Review on Monoprice Unity 100W Bridgeable Power Amplifier in Black by Kazuki Vong

I bought two of these to replace another A/B/A+B switching power amp that was sorely lacking in power and was a long way from what the gauge said even with basic driving . a pair of speakers. My two Monoprice Unity 100s are used to drive a pair of speakers in the ceiling of our dining room and a second pair on our covered patio. For this type of service where you don't really need hundreds of watts or audiophile quality they are ideal. If you think you're getting audiophile quality (but not quality, I assure you) from a product at Walmart's price point, think again. However if you need more watts for your Atmos or back surround or whatever I would consider the more expensive model 200 as a modest power amp for say Atmos speakers or how I use them to serve music around the house. 2. Build quality - very solid case, nice and solid, well finished.3. The size is very slim and only half the width of a standard hi-fi box or AV receiver, meaning you can fit two side-by-side in your stack without taking up too much space. Can also be rack mounted with the included brackets.4. Warming (or lack thereof) - Being Class D amps, they don't generate much heat, which is a good thing. What I don't like: 1. Volume control on the back - Might be ok for "set it and forget it", but for speaker balancing it can be a problem for some. There's plenty of room on the front for a volume control, I can only surmise that hiding it on the back meant they could have used a cheaper one (see below). The volume knob is very small, you need a screwdriver to turn it.3. The volume should be cranked up anyway, so why bother? 4. Speaker terminals - you need to strip the wires and insert them into the block, tighten the screws. The blocks are designed for wires no larger than 14 AWG and you must be careful not to short the connections due to random wires - they are VERY close together. This weekend I need to reconnect the wires for another reason, and I'll take the opportunity to "tin" the ends of the wires with solder to get strong ends that will fit the terminal block. sound quality? The jury's out of here. To be honest, I rarely use a pair of top-notch hi-fi speakers, just modest built-in speakers, but I don't expect audiophile quality from a $125 amp. It should be fine for Atmos or Surround Back or Muzac services though.