Renegade REN 500

Author's product rating:   

How is the Sound Quality?	Excellent
Ease of Installation	Simple
How is the Look & Design?	Good
Range of Features	Average
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Cheap, Looks, Features
Disadvantages:	No Major Ones !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

So, being the first to review this i'll do my best to fill it with enough information to satisfy any future buyers. here it goes....

I purchased this amp as part of a package deal (included a sub, box and wiring kit) from a reputable online dealer, no eBay involved here! lol. opened the box and thought yum!. sleek, black satin finished amplifier. Not in any way heavy or cheap looking, infact i was quite surprised with the way it looked considering the price it must have cost (as the package deal was only 99 pounds).

So, down to technical specifications then. You get , obviously, a 550 watt amplifier capable of delivering 250 watts per channel (being 2 channels). quite where they lose the 50 watts i dont know but anyhow. You can deliver 250 wpc (watts per channel) maximum output (ie before the thing blows up!). 125 wpc @ 4 ohms (usual speaker power handling) or you can manipulate it into 2ohms. As the unit is 2 ohm stable (ie it wont fry the MOSFET) this is quite useful. Safety is provided by a 15amp fuse. Power signal is indicated by a green LED whilst any faults are indicated by a red LED next to it (i haven't experienced the red LED yet!).

On to sound quality then. I am running two of these amps at the moment. Luckily enough one for each type of sound (ie one for bass frequencies and one for mid-high frequencies). Bass first then, Excellent. The unit will happily power anything upto 500 watts when bridged, but is happily running my two 300 watt ten inch subs, one per channel. the sound is really more about the speakers than the amp but i can't find any faults with its capability to provide detail and punch. The same is true with the component set im running too. clarity and plenty of thrust. minimal distortion at high/peak levels.

Sound adjustments can be made via a selector switch on the side of the unit. Settings can be 'Full' for the full frequency range (50hz - 12.5Khz), 'Low' which wil cut out any high frequency sound (50hz - 250hz) or 'High' which will cut out any low frequency sound (80hz - 12.5Khz).
There is another selector switch that allows for bass extension. This ups the bass output either 0db or off, 6db or 12db. I've never needed to use this and leave it on 0db or off. I have 'tested' at low volumes both 6 and 12db settings and the bass is raised quite considerably! (its advisable to have speakers capable of this enhancement before trying it out!).

Boring bits like pacakging, which gets thrown away, are nice and simple. no real fuss but more than adequate. Instructions provided take into account another amp in the range, the REN 1000 (which i will be doing a review on when it arrives!), but more importantly contain detailed instructions on how to use and also how to setup. lots of technical specifications are inside this, plus useful contact information and problem tips & help.

The package included the following :-

Renegade REN550S amplifier
High Level Input adaptor (for connecting your headunits speaker output cables.)
a spare 15amp blade fuse (a nice & helpful addition i thought)
Detailed instructions (in English & German)
4 X Mounting screws (not sure of size but they colour match the amplifier)