Car Audio in Iowa City, IA

I was browsing around AMAZON during PRIME day. I was pleasantly surprised to find an ad and product by the renowned car audio amplifier – Precision Power or, as I grew up knowing it, PPI. After visiting the website, I learned that a marketing group now owns the company. As is often the case, when marketing companies such as Black & Decker acquire a brand like Delta, you can almost always see the end. That is because the goal is to milk the brand’s reputation is lowering the quality of the products, maintaining the pricing, and cashing in. The company denies this, and the website’s about us page states that its ” mission is to lift the brand’s image beyond consumer’s expectations.”

Furthermore, they are claiming that their engineering will set new standards for Car Audio” Well, that is still to be seen. I remain an optimist. I won my first car audio competition with a PPI AMP. To this day, I reminisce about that since I was pretty reluctant to use Precision Power Car Audio Amplifiers. Back in the day, they were known for extravagant designs consisting of odd shapes and loud multi-color graphics. Without a doubt, you knew it was a Precision Power Car Audio Amplifier by just looking at it!

The NEW Precision Power

A quick look at the company’s website [precisionpower.com] reveals it offers four product categories. These are Amplifiers, Subwoofers, Speakers, and Signal processors. Here is a quick look at the new lineup broken down by class and series.

Precision Power Amplifiers

The Precision Power Amplifier lineup for 2023 consists of four distinctive lines. Those are the PowerClass, ATOM Series, iON Series, and the Black Ice series.

The PowerClass – has the catch line “Vertical Stance, Innovative Generation” if that does not tell you anything, you need to know that these amps stand vertically! I am unsure about this from a practical point of view since it utilizes a standard PC board with output transistors on the two outer edges. In other words, the lower rail is transferring heat into the amp! Aside from mounting vertically, it is also wedge, with the top thinner than the bottom! Unless this thing sounds incredible, the design is incredibly impractical.

ATOM Series – Finest Class-D Performance & Reliability. According to the website, the ATOM amplifier series adopts the Class D performance, reliability, and footprint of the original ATOM and iOn platforms. The ATOM series is also available on marine models. The main external distinction is that one is black, while the marine series is a clear anodized aluminum finish. I like how these amps look. They have a distinctive high-end look and feel, and all the connectivity is on one side, which is very reminiscent of old-school SoundStrem.

iON Series – Unique Small Footprint, Packs Punch, the tag line for this iON series say it all! These highly efficient full-range amps employ Class D topology and SMT technology for an excellent size-to-power ratio. The fix 80hz crossover is a little disappointing but more than adequate for 90% of the applications.

Black Ice -Double-Sided PCB, BOLD Power. Reading through the description, one of the biggest takeaways from the Back Ice series is that they accept a balanced signal for the purest sound. Put that together with double-sided PC boards, surface mount technology, and over-compensated high headroom power supplies capable of producing more than conventional power gain. You have a recipe for an excellent sound car stereo amplifier.

Precision Power Subwoofers

The NEW Precision Power subwoofers come in two flavors, those are The ATOM Series and the Phantom Series. These car audio subwoofers offered outstanding performance and modern venting and were designed to cover a wide range of applications from SPL competition to SQ competition and everything in between.

Precision Power ATOM Series Subwoofers – You don’t have to be an expert to know that these subs are quite unique by just looking at them! Aside from the odd-looking fins on the cone, which are an extension of the cast aluminum dust cap and are designed to provide strength and rigidity to the cone while functioning as a heatsink to help absorb and dissipate heat directly from the voice coil. Other things are not quite as obvious, for example, dual poly-cotton suspension for the magnetic gap to help dampen violent accelerations and improve diaphragm alignment to the hot-forged one-piece t-yoke with center pole and back venting – According to Precession Power, venting into the yoke and backplate removed by convention transfer. Undoubtedly, a unique technological approach to car stereo subwoofer design.

Precision Power Phantom Series Subwoofers – Flat woven fiberglass composite cones are not new to PPI or the car audio industry in general. Still, what’s under the hood is impressive about the Precision Power Phantom Series Subwoofers. All Phantom subwoofers use a flat fiberglass stranding woven together for strength and rigidness. The sonic qualities of pulp paper backing have proven themselves worthy of any system, especially after a heavy soaking in epoxy resin. The specially formulated polyurethane foam surround is more commonly used in the manufacturing of industrial gasket and insulation products than speaker manufacturing because of its adhesive bonding properties. The polyurethane surround support extended excursion, strength, and flexibility during extreme movement.

Precision Power Speakers

The NEW Precision Power speakers are a combination of the good, the bad, and the ugly! At least they are not calling “Pro Audio Drivers and Niobium Tweeters” car stereo speakers! The NEW PPI lineup is broken down into four series: The PowerClass, ATOM Series, Sedona Series, and Tweeters/Pro. There is a little bit here for everyone and every budget, so let’s discuss it. But this time around, let’s go in a reverse order starting with the UGLY!

Tweeters/Pro Audio – Seem that everyone nowadays is selling pro audio bullet tweeters for car stereo applications, and I am not talking about fleamarket brands like BOSS Audio, Pyramid, and Pyle. I am talking about the Pioneer TS-B400PRO and others. IMO – these types of tweeters have no place in car audio or any nearfield application since they cause extreme early hearing fatigue and eventually loss of hearing in the upper treble. But if you listen exclusively to RAP music, I guess that is more than adequate. Although I have to say, the Precision Power PT.4 Tweeters look very interesting for a high-end home audio project!

Sedona Series – The Precision Power Sedona series are ideal for OEM replacement speakers or a small, moderate-power system if you cross the mids and highs at 80hz or higher. With that said, the only component set in the series, the SC.65, looks very attractive. However, the electrolytic caps on the crossover are a big disappointment. Nevertheless, it reminds me of the old-school MB Quarts Autobon series, that is, before MQ Quart became a Chinese product!

ATOM Series – The ATOM Series speakers are nothing to write home about. Nevertheless, they feature a pulp paper speaker cone for a more natural sound compared to many of the polypropylene units in the market today. As well as a specially contoured Teteron dome tweeter to reduce distortion. Teteron® is a durable polyester and rayon synthetic material formed into its dome shape. Although it is easy to see that these are better drives, the presence of an iron-core inductor, sand cast resistors, and electrolytic capacitor in the passive crossover of the AS.65C2 Components is a letdown.

PowerClass – The PowerClass Series speakers are the best Precision Power offers nowadays! The coaxial does not do any for me since they are not dual concentric. However, the  P.65C3 Three Way Components did catch my eye. The P.65C3 Components consist of an Air Motion Transformer tweeter capable of playing up to 40khz., a 3″ midrange driver, and a 6.5″ midbass woofer featuring a die-cast aluminum frame, inverted surround, strontium magnets, and natural fiber composite cone. But as with everything else in the speaker line, some things leave much to be desired. For example,  PVC “sealer” integrated trim ring grill, integrated nickel plated spring terminals, and a passive crossover litter with cheap components such as sand cast receiver, electrolytic caps, and iron core inductors. I would like to hear these with discrete power and a nice DSP crossover in front of it.

Precision Power Signal processors

Not much to see here! I am not sure that the PPI team is in touch with today’s car audio installation trends, but half-din EQs and Epic Center wanting to be processors is just not going to cut. There are four SKUs in the Precision Power Signal processors line, and they are as follows:

• The E-5V – 5-Band Parametric Equalizer w/ LED Display, Bass Before Amp Restoration Processor/Maximizer, high voltage (up to 8.5V) pre-amp, and front independent volume control the front, rear, and subwoofer.
• DZ – 3 and/or 4 Band Dual-Zone Equalizer – This 1/2 DIN 3 or 4 bands dual-zone equalizer features two sets of RCA inputs (main and a selectable auxiliary input). High voltage (up to 7V max) pre-amp RCA outputs for the Front, Rear, and Subwoofer channels with independent master volume, subwoofer level, and fader controls to maintain your highs and lows in balance.

• 7 – 5-Band Dual Zone Parametric Equalizer & Bass Processor w/ LED Display and Auxiliary Input. Features high voltage (up to 7V max) pre-amp RCA outputs for the Front, Rear, and Subwoofer channels as the other models. Variable 15-50Hz 12dB subsonic filter and variable 30-300Hz subwoofer low-pass filter.
• 8 – Bass Before Amp Restoration Processor/Maximizer maximizes the ultra-low bass on all types of recorded material. The processor detects bass harmonics, then digitally recreates the original essentials for live music’s incredible punch and impact. There is a selectable “center frequency,” which can be as low as 27Hz or 63Hz, and Q.

I remember also hearing about a NEW DSP processor in the works, but at the time of this post, it was not listed on the website. That being the DSP-88R – a 31-Band DSP (Digital Signal Processor). The DSP-88R was designed to be a user-friendly DIY DSP that offers the features and performance you need.

Conclusion:

I genuinely hope Precision Power (PPI) gets it together under new management and ownership. That is because after all the consolidation we have seen in the last few years, car audio enthusiasts like myself are finding it more and more challenging to find genuine audiophile quality components for car audio.