# Navone Engineering AMP-100 2x20 watt mini amp



## coffee_junkee (Jul 13, 2006)

As some of you may have read in OT, three weeks ago I was graced with a newborn son. I now have a need for space in my trunk to lug around the usual garb that is associated with parenthood: stroller, diaperbag, car seat, frequent trips to the grocery, flip down dvd for the kid and rear freaking fill so he can enjoy the audio goodness too! 

Needless to say I'm not going to compromise on the quality, mainly just need to simplify the whole setup and find some creative ways to stash the gear where it won't get hurt. Now, I had been planning some "smart" rear fill with use of an Alpine PXA-510, help from werewolf and adding an Xtant 202m to the 403a and 302a that are already in use. Problem with the 202m is that it's kinda big and overkill for rear fill. I needed something small that could be hidden away in either the rear door panel or underneath the rear deck right by the speakers that it would be powering. I looked for an old Sony XM2020 or a JBL GTS-25 and couldn't find one that was cost effective. The Sony in particular will fetch some serious money on eBay. I just couldn't see spending $50 on the Sony when I scored the Xtant in mint condition, in it's box for $60, shipped!  

Enter the Navone AMP100:

It's tiny, 1.5" x 3" x 4"

Powerful enough for my fill needs, 20 per channel.

Has a built in crossover but interestingly enough, no specs on slope or frequency. I have e-mailed Dave and hope he casts some light on the issue.

It will be here tomorrow and I will give it a good run through and post the results.

In the meantime, am I the only person that has bought one of these?  It's a kinda cool looking little guy..


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

You have a child that's weeks old and you are already going for the flip-down DVD... WOW!

But I see you are getting him into audio early.... Atta-Boy!

My 6 year old has the DIY bug BAD! The beginning of his new rig has been posted, the sub is almost complete and the new widebanders are at the front door now for his "computer speakers of death"

Chad


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## coffee_junkee (Jul 13, 2006)

I'm going to drive the Ion into the ground so by the time he is old enough to watch movies, it should still be my driver. 

I have too much money wrapped up in deadner to let it go now! 

Does Alpine make just a flip down screen without a dvd transport?


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## oldschoolsq (Nov 29, 2006)

I have 2 of the Amp-100 units, they are Great little performers for thier size. I plan on testing them on a set of ID CD2NEO full bodies upon completing my build


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## Weightless (May 5, 2005)

I was looking at this to run my tweeters off of if I couldn't find the 4 channel I am looking for. 

Can't wait for a review!

Justin


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## chuyler1 (Apr 10, 2006)

When you review this, you should compare it against a couple head unit on-board amps to see if it provides better output/freq response/etc.


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## azngotskills (Feb 24, 2006)

Anticipating the review ...i was looking at picking one up recently but didnt due to the lack of product specs and reviews on it. Then my project changed but im thinking about going back and giving it another go


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## coffee_junkee (Jul 13, 2006)

I'm still waiting on a reply from Dave.. ahem.. Mr. Navone, as to the crossover and RMS wattage specs. 

For in-depth frequency response, distortion and wattage tests I'm going to ship it over to Chad if he will graciously perform them on the little beast. 

He sent over pics of his manly lab and I'm extremly jealous.. 

Can't wait for it to arrive!


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## mk1982 (Jul 3, 2005)

suprised this amp is not on the amp guts website

http://ampguts.realmofexcursion.com


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## coffee_junkee (Jul 13, 2006)

mk1982 said:


> suprised this amp is not on the amp guts website
> 
> http://ampguts.realmofexcursion.com


Oh, it will be soon..


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## coffee_junkee (Jul 13, 2006)

The name Navone is to car audio what Petty or Earnhardt are to NASCAR. You half expect something from the Navone skunkworks to arrive in a wooden crate, tagged "top secret" and come with a batallion of personel well versed on how to utilize it. Sadly, somewhat gives me that "hailed from China" feeling without coming right out and slapping the gold foil label on it... Truth is it doesn't say where it was made, but like I said, I have my suspicions.  

Amp-100, not so much.

While it's arrival wasn't as hearalded as some other things I have purchased, I was expecting something a bit more substantial. I certainly don't think it's capable of the "300 watts" that has been proudly silkscreened on its dorsal side... lightning strike not withstanding..  The board looks like one of those Radio Shack project deals and it even smells like Rat Shack when you strip the covers off. Sorry for the grainy, overexposed camera phone pic (I will take better shots when I get home):










Well, as long as it sounds good, the board and it's smell are alright by me!

After I give it a listen, I will box it up to for Chad to measure.


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## Weightless (May 5, 2005)

Does the board look as if it comes apart from the heat sink easily?

If these turn out to be pretty good, I want to sand blast the cover and repaint it.


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## coffee_junkee (Jul 13, 2006)

Two screws to remove the fets from the sink and will slide right out..

I'm going to polish mine and display it should it get the nod.


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## CaseyWalsh (Jul 25, 2005)

Hmmm, chip amp with no power supply. You’ll get a maximum of 18 watts per channel into 4 ohms at 12V – and that’s if it bridges two chip channels (BTL) to make one output. The little transformer is just to drop speaker-level inputs to line levels for the chimp-amp.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

There is only one transformer and it's a stereo amp right? Hmmmm. BUT I still see no PWM stuf in there BUT it would not take much to do a simple voltage doubler circuit and use that simple transformer.

Chad


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## evan (Dec 2, 2006)

Did you take some more pics yet?


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## CaseyWalsh (Jul 25, 2005)

chad said:


> There is only one transformer and it's a stereo amp right? Hmmmm.Chad


You’re right, my bad. The high level inputs have a little vertical riser card for attenuation. C’mon, c’mon, more pics…


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## coffee_junkee (Jul 13, 2006)

CaseyWalsh said:


> You’re right, my bad. The high level inputs have a little vertical riser card for attenuation. C’mon, c’mon, more pics…



LOL, easy there trigger.. 

The mother-in-law-to-be took my cam to develop pics of my newborn son...even after I told her just to take the damn memory stick.  

Will have them up tonight.

Other than that; I did get a chance to hook it up and it moved my little studio monitors but ran out of breath pretty quick. I want to try it out on the rear fill really bad, but my H701 isn't here yet and I wont be able to install everything until next weekend.. Bummer.


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## coffee_junkee (Jul 13, 2006)

Here are the guts!!



















Frame of reference, an old school PPI ProMOS 25, 2x25 watt... Seems almost unfair


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Ieeye dunno man...


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## ca90ss (Jul 2, 2005)

http://cgi.ebay.com/150W-Motorcycle-Car-2-Channel-Amplifier-NEW-mp3-amp_W0QQitemZ200040758621QQcategoryZ18796QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item200040758621


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## azngotskills (Feb 24, 2006)

hmm....interesting


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## Weightless (May 5, 2005)

Very interesting...Some one should buy one and compare the two...

They have 149 left...we better jump on these before they go!!!


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## evan (Dec 2, 2006)

I'm pretty disappointed. When this thread was started I thought it would be cool to try powering my stock speakers with one until I get the rest of my system installed, so I ordered one. I guess I should have waited for the opinion.  I'm tempted to send Dave the link to that eBay auction.


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## coffee_junkee (Jul 13, 2006)

*REVIEW*

Finally got a few spare hours to give this beast a good workout.

Pros:
-Likely puts out it's rated RMS power, and then some.
-Sounds damn good up to about 7/10ths volume.
-Silent turn on/off.
-Precious little hiss with gain cranked on zero bit track.
-Size is a huge plus.
-Internal crossover is good for highpass, sucks for lowpass.
Cons:
-The wire is cheap as hell. 20ga for battery is weak..
-Gain knob had some noise at first.
-When hooked to same power supply as source, NASTY NOISE!!!!!
-Got pretty hot after a couple hours of moderate listening.
-Not much headroom and clips out suddenly rather than gracefully.
-Reeks of Chinese assembly. Literally... 

Overall, I like the little beast. It's small, quiet and would make a great rear fill, tweeter, or dedicated midrange amp. I wouldn't reccommend using this on anything larger than say an efficient 6" speaker. It just doesn't have the nuts to move anything larger. The stereo separation spec is a bit low and contributed to a slightly narrow stage than my reference amp, but nothing crazy noticeable. In fact, that is the only thing that stood out to me versus the ref amp. Other than that, it performed very well!

My only real beefs are with the wire and the low pass crossover. It seems that the highpass works well to quelm the low frequencies from harming a small pair of 4's, but the lowpass point is just too high. I don't understand the point of it since this amp doesn't have the gusto for sub duty.

Also, the power wire is of a smaller diameter than the speaker output wire?  

I've spent $40 and gotten much, much less...


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## evan (Dec 2, 2006)

Good review. It made me feel a bit better about having one on the way to me.


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## coffee_junkee (Jul 13, 2006)

evan said:


> I'm pretty disappointed. When this thread was started I thought it would be cool to try powering my stock speakers with one until I get the rest of my system installed, so I ordered one. I guess I should have waited for the opinion.  I'm tempted to send Dave the link to that eBay auction.


For that, you will not be let down by the AMP-100.


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## Captain Paintball (Mar 18, 2007)

THIS amp (ebay version) was featured in a recent (1-2 issues ago) _Car Audio and Electronics_ magazine, in the "letters" section. The columnist really TRASHED the amplifier in an article about a friend of his who bought the amp for his motorcycle. I'll check later for the exact date of publication.


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## evan (Dec 2, 2006)

Captain Paintball said:


> THIS amp (ebay version) was featured in a recent (1-2 issues ago) _Car Audio and Electronics_ magazine, in the "letters" section. The columnist really TRASHED the amplifier in an article about a friend of his who bought the amp for his motorcycle. I'll check later for the exact date of publication.


It'd be great if you could scan it!


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## Captain Paintball (Mar 18, 2007)

I never thought of that! hold on, I'll look for it.


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## ArcL100 (Jun 17, 2005)

CA&E actually writes bad things? I guess that's what happens when it's not a main label supporting their rag =/

-aaron


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## evan (Dec 2, 2006)

I'm pretty sure the only thing Navone did to this thing is put the gold sticker on the front of the package.

I figured a few extra pictures wouldn't hurt.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

dunno... just dunno.


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## Whiterabbit (May 26, 2006)

Back when I was designing what I felt was an "improved" hands free car kit (mimic the function of a $200 kit for less than $100) I figured I'd use this thing powering a 4" spekaer in the underdash. way cool idea.

especially mounted to the rear deck, I cant see this amp be anything other than perfectly ideal for the application.


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## Captain Paintball (Mar 18, 2007)

I found the _Car Stereo and Electronics _review of the amp. I will not be able to scan it right this minute, but if anyone else wants to, it is the "5.1" issue from a few months back with the Critical Mass/Dodge 300 surround sound system. I think there was also an interview with Elliot Scheiner, who designed the Acura DVD audio in the RDX and RL.


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