XD700/5 - JL Audio 5-Channel 700W Class D Amplifier Review
| Product Code | B004A8PTAE |
| Product Rating |  |
| Price | $449.99 |
| Where To Buy | See More Details |
| Customer Review | See More Reviews |
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #8765 in Car Audio or Theater
- Brand: JL Audio
- Model: XD700/5
- Dimensions: 6.00 pounds
Features
- Frequency Response (Front and Rear Channels): 12 Hz - 22 kHz (+0, -1dB)
- Frequency Response (Subwoofer Channel): 10 Hz - 1 kHz (+0, -1dB)
- Damping Factor (Subwoofer Channel): >150 @ 4 ohms per ch./ 50 Hz
- Dimensions (L x W x H): 10.23 x 7.09 x 2.05 in.
- Frequency Response (Front and Rear Channels): 12 Hz - 22 kHz (+0, -1dB)
- Frequency Response (Subwoofer Channel): 10 Hz - 1 kHz (+0, -1dB)
- Damping Factor (Subwoofer Channel): >150 @ 4 ohms per ch./ 50 Hz
- Dimensions (L x W x H): 10.23 x 7.09 x 2.05 in.
Product Description
700W 5-Channel Class D XD Series Car Audio Amplifier
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful.
By Pyanfar Chanur
I've had experience with a few different audio companies over the years, and JL Audio still comes out one of my favorites. I had an excellent 12" JL subwoofer in my last car, and this time around decided after some research to go with a JL amp, the XD700/5. I've had it in its final configuration just over a month now (May 2011) and have been pleased with everything it has to offer me. A mechanic at the dealer warned me that if I ever went to upgrade the stereo, the 2007 Subaru STI gives off a lot more RF interference, so it's nice that the XD700/5 has the ability to ground itself with good, thick 4AWG cable. (I used the Kicker 09PK4 to wire this, by the way--and that's a great kit in and of itself). Power input is of course 4AWG, and both sit on the far end of the body from the outputs. Input cables are simple RCAs while outputs are bare wires clamped into place with a square metal opening that you crank closed using the supplied allen wrench. The only annoyance I found with this was that sometimes the clamp wouldn't bite down on the wire if I didn't keep it exactly in the middle of the opening. That sounds obvious, but when you're upside-down under your passenger seat with a flashlight next to your head, it's not quite as easy as you'd think. The same clamp mechanism works for power and ground, but because those are much thicker-gauge wire, you instead want to pay more attention to how far down you strip the wire--follow the instructions and all will work well. I was also using smaller 12-gauge wire for my speaker connections. While you might have an easier time if you're using 8, Amazon customer Douglas points out to me (below, in the comments) that either is overkill: if you want to save a bit of money, you can use even smaller wire such as 16 gauge. It just takes a tiny bit more patience to crank the clamp down and get a good bite and then you don't have to worry about it again.When putting together my system, I went through some stages before I got where I wanted to be. I had a chance to run the unit as 4 channels (front and rear doors) with a low-pass filter pushing the bottom end to the subwoofer (also a JL - the 10" 2Ohm 10w3V3 in a sealed Bass Bunker box) Sound came off the factory ("Premium" ha ha) head unit. I got plenty of whump out of that configuration but no real separation of notes--this kind of sound is not such a problem when listening to rap, but stands out in just about everything else. So then I switched gears: I upgraded the head unit from the factory Clarion to a Kenwood DDX-516 and got more control of the sound output. The JL was fairly capable of drawing out really clean mids and highs once it had a good set of controls at the head to properly pre-format the signal, but still the lows were either muddied or missing. I switched from a head-unit adapter connection to the head unit's 6 RCAs, flipped the JL over to 6-channel mode, and finally all was right with the world.It might be easy to pick on the XD 700/5 for not being able to clean up the bottom end in a 4-channel configuration, but I have to say it really did to a fairly good job just the same. The difference came in because the RCA outputs on my head unit were pre-amped much better than the factory harness, so it's more likely accurate to say that a 6-channel input configuration gives it more to work with.If you're eyeing a dual-subwoofer configuration, you can do that here, but do pay attention to how you set the wires: which way you pair them up is going to affect how the subwoofer output sounds. You can also use the JL in a multi-amp system, but you want to be sure to add another fuse along the line. The manual will help you out with this. In fact, the manual is where JL earns another star: they explain everything in careful detail before getting down to the nuts and bolts of 'how to', and then they even insert a section titled 'Stupid mistakes to avoid.' The average Do-It-Yourselfer should read this section because chances are you'll find at least one thing on the list that hadn't occurred to you.Controls on the XD700/5 are fairly standard: you have high-pass and low-pass filtering switches, a mode switch, dials to manually configure crossover/cutoff points for each channel, and each of the three sections has a sensitivity dial that turns very smoothly. TIP: once you get a really good-sounding setup, mark the dials in case you ever want to experiment more so you can change it back. I haven't run the system for many hours nonstop yet, but with some use I don't find any real temperature problems...I'll update here if that changes once summer comes.If you're big on sound quality, you really can't go wrong with the XD700/5: chances are it'll do just about anything you want a 5-channel amp to do to make your system sound better. Don't expect much out of most factory hardware, and *do* expect to do a bit of tuning to get things well and good (all amps need you to do this). If you can get pre-amped outputs, expect JL to take that and run with it, giving you rich, vibrant sound capable of being closely tuned to your liking.I'll put a few of my sound tuning tips in the Comments section here...meanwhile, good luck with whatever system you buy!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
By jacabal
XD700/5 - JL Audio 5-Channel 700W Class D Amplifier. I installed this amp to drive a JL Stealthbox Subwoofer, and component speaker system in my '04 Excursion. The amp works great and drives the sub and component speakers without issue. I've had no heating problems, and the amp has enough knobs to adjust frequency response to taste. The instructions are competent. I'm happy with this purchase.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
By walkerb
This amp was exactly what I was looking for. It's small, powerful, and provides clean sound. It is the perfect addition to my aftermarket system. The amp is powering 4 Focal Access door speakers and a 10" Kicker solobaric sub without any problems. The best part is that it fits under my seat in my Mazdaspeed 3. Sweet.
