Massive DB 3000 Monoblock Class D Amplifier

Product Details
Manufacturer: Massive Audio
Distributor: FOUR
Website: link
Typical Selling price: £499.99
Massive Audio point out that they have spent a decade refining their balance between power and cost and reckon this monoblock amp is one of their finest efforts. There are smaller models, the DB 1000 and DB 2000 and also bigger, in the shape of the mighty DB 8000. Each is named for a simple doubling-peak of their lowest impedance rated RMS power. This makes the 1 Ohm load output of this amplifier a fat 1,500w RMS. It comes in a very smart set of packaging, second only to Vibe’s for bling but more solid. The product comes as a Billet Silver or a Raven Black version and the DB Remote bass control knob on a wire is an extra. So if you don’t tend to mess about  with the bass level while you listen, then you can rest assured you are not paying for this to simply rot in the box. However, some might see this as a bit mean and parsimonious as most makers swallow the cost of these knobs within the sale price of their amplifiers. The terminals are Nickel plated and the top panel glows a gentle blue with the clear plastic Massive Audio logo when it is powered up. There are four layers of protection circuitry on the amplifier: Short-circuit, thermal, reverse voltage and over-voltage. The Class D circuitry is described as N-Channel and we are told results in over 85% efficiency. There is also a feature called Massive Bass Kompressor„¢ said to enhance low frequency extension without the usually-associated distortion. Classic layout decrees as ever that the speaker wires and power connection are on one end and the controls and RCA connections are on the other. There are RCA stereo inputs and pass-through outputs as well as five neatly-lined up potentiometer heads to control gain, lowpass filter frequency, subsonic filter frequency/off, bass boost frequency and amount to 12dB.
– Class D
– 1 x 600w RMS @ 4 Ohms
– 1 x 950w RMS @ 2 Ohms
– 1 x 1,500w RMS @ 1 Ohm
– CEA 2006 Compliant
– Anodised brushed Aluminium heatsink with illuminated logo
– Adjustable input sensitivity 0.2V to 5V
– Master/Slave linkable
– Frequency response: 10Hz to 180Hz passband limited
– Signal to Noise Ratio: >70dB
– Efficiency: >85%
– Optional remote gain control for connecting to port
– Low Pass Filter: 40Hz to 180Hz @18dB per Octave
– 0 to +12dB Bass Equaliser 30Hz to 80Hz
– Subsonic filter ‘Off’ to 50Hz
– Fuse Rating 100A x1 not supplied on amplifier
– HxWxD(mm) 53 x 376 x 228mm
Review by Adam Rayner
In a world awash with power amplifiers, how do you stand out? Well in the case of the Massive Audio DB series, you do it by talking quietly and carrying an ugly cudgel. A stick with great big knobbly bits on! For the DB series is definitely understated. Not all blingtastical and rarefied like a high end DLS Reference and not cost-no-object absurd like a metal gravestone but simple, clean and potent.
I really tried but I just didn’t have the ability to really stretch this product. I hooked it up in eight Ohm by offering two four Ohm coils in series, (On a 400w RMS MTX T612-44 12 inch sub) then did a parallel hook up and sucked the two Ohm rating out of it, some thousand odd watts. It made the woofer under test strain a bit as it was well above twice the 400W rated power handling but while I fretted for the woofer (it handled what I did a treat) the amp didn’t break sweat. The heatsinks didn’t even warm up a little!
It has younger siblings and an older brother in sheer muscle terms but has some really clever if simple-seeming features. For one, the subsonic filter isn�t fixed but on a potentiometer and goes from 50Hz down, all the way to ‘off’ for the real low tone hounds, who want no attenuation at 20Hz that even a 10Hz set subsonic can afford your sound. Then, the bass boost can be set from low to high bass which is unusual as well, since a 30Hz boost of 12dB requires fapping savage power to be available. Call these dial-up logarithms into action and the amp will be asked for ten times the effort low down.
I like the blue LED lit logo on the top and the two LEDs on the signal end to denote power and protection status are pretty, too. The ends of the five pots line up perfectly with the holes in the casing, indicating a careful build and the whole look is just slabular but understated.
Definitely a top class source of raw clean power for bass hungry ice heads, I liked the boom music and I liked the SQ bass lines that I ran through the thing as well. It was tested both with an MTX Thunder 600 woofer and the rather more rarefied sound-off winning DLS RW10. The first was a marriage made in heaven and all the MTX seemed to exude was an urge for three mates for a bit of a gang bang. I reckon this amp could happily run a stack of eight of the dual voice coilers – under power sharing rules that’d be 187 watts each.
On the RW10, it was a slightly different story with the not costly but horribly high SQ woofer revealing that the amp is a bandwidth limited class D thumper rather than an SQ fairy-bass detail job. This is part of what keeps it well priced and to be honest, the Big Power Urge bassheads will absolutely adore it for its real world yet brutal abilities.
Not cheap but still very good value for non-fibby watts – great big buckets of them. As such it scores well enough, with its clever features and big power and clean sound, to earn a Talk Audio Recommended flag.
Sound Quality 9.0
Power Output 9.0
Features 9.0
Build Quality 9.0
Value For Money 8.0
Overall rating 8.8