# Krypt Marine Audio KMA 500.1



## Shinju (Jul 11, 2008)

This is a first part of my small review on the Krypt KMA 500.1.

The Krypt Audio KMA 500.1 is a Robert Zeff uBuy design. These share a similar design to the Arc Mini, Litebox 1 and other micro Class G/H amplifiers.

First look this is a very sleek looking little amplifier. The heat sink is a soft aluminum finish with a basic painted/etched logo on top. The look is basic and simple since most boat amplifier installs are hidden to try and protect them from the elements. Personally I think simple is more no crazy bling just a good looking heat sink design.



















The install and adjustment features are pretty straight forward; the power terminal is a simple 4g power/ground block with Phillips head set screws. The speaker terminal is a female compression style screw down like the old PPI and Orion plugs, this terminal is not removable. I personally would have liked to see the same style of speaker plug to match the power/ground terminal but it is what it is and it works.

This is a monoblock so the crossover section is pretty simple, low pass 30-250htz, subsonic filer, bass boost and boots frequency curve. There is a port for an external remote for gain control, Subwoofer phase switch. Some of the other features are auto sense this removed the use of a remote turn on wire allowing the amplifier to turn on as soon as it gets an audio signal. There is a Preamp speaker input level switch this is not in the manual so I am not sure what it is for but I think it might be something to do with high level input though RCA patch cord packaged with the amplifier.


















Now for the money shot, what makes this thing tick! This looks just like my Vibe Audio Litebox 1 on the inside, the noticeable differences is the crossover section has been moved to the front of the amp and the fan is in the middle of the board. The power supply looks the same and pretty robust as well as the output section. There is a very noticeable lacquer coating over the board to keep the surface mounted components from getting corroded from being out on the water since this amplifier is made for marina use this is a good thing, bad thing is that this could make repairs a pain to remove parts and cleaning up that coating if a part was to burn out. I can say that this amplifier will do every bit of 500rms at 2 ohm if not a little more. I did not take off the FET clamps due to it still being under warranty.


























Overall this amplifier is pretty well built, I like the design and aesthetics, it is small making installs much easier to plan for both marina and car applications in this amplifiers case it was produced for being on the water and every precaution to avoid moisture corrosion and damage was taken. The heat sink is pretty well closed off and only allows airflow from the bottom to allow the fan to breath to take the heat off the internals of the amplifier.

The packaging was a little less to be desired the box was plain and simple no crazy art work just the name and model on a sticker stuck to the side of the box, the amplifier was packed up nice and tight and all of the accessories tucked away nice and neat under the amplifier. The manual was easy to follow with pretty easy to understand instructions and photos to show install set up scenarios. Other then the missing information about the Preamp speaker input level switch the instruction manual was pretty dead on.

For the price I paid this was 50.00 bucks well spent, these did retail at 299.99 from Wakeboard Towers, Wake board, Wakeboarding Speakers, Boat, Underwater Boat Lights, Under water, LEDs who also is the amplifier designer and name sake Krypt Marine Audio. Unfortunately they are closing out of the KMA 500.1 they do have a 4 channel KMA 125.4 this amplifier is also the same as the Arc Mini, Litebox 4 and other micro class G/H amplifiers too.

I will power test it later on when I have more time.


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

Cool. Nice review.

Seems like pretty much one of the best deals ever if youre looking for a mono amp


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## hottcakes (Jul 14, 2010)

and another one of these clones, and different power ratings to go with it.


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

hottcakes said:


> and another one of these clones, and different power ratings to go with it.


Same power ratings as the arc and litebox. Give or take 10 watts

And it has the slave option so you can get 1000 watts of zeff amp for like $100 or so


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## Shinju (Jul 11, 2008)

To be honest for the close out price these go for you cannot beat it for a solid 500rms monoblock with all this options and it not being total POS to boot.

I did a little testing today on a DD 1508 SVC 4ohm and it pushed it pretty good, bad news is that my clamp meter is broke so no real world power measurements.


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## seagrasser (Feb 6, 2007)

subscribing to see more


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## shundal (Nov 30, 2010)

interested to hear more impressions. just won one on ebay for $46 just to give it a try!


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## The A Train (Jun 26, 2007)

Sure is tough to beat at that price. Great budget amp if it would only create half its rating of 500w.


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## Shinju (Jul 11, 2008)

This amp goes every bit of raited power, I did a side by side with a Litebox Vibe 1, The Krypt pulled ahead just a little bit.

I would like to snag a matching 4 channel but they are not closing out on those.

Even at 100.00 bucks this is a steal of a deal. The Vibe equivilent sold for 179.99 at Sonic and they sold out of them. 

Get these while they are cheap!


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

Im running one of these now and am very impressed. Possibly the best amp deals ever along with the Blau velocities, bostons, and Vibe litebox/zeff black box

I have one now hooked up










Its the lil guy that put out almost as much as the big guy.


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## asaysana (Dec 9, 2011)

Got the 500.1 last week. I ordered up the 125.4 version of this amp and I get it TOMORROW!


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

where did you get the 4 channel?


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## King Nothing (Oct 10, 2005)

asaysana said:


> Got the 500.1 last week. I ordered up the 125.4 version of this amp and I get it TOMORROW!


Did you get them cheap? if so, where from? I see the 4 channel for 299 and the mono for 199. not a good deal if you ask me


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## slowsedan01 (May 4, 2008)

Shinju said:


> This amp goes every bit of raited power, I did a side by side with a Litebox Vibe 1, The Krypt pulled ahead just a little bit.
> 
> I would like to snag a matching 4 channel but they are not closing out on those.
> 
> ...


Where are you getting these from? Are you getting them from uBuy directly?


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## asaysana (Dec 9, 2011)

I got the 500.1 for about $70 new on eBay. I got the 4 channel here. 

Krypt KMA125.4 Class G/H Marine Audio Full Range Amplifier

I wanted the matching 4 channel. Got a special deal on it


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## gjmallory (Apr 13, 2010)

I bought two of these amps for a total of $90 shipped. I am only using one of them right now, but plan to expand my sub stage soon...If you use the slave\bridged option, you can run 1k watts RMS @ 4 ohms. 



Gjmallory - sent from my phone...


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## asaysana (Dec 9, 2011)

Yeah, if I were patient, I probably could have gotten a BETTER deal on it. But sometimes you just GOTTA HAVE IT.


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## gjmallory (Apr 13, 2010)

asaysana said:


> But sometimes you just GOTTA HAVE IT.


Very True! 

Sent from my phone...


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## Shinju (Jul 11, 2008)

how much did you pay for the 4 channel?


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## EriCCirE (Apr 14, 2010)

PM'ed


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