are u.s. amps not as good anymore?

[toolfan89 10+ year member]

today was a half day at school so when i got out i went and hug out at my local audio shop cause it says they sell u.s. amps on the website. so i bust up in there and ask one of the owners if they have any i can play with they say they stoped selling them a little while ago cause some korean guy bought out u.s. amps and all their products aint as high quality anymore cause they make them overseas. is this true??????

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[ga12r 10+ year member]

today was a half day at school so when i got out i went and hug out at my local audio shop cause it says they sell u.s. amps on the website. so i bust up in there and ask one of the owners if they have any i can play with they say they stoped selling them a little while ago cause some korean guy bought out u.s. amps and all their products aint as high quality anymore cause they make them overseas. is this true??????

To a degree.

 

[wilzyx 5,000+ posts]

lol, isnt that 'korean guy' flakkos uncle?

 

[toolfan89 10+ year member]

the only u.s. amps they have left are some from the early 90's they use to power things on display

 

[Mr. C 10+ year member]

They are still very solid amps. All of the ones that I install perform well.

I haven't had a chance to push them as hard as the "old school" US Amps.

My US 2000's play real hard down to near 1 ohm mono. I've also taken US 2000x's down in the 2 ohm mono range with no problems as long as you can keep the voltage up. They can play past their lowest ohm rating and put out some very nice power while doing so. I'm not sure how comfortable I'd feel pushing the newer amps past their ohm ratings, but they play well in their comfort zone.

 

[XTRProBoy 10+ year member]

They did however sell out.

Why do people always assume companies "sell out"? Usually it isn't the case. Most often these companies simply can't survive because people don't want to buy the $300 high quality Made in the USA product when they can buy a "1000W" product made in who-knows-where in some sweatshop with poor quality for $100?

It's a sad fact that too many people just see the absolute price and flashy designs with high power claims, and couldn't care less about the quality they are getting or where the product is made.

Companies like ADST (Orion, a/d/s, Precision Power), Soundstream, and many others have met the same fate. They never "sold out", they just started going under and some other company came in and bought up what was left just so they could continue to use the name.

Heck Orion and PPI were even separate companies themselves way back when, a/d/s came in to buy them out and then even ADST started going under and DEI picked them up after that.

The larger companies like Kicker, MTX, RF, etc. have kept going, mainly by themselves taking up Korean and Chinese manufacturing to cut costs and stay competitive. It's not that good products don't come out of those places with the good brand names on them, tons of these products are quite good. But despite power and technology increases, the days of hand-built amps with mil. spec components, made-in-the-USA are long over. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif I mean how many companies offer that anymore?

I don't want to sound too propaganda-ish but what I'm saying is true. And it applies to everything from car audio, to home audio, to home appliances, to virtually all consumer products. Consumers are typically simply pennywise and pound-foolish as a whole. Not everyone is like this but the majority would appear to be, and it's that majority that dictates what gets bought and what companies survive or go under.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

I can't speak for the rest of USAmp's products, but someone who designed the new AX-TU series made some pretty big engineering mistakes, or really didn't listen to it before sending it out...

Consumers are typically simply pennywise and pound-foolish as a whole. Not everyone is like this but the majority would appear to be, and it's that majority that dictates what gets bought and what companies survive or go under.

And the ones who aren't will buy anything you tell them to buy, like $500 power cords //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Think about it...Decware still manages to turn a profit by hand-building amps, one at a time, made to order. But their clientele isn't what's found on this forum, either //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

US AMPS is still a company, it is just that their product is made in Korea now. I have both old a new. There is a difference, but the quality is still high.

 

[denim 5,000+ posts]

There is some great info in this topic and some incorrect info. From my understanding, based on the US Amps engineers posting in their forum said, the AX line is still made here in the US, same way it was before. The two lines, Merlin and Xterminator, are designed here but built over seas.

 

[Jeremiah25 10+ year member]

I've own both old and new. There is no doubt that the old ones are much better, but when I compare the quality of the new US Amps to other amps on the market nowadays in the same price bracket, they aren't too far off. Car Audio equipment in general isn't near as good as it was back in the mid-late 90's. Well, come to think of it, electronics in general aren't made to last like they used to be. The trend nowadays seems to be to make the stuff just good enough that it will last until it is out of warranty.

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

I have my oldschool US Amp bridged at 1 ohm It sucks a ton of current though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[USAMPFREAK 10+ year member]

today was a half day at school so when i got out i went and hug out at my local audio shop cause it says they sell u.s. amps on the website. so i bust up in there and ask one of the owners if they have any i can play with they say they stoped selling them a little while ago cause some korean guy bought out u.s. amps and all their products aint as high quality anymore cause they make them overseas. is this true??????

OK Here is the Deal and who would know better than ME!!!!!! only JAck and Dirk.

The XT line is make in Korea, the AX and MD series are semi stuffed in Korea, the final assy. is done here at the plant in Baldwin Park CA.

Yes, US Amps was bought by an American born Korean man.

And your "dealer" is the old national sales manager who did very very little managing of anything out side his own shop. He is a very bitter man as he has been dropped by the new owner for failure to produce results. FYI your "DEALER" is Pro Audio in pearl and that is the only dealer until recent in that region.

But, If you would like to fo see the new product for your self Cowboy Malonies carries part of the line at all of it's locations. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

 

[mobeious 10+ year member]

usamps=usaccoustics ... same guy ones both companys... amps look identical too

http://www.usacoustics.com/2004/usg3000d%20specs.htm

looks alot like USamps MD2

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

usamps=usaccoustics ... same guy ones both companys... amps look identical too
http://www.usacoustics.com/2004/usg3000d%20specs.htm

looks alot like USamps MD2

It looks nothing like an MD2. The only similarity is the connections all along one end. From there the cosmetics are completely different.