ads P840 PowerPlate

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $800.00 from car audio boutique i

Year / Model Reviewed:
2000 ads P840

Strengths:
A lot of high end sound for a reasonable price. Small footprint in your car. Lots of installation and tweak options.

Weaknesses:
Not quite as good as the very best out there.

Summary:
I don't like the stars system, because it's important to gauge what context the reviewer is putting it in. So I'll give you some background. I bought this amp new in 2000 and it was an upgrade from the Alpine receiver handling the power duties. The upgrade also included a speaker change (ads 336 is compared to stock), so it's hard to say how much the improvement was due to the amp itself. However, it was a BIG improvement. One of the tweeters eventually blew out, so I replaced the tweeters to Dynaudio MD 100s and that was a noticeable upgrade. So much so, that pretty quickly I replaced the ads mids with Dyn MW 160s. That was very nice and worth every penny. Recently, I got a good deal on a used McIntosh MC 440M, and sold my 840. Here's where the context means everything. If I didn't have a speaker set with the resolution of the Dyn's, then I'd say that the ads P840 was the equal of the Big Mac. However, since I can tell, what the Mac gave me was a lot more sparkle, air and clarity on the top end, and a little more control and bump on my woofers. The Mac is giving me more wattage though, and the cost is signicantly higher, but in that context I heartily recommend the ads.

Similar Products Used:
McIntosh MC 440M Alpine receiver

Price Paid:  $600.00 from Carmedia1

Year / Model Reviewed:
 a/d/s/ p850

Strengths:
Clean power!

Weaknesses:
Some car noise.....

Summary:
Great amp! Have it running Diamond Audio 600s (front) and Focal 165HC (back) with no effort at all! Very clean amp!

Similar Products Used:
JL Audio

Price Paid:  $640.00

Year / Model Reviewed:
 1993 Mustang Convertible

Strengths:
The sound quality. Hands down the best, most accurate amp I have ever listened to in a car. I have it runing with four A/D/S 5 1/4 separates and two 10 inch MTX Blue Thunders. The amp is infinately adaptable. I have it bridged to six channels (the rear four are running the two 10s in my trunk).

My most important item when looking for an amp was the ability to play the entire music frequency transparently. I listen to rap, rave, classic rock, AND ethereal music along with classical. I needed my amp to have the dynamic headroom to hit the loudest dance tune notes AND clarify a high hat from a tom-tom in a pop song while silently reproducing Beethoven and Dvorak. Wow. This amp is the tops.

I do agree with another reviewer that it is hard to tune, but all you need to do is get it right for your system and then enjoy, it's not like it's an every day job to tune it. Also, I had NO trouble finding the 40 amp fuse.

I run a Sony ES 10 CDand cassettee receiver. No amp in the stereo. I'm glad.

I spent $100 on wires alone for the system, so everything is top of the line, but it sounds so good at 100 mph with the top down !!!

The Ford Mach 460 system sounds like a regular stock stereo vs. this system. The heart is the A/D/S Powerplate 840.

Get it if you can ! ! !

Weaknesses:
No cooling fan for such a large and powerful amp. It gets really hot in mu trunk and has shut down a few times to protect itself. Of course, I had the Sony ES cranked WAY up and was doing 80 on the freeway, so I guess it's o.k.

Summary:
I have it wired directly to my battery and can see the ampmeter move to discharge when a low note hits and my headlights are on.

Similar Products Used:
I have owned Kenwood, Coustis, and Sony amps. None brought out the voice and SPECIFIC intruments in the music like this A/D/S has. Some of this, of course, is the quality of my A/D/S speakers, but the amp needs to process the information before it hits the speakers.

Strengths:
it can power an entire system. great quality and control of speakers. its also 8x80 max power. This amp is great for people who like quality sound and not just noise (from the subs). I used it with ads components and the mids and highs sound great without making your ears bleed. Also has a great warrenty...ads fixed my broken resistors for free!

Weaknesses:
Hard to find a 40amp fuse...sent it in for repair, and had to wait 3 weeks...but it was free. this was after 2 years. Not easy to tune.

Summary:
sounds great and is easy to adjust the gains. im gonna have to lower the overall rating because it is hard to tune (what the heck are all those switches on the bottom?) and difficult for me to find a 40amp fuse.

Similar Products Used:
Kenwood, Alpine, PG(this was a good amp also)