C500.1 Monoblock

by Anthony, October 30, 2003

Strengths:

Flexable preamp section Input range from 200mV to 8V Great power output (537@2ohms RMS) Small Footprint Great looks

Weaknesses:

Non-isolated mounting feet (though they supply rubber washers) Would like to see a 800 or 1000 watt model also Pricey ($449.99)

Review:

Awesome amp. Very flexable preamp section. Took my 8volt input with no problem. Have it powering two Polk/Momo MM2124 (12") in a .92ft3 box. They pound. Best amp I have owned so far.

by Colin A. Eliot, December 14, 2003

Strengths:

small footprint, powerful at 2 ohms, nice crossover features with very flexible settings (see also weaknesses)

Weaknesses:

would like to see more power at 4ohms- I had to get a dual voice coil sub since space was a major concern for me. also I do not understand the Polk Pre-Eq switch on the X-over..I was using this initally with a Polk MM12 sub and I think using the pre-eq switch made it sound like crap..I bypassed it and did the settings myself and got a much nicer sound

Review:

I purchased this amp initally because I got a great deal on it, plus I liked the clean, simple look. I coupled it with the 400.4, so I like how the 2 amps look like 1 giant amp in my trunk. I initally had it pushing a Polk MM12 sub, but was not satified that I was only getting about 350w at 4 ohm, so I changed subs and now am pushing an Alpine Type-R 12 at 2 ohms and this amp does a great job of it. It was bench tested at the factory at 550w at 14.4v, which I am easily getting. I would recommend this amp to anyone who can get it at 2 ohms (space is a concern to me, so I had to go for a dual voice coil sub vs getting a 2nd MM12 to drop the ohm load)

by Darrell, March 2, 2004

Strengths:

Nice size. powerful amp. Doesn't need a fan. love the bass booster remote.

Weaknesses:

there arent any for me.

Review:

I bought it from circuitcity. I had a MTx 6500 D Class amp but it went bad. So i seen the polk 500.1 amp. I got some Treo 12.4 4ohm speakers. I said could they push them? So they hook them up and i said Yeah!!!! I thought polk oly made speakers. I was wrong. Best choice i made so far.

by Ryan, April 5, 2004

Strengths:

For how small the amp is, it really packs a punch!! I like the look of the amp, especially when linked together with another Polk MOMO amp.

Weaknesses:

Price is a bit high. Polk needs to put out a mono amp with more RMS power. I was unable to go with the Polk MM104's like I originally planned to because of wattage/impedance issues.

Review:

This amp puts out some clean power, definately impressive. I have it running 2 Polk MM2104's in Q-logic custom fit enclosures in my truck and it thumps! Comparable to the JL 500/1 and the Alpine MRD-M500.

by Bryan, April 15, 2004

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Review:

I just bought two of the MM104's and have the C500s model polk amp is this going to be enough power for two of these subs? will it be under powered? can you do harm to the sub if its under powered? Sorry im just learning. cant wait to try them

by MiKE, May 16, 2004

Strengths:

1)the amp looks good...it has class and lives up to the polk momo name...it doesn't have the hokey, cheesy look of the audiobahns and the other agressive looking but not agressive sounding amps... 2)small and compact but still packs the power

Weaknesses:

1)the price is a bit much, but not too much if you are serious about car audio

Review:

Best amp i have come across...i'm pushing 2 12" alpine type r's and i have the amp on half-way and it's still maxing out the subs...i need to upgrade my subs now so i can get the most out of the amp...i'm thinking about going with the mm12's...i did have a 1000 watt kenwood kac-929 but it fried itself into protection mode...i'm not messing with anything else but polk now...i'm now a true believer of the clean power this amp produces...

by TRAVIS, July 29, 2004

Strengths:

RUNS REALLY GOOD IN HOT OR COLD WEATHER! BELIVE ME I LIVE IN CHICAGO!

Weaknesses:

THE ONLY THING THAT IS A PAIN IS PUTTING THE COVER BACK ON WHEN WIRING IT UP, BESIDES THAT NO WEAKNESSES TO ME!

Review:

I HAVE TO SAY THIS AMP IS ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS LESS THAN THE JL AUDIO AND SOUNDS REALLY DARN CLOSE! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO BEFORE BUYING IT IS ASK YOURSELF IS "SHOULD I BUY TWO?"

by Donald, October 21, 2004

Strengths:

Great sound quality. Many Eqaulization options. Can be linked together seemlessly. Remote gain comes with sub amp!! Looks Great. The list goes on and on...

Weaknesses:

A more powerful amp would be nice. But for 500 watts it really hits.

Review:

I just put this monoblock, as well as a c400.4 4channel into my '01 Malibu. It's paired with 2 Polk Momo 2124 sub and Polk Momo 4x6 and 6 x 9 speakers. The whole setup is amazing. The bass hits hard and it's very clear for 12s. I listen to many different types of music and the bass doesn't over power music that it shouldn't. The amps run cool in my trunk as well in this hot ass Florida weather. The last amp i had, a JBL 1200.1, would shut off after about 2 hours of continous play but these just keep on going. For the price and performance that you get, Polk Momo can't be beat.

by ajmorell, November 30, 2004

Strengths:

Plenty of power. Can be tweaked to make perform optimally.

Weaknesses:

Can't think of any.

Review:

I bought this amp to power my 2 10" Infinitys. All I can say is wow. They sound great. This amp made all the difference in my system.

by robsatx, June 24, 2005

Strengths:

Everything

Weaknesses:

NONE

Review:

Where to start!! I put this amp in my 2005 Toyota Tacoma along with my stereo upgrade of an Alpine CDA-9853, KCA-420i Ipod Controller this thing rox! This is my second review, I will attach my review on the 4 channel polk. I have this amp driving a single Infinity VQ 10" sub. If I had more room, I still WOULD not add another sub. This thing pumps out some volume. Check out my cardomain page http://www.cardomain.com/id/robsatx My review of the 4 channel polk amp below: STRENGTHS: Look, sound feel. Easy to setup. The crossovers work really well for noobs. WEAKNESSES: Need to place the adjustments on the top of the amp. REVIEW: DANG! Where do I start . . .OK, I have a listing at www.cardomain.com/id/robsatx you can see I have a Phoenix Gold(PG) Xenon 100.4 amp. I decided to add a sub, cause I just could not get enough bass from my Polk MMC 6x9s & Polk MMC 6.5s in my 2005 Tacoma. I was going to purchase PG Mono amp for my sub. After I measured, i figured I could not mount them both where I wanted them. So I did some research and came across polks Amps( did not know they made any). The two amps "joined" together fit perfect in the spot. What I did not expect was the SOUND was soooooo much better. Know I am bummed, cause I have not hooked up my sub, but the bass is so clean from my MMCs . . . I could never get the PG "just right". The Polk amp is the "stuff". The only NON polk equipment I have is my Alpine Head Unit and IPOD controller. Also, my sub is an infinity. Just heard to many good things about these subs . . . I don't want to "bash" the PG amp, I think maybe I did not know how to set it up being green and all . . but man the difference is NIGHT and DAY. I am itching to install the sub and second amp . . .

by Ben, August 5, 2005

Strengths:

More than enough power. Sleek design.

Weaknesses:

None

Review:

This is a great amplifier. I've had it over a year and have had no problems what-so-ever. It seems to be underrated as far as power, so you get more power than you expect.

by thornh, October 22, 2005

Strengths:

Birth sheet rates amp a 533 watts, it's nice to see an amplifier that beats it advertised rating for a change!

Weaknesses:

None to report as of this review!

Review:

Replaced a Sony class D with this amp powering 2 MM2084 subs. Wow what a difference, these 8" subs hit a lot harder and sound i much cleaner with this amp.

by Elijah Baker, April 17, 2006

Strengths:

very powerful to push three subs

Weaknesses:

need's to have more power @ 2ohms

Review:

i bought one of these babies just see what the hype was about. so previous to this i owned two polk twelves.well now let me tell you i have a 05 ford taurus and i have this little monster hooked up to three alpine type r twelves, damn that's all i can say i get a headache everytime i cranked it up. man i loves this amp although i do plan on putting a bigger amp just hear how loud my subs really can get Peace

by Nick, June 8, 2006

Strengths:

very good amp for size and not to mention nice looking

Weaknesses:

a bit pricy and wish i could see a 1 ohm load???

Review:

i bought this amp about a year ago and let me tell you i have been completly satisfied with it .. i was pushing 2 rockford fosgate 12" p3's with no problem. this amp never turnes off if you push it hard .. it just keeps pushing harder and harder.

by Matthew Pfeifer, January 24, 2007

Strengths:

Looks awsome, and has the preformance to match!

Weaknesses:

NONE

Review:

I love this amp. There is nothing wrong with it. It looks good, hits hard, and is just overall a great amp. I have 2 of them powering 2 SR124DVC's and it sounds amazing. This is a great example of Polk Audio's ongoing customer satisfaction.

by Ahmed, May 19, 2007

Strengths:

This is an excellent amp and can surely handle some abuse. I've had this thing powering my 12" momo sub for long periods of time, and this thing never over heats. Its simply amazing!

Weaknesses:

Review:

I currently have 2 of these amps. Right now I'm only using one to power my mm2124 svc sub and even at only 350 watts it sounds great. When i get around to purchasing a pair of sr124 dvc subs after i finish building my sealed enclosure, i will have one sub powering each sub. Now THAT, i cannot wait for!

by Doug, July 11, 2007

Strengths:

Compact, powerful, great looking, musically-oriented deep bass amplifier

Weaknesses:

Even more power would be better, but this is still a very powerful amplifier

Review:

WOW--this is a fantastic amplifier. I'd like to give you specifics (brand names) of what I was running previously but I know Polk has a thing about posting non-Polk brand names, so suffice to say I had a fairly high-end amp ($500 600 watt rms amplifier) powering a single 10" sub in a custom 2.4 cubic foot ported enclosure tuned to 24hz. Although the aforementioned set-up sounded fantastic and was commented on by numerous people as being one of the best sounding subwoofers/enclosures they have heard, I still thought I'd give the Polk amplifier a whirl--primarily because I wanted something with a 24db per octave crossover and something geared primarily towards SQ. Compared with the previous amp, this amp plays noticably cleaner on all reproduced frequencies and louder/cleaner/more powerfully on extremely low notes (20hz-40hz). This amp really brought the low range to life, bringing about nuances, details and impactful deep bass that was non-existent or weakly-reproduced by the previous amp. Couple that with the facts that this is amp is smaller and has a lower advertised RMS power-rating than my previous amp and its impossible to conclude anything other than that this is a terrific, brilliantly-engineered amplifier. If you're simply looking for loudless, I'm sure you could spend $550 bucks on something else that would get you more sheer volume/wattage. But if you're someone who is concerned with quality as well as quantity; that is, if you're someone who realizes bass is a meaningful element of music and not simply an acouistical vibration designed to render rear-view mirrors useless and set off car alarms then this is an amp well worth purchasing.

by fred, April 6, 2009

Strengths:

clean bass plenty of power for an amp under 1,000 watts

Weaknesses:

cannot wire my 2 dvc 10 inch subs at a 2 ohm load

Review:

i recently bought this amp from a friend for way under retail i i just want to say it's plenty of power for my two 10 inch dvc subs i will not say what they are but i am only running the vr's at 4ohm's and they shake the ground , i am planning on upgradeing my speakers to polk bottom line this amp was a great purchase