Massive Audio EV Amps Due at SEMA

Massive Audio will display new prototype car audio amplifiers for electric vehicles at the SEMA show this fall.

Under the new EV line, called Power Plant, the amplifiers use a power cell bank instead of a 12 volt power supply to provide current to the amplifiers’ output stage.

Massive Audio’s JR Mares said, “The power cell bank charges off the car’s 12 volt charging system but discharges at 150 volts to 250 volts (depending on the model) direct to the amplifier’s IGBT MOSFET outputs. Thus the amplifiers are much more efficient than amplifiers using torrids to pulse electrons and they have better damping factors and slew rates.”

He added that the amplifiers will need much smaller power and ground wires to move current.

While this is an engineering level explanation, the key is that the EV amplifiers will be able to work with high voltages.

Mares said, “We are no longer just a 12-volt company, we are looking to the future of the car audio market with new requirements to integrate to higher voltages in the coming years.”

The line will include include three models PP10000, PP15000, PP20000 with power cell banks from 140 volts to 240 volts.

In addition, Massive Audio is adding new proprietary circuits to its Drago monoblock 12-volt amplifiers and will roll out the circuits to additional lines in the future.  Company engineers combined two circuits to achieve the new “Boost Buckingham” or “BB circuit,”  said Massive Audio’s Ben Holt. 

The new proprietary circuit is separate from (and is not powered by) the amplifier’s power supply.

“Blown MOSFETs will be a thing of the past with our BB circuits, which allow our amplifiers to work with car battery levels as low as 5V and up to 36 volts. No more blown MOSFETs when the power supplies collapse or when they face server over/ under current and over/ under voltage situations. Our new management system lets the customer get the most out of the product even in conditions where MOSFETs would normally blow up,” said Mares.

“BB circuitry supplies and manages the amplifiers’  MOSFET operation range and keeps them at 10 to 10.5 volts which makes the amplifier operation more efficient and prevents the MOSFETs from blowing up, which is the case when most MOSFETs get to under 9 volts. Basically it prevents amplifier MOSFETs from blowing up when like a 3000 watt RMS amplifier that typically needs 200-300 amps of current is used with a car’s stock alternator, which typically ranges from 60 -120 amps (30-50% of amperage is used for the car), he added.

 The BB circuit will be offered first on the company’s Drago line and will eventually be available throughout Massive Audio’s amplifiers from the  BPX entry level series to top-of-the-line, Primo ” said Ben Holt.

Five Drago X models with BB circuitry include the monoblock DX6, DX10,  DX16, and the 4-channel DXM4 and the high current DX8HC.