AudioControl LC-6.1200. A Car Amplifier For All Seasons.
Looking for a versatile car amplifier for all seasons? Car amplifiers can be much overlooked when specifying a system as common wisdom suggests that it is the speakers that dictate the final sound. In our experience, we feel it is always dangerous to look at individual system components without a specific idea of what you are looking for in terms of final sound.
Personal preference tends to drive us toward a favourite musical genre or even the work of an individual artist or band. However if along with millions of others, you share a varied musical taste, then a spread of musical styles may need to be studied before deciding on an audio component.
It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between amplifiers. However, despite what you may be told, they are not all the same. Yes, they perform the same key function; to make your music louder. Car amplifiers do have their own individual character and some are more suitable than others for a listener’s personal choice.
I have extremely varied tastes yet a lot of my reference tracks come from when I was a youth. I played guitar in a number of bands and guitar-based music was my go to for a long time. Choosing to use 70’s and 80’s rock as a reference does have a lot going for it. One of the main characteristics I am looking for in my listening is instrument separation. The music of my youth often had multiple instruments playing in registers very close to each other (100 – 500Hz). This made picking out individual instruments problematic and impossible on poor equipment.
Although amplifiers do a pretty good job at reproducing such frequencies, dynamics are probably more important for the seeker of good separation! Many early car audio experiences I had disappointed in this area as cheap amps mashed everything together. Quoting a good “Signal to Noise Ratio” is all well and good but sometimes the way this was measured was unclear and didn’t give a true idea of how an amplifier would handle being bombarded with multiple instruments playing in a narrow bandwidth. In short it was basically stated as the difference in output when the amplifier had nothing at all to do compared with at full chat (often regardless of distortion too!). Read more about “separation” here: https://www.drivingsounds.co.uk/articles/driving-sounds-issue-5/the-art-of-separation/
A track like “Wayward Son” by Kansas is ideal for checking for separation. There are two guitars mirroring each other almost throughout. Apart from the overall fullness resulting from this arrangement, each guitar has a very specific character and I for one, like to hear them both! Add the hammond organ, close harmony vocals and drums and there is a whole lot happening in that 100 – 500 Hz area as can be seen from the image above. The image is a screenshot from my phone on which I run an excellent app. from TPI that I use for very rough and ready measurements (the microphone in my phone is far from calibrated!). The screen shot was taken a minute or so into Wayward Son. I think it shows where the majority of information lies in the audio spectrum emphasising the importance of bass and lower mid frequencies.
AudioControl has been around for many years (remember graphic equalisers?). Car amplifiers are seen as a fairly modern departure for them as they have been heavily promoted as a signal processing company. As their customers began to look for integrated solutions, AudioControl developed amplifiers with many of their key processing technologies built in. This has proven to be a very successful strategy for them and now they boast a good number of products which both shape and amplify sound.
The AudioControl LC-6.1200 amplifier features six bridgeable channels of amplification each able to deliver 125 watts RMS into 4 ohms or 200 watts. RMS into 2 ohms. The ability to run the amplifier into 3, 4, 5 or 6 channels makes it highly desirable amongst system designers. The addition of high level inputs and the patented AccuBASS system adds hugely to the usefulness and flexibility of this excellent product as it is capable of regenerating bass frequencies filtered out in many standard (OEM) head units. They are removed to protect the cheap and nasty speakers fitted.
The high-level inputs are summable. This enables installers to recombine pre filtered outputs (to three types of speaker for instance), back to one coherent stereo pair without any loss or degradation. A comprehensive set of onboard filters and crossovers enable the set up of multi-way speaker systems.
Of course, describing what it says in the manual is the easy part and possibly not the most interesting read you will have today. Listening is the acid test but this needs to be carried out with suitable music.
There are not many commercially available car amplifiers that would add a lot of distortion whilst amplifying, unless something is wrong with the install or set up. However, separation is purely a matter of passing audio without squishing it. In the past, car amplifiers have not always delivered that well. Focus has always been on arbitrary power figures and other parameters where a super-high (or super-low) number is quoted in order to impress. In the 80’s and 90’s when dance music was all the rage, amplifier manufacturers got away with poor separation, as the music itself helped out by having very little content other than high and low frequencies. Listeners of more complete source audio were limited to niche and esoteric car amplifiers in order to get all the frequencies out that they put in. The mass market was filled with products that made as unholy a mess of bass to mid-range audio as modern day standard head units do!
More recently however, manufacturers have focussed more on “sound” than specification and the quality of modern day amplifiers has improved a lot as a result. AudioControl is absolutely no exception and also has a long history in the development of amplifiers for both domestic and professional use. The range of car audio amplifiers they produce are blessed with great sound and scratch the separation itch in that department. They are also filled with very useful features that help the installer and further improve the performance of these fantastic products.
It is always wise to ask the advice of your installer and also if possible, to listen to a couple of examples of amplifier. You will be amazed at how much difference they can make!
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