Amp medics warranty work..

[shizzzon 10+ year member]

Gary is correct.

We have experience in ALL the positions of warranty work-

Being a distributor who relies on the brand to authorize all repair work (unconditionally. No questions).

Being a dealer who relies on the brand to handle communication, repair time and expedited return shipping without issue.

Being a global importer in which the buildhouse authorizes us to handle all issues within the US in which we make the calls on repair work and how much we are willing to pay to make it right.

Out of all those, It's not the repair center's issue. it's rejecting repair work bill. Why? Because the company doesn't want to be financially pressured in losing money.

This is big problem with companies trying to sell below the next. That doesnt work as it doesnt make financial sense when you also control the sale AFTER the sale.

Everything will fall into place. You can't make profit if nothing sells and you cant be in debt if you're making profit.

I know it's hard to sell korean and chinese amplifiers as a US brand in the US because they are expensive already and to cover yourself after the sale, the MAP should be VERY high which then brings in easy competition from brazil.

The only exception, as a distributor, i can personally say from experience is Alphard Sound. Alphard is extremely large company and moved part of their business into Miami to save cost on import. They put customer service on top with product quality. If amplifier were to fail, yes, it is authorized through Amp Medics.

However, per business conversations we have had with the importer, in the instance Alphard were to get so big in the US that the repair quota starts to exceed annual % allocation for repair costs in which they are losing money, they will bring in their top Russian Service Techs into Miami to expedite repair In House avoiding 3rd party fees altogether.

It takes a LOT of investment to get sales of good quality korean and chinese amplifiers to sell in the US without any customer dissatisfaction and they are one brand i know that hasn't cut anything.

I'm sure there are many more in the US but we only deal with new companies that need to be brought into the US. I'm sure your mainstream brands are well taken care of for being in business this long.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Steve has done good work for me in the past and I met him and had lunch a couple years ago when I was traveling through South Florida. He seemed like a good guy and competent.

He has always sworn by using 1 battery per 1000W (assume 55ah AGM style), so the electrical system OP suggests seems pretty borderline at best for feeding that amp. By his standards you have nowhere near enough battery.

That aside, Stephen Mantz has always claimed that these big amps ALL suffer from the same design flaw where the class D chip isn't adequate to overcome the gate capacitance once the Koreans/Chinese add enough transistors to make them bigger than around 2KW, that's why many of these big amps are prone to random self destruct mode. Don't quote me on this being verbatim, it's a bit beyond my pay grade, but call Mr. Mantz and he'll probably explain it to you if you're polite.

6 month turnaround is pretty rough though. I'd say Amp Medics Steve needs to take on a few apprentices or just turn away work if he's that far behind especially this far after finals.

 

[shizzzon 10+ year member]

That aside, Stephen Mantz has always claimed that these big amps ALL suffer from the same design flaw where the class D chip isn't adequate to overcome the gate capacitance once the Koreans/Chinese add enough transistors to make them bigger than around 2KW, that's why many of these big amps are prone to random self destruct mode. Don't quote me on this being verbatim, it's a bit beyond my pay grade, but call Mr. Mantz and he'll probably explain it to you if you're polite.

I'd be curious how up to date his information is and who it pertains to buildhouse-wise. There were MANY statements like this 3yrs ago about brazilian amplifiers when we found out there were coming from people who tried them back in the mid 2000s where everything was a firestorm at that time.

It just wouldn't make sense to "accept" that large amplifiers have the POTENTIAL to randomly self destruct when not only so many have been made, but have been redesigned and retooled by different brands and have access to 3-5 GOOD korean buildhouses.. Let alone how many Chinese buildhouses there are.

To single it down to just large Class D chip amplifiers is biased.. Simply because Korean manufacturing is different than Chinese manufacturing and Brazilian manufacturing.

For someone to go that broad of a statement usually means he doesn't know why it happens.. it's just the common variable at play.

But i'll hold to my opinion that there is no way there is a design flaw in ALL amplifiers like this due to volume of sales and brands out there across this planet.. and other planets we haven't even found car audio yet on, lol. There are too many variables at play. Engineer and Repair Tech are not the same and cannot equally diagnose or answer the same questions. This i've been made aware of many times.

 

[bgowdy 5,000+ posts]

Steve has done good work for me in the past and I met him and had lunch a couple years ago when I was traveling through South Florida. He seemed like a good guy and competent.
He has always sworn by using 1 battery per 1000W (assume 55ah AGM style), so the electrical system OP suggests seems pretty borderline at best for feeding that amp. By his standards you have nowhere near enough battery.

That aside, Stephen Mantz has always claimed that these big amps ALL suffer from the same design flaw where the class D chip isn't adequate to overcome the gate capacitance once the Koreans/Chinese add enough transistors to make them bigger than around 2KW, that's why many of these big amps are prone to random self destruct mode. Don't quote me on this being verbatim, it's a bit beyond my pay grade, but call Mr. Mantz and he'll probably explain it to you if you're polite.

6 month turnaround is pretty rough though. I'd say Amp Medics Steve needs to take on a few apprentices or just turn away work if he's that far behind especially this far after finals.

You know now that you say this i have heard something like this before about big Korean amps or bigger than 2k korean boards

 

[bgowdy 5,000+ posts]

Also steve only fixes the amps, he doesnt make the call on the warranty. He has worked on amps for me before and done great work. Hell the last amp he fixed i sold it 5 years ago to a buddy and its still going strong now

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I'd be curious how up to date his information is and who it pertains to buildhouse-wise. There were MANY statements like this 3yrs ago about brazilian amplifiers when we found out there were coming from people who tried them back in the mid 2000s where everything was a firestorm at that time.
It just wouldn't make sense to "accept" that large amplifiers have the POTENTIAL to randomly self destruct when not only so many have been made, but have been redesigned and retooled by different brands and have access to 3-5 GOOD korean buildhouses.. Let alone how many Chinese buildhouses there are.

To single it down to just large Class D chip amplifiers is biased.. Simply because Korean manufacturing is different than Chinese manufacturing and Brazilian manufacturing.

For someone to go that broad of a statement usually means he doesn't know why it happens.. it's just the common variable at play.

But i'll hold to my opinion that there is no way there is a design flaw in ALL amplifiers like this due to volume of sales and brands out there across this planet.. and other planets we haven't even found car audio yet on, lol. There are too many variables at play. Engineer and Repair Tech are not the same and cannot equally diagnose or answer the same questions. This i've been made aware of many times.

If you understand enough about amp design give him a call and ask for yourself. He is typically good about taking time on the phone. If in theory a certain part of the design is a weak link the fact that some never fail and many failures are from abuse or other issues doesn't discount that. Not like he doesn't understand amp design and certainly not like he doesn't have a steady stream of amps coming in and out for repair.

I've personally had a few big Far East amps blow up for no apparent reason, seen them blow up at random, and read even more stories about just turning them on and they blow up. If this is a different issue what was the issue and how has it been addressed? If this was the issue, how has it been addressed?

I'm not trying to pick a fight or dump on brands you sell, just passing along what I've been told by someone with a lot of experience in the field. If you can come up with some other ideas or show how this is outdated I'm very interested. Of course Brazilian amps are a completely different design philosophy anyway. I've had good luck with the couple I've used but many of those have also been time bombs.

 

[shizzzon 10+ year member]

My/our comments have nothing to do with what we/anyone else sells, etc. Take the names off of everything. I'm only commenting all the way to the source.

Unfortunately, i do not understand enough of the design to have in depth talk with someone of this conversation. I could forward it to someone i know but i do not want to waste their time with it. It would probably come up in conversation much later down the road when we have a meeting about something.

 

[SounDrive Pro Seller]

I got it from a source and its 100% fact. Shows character so components could have been downgraded to save money. What they allow medics to repair under warranty could have been modified to reduce warranty pay out. Not saying tru but possible. Only fact is the crying to buildhouse thus stopping the sell of another company's item at a profitable price. A $500 5300k korean/zenon amp can't be allowed.. Also, reason fsd amps even sold out models prices jumped $100? Something is wrong there. 2600 has been sold out close to year at $299 now in past few weeks claim $399 sale price?

The 2600 was discontinued months ago. Stop spreading misinformation.

 

[disturbed471985 5,000+ posts]

The 2600 was discontinued months ago. Stop spreading misinformation.

No sir. Your gonna say fsd 2600s were still being produced/manufactured 6months ago? Same with the 3800 and 5k id assume also as the prices on all 3 were raised in past 30days. So fsd and AL amps were on assembly line at same time?

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

i have a 220 amp alt with one red top(1kcca) and i haven't even done the big 3 yet because i hate doing anything car audio now. I don't EVER with lights running AC blasting stereo up full tilt drop past 13.2 and it just right back up cause the lack of capacitance in the circuit.. while i don't care to have battery as a primary supply because of the lower supply voltage its perfectly acceptable but you better have a **** ton of battery power and AH isn't the only spec to look for. ah is a output vs time rating under ideal situations you wont see in real life cituations.. ESR or the pates resistance is very important. to high of An ESR your going to get a poor discharge rate which wreaks havoc on the amp and powersupply.

i ALWAYS recommend having 100 amp alt for 1000 watts. its accurate enough to be safe. otherwise your looking at a **** ton of batteries to power 8kw.. i'm talking at least a dozen with a 200 amp alt..

 

[Papermaker85 5,000+ posts]

nearly even amp on the market is the same **** thing.. lol