PowerBass XA3000D

A mono amplifier operating in Class D with a MOSFET power supply and ability to strap two together to double output into a single load. The range has 900, 1,500 and 4,000w models as well as this 3,000w model. There are two sets of RCA sockets, one for input and one to feed an unfiltered signal onwards. You can sweep-adjust the phase via a dedicated potentiometer (zero to 180 degrees out of phase) and as well as a crossover selection potentiometer offering a lowpass range between 50Hz and 400Hz, there is a subsonic filter pot you can set between 20Hz and 50Hz. There is a bass boost function with the obligatory knob-in-a-box-on-a-wire to connect to the amp’s phone jack socket. This offers up to 18dB of boost at the usual 45Hz. It will act as a secondary control to that on the amp’s drop. So you set your maximum likely bass boost on the amplifier’s bass boost knobber and use the knob on the remote box to decide how much of your preset maximum you wish to use.
The power terminals are 1/0Ga. size and the amplifier has a powerful internal cooling fan. There is sophisticated protection circuitry and there is a soft on/off system to avoid multi kilowatt thump sounds.
The amp is finished with a small panel of metal over one end of the extrusion, held on with silvery Allen-headed bolts, that bears the model number, engraved brand name and the watt rating. It comes with an excellent, well written manual which has five diagrams of different speaker hook-ups as well as showing you how to use the single extra RCA socket and Slave/Master switch to use two of these amplifiers to drive just one speaker wire. (Or more realistically, to drive a whole bank of monster power woofers.) as well as a table of data of wire diameters to be used to power the products.
– Class D
– Mono operation
– MOSFET power supply
– Internal fan cooling
– 1 x 1,200w RMS @ 4 Ohms
– 1 x 2,200w RMS @ 2 Ohms
– 1 x 3,200w RMS @ 4 Ohms
– Soft delay remote turn on/off feature to avoid pops
– Aluminium heatsink with gunmetal finish and engraved panel
– Brass CNC Machined 1/0Ga. Power Terminals with cross headed grub screw bare wire socket connection
– In/Out RCA jack and master switch for Master/Slave strapping use
– Stereo line in and (unfiltered) output RCAs
– Sweepable phase control (0 to 180 degrees)
– Dual mono speaker output connections
– Remote bass gain knob on phone wire via phone jack input
– 0 to +18dB Bass Boost @ 45Hz
– Adjustable input sensitivity : 0.2V to 0.6V
– Frequency response 10Hz to 500Hz
– Signal to Noise Ratio <90dB
– 24dB per Octave low pass crossover
– Low Pass Filter 50Hz to 400Hz
– Subsonic Filter 20Hz to 50Hz
– Fuse Rating 200A x 1 external
– HxWxD(mm) 63 x 530 x 265mm
– Supplied with mounting feet
Review by Adam Rayner
What a mad piece of kit! Way, way back in the day I was working for the distributor who had the early HiFonics stuff. Their flagship was an amp called Colossus and it is part of our Mission Statement. ‘Pure sex on a twelve volt battery’ is the line that Pete Newall quoth about it and yet this amp is only slightly smaller and a full three times the power!
Of course it is Class D rather than Class AB and the Colossus was good for 1,200 watts at full sucky low impedance. This beast is not even the biggest one they do, though and is good for a serious 1,200 watts at a mere 4 Ohms load. It makes over three thousand watts at an Ohm! And I do believe it.
I smoked a Kenwood KFC-WPS1D super woofer’s internals with it. I gave myself a very surprising shock from the speaker leads that get to around forty Volts at normal 4 Ohm loads. I even got sparks when I was messing with the poor barbecued woofer to see which coil had been killed, nearly barbecuing myself. Thankfully it wasn’t a coil and Mike Edwards of Kenwood just chuckled indulgently and said it’ll get put in a cabinet with a label; ‘Destroyed by Adam Rayner’. It should really say ‘Destroyed by PowerBass.’
The terminals are a perfect fit for 1/0 gauge and are CNC machined from solid brass. There is a row of five smaller terminals for the speaker block but one is just for the remote wire. (That’s the blue one that says to all the other bits of kit, ‘Take it from me, YER WANTED!’) This is not to show more than one channel’s worth of functionality but rather to make speaker connection simpler. It came with a small red printed card extra to the manual that was even printed both sides the same so you could not miss it, explaining that ‘The speaker outputs on this class D amplifier are internally paralleled and are NOT to be bridged. The speaker’s impedance is divided between both output connections.’ There’s even a pair of diagrams showing if one speaker coil on one set of terminals, then minimum one Ohm and if two speaker coils, one per set, then minimum two Ohms each.
As well as the poor unfortunate mistreated Kenwood (The biggest warning in the Kenwood’s manual was to explain just how to match your wattage to the woofer, even at the big numbers I’m so ashamed of myself) I also used it to test the awesome Morel Ultimo 12. That wanted a kilowatt and needed it, as it was like a Lambo with a poor drag coefficient yet still driving at 200mph. The Morel is only 85dB efficient but with all the power you could wish for from this animal, it was gorgeous. The sheer headroom this amp kept while still playing one woofer at the same volume as a handgun going off continually was as shocking as getting the wobbly volts up my arm earlier.
I learned a deep respect for the amp then realised that the extra lone RCA socket meant it was for strapping or joining to another. You hook one amp to another by RCA and a single strand of 12 gauge speaker wire then have one side of your megahusive speaker output come from each amp. Positive of a six kilowatt load in one amp, the negative wire coming from the other.
Then, of course, they have a four kilowatt version. Imagine eight four-kilowatters on a single weapons grade woofer! 32,000 watts anyone? That is what this range is all about, too and it gives me chills to know this stuff even exists.
I really want to use it for testing a collection of ridiculously big bass boxes with really arrogant statements on them about power handing that I have in my loft waiting their turn but I think I’ll have to be very very careful with that gain control Eugene. Otherwise I might be sending bass boxes back reminding me of something I overheard Gordon Dutch, boss of BBG, ask about some warranty enquiry when on the phone to a dealer, (about 12 years ago) ‘Does it smell like the railway?’
Back to the amp, I like the looks of the end panel held on with my favourite fixing. Allen headed bolts. The controls are sheer high end although I reckon the subsonic filter should be moved ten cycles to be able to do 10Hz to 40Hz choice. This is because these amps can actually provide enough juice to make 10Hz relevant. The speakers would have to be Brobdignaggian, though.
The sweepable phase control is fabulously high end, very important for serious in car use and is a feature not found on many home theatre subwoofer’s amp control panels.
My only criticism is that the serious +18dB of bass gain available on the knobber (at 45Hz of course) was accompanied by a nasty buzzy hum that went away when I disconnected it, so I think I may have had a dodgy example of knob-inabox. I will ask to try another before FSM get the amp back to see if this is a design thing or else just a rare fault, which is what I suspect.
If you are looking for a very heavy duty bass amplifier indeed, with top end features, incredible performance and an upgrade path from hell, I would suggest PowerBass may just be the heart starter for your Frankenstein. I think I love them and am a little bitter that I had to give the Tee-shirt away they sent me as it was not a 5XL.
PowerBass, it looks like a Ronseal job to me*
Overall 9.0
Sound Quality 9
Power Output 10
Features 9
Build Quality 9
Value For Money 8

*For the non-UK readers here on the lovely Worldwide thingy, this refers to a very successful advert campaign for shingles and fence-sealing paint that always said, ‘Ronseal. It does exactly what it says on the tin.’ This has entered British culture and is used by UK reviewers all over the place. Now that’s a spicy meatball!