Pioneer launches $1500 in-car amp sure to make the neighbors mad |
Car audio is one of those things you love or hate. I’m mostly in the latter category thanks to my neighbor and his booming car stereo he seems incapable of turning down as he pulls up at 2 in the morning. The police in your town may take issue to it as well but if you just have to prove you have the loudest stereo in town, Pioneer has your amp.
Pioneer announced its new Premier PRS-A900 amp today and it is hella expensive at $1500. Pioneer says that it had the goal of ultimate performance despite the price tag and it shows. For $1500 you might expect a bazillion watts of power and you would be wrong.
The amp has 200W of clean, zero noise power according to Pioneer with 50W x 4 channels. The amp is bridgeable and uses a filter-less circuit. The signal to noise ratio is 108dB and the amp is a class A/B device. My worst fear is that my neighbor will buy one of these and then not be able to afford gas to drive anywhere– leaving me the joy of listening along.
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That is a 4 channel class AB amp, meant for people who demand CLEAN music. It will supply signal to a subwoofer, just not in a block-rockin manner. Those interested in that Pioneer amplifier have taken time off work to gut and deaden their car interiors so they don’t hear road noise. A cute little side effect of that is the sound doesn’t leave the car.
Your neighbor is simply not interested in that amplifier. Your neighbor wants any number of high current, unregulated Cass D amplifers available on the market. $1500 will get you tons of power.