Vibe Lite Box BASS1 v1

Lightweight construction bass monoblock amplifier with controls under the base, so that once set up, the user cannot mess about with the settings. The amp has a subsonic filter facility with adjustable frequency choice, a bass boost with up to 15dB of gain that can be set at different frequencies as well and is rated to a kilowatt peak into low impedance loads, 300w at four Ohms. The unit is finished in brushed metal with a Vibe logo badge on the top. The connections are arranged in the classic fashion, with RCAs, bass gain knob socket and speaker wire connections on one end and power connections and fuses on the other.
The really big story with the Bass 1 is that it can be master-slaved AND strapped. This means that two amplifiers may be combined to run one speaker wire at double the power and furthermore you can slave multiple amplifiers up to use them strapped or on their own. The manual clearly shows how to run say four amps on one signal to four subs or how to run four amps to run two subs at double power, all with the one single signal input. This makes the Bass 1 a really useful bass building block for big systems. The amplifier is fan cooled with the intake underneath the product alongside the controls and excellent printing of a lot of information, including warranty details
– Class GH Hybrid PSU ‘A/B sound quality with class D efficiency’ Sanken MOSFET o/p devices
– 1 x 300w RMS @ 4 Ohms
– 1 x 500w RMS @ 2 Ohms
– 1 x 600w RMS @ 8 Ohms mono strapped (two amps)
– 1 x 1000w RMS @ 4 Ohms mono strapped (two amps)
– Internal convection cooling, fan-driven
– Extruded anodised finish Aluminium chassis with top and bottom plates also made of Aluminium
– 8Ga. Power Terminals with cross headed grub screw bare wire socket connection
– Auto-sensing turn on via IC detection facility and has 12V trigger output
– 0 to 15dB Bass Boost available, settable between 30Hz and 125Hz
– Adjustable input sensitivity: 0.3V to 7V (high & low level)
– Mono & strapped mono operation
– Frequency response 20Hz to 230Hz
– Signal to Noise Ratio 82dB
– Subsonic Filter 10Hz to 80Hz
– Low Pass Filter 30Hz to 230Hz @ 24dB per Octave, Linkwitz-Riley
– Fuse Rating 30A x2
– HxWxD(mm) 50 x 295 x 135mm very compact
– Packed in display box with Polyurethane foam and cloth bag
– Includes high level to RCA adapter and sticker, plus Remote Bass Gain knob and wire
Review by Adam Rayner
As seen in the new Vibe Porsche demo car, these amplifiers (the Lite Box series) are intended to weigh less yet still offer high performance. Initially, It was hooked up to the RE Audio 12D4 but this was connected as an eight Ohm load through its two coils so the output was around 150w RMS and the RE 12D4 thrives on heavy drive, so the results were unimpressive.
So I pulled out a bass system I suspected of being of high quality, the Alpine SBE-1243BR. This has a quality Alpine SWE-1243E woofer in it, is well designed and is rated to take the power of the LiteBox Bass 1. First of all, I started out with the gain set to a sensible level and did some experimenting with the bass gain knob and the subsonic filter and the frequency adjusters that come with both.
The Vibe LiteBox Bass1 is equipped with a bloody brilliant set of features. For one, it can sense signals from headunits’ on board amplifiers to switch itself on without using a blue switch on wire. It can also take a high level or speaker output input signal at up to 7 Volts. Not many bass amps even have a subsonic filter and if they do, most are at a frequency decided by the maker and are not adjustable. This one can be set from 10Hz to 50Hz and the bass boost is not only 3dB more than the usual 12dB at 15dB but you can use it to find what works best in your car. It can be used to add deeper bass, or simply to make it as loud as possible by finding the hump or peak in your bass box’s output! This is because you can alter the boost centre from a very low (possibly subwoofer-eating) 30Hz up to a biffy high up 125Hz.
I played with the controls and ended up throwing hell at the Alpine SBE-1243R! It was a bass CD roaring about “How low can you go?” and it was a fat deep bass boost and the remote bass gain knob cranked all the way around. To the amp’s credit, all this control did not add up to an overloaded output stage but the power was in this daftly small box to do all that the knobs and switches suggested. The bloody house rocked around the test-bed and as it happened, Atsu from Alpine was present to hear his box get spanked as he was visiting to talk about the mad amounts of R&D involved in the new SPG speakers. He grinned.
To the subwoofer’s credit, it dropped, held melody and was a seriously high performance item, especially at the price but you’ll need to go see the full review on that product’s review for more detail. I was really impressed and started to wonder about two of them strapped. It’s lovely to be able to buy a £300 amp if that’s all you got and know you can just add to it later with another. I think a strapped pair would be bloody awesome into a single fahsand watt woofer and although the signal to noise ratio is low, the ability of the amp to grasp it’s prey and control a good woofer system quite absurdly belies its weeny size.
The only thing I didn’t like was that I am an inveterate fiddler and apart from whanging the bass boost around, you can’t get at the underside controls too easily once fitted to adjust say the centre frequency of the bass boost or to drop the subsonic filter down further. This is a real advantage to pro fitters as they can set up a bass system well and know it won’t easily be messed with by the owner to ruin his work! That and the main gain pot being a plastic-headed potentiometer twiddler that you need a tweaky screwdriver to adjust. Also, it could have been better centered under its hole on the bottom plate.
That said, the LiteBox Bass 1 is indeed a Pocket Rocket. Small, talented, compact and bloody effective. Startling in fact.
A very serious new product and a real building block for psycho bass heads. As after all, what I really wanna hear is four of them right up to the hairs in the voice coils of one of the Black Death killer woofers.
Overall 8.6
Sound Quality 8
Power Output 9
Features 10
Build Quality 8
Value For Money 8