Strangely enough... I've never had an MMATS on my bench. I've owned several but never took the time to clamp or do a write up on them. I guess, like most, I just took their word for it. So whilst collecting some 4k's for a roundup, Josh "PoundinHard" Richards offered up his amp for testing. Big shoutout to him. Appreciate the loaner, man.
MMATS Pro Audio HD4000.1
Price - $2,100 MSRP (All I could find)
Rated - 4000w @ 1 ohm and 13.8v (all I could find)
This thing is small. MMATS claims it's the smallest amplifier on the market to produce 4k @ 13.8v, but I'm not sure what market they're talking about. Either way... the footprint is great for a 4k.
I/O sections. Super clean and simple input and controls. Gain and a crossover is all you get. I mean, really... what else do you need? I like. Two sets of speaker terminals would have been nice though.
Power side... I can't fully explain how annoying dual 4awg inputs are to me. But maybe that's just me. I'd have appreciated if they at least split them up. Why the crap do the + and - have to be a nanometer apart?
Here be the less than impressive guts. Or is it extremely impressive that 4,000w comes out of this?
Setting it up unloaded. I was honestly expecting to see more voltage than this.
Loading it down to 5 ohms.
980w @ 5 ohms and 14.7v with ~ 81% efficiency. In case anyone is wondering why voltage is higher here than unloaded, I set it up at rated voltage (13.8v).
2.5 ohms resistive.
1,860w @ 2.5ohms and 14.6v with ~ 73% efficiency.
And the money shot... 1 ohm resistive.
4,400W @ 1 ohm and 14.5v with ~ 68% efficiency.
So ol' girl is making her rated power. BUT... I was honestly expecting better efficiency. This is very, very average. Maybe even below average. The efficiency is a bit of a hot button topic so it was of particular interest to me. I tested it twice on separate days to verify this number. I also do something that I never do- use larger than spec wire. This test was with dual 1/0 power and ground with reducers. So the amp had every chance to do the damn thing. It also got best case scenario voltage. So I don't know what to tell the MMATS fans that tout their astronomical efficiency.
It's encouraging that it took 1 ohm resistive, but it wasn't exactly happy there. It was definitely protesting a bit, but it survived, obviously. That is a testament to the durability vs amps that share a similar footprint. I still wouldn't recommend running this amp below rated impedance daily. So technically... that 1 ohm resistive number is a bit of a pipe dream unless you're a competitor.
And speaking of competition... this amp is technically a competition only amp. It comes with no warranty and if I'm not mistaken, it's just a souped up version of the 3k wherein they removed some protection circuitry? (Citation needed) and added some loudness goodies in its stead.
Bottom line here... you're paying a premium for MMATS doing all they can to use as many domestic parts as they can and as much domestic labor as they can. I've heard some crazy stories about MMATS lately that I won't repeat, but I'd like to believe the things they told me over the phone when last we spoke. You can check out their facilities in a YouTube tour if you like. MMATS has been around a long ass time and I hope they stick around. That MSRP is tough to swallow, but for those of us who care about spending their American dollars in America... this is one of the best ways to spend amp money. There are only a couple companies left that can put that American flag sticker on their shit.
My test: MMATS HD4000.1
and for some reason i am not surprised with your results. Ive seen so many Mmats users/fans make crazy claims of power from these amps. Even saw someone said they clamped 5k+ with this same amp but at like 12v lol. By ur test id def say they do rated....but the crazy inflated numbers many of us have seen are unrealistic.
Linear Mode
