JVC DRVN Monoblock Amplifier Packs Quite A Punch

Monoblock amplifiers are for the real music lovers, those guys that love good quality bass in a song at high volumes. Let me introduce you to the JVC drvn KS-AX5101D mono-block amplifier.  Just like you guessed or already know, mono means one and mono-block amplifiers usually have one speaker port. But don’t let this fool you, these types of amps pack a lot of punch if matched with the correct sub-woofer speakers (more on this later).

The JVC drnv KS-AX5101D mono-block I am talking about is rated at 1000 watts PMPO (or the true power 300 watts RMS) into one speaker rated at 4 Ohms. Compare that to the JEC 3245 that is rated at 600 watts PMPO and 50 watts RMS per channel (4 channels in total). There are some monoblocks that can even produce 750 watts RMS! So in order to utilise any monoblock amplifier, you must have an existing amplifier for driving the mid-range speakers. A head unit car stereo cannot produce any louder mid range to match the bass the JVC monoblock produces. Its either you tone down the gain on the mono-block and by doing this you will not be fully utilising the amp.

Here are the JVC drvn specs at a glance

• Operation Channel -1 (where the term mono comes from)
• Maximum Power Output -1000W (aka PMPO)
• RMS Power Output (normally the true power rating of an amp)
• 300W x 1 into 4 ohms at 20 – 200Hz,
• 500W x 1 into 2 ohms at 20 – 200Hz (power increases with low speaker impedance)
• Frequency Response (+0, -3dB)20 – 200Hz
• Class-D type amplifier

Class-D amplifiers have the following advantages:

• Little power is wasted as heat and therefore:
• A smaller heat sink is required. This in turn reduced the weight and subsequently the cost.
• Class D amplifies usually have the highest efficiency 90 percent to be precise.

True to the benefits above the JVC drvn KS-AX5101D is a very small and light amplifier. Another great advantage is that all the wiring is done on one side of the amplifier making installation easy and tidy. It also has an internal filter with crossover dial. This makes sure you use this amp for bass only.

Speaker connections

I tested the amplifier on a 12 Inch Pioneer W311 amplifier rated at 1000 watts. I will post the video soon as its very hard to explain how powerful this mono-block is. It also has the capabilities of accepting High voltage inputs through a special connector. Like I said above you need a separate amp, thats why the JVC drvn has extra pre out RCA ports for this purpose.

Now I had mentioned above something about speaker impedance matching. Here are the details

So far we have seen the power output to be 300W into 4 ohms and 500W into 2 ohms. So this amp can comfortably handle 2 Pioneer W311 subs connected in parallel like this or the most convenient method is to use a 4 ohm DVC subwoofer like this. These examples have an overall impedance of 2 Ohms which is the lowest this amp can handle.

Dual Voice coil (DVC) sub-woofers are speakers that have two internal coils instead of one, subsequently the speaker terminals are four instead of the normal two. DVC subs always work better and harder on a monoblock.

On a lighter note I recommended a monoblock on a seasoned guy of car audio amps and when he heard how much power he can get into one speaker, he said “hiyo inataka basi za Githurai”. I thought by the way its very true because only a monoblock can fill a 54 seater long bus with hard and very uncomfortable shaking bass.

I’m still working on the video, so far background noise is such a bummer.

To learn more about bridging DVC subwoofers on a monoblock read the crutchfield website here. There are some monoblocks that can even drive a one Ohm load comfortably.

Would you consider buying a monoblock? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.