Hertz HCP 4M Marine 760 Watt 4 Channel Amp

The Hertz HCP 4M is a marine-rated four-channel Class-D amplifier built for open-water and open-air installs, rated 55 W RMS x 4 at 4 ohm and 85 W RMS x 4 at 2 ohm at 1 percent THD (65 W and 95 W x 4 at 10 percent THD) with 760 W total power, and protected by marine-grade epoxy-coated circuit boards that have been salt fog tested to ASTM-B117.

Key Benefits

• Built for wet environments: marine-grade epoxy-coated PCBs neutralise the corrosion that kills ordinary amplifiers in spray, and Hertz salt fog tests the design to ASTM-B117.
• Carries an IPX2 rating when installed vertically with the connections facing downward, so mounting orientation is part of the protection.
• 55 W RMS x 4 at 4 ohm and 85 W RMS x 4 at 2 ohm at 1 percent THD, or 170 W x 2 bridged at 4 ohm, from a chassis that also runs in three-channel mode for a subwoofer.
• Very low distortion for a marine amplifier at 0.01 percent THD at 100 Hz into 4 ohm, with a 103 dB A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio and a damping factor of 120.
• Extruded aluminium heat sink chosen for light weight and heat dissipation - the whole amplifier is 5.77 lb.
• Fully adjustable filters: a 80 Hz Hi-Pass and a 50 to 500 Hz Lo-Pass, both 12 dB per octave, with selectable 0, 6 or 12 dB of bass boost at 50 Hz.
• Balanced Pre-In and Speaker-In input circuitry rejects the electrical noise that boats and side-by-sides generate, and takes signal from a factory or an aftermarket source.

Fitment

The HCP 4M is a universal 12-volt marine amplifier, not a vehicle-specific or boat-specific part. It runs on any negative-ground system between 11 and 15 VDC, which covers boats, side-by-sides, UTVs, trucks and Jeeps. Speaker-In accepts 0.8 to 20 V RMS off factory speaker wiring and RCA Pre-In accepts 0.2 to 5 V RMS, so it integrates with a stock head unit or an aftermarket deck without an adapter.

Mounting orientation matters on this model. The IPX2 rating Hertz publishes applies when the amplifier is installed vertically with the connections facing downward; mounted any other way it is still epoxy-protected but the published rating no longer describes it. Plan for a 12.40 x 7.48 x 1.97 in chassis, two 20 A on-board fuses and a maximum draw of 21 A at 2 ohm and 14.4 VDC.

Minimum load is 2 ohm per channel in four-channel operation and 4 ohm when bridged into two channels. Within the Hertz Compact Power family the HCP 4M is the marine model; the HCP 4D and HCP 4DK are the higher-power car-audio four-channel amplifiers, but neither carries a water or salt fog rating, so for an exposed install the HCP 4M is the one specified for it.