Kenwood Excelon  XR-4S

This is a great little amp. Period. It is well made, just as nice as the Alpine PDX, and the Pioneer Premier ICE, only this one is even more compact. Sound is extremely clear and spacious, whatever Kenwood did they did it right. The XR-4S does not sound like a class D amplifier at all; no audible distortion to speak of. Things to like: nice feel, heavy, has a cooling fan, full range class D, simple and easy set up. Things to not like: crossover is not variable full range, it can either be set for highs (bi amp to tweeters) or lows (bi amp to woofers or tri amped to subwoofer), or off for full range sound. Would like a little more control here, but I have some flexiblity through the tuning capabilities of my Alpine head unit, so this is not a problem for me. The amp has two side vents covered by silver grills for flow through ventilation, on the front side where the crossover and input controls are located is also where the fan is located. The unit runs very cool, so far I have really pushed the amp and have not see the fan kick on or the high temperature light come on. I am using it to power two front Kenwood component 6 1/2 and two rear Blaupunkt component 6 1/2. I have a separate subwoofer and amp. The amplifier is so small and compact it looks like a toy until you pick it up. It is supposed to weight seven pounds, it makes my old Hifonics 50 watts x 4 seem like a toy. But this Kenwood if good for 120 watts x 4. This is in a Honda S2000 where space is at a premium.

First of all this amp doesnt have much by bells and whistles. But what it does have is power and an even balance from top to the bottom of the sound spectrum. The amp is composed and doesnt distort and the music doesnt become edgy or messy, a sign your amp is running toward the edge of power ability. Being Class D its a fast amp and tonally sounds great! My previous amp was a Pioneer GM 6400, which was a good AB amp but was a little soft in the mids and a bit etching in the highs. This amp is tight and punchy, and is tiny in size, but feels solid. A great purchase! People complain about Class D and the highs sounding unreal, but I think the technology has come far enough where you wont be able to touch the quality of this amp in an AB unless you go much more expensive.

I have this amp on as a part of my system,this amp is pushing 4 6/9 and this amp gets very very hot but works great . I dnt like how hot it gets for what it is pushin if this is normal then WOW if not then time for a diff. amp,but my opinion I like sound stream the best as good as any or the best .....