Would they sound better with present-day A/B Amps? Maybe, probably, but then again, I might not be able to tell the difference.Īnd I am not interested in: (1) losing my spare tire, (2) making huge Amp racks, (3) Adding fans to cool them, (4) adding an extra Battery, (5) upgrading my Alternator, etc.ĭ-Powered Amps run efficient (lower amperage draw) and cool (no fans needed) and can be tucked away in side panels. Would they sound better with a 20/30 year old A/B Amp? I doubt it. Fast forward to today, I am running a set of Thesis 3-ways that retail for $6300, which are powered by two Audison D-Powered Amps and they sound amazing! The last A/B amps I ran was back in the 90's, had an a/d/s PQ20 and in a different vehicle a big PPI Amp (silver with red text/stripes) and while they both sounded fine to me, I was not running anything near top-of-the-line speakers. (2) If you have another suggestion or recommendation for a Soundstream Reference 604 replacement, I'd love to hear that, too! (1) I'd love to hear anything you might be able to tell me about your experience or perception of these amps-anything at all. I don't need any advice on power, system configuration, etc. Do you think I'd be disappointed? Do you think they measure up to 'old school A/B technology'?

Without getting into a back and forth about A/B versus D superiority, I was hoping to get some general advice from those of you in the community who have heard or run these new Audio Control amps. I just haven't heard them, and I don't know anyone who can offer a testimony one way or another about it. I've heard that modern Class D amps can match (or come close) the sound quality of old A/B amps, but I've been completely oblivious to the evolution of car amps over the past couple of decades. I've considered replacing it with one of Audio Control's new Class D amps (probably an ACM-4.300 or LC-6.1200-although that's irrelevant for this discussion). Well, my Reference 604 running my front stage finally bit the dust (RIP). I've been running old-school Soundstream class A/B amps for 30 years now and loved them.

Soundstream reference 604