Amir I think that you must have a bi-lingual collectors edition! Amazon.ca only shows it with English and I would doubt that Amazon would make a bi-lingual product specifically for Canada as the market demand is far too small. This is the first time I have ever seen any audio equipment with both languages. Other than warning labels on the back.
 

Hipper

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It seems the treble and bass are adjustable by screwdriver on the back panel. Why? Wouldn't it have been just as easy to install knobs on the front for a more practical adjustment?
 

m8o

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My admittedly foggy memory is different from yours. The biggest selling receiver in the mid 70s, the Pioneer SX-650 had a THD of .3% (compared to .046% here). When Kenwood released the KR-4070 with just .1% THD it was a major selling point. Back then common stereo store wisdom was that .2% was the audibility threshold. I am sure Amir measures THD differently than the old FTC rules mandated, but still.
Perhaps I'm mixing up my 70s w/my 80s. I always went by the convention that 0.01% or lower was the target.
 

Digital Mastering System

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I would typically agree, but below 70 SINAD i think audibility can very quickly becomes a concern.

Crosstalk as well is problematic.

I've never understood why anyone should care about crosstalk. -40db is 1% and we all used think this was great when we measured phono cartridges and or FM stereo receivers. I seriously doubt anyone could tell the difference between -40db and -100db crosstalk on music program material.
 

abdo123

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I've never understood why anyone should care about crosstalk. -40db is 1% and we all used think this was great when we measured phono cartridges and or FM stereo receivers. I seriously doubt anyone could tell the difference between -40db and -100db crosstalk on music program material.

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respice finem

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#72: These are comparisons that are made because they are possible, not necessarily because they matter (the infamous "mine is bigger than yours" thing) ;)
 

beagleman

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The measurements are bad, and in a home component stereo environment are probably audible.

.

Audible meaning you can hear it from routine listening, OR, when trying to see if you can hear issues, OR can hear when listening to test tones, OR can hear after SEEING the measurements are mediocre and expecting to hear issues?

Many things are "audible", but how one arrives at it BEING audible is another thing.
 

PeteL

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I lived in Québec, where it is more strict than in the rest of Canada. You'll need French on the product itself there (the cheapest way to comply is to include stickers in the box that nobody will use). Or offer both versions (and they can't sell the English one in a store where the French one is out of stock), that happens a lot for keyboards and laptops.
Are you sure about that? I mean I know for anything you are gonna consume yes, for safety, warnings instructions, sure, but this is quite a reach. Yes, I've seen those stickers for microwave front panel and suff like that and obviously a french keyboard is a must, but you may be right, when strictly applied... Now we must have a bit of common sense... No one is confused if you see "ON" on a switch. That said, I don't dislike this, I find on this amp it works. But if it really had to be done systematically I could see many designers and manufacturers pulling their hairs, especially for tiny portable products.
 
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GGroch

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Audible meaning you can hear it from routine listening, OR, when trying to see if you can hear issues, OR can hear when listening to test tones,......Many things are "audible", but how one arrives at it BEING audible is another thing.

Good points, and I don't know the answer. I think I could tell an amp with a 66dB S/N from one with 90dB by sticking my ear against a tweeter. Amir reported no subjective listening test. It would be interesting to compare an Amazon basic amp to something with better specs using Hypex/Ice/TPA 3251 and see how much audible difference there is with quality sources and good mainstream speakers.

But I'm a defender of this thing. The fact that an amp does not measure well does not mean that its designers were incompetent. It could just mean that it was not designed to compete with audiophile amps for critical listening. I wish Amazon was more forthcoming about optimal use cases on their product page. On the other hand, they provide quite a bit more info than most $80 amps on Amazon do.
 

jam

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I lived in Québec, where it is more strict than in the rest of Canada. You'll need French on the product itself there (the cheapest way to comply is to include stickers in the box that nobody will use).
You've lived in "la belle province"... cool. Do you miss our wonderful winters? Altough in the last decade or so, the eastern U.S. has had its fair share of major winter storms and blizzards, even all the way down to Texas this year.
 
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