This is a review and detailed measurements of the Dyaton Audio SPA300-D subwoofer "plate" amp. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $180.
I tested it with the configuration as you see. I wish there was balanced XLR input as these amps are prone to ground loops over long RCA connections.
Dyaton Audio SPA300-D sub Amp Measurements
We start with our dashboard of 40 Hz into 4 ohm load with the gain set to 25 dB:
This is dismal performance with copious amount of harmonic distortion. I later discovered that this can be massively improved with Bass Boost turned on (but read later):
Noise performance is very good based on the two such amps I have tested:
We yet again have a mandator high pass filter for low bass:
I was hoping bass boost would defeat that but as you see, it just pushes up the existing response way high, removing any sense of flat response. Both settings result in nearly 8 dB of drop relative to 40 Hz.
By accident, I started testing the power vs distortion test with bass boost still on. I was shocked by the much better performance as noted above:
Not that it is easy to live with that Bass boost as to get this performance the way it screws up frequency response.
As if to curse me with more testing, the roles reversed with 2 ohm load!!!
I went back and re-ran all the tests to make sure this is the case and it was. I have no explanation of why the boost filter has this dual personality. As is, it makes the amplifier unusable. So I stopped testing.
I had run the warm up test before running the above measurements:
I repeated the test twice and that start up glitch remained.
After testing, the top plate of the amplifier was noticeably warm.
Conclusions
There is potential here but it is screwed up somehow with that bass boost circuit. I am at a loss as to what it does as it improves the performance at 4 ohm but reverses with 2 ohm. If the company (or whoever designed it for them), had performed a modicum of measurements, they would have found this issue. But they haven't, leaving us with major flaw here.
I can't recommend the Dyaton Audio SPA300-D subwoofer amp.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I tested it with the configuration as you see. I wish there was balanced XLR input as these amps are prone to ground loops over long RCA connections.
Dyaton Audio SPA300-D sub Amp Measurements
We start with our dashboard of 40 Hz into 4 ohm load with the gain set to 25 dB:
This is dismal performance with copious amount of harmonic distortion. I later discovered that this can be massively improved with Bass Boost turned on (but read later):
Noise performance is very good based on the two such amps I have tested:
We yet again have a mandator high pass filter for low bass:
I was hoping bass boost would defeat that but as you see, it just pushes up the existing response way high, removing any sense of flat response. Both settings result in nearly 8 dB of drop relative to 40 Hz.
By accident, I started testing the power vs distortion test with bass boost still on. I was shocked by the much better performance as noted above:
Not that it is easy to live with that Bass boost as to get this performance the way it screws up frequency response.
As if to curse me with more testing, the roles reversed with 2 ohm load!!!
I went back and re-ran all the tests to make sure this is the case and it was. I have no explanation of why the boost filter has this dual personality. As is, it makes the amplifier unusable. So I stopped testing.
I had run the warm up test before running the above measurements:
I repeated the test twice and that start up glitch remained.
After testing, the top plate of the amplifier was noticeably warm.
Conclusions
There is potential here but it is screwed up somehow with that bass boost circuit. I am at a loss as to what it does as it improves the performance at 4 ohm but reverses with 2 ohm. If the company (or whoever designed it for them), had performed a modicum of measurements, they would have found this issue. But they haven't, leaving us with major flaw here.
I can't recommend the Dyaton Audio SPA300-D subwoofer amp.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
