American made amplifiers

[shredder2]

[quote name='ciaonzo']Yeah, the Zausmer BMW with 15's in the kicks. Pretty inspiring build. I believe those Milberts were full fledged tube amps rather than hybrids with tube front ends, so yeah, that would be the real deal. Milbert tube sound on a B&W front stage, Zapco high current bipolar transistor sound/power on the 15's. The results speak for themselves.[/QUOTE]

I'm curious if you could explain @ciaonzo why the car I demoed was so warm and had such presence and seemingly sustain with those amps. I demoed another car that had a pair of Butler tube drivers on the front stage and it was completely different sounding, it sounded great, don't misunderstand that but the Milberts had such a warm sound I cant explain it and he played some symphony music and I swear the tympani and drums were reverberating or echoing off the back of the concert hall. It had incredible detail AND warmth... it was eerie. I've had some fairly nice setups but nothing came close to this one. As you said was the type of tube amp different? And what do you believe was the difference? The cost as listed in that article was insane as those were mid-90's dollars, what would something like that cost today?

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

[quote name='shredder2']I'm curious if you could explain @ciaonzo why the car I demoed was so warm and had such presence and seemingly sustain with those amps. I demoed another car that had a pair of Butler tube drivers on the front stage and it was completely different sounding, it sounded great, don't misunderstand that but the Milberts had such a warm sound I cant explain it and he played some symphony music and I swear the tympani and drums were reverberating or echoing off the back of the concert hall. It had incredible detail AND warmth... it was eerie. I've had some fairly nice setups but nothing came close to this one. As you said was the type of tube amp different? And what do you believe was the difference? The cost as listed in that article was insane as those were mid-90's dollars, what would something like that cost today?[/QUOTE]

It's A (even order) harmonic distortion. Or it had a slightly boosted midbass. I don't like high impedance outputs. They just don't sound realistic

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

You mean BJT's? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif
I beleive that's because the banks of Bipolar Junction Transistors handle the entire portion of the waveform, positive and negative, so there is no crossover distortion related to the swicthing on an off that stems from seperate banks of transiitors handling either the postive or negative half of the waveform. IIRC, someone may want to fact check that. Anyway, if you couple that with high bias, you can have pretty close to class A sound/performance without as much heat as pure class A.

Amp I have now has bits on the output.. ever amp I've ever liked had the but.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Thanks for all your responses. I'm like everyone else and I just want the best bang for my buck. I'm definitely not made of money (wife and 3 growing boys) but I'd also like to support an American company if possible. I'm just doing my homework for all this now. I still have to buy a deck (leaning towards Pioneer 80prs) and trying to figure out what 4 channel amp to buy. My 2014 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk has a lifetime powertrain warranty so I plan on keeping it for a long time. I just want to do it right the first time. The mmats ls800x4 seems reasonably priced at $219. I've read on here about the Soundstream tn900.4 being a good amp as well but the price for the mmats I mentioned earlier is not that far off. Just trying to support American companies where possible. Thanks again for all your input! I really enjoy this forum!

Mmatts is probably the way to go for an amp that is really manufactured in USA. You'll never hear a complaint about them either.

You do still have some decent options for speakers. JL is probably making their higher lines here still. They employ a lot of Americans here in Florida. MSRP is pretty high but they'll deliver great performance and build quality and hold solid resale value.

Top shelf arc audio and linear power are pretty amazing but also way overpriced.
I'm between zeff designs or zed designs I'd go zeff all day if budget and space allows for it.

Do we make the best amps well that's debatable the Germans and Italians both make good product as well

Korean amps and even some higher end Chinese amps can be really good though. I'd by Korean first if possible

Zed amps haven't been manufacture in the USA in some time. They are only "assembled" here. Mind you, you're still getting Stephen's great designs and state of the art technology, but really nobody is making amps here anymore.

I wonder if even Arc or Zapco are truly manufacturing here? Seems to me that with sufficient oversight and budget you can get fairly decent quality out of a Korean buildhouse these days.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Mmatts is probably the way to go for an amp that is really manufactured in USA. You'll never hear a complaint about them either.
You do still have some decent options for speakers. JL is probably making their higher lines here still. They employ a lot of Americans here in Florida. MSRP is pretty high but they'll deliver great performance and build quality and hold solid resale value.

Zed amps haven't been manufacture in the USA in some time. They are only "assembled" here. Mind you, you're still getting Stephen's great designs and state of the art technology, but really nobody is making amps here anymore.

I wonder if even Arc or Zapco are truly manufacturing here? Seems to me that with sufficient oversight and budget you can get fairly decent quality out of a Korean buildhouse these days.

Jl amps have never been built here. No more Zaps either.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Jl amps have never been built here. No more Zaps either.

I didn't think so, I was talking about JL loudspeakers.

 

[ciaonzo 5,000+ posts]

[quote name='shredder2']I'm curious if you could explain @ciaonzo why the car I demoed was so warm and had such presence and seemingly sustain with those amps. I demoed another car that had a pair of Butler tube drivers on the front stage and it was completely different sounding, it sounded great, don't misunderstand that but the Milberts had such a warm sound I cant explain it and he played some symphony music and I swear the tympani and drums were reverberating or echoing off the back of the concert hall. It had incredible detail AND warmth... it was eerie. I've had some fairly nice setups but nothing came close to this one. As you said was the type of tube amp different? And what do you believe was the difference? The cost as listed in that article was insane as those were mid-90's dollars, what would something like that cost today?[/QUOTE]Most of the reasoning behind it all is in post #22 and the link as well. The rest would be speculation on my part but I suspect it is the bigger picture not simply the amplifier. It takes a long time to produce those results and reach that level of refinement. But as tool said, any ole 2way and sub of today can easily put it to shame I guess.

Butlers are hybrids with solid state output sections as far as I'm aware.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

I didn't think so, I was talking about JL loudspeakers.

Only the new C7s, except the tweeters. They are china. The rest are china and German/China.

 

[marc2112 10+ year member]

It's not just that the manufacturing costs are lower in china. It's also the fact that they now have almost exclusive access to rare earth materials. It sucks so bad..

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

I’m gonna be listing a nice brand new American made 5ch vacuum tube amplifier in a few days ...

 

[marc2112 10+ year member]

I’m gonna be listing a nice brand new American made 5ch vacuum tube amplifier in a few days ...

Butler?

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

Butler?

Yep as soon as I get my pics loaded I’ll be listing it

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

Jl amps have never been built here. No more Zaps either.

Zapco was

 

[PPI_GUY 10+ year member]

I was going to mention Linear Power, Butler and Tru Tech. If you have a minute to look up Tru's Facebook page, they post a lot of production photos and some videos. They posted some pics of their Billet amps in a polished piano black finish that may be the most beautiful amplifiers I've ever seen. Pricey? Absolutely. But, then again they aren't a SPL manufacturer. Geared more toward the SQ or SQL buyer.

And if you can't afford new, you can always buy used. But, if you do, try to get gear that has been well cared for. Older amp components may need to be replaced and that can cost big $$$.

 

[PPI_GUY 10+ year member]

Jl amps have never been built here. No more Zaps either.

Actually, the original JL Audio amps were made in the US....by Precision Power.

But, after those original gold amps (yup, they were gold) they went overseas for production. Even the new VXI amps are China built I believe. Still good stuff though.