Dayton AudioAPA150 150W Power Amplifier

I have only had this week or so, and it did take a little break in time to come out of it's shell, but this seems to be a well made, sturdy amp that has good sound. This is powering a pair of ~88db, 8 ohm, outdoor speakers and it does the job just fine for moderate volume levels.For the price I would recommend this, it has decent power, it sounds good, but it has a few missing things that would otherwise make it nearly perfect.It does not have Bass and Treble controls which would be useful. It has a very flat sound which is good as it does not unnaturally color the music, but for outdoor speakers or really any other 2 channel application it would be nice to turn the volume down some and push up the bass a little. An additional equalizer will likely be purchased.The Volume control knob should be the type that clicks into place, it would make it easier for small volume adjustments.The LED is super bright. Not a big deal as a little tape can tone it down.To the positives, I like that it is bridgeable, I may get another, as for the price the amplification quality it provides may be nearly unbeatable. The size is good, I could fit two, maybe three, of these next to each other in the same space one regular sized amp would take up.The self on/off works fine even with only a small signal sent.The sound, I like flat and natural by default which this has, yet still would like it more if I could tweak the bass/treble right from the amp itself.Overall I am happy with this product for the price.

I needed a no-frills amplifier for my gym room. I didn't need any pre-amplifier features but wanted to have a volume control knob, and did not need an immense amount of power due to the small size of the room. The Dayton unit fit the description perfectly and I am very happy with my purchase.I have the amp hooked up to a pair of Sony SS-B3000 speakers. I have two signal sources, a Sony LCD TV that in turn gets its signal from a Roku box and a DVD player via HDMI, and a Squeezebox Touch player. The amp has only one input so I use a cheap external RCA signal switcher to toggle between them. The unit has line out connections in case you want to chain it with another amplifier, e.g., to drive a subwoofer.The unit is extremely solidly built and simple to set up and operate. It is compact, exactly the width of the Roku and Squeezebox Touch units which I keep on top of the amp. Voice quality is very good to my non-expert ears, and the unit delivers so much power I rarely have the dial turned to more than 20%. The design is simple, with just the volume dial and an on/off button on the front panel.You can toggle on the signal detection feature using a switch on the back panel. With that feature activated, the unit sniffs the incoming signal level and goes to sleep if the audio source has been idle for a while. I am extremely pleased with this functionality. It wakes up really quickly, and does not take a high signal level to wake up (My comparison point is my Onkyo 2x100W power amplifier which I have downstairs and I can't use its signal detection feature because the input volume needs to be turned up relatively high for the amp to detect it, and the amp goes to sleep when there are quiet passages in the music, like for Chopin). The LED embedded in the power button changes color from red to blue to indicate whether the unit is sleeping or active.

This is a great amp for the price. I'm using it to drive a 12" Velodyne (formerly) powered subwoofer whose amp had given up the ghost. I like that you can adjust the frequency of cut-off. It really thumps, too, as good as the original. Amp has an auto-on which is nice. The LED on it is searingly bright, but I keep the amp in the closet so doesn't matter much. All in all, a great amp for the money.

I am very happy with this amp, only giving 4 stars because i had to dig around and find some of the info before i decided to purchase. Things like frequency response, noise level, and THD at rated wattage. These should be listed for all amplifiers listings but i had to find it on the manufactures site. It is a 5 star amp, but they lose a star for lacking product description.I use this amp bridged to power my center channel. I am very satisfied with the flat response that it gives and use my receiver for all tone needs. Gives out all the power I need to match my towers and make the dialog loud and clear. It is a solid product that i expect to use for years to come. Very heavy for the size, and for an amp that is a good thing!I do not use the volume knob since the receiver controls volume output, but it does glide smoothly.It sits in my entertainment center with a glass front and the LED is incredibly bright. I had to cover it with a piece of tape to tone it down. Still shines through the tape, but now it's about as bright as the other electronics on the shelves.I initially used the "auto" power function but i had to stop using it. It takes a second to turn on, which is very annoying since it is only one channel of my system so i could hear when it turned on, and it creates a strange discharging sound when it powers down. I could only describe it as the sound of a dog whistle going from inaudible (20kHz) down to about 10kHz for a second. Not that big of a deal, but it would auto turn off after only a minute of use. It would often auto-off when browsing through menus and the sound would startle me. Plus it makes a weird blip when it turns on. I did find these sounds are only a function of the auto power feature, and do not happen when the unit is plugged in or the power switch is turned on or off. So now i have the amp hooked up to an "energy saving surge protector" that turns on all the amps when the receiver draws more than the standby power. I wish this amp had a 12v trigger but i cannot reduce star value for that, images are clear it does not have a 12v trigger. Now everything works like a charm. Plus other reviews have mentioned that the standby power is essentially the same as the on power usage, so now that its being disconnected after each use I know its "standby" power usage is 0. So if you are not creative like me, you may want to opt for "always on" and use the front power button or deal with the weird start-up/power-down noise.