DS18 Candy -x5B 5 channel amp.

[omnibus]

Purchased directly from DS18 online store.

I never could find out for certain what kind of quality DS18 as a brand really was but I had assumed it was a newer brand catering to the mid tier market maybe akin to RF or Kicker's mid products at least. I didn't find any particular statements for or against the brand online outside of typical consumer reviews which I always ignore those because people are stupid so decided to give them a shot since I was looking for a really small 5 channel amp and there are only so many amps of this output range in a micro size.

Pro's:  The amp sounds really clean. Definitely a cleaner, clearer sound quality than my JL Audio MX280/4 amp I was using just prior.

Meh's: Design, aesthetically it's nothing I would want to show off. I had a hard time turning the allen screws for the  speakers, they use the angled design but the included allen wrench makes it real pain. Honestly you need an allen tip with a handle because the screws are so small and requires quite a few turns to the point of the screw almost falling out in order to get enough space for the 12 gauge wires.

Con's: Didn't take long before a channel blew. I initially tested the amp with the gains down because it was late and worked fine, sounded good. The next day I unhooked the speakers so I could set the gains, took my hand held O'scope and went to adjust the gains but was having a weird problem. I could get a sign wave just fine on the sub output but no signal on the main channels. So I turned the volume down to 10 and put on some music,plugged in a speaker to ch 1, worked fine. Ch 2...my speaker popped, there was a slight spark. Then nothing. Ch 3 didn't have any sound at first but at some point it suddenly did. (naturally I chacked my RCA outs and they were fine) Checking again with the O'scope, I had no signal...so I thought my scope crapped out on me but found it works on anything else I tested. Channel 4 is an odd one as well. You see I can get certain 4 ohm speakers to work on it, but not others. So my test speaker is an old Kenwood 6.5. It works fine on Ch 4. But my JL Audio front speakers do not, i get no output. My Boss 6x9...no output yet those speakers work fine on Channel 1 and 3. The Kenwood also works on all channels except Ch 2. but the JL's do not like Channel 4 but work on 3...wtf?

After a couple hours testing, it seemed the right side channel was definitly no longer working. My scope works fine on everything else except those 4 channels which I thought was weird. Channel 4 only works with my Kenwood speaker which it's just a 4 ohm coaxial, yeah I don't get that part at all.

So with that I'm not going to rate it. Just leaving the review as is for others to judge. Naturally it seems like some kind of user error but I cannot reproduce any error on my part on any other amp or speaker. I only get those weird issues on that amp and makes no sense to me but I wasn't going to bother with a help thread on it. Instead I just decided to do away with all that gear and go with a really simple, just above stock setup using a Kicker key smart amp to save space and keep a more stock appearance in my car. But the experience left me with a sour taste putting the DS18 brand right there next to Pyramid and Pyle.