You are going to Pioneed a new amplifier

I have been a HUGE car audio fanatic for the last ten years. Ever since I was capable of driving, I have had a desire to blast my speakers at levels that weren’t fit for anyone’s ears. This has led to thousands of dollars in purchases, countless maxed out credit cards, and eventually led to a huge interest in the car customization business in general.

Over the last ten years, I have done countless installs on my own vehicles, my friends’ vehicles, and customer vehicles after I started up my own customization business in 2000, which eventually would be put out of business, by the economy crushing September 11th. Porous

Since the time September 11th, I have still maintained a great deal of side business, including work done for a local shop on a need basis. I now perform the majority of my installations as more of a hobbyist than for income. This affords me the opportunity to try out the latest equipment and improve the car customization scene within the state of Alaska.

Pioneer GM-7300M Amplifier
Pioneer has always been one of the top players in the car audio world. They have produced some of the best products on the market and have even had some rap songs that have included their products. (Warren G, This DJ) However, over the last several years, we have seen a decline in their performance and quality that I can't really explain. They have gone from one of the major players to somewhat of a discount player. While they still do have some great decks, their speakers and amplifiers have waned in performance over the years.

One of the amplifiers that has stuck out for me over the last half of this year is the GM-7300M. While working with a shop in Alaska, I was noticing that they were installing a great number of these because of some volume discount they had received. Being that this amplifier was a mono amp, it meant that they were using two to four of these amplifiers on many of their setups, running the speakers 1 x 1 with the amplifier. The problem that I was noticing was that the 360 RMS amplifier was far underpowered for the majority of their applications. In fact, we were beginning to realize that the 360 RMS definitely wasn't as constant as Pioneer would have liked us to believe. The amplifier seemed to far underperform its stated performance level. This of course is a major concern when you are already using a lesser amp than you should be.

Another issue that we were noticing is the major limitations of the amplifier. With a small frequency range of just 10 - 240 hz, the amplifier wasn't able to complement the performance value of the speakers that we were using. This of course meant that the quality of sound, the power of the sound, and everything about those speakers was going to underperform considerably. So, after getting involved, I made some suggestions and changes and I stopped them from doing a lot of these particular installs and going for an amplifier that would actually work for each situation rather than a one amplifier fits all concept that they were currently using.

Another issue that we were having with the amplifiers is that after they were installed, we kept seeing returns. The amplifiers were burning out. This wasn't because of how they were wired or anything like that, it was simply because they were made very well. We sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 100-150 of these amplifiers and probably 10 came back. For me that is a horrible number and shows that there are some serious flaws in the product itself.

Some other suggestions
If you are looking to purchase these amplifiers, I would definitely get a different amplifier. If you are purchasing them because of the name alone, then consider purchasing something from Rockford. If you are looking for price, then I would consider Lanzar, MA Audio, Boss, or any of the other numerous discount brands. Lanzar has always been my favorite choice for discount audio as it has traditionally performed quite well. The Rockford amplifiers while being the best are about 3-5 times more expensive than most of the discount brands. However, you know that with Rockford that you are going to get a high quality amplifier that is attractive and has great name appeal as well.

Details
mono subwoofer car amplifier
250 watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohms (360 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms)
variable low-pass filter (40-240 Hz)
selectable bass boost (0, 6, 12 dB at 50 Hz)
CEA-2006 compliant
preamp- and speaker-level inputs
fuse rating: 30A x 2
frequency response: 10-240 Hz
requires 8-gauge power and ground leads — wiring and hardware not included with amplifier
14-3/8"W x 2-7/16"H x 11-13/16"D
warranty: 1 year

Specifications
RMS Power Output (Watts x Channels) 250 x 1
Peak Power Output (Watts x Channels) 800 x 1
Power at 2 Ohms (Watts x Channels) 360 x 1
Bridged Power (Watts x Channels) N/A
Minimum Impedance Bridged N/A
Minimum Impedance Unbridged 2
Frequency Response 20-240 Hz
THD at Rated RMS Power 1%
Signal to Noise Ratio 80 dB
Input Voltage 14.4v

Amplifier Class AB
Low-Pass Crossover Frequency 40-240 Hz
Low-Pass Slope (dB/octave) 12 dB/oct
High-Pass Crossover Frequency N/A
High-Pass Slope (dB/octave) N/A
Bass Boost 0, 6, 12 dB
Bass Boost Frequency 50 Hz
Fan Cooled No
Fuse Rating 30 x 2
Speaker Level Inputs Yes
Preamp Outputs No
LED Power Indicator Yes
Width (inches) 11-13/16
Height (inches) 2-7/16
Depth (inches) 14-3/8
Parts Warranty 1 Year
Labor Warranty 1 Year