Need opinion on good 3000+ amp

[djdilliodon!]

And unless we're talking about an amp so poorly built that is has hissing, popping, or some other noise there is nothing you are hearing that isn't related to frequency response or amplitude of output which can be adjusted with EQ or just using more power. Until you or some other golden ear takes Richard Clark's 10 grand I'd consider his point to stand as truth.

For the price of the SALT 8 you could have bought two 13K full bridge and a nice outboard EQ and done better, but I guess you have to tell yourself something to justify paying almost 3 grand for an amp that'll cost you 1400$ to repair if anything ever goes wrong.

that challenge has been out for years. When No filtering is involved and the power is the same, it pretty much is the same thing. Once filters are involved the differences can be just that alone or one amplifier being more power than the other. Oldest trick in the book is to run as much power as possible in the SQ game. Nothing beats headroom! I personally never had an issue spending money on amplifiers but quality is a must! I would never these days pay what I use to, it’s why I went with taramps lol. Don’t care for the “Korea” argument or any of that stuff. It’s still not what I’d consider high end or exceptional quality.

 

[mat3833 10+ year member]

that challenge has been out for years. When No filtering is involved and the power is the same, it pretty much is the same thing. Once filters are involved the differences can be just that alone or one amplifier being more power than the other. Oldest trick in the book is to run as much power as possible in the SQ game. Nothing beats headroom! I personally never had an issue spending money on amplifiers but quality is a must! I would never these days pay what I use to, it’s why I went with taramps lol. Don’t care for the “Korea” argument or any of that stuff. It’s still not what I’d consider high end or exceptional quality.

This right here. I absolutely love tube amps, it's one of my guilty pleasures that I refuse to indulge in because they are low powered and expensive as hell. I also love me some Class A/B power.

In a car audio setting clean power and a DSP is all you need. Power gets you volume, and the DSP let's you change the tone and sound signature. Modern class D amps, either full or half bridge, offer the best power for the best price.

If you aren't using some kind of signal processing then amp selection is more important in my opinion. I firmly believe full range amps sound different. But every amp can sound the same with signal processing.

It's not feasible for me to spend tens of thousands of dollars to have tube amps powering my car stereo. So I just apply a DSP curve to make the sound warmer and make my music sound more like a tube amp, lol.

Matt

 

[djdilliodon!]

This right here. I absolutely love tube amps, it's one of my guilty pleasures that I refuse to indulge in because they are low powered and expensive as hell. I also love me some Class A/B power.

In a car audio setting clean power and a DSP is all you need. Power gets you volume, and the DSP let's you change the tone and sound signature. Modern class D amps, either full or half bridge, offer the best power for the best price.

If you aren't using some kind of signal processing then amp selection is more important in my opinion. I firmly believe full range amps sound different. But every amp can sound the same with signal processing.

It's not feasible for me to spend tens of thousands of dollars to have tube amps powering my car stereo. So I just apply a DSP curve to make the sound warmer and make my music sound more like a tube amp, lol.

Matt

I’ve had everything back in the day even the us amps Tube amplifiers. The DS1200x4 I’m running in my car makes a lot of power. At normal listening levels this amp is extremely clean and as clean as any other right at its limits. The crossovers on the amp ****, and when I say they ****, they really do! I’m only running a 9 band as this ain’t no pure SQ build. That fixes some issues but remember these issues I’m fixing are only due to MY personal preference. As always sound is purely subjective and can vary widely from one person to the next. The only other flaw I can say is at low volumes the amp does have a little hiss. Turn the volume up to 15 out of 40 and you can no longer hear it. 1200w rms full range class D for $250 shipped?!? It’s an absolute bargain if you ask me! The same deal goes for the smart 5k. The Xovers ****, they really aren’t the greatest but they most certainly do the job here. The subs remain clean no matter what and trust me I beat the snot out of this thing by myself and when giving demos. I’ll have that M1 indicator going solid amber and the red light flashing too . The amp keeps on jamming and the subs so far are still not blown .

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

For the price of the SALT 8 you could have bought two 13K full bridge and a nice outboard EQ and done better, but I guess you have to tell yourself something to justify paying almost 3 grand for an amp that'll cost you 1400$ to repair if anything ever goes wrong.

I’m not buying anything, just stating some customers’ experiences. That is a good point, where you could have bigger amps and run them at maybe at 2 ohms instead of a salt on 1 ohm or something. With that said, I have noticed some SIA and SFB problems out of box, but some people never have any problems, so idk. It’s really up to the individual to know enough to build a system that’s reliable and does what they want it to do. Some people just want to go a certain route, and I understand the perspective either way, so I don’t have a reason to hate.

I still maintain a crappy box is the easiest way to mess up your system. Nothing will screw your system worse than box that wants to let your woofer free air, lol. I just wish there was a way to see finer details about amps from a consumer perspective. I don’t feel like the capabilities of some sub capable amps are well described. I think it would be very interesting to take a large 1 ohm sub system (like a wall) and compare something like SPL levels between something like the SIA and Salt amps at the same power and see if one amp produces more SPL anywhere in the frequency range or if one drops off earlier than the other, but only do the test if literally all circumstances outside of the amps stay the same, including trying to keep the same weather. Like I know a good bit of people running very low tuned series 6th orders, like the rear is tuned to 20-25 hz. I’d be very interested to see if either amp outperformed the other in the real world with very high amp stresses applied.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I have noticed some SIA and SFB problems out of box

And that's why we buy those cheaply built amps from a brand or at least a retailer who is going to be around long enough to honor the warranty. Or say it breaks a year out of warranty you can throw it away and buy a new one with new warranty for the cost of a repair on one of those surfboards.

compare something like SPL levels between something like the SIA and Salt amps at the same power and see if one amp produces more SPL anywhere in the frequency range or if one drops off earlier than the other,

This has already been shown to happen with Taramps, I think EMF did a video of it. Nothing you couldn't fix with DSP.

 

[mat3833 10+ year member]

This has already been shown to happen with Taramps, I think EMF did a video of it. Nothing you couldn't fix with DSP.

Got a link? I'm interested in reading/watching information on this.

Matt

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Got a link? I'm interested in reading/watching information on this.

Matt

As I pointed out in the comments the difference in power will probably amount to .6dB at most which, again, could be easily remedied with EQ.

Also bear in mind his motive there is to convince you to spend your 600$ on his 3K instead of a Taramps 12000MD I can assure you, pick any frequency and the Taramps 12K is going to **** all over whatever 600$ offering he has.

 

[Firewalker]

He is just using re-branded Teampie amplifiers and charging a lot for them.

Only thing I see on his site that looks interesting is the one 12" subwoofer he has the V2 Banhammer.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

He is just using re-branded Teampie amplifiers and charging a lot for them.

Only thing I see on his site that looks interesting is the one 12" subwoofer he has the V2 Banhammer.

As opposed to which "brand" that doesn't just put their logo on the same catalog stuff from the far east?

He has sold some capable subs in the past and he did one of those split board amps tall with smaller footprint (like the IA ones did) that seemed really stout. Otherwise yeah, nothing special, occasionally his lower line subs seem like a fair value for what they are. He quoted me rather high prices on softparts in the past.

 

[mat3833 10+ year member]

As I pointed out in the comments the difference in power will probably amount to .6dB at most which, again, could be easily remedied with EQ.

Also bear in mind his motive there is to convince you to spend your 600$ on his 3K instead of a Taramps 12000MD I can assure you, pick any frequency and the Taramps 12K is going to **** all over whatever 600$ offering he has.

Thanks, I'll look into that. I love when people find unique ways to make their **** look better. Kinda like SMD overloading the "line drivers" and claiming they all clip and are ****.

LOL, I'm not changing from my Smart 5 anytime soon. I prefer efficient substages, so anything that needs more than 5k to get loud enough is out of my wheelhouse. If anything I wish I had picked a 3" coil neo sub from TC, but I don't think they made anything like the Pro 5100 or LMS 18 in a 3" neo version.

Matt

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

Thanks, I'll look into that. I love when people find unique ways to make their **** look better. Kinda like SMD overloading the "line drivers" and claiming they all clip and are ****.

LOL, I'm not changing from my Smart 5 anytime soon. I prefer efficient substages, so anything that needs more than 5k to get loud enough is out of my wheelhouse. If anything I wish I had picked a 3" coil neo sub from TC, but I don't think they made anything like the Pro 5100 or LMS 18 in a 3" neo version.

Matt

What bass knob are you using with that amp? Does it have a clip light?

 

[djdilliodon!]

He is just using re-branded Teampie amplifiers and charging a lot for them.

Only thing I see on his site that looks interesting is the one 12" subwoofer he has the V2 Banhammer.

subs like most others are from China from build houses like JLD, ningbo, Dentaly etc.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

If anything I wish I had picked a 3" coil neo sub from TC, but I don't think they made anything like the Pro 5100 or LMS 18 in a 3" neo version.

3hp neo and Shocker Sig neo are the only 3" coil neo TC motors really. I don't think they made anything similar in 4" coil

 

[mat3833 10+ year member]

3hp neo and Shocker Sig neo are the only 3" coil neo TC motors really. I don't think they made anything similar in 4" coil

They didn't unfortunately, the 3hp neo is a decent motor, but it isn't even in the same league as the NRT. The 3hp neo is just a lighter 3hp with a tad more motor force.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

The 3hp neo is just a lighter 3hp with a tad more motor force.

3hp is no slouch. Really even the TC9 still holds up well for a 1000-1200W platform.