Massive P400.4

A totally classic design slab of Aluminium extrusion, with power and speaker connections on one end and the connections for RCA only (no speaker level connection) plus the crossovers on the other. This is like an RS version of a Ford in as much as it is not about bling and pretties, just horsepower and performance, stuff the flash. That said, the heatsink is finished in a good looking gunmetal shade and the top surface has a slab of clear Plexiglas held onto it by small flanges of the side cap pieces and the ‘Massive’ logo is engraved under the middle of this, with the words ‘400 Watts’ across the end of it. This is under a protective sticky polythene layer which is left on until you have finalised your installation and are thus less likely to scratch it. Slab then illuminates under power in a blue colour and looks like those edge-illuminated menus at eateries, or the neck-danglers used to promote electronics companies at the CES. (Oddly enough, more blue is seen across this piece when the protective polythene is still stuck to the face because the light is only bent about by changes in refractive indices of the two clear layers and irregularities in the polythene layer, whose surface is less smooth than the polished Plexiglas that refraction’s also why the engravings glow too.) The RCAs are not gold plated but are covered in small clear rubbery protective condoms until you use them. There is a switch to depress if you want to drive all four channels from one set of RCA inputs in bridged mode and a simple set of HPF/Flat/LPF switches to operate a single crossover for each pair of channels. Apart from that, a frequency pot to sweep said crossovers between their 50Hz to 750Hz range and a gain potentiometer per pair is all she wrote.
The manual is equally straightforward with no fat on it but looks to be as entire as anyone could need.
This amp adheres to and has been granted use of the USA Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) rating system label for power amplifiers’ comparability they sorted out back in ’06 and so can be relied upon to drop the watts it says on the heatsink, which is nice.
– Class AB
– 4 x 100w RMS @ 4 Ohms (CEA 2006 Compliant)
– 2 x 200w RMS @ 4 Ohms bridged
– Aluminium heatsink with illuminated logo
– 12mm wide power terminals for fork connection, would take 4 gauge
– 4Ch RCA input
– Adjustable input sensitivity: 12mV to 5V
– Stereo & Mono operation
– Frequency response 15Hz to 25kHz
– Signal to Noise Ratio not quoted
– Channel separation >80dB
– High Pass Filter 18dB per Octave 50Hz to 750Hz
– Low Pass Filter 18dB per Octave 50Hz to 750Hz
– Fuse Rating 40A x1
– HxWxD(mm) 66 x 280 x 214mm
– Complete with 6-step QC certificate
Review by Adam Rayner
The truth of car electronics as well as any other sort is that Joy Of Possession really matters. The only things that come in plain boring boxes, ironically, are £1,000 a pair mids (or £1,000 a pair anything for that matter) from the Pioneer hand built ODR line! The packaging matters for everybody and unpacking a seriously desirable piece of kit should be as exciting as possible, recalling dim memories of gifts in our youth. (The reality of ODR packaging is a whole top end presentation by the UK top Pioneer folk!) Presents you buy yourself are sadly usually the most fulfilling ones once you are grown up and opening up a Massive brand amp is a hoot. There’s actually a ribbon to hold the solidly-built lid in place once it has been swung open. In fact, along with the likes of the Kicker and JBL components which come in their own hard cases that you’ll want to use later to keep stuff in, you are likely to want to keep an amp box like this to keep tools or stuff in. It’ll last.
The amplifier within is an old school item and was rapidly hooked into the system. The very first thing I did was to experiment with the crossover filters, which worked well enough but don’t have much in the way of sophistication. I ran the amp full range after the experiments and yet again stuffed the Spirit of Sound #6 from Focal in the slot. I just learned that this is in fact a Talk Audio Forums cult disc.
The noise floor was way higher than any dyed in the wool audiophile would want to put up with. ‘˜Bag of Snakes’ would be cruel but funny I thought.
Then I turned it up.
And understood. I was reminded of the gentle but persistent hiss to be heard from a professional PA system at a gig, close up, before the audience or band comes in. Post sound check, in that expectant gap before it all kicks off and the fat roadies’ sweat is finally coagulating between their shoulder blades. The venue fills up, an expectant hush or even a wailing roar of approval hits from the punters as the band comes on stage. Then all hell breaks loose. And it did. Right away I knew this wasn’t Kansas any more. No longer were we in the entry level zone. This is a roaring brute of an amplifier. Unashamedly designed ground up to be as cost effectively able to rock your arse and break things made of glass.
I had the AudioControl SA-3055 microphone set up, left in place since the ‘˜Affordable’ or entry level group and whereas the very loudest clean audio able to be raised by the best of that lot was around 125dB, the Massive read ‘OVR’ and I had to up the range setting to record a whopping and ridiculous 126.9dB behind me. This would get a club shut on H&S grounds by the council right away. I loved it.
I calmed down and tried it out for detail. It has a savage rise time and speed so although, yes it has a high floor, it’ll also reproduce those fast ‘˜ting-ting’ sounds of funny little percussive items used in Latin music, or the edges of guitar strings on fingernails, or even the raspy bits of strings very well. You can hear and feel the grip and power.
I found the lighting circuit on the top slab to be intermittent and it was flickering, only staying lit if you tapped it a bit. However, this did go away after it had been running for a bit. It’s good for grasping a really big bass line and although it’s registering only a decibel or so louder than the cheaper jobs, you can truly tell the muscle and potency behind the bass.
So a bit of an enthusiastic-but-not-wealthy buyer is the person who’d want one of these. Someone who can live with the (still far less than old school analogue tape) hiss and really wants as much might & main for the money as possible.
Overall 8.0
Sound Quality 7
Power Output 9
Features 7
Build Quality 8
Value For Money 9