# Audio Control amps



## rob3980 (Jun 11, 2010)

I’ve noticed a lot of people using Audio Control amps lately and also a lot are for sale . For those of you who have used them and also used higher end amps like Mosconi as or zero and Zapco lx or ap , Mmats hifi and so on what did you like and dislike about the AC Amps ?


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## Nineteen69Mach1 (May 30, 2017)

They are GREAT amps.
I have nothing bad or negative to say about them. They sound great, the perform great, and have an amazing warranty. I will be using the D4.800 and the LC1.800 in a future build. With some GB15, GB60 and a GB12D4


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## rob3980 (Jun 11, 2010)

Nineteen69Mach1 said:


> They are GREAT amps.
> I have nothing bad or negative to say about them. They sound great, the perform great, and have an amazing warranty. I will be using the D4.800 and the LC1.800 in a future build. With some GB15, GB60 and a GB12D4


What high end amps have you used before that you can compare the AC amps too?


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## Nineteen69Mach1 (May 30, 2017)

rob3980 said:


> Nineteen69Mach1 said:
> 
> 
> > They are GREAT amps.
> ...


I'm currantly running a Zapco Z150.6SP for a 3 way active front stage.
I've owned Mosconi Zero A-Class, JL Slash and HD, Linear Power and a few other old school amps. 
Not to get into the the whole Class A, B, AB and D amp debates. These Audiocontrol amp are great amps. You will not go wronge with them.


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## rob3980 (Jun 11, 2010)

Nineteen69Mach1 said:


> rob3980 said:
> 
> 
> > Nineteen69Mach1 said:
> ...


Good to know. Thank you.


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## Viggen (May 2, 2011)

Good timing on this thread! I am considering using their amps as well, possibly a pair of the LC 6.1200 

Every review I have seen has been positive so far.


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## Mahapederdon (Aug 19, 2016)

Viggen said:


> Good timing on this thread! I am considering using their amps as well, possibly a pair of the LC 6.1200
> 
> Every review I have seen has been positive so far.


I'm not saying these amps are unreliable but I have the lc-6.1200 and after a year 1 channel went out. It's being ra'd as we speak. Haven't heard what was wrong yet. This is the only amp I've ever owned that had something stop working. It's sounds good, is small, and has good power. I'm hoping I just had bad luck.


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## Nineteen69Mach1 (May 30, 2017)

Mahapederdon said:


> I'm not saying these amps are unreliable but I have the lc-6.1200 and after a year 1 channel went out. It's being ra'd as we speak. Haven't heard what was wrong yet. This is the only amp I've ever owned that had something stop working. It's sounds good, is small, and has good power. I'm hoping I just had bad luck.


Sorry to hear that, but these are elections and they is always a possibility of failure. But Audiocontrol has an industry leading 5 year warrantywith with a better warranty. They stand behind the equipment best that most other big name highend companies. I'm sure they will make it right for you.


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## saltyone (Feb 2, 2019)

Nineteen69Mach1 said:


> Sorry to hear that, but these are elections and they is always a possibility of failure. But Audiocontrol has an industry leading 5 year warrantywith with a better warranty. They stand behind the equipment best that most other big name highend companies. I'm sure they will make it right for you.


Elections and electronics, both are often rigged and unreliable. LOL

The only issue I ever had with an audio control device was a bad DQL-8. Something came loose inside of it. Probably my driving more than anything. Audio control sent me a new one two years after the install and all was well. They’re good people.


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## Mahapederdon (Aug 19, 2016)

I just spoke to audiocontrol. They said the board was loose. So it was just bad luck. I didn't get to use warranty cause I bought it from an unauthorized dealer. But they only charge $85 for out of warranty fixes. I have to say the company is super helpful. I will def recommend them to anyone.


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## ajb1205 (Oct 17, 2016)

Just threw in a LC-1.800 and have been more than happy. The addition of 2 different clipping leds makes setting gain a breeze. I always get a chuckle reading the box and owners manual...any one who owns an Audio Control products will know what I'm talking about.


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## Mahapederdon (Aug 19, 2016)

ajb1205 said:


> Just threw in a LC-1.800 and have been more than happy. The addition of 2 different clipping leds makes setting gain a breeze. I always get a chuckle reading the box and owners manual...any one who owns an Audio Control products will know what I'm talking about.


They used the word plethora in my manual. And they were pretty proud of it. Haha. Nice to see some humor in a manual.


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## Thegenuinearticle (Mar 1, 2018)

Going to use an Lc-1.800 to power my sub and an ACM 4.300 bridged for my door midbass speakers. Have seen Big D do an amp dyno on the 1500 and its efficiency numbers were impressive. They seem to have some of the lower THD ratings and higher SN ratios among the current class D amps on the market...


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## THX0849 (Sep 24, 2019)

Looking at a d.6-1200 for an active 3 way front and rear door coaxials with an acm 1.300 for a sub. Can't wait to get to play with the software to see how it sound in my WRX. Used a 2.300 for a buddies added on sub in his Civic si and very impressed with the build quality, size, value and performance out of that thing. And yes, having had audio control products for going on 30 years now, i love reading their manuals! Not quite as funny as they used to be but still fun 

Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk


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## Chris12 (Sep 20, 2018)

Thegenuinearticle said:


> ...
> They seem to have some of the lower THD ratings and higher SN ratios among the current class D amps on the market...


Just looked at audio controls website. Their posted S/N Ratios are referred to highest rated power which can be deceiving.

For standardized reference, look for S/N Ratio referred to 1 W.


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## ribrown (May 2, 2012)

I have an LC 6.1200 and I love it. More than enough power for my tweets, midrange, and rear mids. I use a Rockford 2x200 amp for my midbass. But I think the SQ is excellent. I am no experienced enough to compare it to other higher end amps but from my knowledge, it sounds great. I did however have one problem setting gains on it at first. I used an 8k hz test tone to start gain setting on the tweeter channels and saw a small puff of smoke released from it and it immediately went into safety mode and quit working. Crutchfield honored the warranty immediately and sent me a new amp and Audiocontrol told me to just not use a test tone that high frequency for gain setting. The other 2 pairs of channels wet set with 1k test tones and had no problem. So my current LC-6.1200, I just set the tweeter level by ear. I also have an AC crossover/line driver feeding signal to the amp so my tweeter gain is barely above the bottom setting and still plays sufficient volume. But I really feel the amp sounds great and the company Audiocontrol are super great informative helpful people. Just be careful with the high frequency test tones with gain setting.


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## steelwindmachine (May 15, 2017)

anyone do a scope reading on the ACM series?

I'm curious about the ACM 4.300 and 1.300 for use in a 2-way+sub w/DSP setup. I currently have a Sony XM-4045 and XM-GS100 sitting, both have low distortion op-amps, great channel separation and excellent dampening. But, they're large-ish and the ACM's compactness is attractive, but their specs leave little to assess their SQ-ness in comparison to the old Sony's.

Any insight?


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## CmdRiker (Aug 17, 2021)

rob3980 said:


> I’ve noticed a lot of people using Audio Control amps lately and also a lot are for sale . For those of you who have used them and also used higher end amps like Mosconi as or zero and Zapco lx or ap , Mmats hifi and so on what did you like and dislike about the AC Amps ?


Hello, I just upgraded the audio system in my daughter's 2019 Mazda CX-3 in July with Audio Control D-6.1200 and Morel Hybrid components for front and Morel Tempo coax for rears, plus a 13" kicker sub with a Euphoria DB Drive mono amp. I have say that I am still tweaking. The first D-6.1200 amp was defective out of the box, the max output voltage was super low. The installer returned it and got a new unit which performed as expected. I've spent quite a bit of time in the DSP software tweaking EQs, x-overs, speaker distance, using a microphone and RTA etc.. and I'm still not 100% happy with the over all sound of the system. Now, maybe I'm too picky but I know what good sound is as I am a musician and hobby recording / mixing / mastering engineer and my home studio sounds pretty darn good. I know a car is not a great space acoustically and I think my expectations are inline with that, I'm not expecting her car to sound like my home studio, or my headphone / DAC setup etc. But I have to say that for the $6000 CA that it cost me for that system, it does not sound anywhere near that, not by a long shot. Now I'm not blaming Audio Control or even the Morel speakers but something is just not right. The driver side door speaker (Morel Hybrid 6.5") has less bass (almost 10db at 80hz) than the passenger side speaker, yet both channels are set the exact same way in the DSP. I find a lack of mid bass, the overall sound is missing body, fullness, weight. The tweeters are amazing and can get super crispy, I have them at -9db in the DSP, the Hybrid speakers are a disappointment, they just don't sound good and I don't know if it's the speaker, the amp or the head unit messing everything up. Anyway, I'm still troubleshooting the system and don't want to make this a tech support post. I am "pretty sure" the Audio Control Amp is just fine and doing it's job, but I'm not 100% sure if it's to blame, at least in part, to the subpar sound. If I'm dropping $6K in a car audio system, I expect to be impressed, I was not and am not yet impressed.


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## cathul (Jul 2, 2018)

CmdRiker said:


> The driver side door speaker (Morel Hybrid 6.5") has less bass (almost 10db at 80hz) than the passenger side speaker, yet both channels are set the exact same way in the DSP. I find a lack of mid bass, the overall sound is missing body, fullness, weight.


That is caused by the dimensions of the car, not the amplifier.
Reads like you got a nearside null at the listening position from your drivers side speaker.
ErinH made a very good video explaining that.


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## Jroo (May 24, 2006)

CmdRiker said:


> Hello, I just upgraded the audio system in my daughter's 2019 Mazda CX-3 in July with Audio Control D-6.1200 and Morel Hybrid components for front and Morel Tempo coax for rears, plus a 13" kicker sub with a Euphoria DB Drive mono amp. I have say that I am still tweaking. The first D-6.1200 amp was defective out of the box, the max output voltage was super low. The installer returned it and got a new unit which performed as expected. I've spent quite a bit of time in the DSP software tweaking EQs, x-overs, speaker distance, using a microphone and RTA etc.. and I'm still not 100% happy with the over all sound of the system. Now, maybe I'm too picky but I know what good sound is as I am a musician and hobby recording / mixing / mastering engineer and my home studio sounds pretty darn good. I know a car is not a great space acoustically and I think my expectations are inline with that, I'm not expecting her car to sound like my home studio, or my headphone / DAC setup etc. But I have to say that for the $6000 CA that it cost me for that system, it does not sound anywhere near that, not by a long shot. Now I'm not blaming Audio Control or even the Morel speakers but something is just not right. The driver side door speaker (Morel Hybrid 6.5") has less bass (almost 10db at 80hz) than the passenger side speaker, yet both channels are set the exact same way in the DSP. I find a lack of mid bass, the overall sound is missing body, fullness, weight. The tweeters are amazing and can get super crispy, I have them at -9db in the DSP, the Hybrid speakers are a disappointment, they just don't sound good and I don't know if it's the speaker, the amp or the head unit messing everything up. Anyway, I'm still troubleshooting the system and don't want to make this a tech support post. I am "pretty sure" the Audio Control Amp is just fine and doing it's job, but I'm not 100% sure if it's to blame, at least in part, to the subpar sound. If I'm dropping $6K in a car audio system, I expect to be impressed, I was not and am not yet impressed.


I will say I have had a chance to listen to a couple of systems using AC amps. Both from different shops locally. One shop is a Hertz dealer and the other shop is a Audio Frog dealer. All the cars sounded great and both shops echoed that AC amps have basically been bullet proof for them. I would say that unless you have another defective amp, this sounds like another issue in the chain. 

I just sat in a 300 with AC amps and Hertz speakers/Memphis subs and then heard a truck with Frogs/JL subs and AC amps. Both were incredible sounding cars with the nod going to the IMO the speakers because I dont know anything about the tuning behind the scenes. The truck sounded really, really good. Say all this to say, that they are on my short list of amps to run in my own car after listening and talking with the installers.


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## Cutaway (May 5, 2020)

CmdRiker said:


> ....I've spent quite a bit of time in the DSP software tweaking EQs, x-overs, speaker distance, using a microphone and RTA etc.. and I'm still not 100% happy with the over all sound of the system.....


Could you post some screen shots of the RTA of the incoming signal (from the AC DSP software)? and what are u using to RTA the car? Can you show some screen shots of that? If i remeber correctly, i think one of the limitations of the AC DSP is that you can only set Xovers in Channel pairs and not individual channels??? If that is still the case, it can deff be harder to get the Acoustical XOver points that you need


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## glockcoma (Dec 22, 2015)

Cutaway said:


> Could you post some screen shots of the RTA of the incoming signal (from the AC DSP software)? and what are u using to RTA the car? Can you show some screen shots of that? If i remeber correctly, i think one of the limitations of the AC DSP is that you can only set Xovers in Channel pairs and not individual channels??? If that is still the case, it can deff be harder to get the Acoustical XOver points that you need


They had an update awhile back to correct this. 
So now you CAN eq L/R independently. 
I don’t have a screenshot but I’m running a DM608 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Cutaway (May 5, 2020)

glockcoma said:


> They had an update awhile back to correct this.
> So now you CAN eq L/R independently.
> I don’t have a screenshot but I’m running a DM608
> 
> ...


Not EQ but individual XOver settings for each of the 6 channels independently vs setting a XOver per PAIR of outputs


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## Sirikenewtron (Nov 4, 2020)

I was running an audiocontrol d-61200 DSP and the a lc-1.800 powering 2 way , rear fill and two 10's full active. When 
Everything was first installed and tuned, tuned by a professional shop, I felt like the money spent wasn’t worth at the end result. 
Finally after another highly recommended shop tuning it in person and a highly recommend remote tune guy and still not happy I found someone who hit the nail on the head, remote tune as well. 

I was finally very happy with my set up and the audiocontrol d-61200. 
With that being said I just sold it two days ago and have a Helix P6 mk2 on the way so we will see if all the hype is real and if I will notice a significant difference or not. 

Sounds like you got the right equipment and to me sounds like something to do with the tune. 


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