Every once in a while I will get contacted by an audio company wanting me to use their products or do a review on them. In most cases I will reject the offer due to the company being new or unheard of and I value my reputation in the industry too much to risk being associated with a fly by night brand. So when a company I’ve never heard of, named Genius Audio, reached out to me I really didn’t give it much thought; until a mutual friend got involved. This friend has been in the industry for 30 years and I trust him one hundred percent when it comes to anything car audio related, so when he informed me that he already had a relationship with the Genius brand and confirmed that they were not only a solid brand but was also 35 years old in the industry I, decided to entertain the conversation.
I was bought an airline ticket for Miami Florida where I was to meet the owner of Genius Audio who was flying in from Panama for the meeting. The meeting took place at one of Genius Audio’s warehouses. It was at this meeting that I was first exposed to the Genius Car Audio line. I inspected the products and made mental notes of what I liked and what I thought would be good sellers in the United States since I knew they had no presence in the North American market. I sat down with the owner and he explained to me the history of Genius Audio and how it started 35 years ago with car alarms and progressed from there which is now a massive brand in South American and other parts of the world. Once I realized the scope of the company and after seeing the build quality of the products I agreed to try and help them reach North American customers by doing some product reviews for them. I did inform the owner that regardless of the results, good or bad, the reviews would be released to the public and that in no way can they ask me to manipulate the results. With all parties agreed I flew home and 2 weeks later a massive amount of product was delivered to my shop so I could decide what to review.
FIRST IMPRESSION
The shipment delivered to me included mids, tweeters, subs, amps and processors to which I was to decide which product to test first. I noticed a stack of amplifiers that just kind of stuck out to me. It could have been the packaging or it could have been how small the boxes were but I instantly knew I wanted to know more about them so this is my review of the Genius Audio GLT line of amplifiers.
The GLT line of amps is considered a micro line which means the amplifiers are physically very small for the amount of power you get. In the line they have two mono block, two four channel and one five channel amplifier. The mono block amplifiers come in a 600 watt and a 1000 watt at 1 ohm version while the 4 channel amps come in a 85 watt x 4 and a 100 watt x 4 at 4ohm versions. The 5 channel amplifier is an 85 watt x 4 and 200 watt x 1 at 4ohms. Each one of these amps is one and a half inches tall (1.5″ H) and four and a quarter inches wide (4.25″ W) with the lengths varying from seven inches to 10 inches (7″ to 10″ L). Due to the size of the amplifiers each one has its RCA inputs as a breakaway cable that plugs into the amp with the cable being about six inches long. It should also be noted that the 4 channel and 5 channel amps have break away cables for the speaker outputs as well. All the amps in the series of the normal gain controls as well as high pass and low pass crossovers, with the mono block and 5 channel also coming with the smallest remote bass knob I have ever seen. I feel it should also be noted that the amps are packaged amazingly with very sturdy jewelry type boxes that make you feel like you just spent your money on a solid product. The literature and internal packaging is just as good which is always nice to see from a manufacturer.
TESTING
With the physical and visual observations of the amps out of the way it was time to put them on the bench and see what they actually do compared to their ratings on the box. I tested each amp at peak output music and tones as well as checked for any temperature issues or protection trips. The following are the results for each amplifier as well as its stated output from the manufacture. All tests were done at 13 volts with the lowest voltage dropping to 12.6 during testing.
Below is a table to make it easier to cross reference the rated power output and the actual from testing.
GLT-1000.1D is rated at 350 x 1 at 4ohms, 600 x 1 at 2ohms and 1000 x 1 at 1ohms. The amplifier came in under rated and over achieving by hitting 406 x 1 at 4ohms, 672 x 1 at 2ohms and 1032 x 1 at 1ohm. The amplifiers footprint is 1.5″ H x 4.25″ W x 10″ L and its MSRP is $223.95.
GLT-600.1D is rated at 200 x 1 at 4ohms, 350 x 1 at 2ohms and 600 x 1 at 1ohms. The amplifier also came in under rated and over achieving by hitting 303 x 1 at 4ohms, 412 x 1 at 2ohms and 627 x 1 at 1ohm. The amplifiers footprint is 1.5″ H x 4.25″ W x 7″ L and its MSRP is $181.95.
GLT-85.4D is rated at 85 x 4 at 4ohms, 120 x 4 at 2ohms and 240 x 2 bridged at 4ohms. The amplifier performed well and hit 107 x 4 at 4ohms, 137 x 4 at 2ohms and 352 x 2 bridged at 4ohm. The amplifiers footprint is 1.5″ H x 4.25″ W x 8″ L and its MSRP is $187.95.
GLT-100.4D is rated at 100 x 4 at 4ohms, 150 x 4 at 2ohms and 300 x 2 bridged at 4ohms. The amplifier is a solid performer reaching 120 x 4 at 4ohms, 174 x 4 at 2ohms and 416 x 2 bridged at 4ohm. The amplifiers footprint is 1.5″ H x 4.25″ W x 8″ L and its MSRP is $197.95.
GLT-85.5D is rated at 85 x 4 plus 200 x 1 at 4 ohms and 120 x 4 plus 350 x 1 at 2ohms. The 4 channels can also be bridged to 240 x 2 at 4ohms. This amplifier is an all in one wonder hitting 136 x 4 plus 278 x 1 at 4ohms, 178 x 4 plus 465 x 1 at 2ohms and with the 4 channels bridged they did 296 x 2 at 4ohms. It needs to be noted that this amplifier does not have an independent subwoofer RCA input. The sub output is created from the signal provided by the front and rear RCA input. This means that this amp is perfect for a system where the factory radio or a radio without subwoofer outputs is used but would not be suited for a system with an aftermarket unit that has sub control since you would lose that option by not having sub inputs on the amp. The amplifiers footprint is 1.5″ H x 4.25″ W x 10″ L and its MSRP is $259.95.
CONCLUSION
After inspecting and testing the GLT line of amplifiers, as well as comparing their pricing to other micro amps that are currently available I can honestly say that Genius Audio is a solid competitor in the market. With remarkable packaging and amplifiers that all outperformed their rated output by 5% to 15% the GLT line is a definite performer for consumers but is also an exceptional line for shops with an aggressive pricing structure. Now that I have had my first taste of Genius Audio, I look forward to doing future reviews on their subwoofers and speakers and can only hope they perform as well as the GLT line did.
If you would like to see the GLT amplifiers reviewed you can on my YouTube channel at Custom Audio Reimagined along with any future reviews of the Genius Audio lines.
