I Will Call These Amps "Mini Me"

Sean wrote a little bit about the new JL Audio amps, but they had a great display comparing some of their existing amps to the new HD amps. All of the amps in the picture put out about the same amount of power (600 watts). As you can see, small amps are the next big thing, and it really seemed to be a theme at this year's CES.

JL Audio: Crazy Eights

With car manufacturers finally beginning to realize that customers can be lured with better factory stereo systems, new vehicles are increasingly coming equipped with bigger-diameter door speakers, allowing for more options when it comes time to upgrade. Feeding the addiction of car-audio nuts, the mad scientists at JL Audio have released the new ZR800-CW 8” midbass: this versatile speaker combines some of the great tricks that JL has learned from decades of building high-end subwoofers with newer patented technology to build a pretty beefy driver from the ground up. Sold individually, they're slated to ship in April. 

JL Audio Marine: Big Sound for the Open Water

Upgrading marine audio systems is becoming more and more popular every season. Nothing improves a day out on the water more than an awesome system belting out amazing sound. While the OEM guys on the car side have been making it harder to upgrade the their sound systems, boats are becoming easy as ever, and the selection and available choices grow with every CES. The guys at JL Audio have a number of different options to match your budget and your boat. JL offers their marine speakers in both a traditional white and a more aggressive black/titanium finish, and in your choice of a traditional slotted grill or a hot new multi-spoke sport grill. The new "dark design" will be available on all marine coaxials, component systems, and subwoofers except for the MX650-CCX. For the wakeboarders out there, JL also introduced a hot new wakeboard tower speaker. The sleek, white fiberglass bullet cans with aluminum fins house a pair of 6.5” coaxial marine speakers.  We've got a ton of pics after the jump!

Blueberry or Cherry Flavored Wire?

One of my pet peeves is when guys run the same color power wire for the positive and the negative terminals, then use shrink wrap or tape to "remind" themselves which is which. I imagine people do it because they don't want to have to buy two different colors, or don't want to bother dealing with having a ton of scrap wire left over. Fortunately, JL Audio just released a product which takes care of that problem. Called Metawire, it's basically power wire with either a blue or red jacket which can be peeled off to reveal silver underneath. When I commented to the marketing guy that the jacketing looked like a fruit rollup, he responded they had two flavors available, blueberry and cherry. Still, I wouldn't want to eat it. Metawire will be available in 1/0, 2, 4 and 8 gauge sizing in bulk rolls in typical lengths, and as part of a amplifier wiring kit. We've got a few more pics after the jump.

New JL Audio HD Amplifiers

JL Audio introduced the new HD series amplifiers at this year's CES. Both amplifiers are full range amps—including the Class-D mono unit—and sport a very small footprint and up to 90% efficiency! The HD series also features JL's new patented Single-Cycle Control technology which maintains excellent sound quality, not an easy feat for a Class-D amp. According to JL:

"By tracking the audio signal, comparing it to the real PWM waveform and then correcting it in each and every cycle (over 400,000 times per second), a multitude of distortion-causing mechanisms can be tightly controlled to enable pristine amplification."

Combine this with JL's R.I.P.S. power supply, differential-balanced inputs, and an awesome signal processing and sound shaping section, and you've got one serious piece of hardware. Check out more pics and specs after the jump.