Skip to main content

Audio Art 100MS Car Amplifier

I take a break from my home audio for awhile and look what I got here.

The Audio Art 100MS car amplifier.

This is a sound quality car amplifier that very famous in early 90's along with others brand such as Monolithic amplifier, Linear Audio, Soundstream, A/D/S and many more. Perhaps you never heard this name yet, but we are that growth in the era of 80's and 90's are praised with this amplifier above all the major brand like Sony, Alpine or Pioneer.

So let's take a look in detail.


This Audio Art 100MS is a small and compact car amplifier. It is a 2 channel car amplifier with the power output around 50 watt per channel. This is similar to my previous post about the Soundstream A50 car amplifier here.

The unit I got here is considerably in the mint condition, which is quite rare for this white color vintage car amplifier not to get abused by the beginner car audio installer.

This Audio Art 100MS still become one of the best sound car amplifier today and many still collect them for treasure.





The car amplifier that built in that era was almost have the same style, the case is all aluminum heatsink with then the same design among them.

Especially for this car amplifier is quite unique which is including the bass and treble gain with low frequency adjustment. This low frequency adjustment is just like a parametric equalizer but in this amplifier, the function is to adjust the low frequency only.


The other features of the car amplifier at that era is the individual left and right channel signal gain adjustment on the top of the heatsink. This clever volume adjustment is positioned in line with the RCA terminals input. The reason is to minimized the length of the signal transfer to the amplifier circuit inside.

Next things I will open up the cover to look what are the components inside.



The PCB quality get my attention.

Look the copper traces, they are thick which almost impossible to get this kind PCB quality today.

The internal components layout are well arranged with the Mosfet transistors are bolt directly to the heatsink under the PCB.

I open all the sides panels to get more detail on the components inside.





Specifically for the components they are using in this amplifier, the electrolytic capacitors are all Bennic brand. This Taiwanese capacitors are standard industrial quality capacitor that found on many consumer product. I wish they use more reputable Japanese capacitors brands such as Nichicon, Elna, or Nippon-Chemicon instead.


This amplifier using many op-amps. At the input stages is using the Analog Device AD712 and because there is a tone control feature that I mentioned before, the others op-amps are there for this function.





I bought this Audio Art 100MS car amplifier not only one but instead two unit.

They are both identical with the same mint condition.






My plan with them is put one for my collection and the other will be upgrade using the better quality components. But for now, I am more than happy to get those vintage Audio Art 100MS.

Disclaimer: Any statement and photos in this article are not allowed to copy or publish without written permission from the writer. Any injury or loss from following tips in this article is not under writer responsibility.

Labels:

Comments

  1. JDNovember 25, 2025 at 12:13 PM

    Nice amp you got there. I still got a smaller one, 70.2. Similar guts inside, without any tone control/xovers. Used to feed a Morel Supreme 110. I was rather unsatisfied with the sound, a bit grainy, noticeable on vocals. Probably somewhat difference in circuitry than 100MS. Recapped all electrolytics with Elna Silmic/Cerafine I had lying around & ceramic caps with silver micas. Also op-amps with LM4562. Very slight noticeable difference, still not satisfied. I cannot recall any pots to tweak the bias. Finally, replaced it with audison VR404.

    Recently played around with it. Bridged, to break in a 10 inch (wired 4 ohms) subs (ported , tuned to 38Hz).
    Tried full swing (just before clipping), can't remember 120 or 140 watts @ 50Hz. Kind of nice though, for a small sub (casual measurement, more than 110db@1 meter distance from an el cheapo c-weighted spl meters) :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OrronocoDecember 22, 2025 at 8:16 PM

      Nice sharing. I recall the sound quality similar like what you describe above.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OPA1622 Vs. OPA627 High Performance Op-amps Comparison

This op-amps comparison topic is actually boring, but at the same time, many of us still curious about what others think about it. The reason is simply because of the op-amps variation are hundreds and they are depends by the implementation. The op-amps are considerably cheap and an interchangeable electronic components but they are not built for the same function. So in this discussion, I will focus on the modern Vs. vintage high performance op-amps in the simple non-inverting pre-amplifier gain stage.
2 comments
Read more

Vintage Multibit R2R DAC Tier List

At the very beginning of this year, I committed to explore the best multi-bit R2R DAC. This is simply because I have plenty of the resources (from broken old unit CD player of course) and ability to build them up. If you think this kind a recycle from old un-used unit to become something useful, than I should stated myself giving contribute for greener world:) After all DAC that I built in this year, I think it is better for me to list them up again in one single page like this. Then I will rank them up in a simple tier list. The reason for this, so you all know what my opinion about of those vintage multibit R2R DAC especially in the sound quality.
7 comments
Read more

PCM56 R2R Non Oversampling DAC Built

From early this year, I am start to playing a lot with the multibit DAC. They are from Sony CDP TDA1541A here , Nakamichi DAC-101 dual TDA1541S1 here , Clarion DRX-9255EXL PCM1702 here  and Clarion HX-D1 PCM1704 here . What I said playing with them is actually more suitable words because none of them are built by myself. I only study and exploring those unit then make some upgrade especially on the power supply components, signal capacitors upgrade, and bypassing the unused internal circuit for more clearer yet natural sound quality. This upgrade make a lot improvement compare to the first time I listen from it and I can really enjoy what the designer from each manufacture deliver the sound they would like to perform in those units. Those said units are categorized as a parts of hi-end audio system and I really now familiar with the sound signature from each of them. But to be honest, I am not satisfy yet with this condition. Because none of them is built by myself from ground up. ...
10 comments
Read more