Review: Inter-M V2-4000

If, in 1981, as I was lugging a rack of power amps up the back stairs of the Pier Hotel in Frankston, in the rain, I’d been told by the unfortunate fellow roadie on the other side of the rack that in the future power amps would produce nearly 4000 Watts, take up only 2U of space and weigh just 12kgs I would have said: ‘yeah right, roll another one’.

Thirty years later and that future is here. There are now lots of amps that meet those specs and what’s more, their prices are falling. Enter the new Inter-M V2 range of high performing, no-frills, power amps. Manufactured in Korea and designed for professional sound reinforcement applications, the four-model range starts with the V2-1000, that delivers a maximum of 500W per-channel into 2Ω and ends with the V2-4000, capable of delivering 1800W per-channel into 2Ω!

ONE-MAN (CLEAN &) JERK

I’ve been trying out the V2-4000 model recently and while it’s not the best looking amp I’ve ever seen (but who cares and who sees them anyway?) it’s got everything a hard working amp should have at an affordable price. The switched mode two-step Class-D design delivers the power with impressive noise and distortion specs. Build quality is solid, there’s an in-built variable-speed front-to-rear cooling fan, a switchable HPF and devices to guard against short circuit, overheating and DC output problems.

Lifting it out of the box is easy. Indeed, the 4000 feels more like outboard gear than an amp. On the front panel there are two handles, a power switch (with Off/On muting), two rotary knobs for level control and two four-LED level indicator lights in 10dB steps with the top red LED indicating clip/protection. That’s it, apart from air vents with front-removable dust filters. The rear panel has a few more bells and whistles: linked balanced TRS and XLR input sockets are provided for each channel, as are switches to enable the HPF at either 30Hz or 50Hz and to engage the limiter. A voltage gain selector switch allows the amp to be driven by different input levels: 1V is for professional audio gear with the option of 26dB or 32dB available if a low-level device, like a laptop, is driving the amp. A mode selector switch chooses between stereo, parallel or bridged mono operation. Speaker outputs are Speakon sockets only – there’s not even the option of bare-wire binding posts.

VALUE AMPLIFIED

The Inter-M V2-4000 is certainly easy to use. Select from the few options there are and you’re rockin’. The fan comes on straight away and it’s pretty noisy even when the amp is cold so it’s not going to work for studio monitors, not unless it’s in a separate room, but it’s too powerful for the likes of NS10s etc anyway… maybe a giant set of wall monitors?

I didn’t check whether the rated power figures were correct but I have no cause whatsoever to doubt them – the amp sure has plenty of grunt. I’ve been using it to drive some passive 500W, 8Ω foldback speakers and have been lucky to ever see the –10dB indicator on peaks. It also gets the subs in my PA moving effortlessly but I haven’t been game to find full power. Hire companies, owners of large touring PAs and installations requiring big power will be the target customers for these amps and they will all appreciate the low cost (around $1400 for the V2-4000) as well as the small size and light weight.

Inter-M is a large-scale manufacturer that sells products under its own name as well as manufacturing for other companies (OEM) so I would expect these amps to be reliable despite the modest price tag. They also come with a 12-month warranty for added peace of mind. Nice one.