DB-R's top picks for WORST amplifier design..

Lindsay was 12 when it first started. One morning she awoke to find odd little crumbs in her bed. At first she thought they were crackers, but as she was getting dressed for school she noticed a small little tan "O" laying on the floor next to her nightstand. It was a cheerio. She picked it up and looked at it for a moment, its wholesome oaty contours seeming perfectly harmless. She threw it away, assuming that her bratty older sister was responsible. Little dis she know that it was an omen of the pure mind bending horror which was soon to follow.
That weekend her mother went shopping. She had gotten in the habit of doing all the grocery shopping for the month at once, so the kitchen was packed full of bags and boxes as the girls went about putting things away. Lindsay was disappointed when she noticed that the only cereal her mother had gotten was Cheerios. It was always Cheerios. Four economy-sized boxes worth, no less. Lindsay had never liked Cheerios, even though her sister seemed to love them. They were too plain. Too boring. She thrust the boxes carelessly up onto the shelf above the refrigerator and went searching through the other bags to see if her mother had gotten anything that was actually edible.

Later that night she was tossing and turning in bed, her stomach full of slightly too much Butterfinger ice cream. The house was silent. Everyone else was in bed. Or should have been. Lindsay had almost dozed off when a soft, dry rustling sound brought her back to wakefulness. At first she thought it was the cat scratching at her door, but as she sat up she realized that it was coming from somewhere inside the room. A twinge of fear shivered through her body. They'd never had rats or mice in the house before. Was it a bug? Whatever it was, it sounded big. Lindsay was scared. She felt the urge to huddle underneath her blankets and hide until it went away. Instead, she gathered her courage and reached out to turn on the lamp beside her bed. Just as she touched it, the noise suddenly stopped. She flicked it on and jumped back int othe center of her bed, clutching the sheets tightly around her as light spilled out into the room. There was nothing there. She peeked carefully over the sides of her bed, seeing only the rug and a few Girls' Life magazines.

Taking her heaviest pillow to use as a weapon, she got out of bed and padded slowly towards the door. Right as she reached it she froze, looking down. Peeking out from the crack beneath her door was the round half-circle of a cheerio. Puzzled, she opened the door. Before her loomed a seven-foot wall of cheerios. They covered the doorway completely as if the entire hallway had been filled with them. And they were moving. They were alive and crawling over each other like a mass of legless insects, filling the air with the heavy smell of whole grain oats. Lindsay ran and jumped back onto her bed. She huddle and clutched the pillow over her head, and screamed.

She was still screaming when her parents came in. Her mother soothed her, wanting to know what was the matter. The cheerios were gone. Lindsay told her that it was just a nightmare. She didn't want them to think she was crazy. After a little while her parents left, her father muttering something about "night terrors" as they walked back upstairs. When they were gone, Lindsay stuffed her blanket under the crack of her door and sat up with the light on. She tried her best to stay awake all night, but after a few hours she finally fell asleep. When she awoke there were a handful of crumbs in her bed.

Fow a few weeks afterward, Lindsay was able to sleep on the floor in her sister Susan's room, though she had to use all of her allowance as a bribe. Then her parents found out and made her go back to her own room. Lindsay's dad got her a lock for the door, telling her it would help her to feel safe. It didn't.

The very first night she was back in her room, she heard the rustling noise again. She'd kept the lamp on but this time the light didn't seem to help. She huddled there, watching the door and hoping it would go away. Then the blanket moved. She'd stuffed it under the door again as tightly as she could, but now one of the corners of it was being pushed back into her room by something on the other side. Lindsay was pretty sure she knew what that something was. The cheerios were coming for her.

Just then, the lamp went out and the room was plunged into darkness. She stifled a scream, telling herself it was just a nightmare. Cheerios couldn't move or unplug lights. They didn't come after people. Then something light and dry brushed against her cheek, and all rational thought left her mind as she was seized by the cold grip of terror. She opened her mouth to scream, gagging as it was immediately filled with tiny rings of the cereal. She felt it moving all over her body. She bit and chewed and spit, trying to clear her mouth so she could call for help. But no matter how much of it she crunched up, more always took its place.

The cheerios seemed to collect into narrow tendrils as they snaked over her body. She shuddered in shock and disbelief as she felt the buttons of her pajama top being pulled open one by one. Suddenly she was grabbed around the arms and ankles and lifted up above the bed, her face toward the ceiling. Dry, searching fingers of cereal probed into the wasitband of her pj bottoms and yanked them down just as her shirt was pulled up over her heard. She was still too young to wear a bra, and she immediately felt the cheerios coil around her small, developing breasts and squeeze them roughly. Lindsay whimpered and kicked as her panties were stripped off. No, she thought, it wouldn't want that. Please let it not be that...

Her legs were quickly restrained while another tendril slid up slowly along her inner thigh. Two more gripped her buttocks, holding her up and kneading her firm athletic flesh as more began circling over her nipples. Lindsay gasped through her nose, her mouth still full of cheerios. It was weird and horrible, but the touching felt almost good at the same time. Then she felt the tendril rubbing lightly over her exposed labia, and she thrashed about uselessly as it began nudging and probing at her most private spot. It caressed the lips of her young culca almost tenderly for a few long minutes before she felt it nudge harder at the entrance to her ******. Her body stiffened as she felt it pushing inside her. It felt rough, even though the surface had been moistened by her fearfel sweat and the natural wetness within her.

The cheerio tendril entered her slowly, relentlessly. It didn't thrust in and out like she'd expected it to, instead it seemed to be pouring itself into her, filling her ****** with tiny cereal O's. She could feel them snapping and crunching inside her as she clenched down to try and keep them out. The tendrils on her body seemed to get stronger, groping at her breasts and *** and tugging hard at her nipples. She felt her ***** stretching as it was packed full of rapacious cheerios, the growing pressure sending mixed tingles of pain and pleasure rippling through her body. Then she felt the presence of yet another narrow tendril rubbing insistently against the tight pucker of her butthole. Lindsay came as it pushed inside her, her body shivering uncontrollably as she was reluctantly overcome by the pulsing waves of ecstasy.

At that moment there was a quiet knock on the door. Her mother's voice called out, asking if she was okay. The cheerios quickly drew away, vanishing into the darkness just as abruptly as they'd arrived. Lindsay could still feel some remnants in her ****** and *** as she got up weakly and pulled her pjs back on. Her mother looked concerned when Lindsay opened the door, but the explanation of another nightmare seemed to put her at ease. When she'd gone back up to bed, Lindsay went into the bathroom and sat on the toilet, feeling ashamed and violated as she let the last of the soggy cereal mush drip out of her body. She still hated cheerios. Now more than ever.
bahahahahahahahahahahaha!

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//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 
If we can rate the "worst" amplifiers based on his repair invoices, then using the same logic we can rate the "best" amplifiers based on his repair invoices.
So, for example, if he's never repaired a Pyramid amplifier it would be at the very top of the list as one of the most reliable amplifiers on the market !!

Yeah.......
word

 
Could care less about what the manufacturers think of it. If they want to put the repair man out of business, then they should make their products in a way that a repairman isn't ever needed. I can't help them with that unless they pay attention to what I said.

All this being said, most of those problem amps are older amps, not sure if they are even being produced new anymore, some of them I am sure they are not. So being that they are older, they are sure to have some problems due to old age, but then again, I've got amps in here that never have had any problems, are older than all of those amps and still work great, they are only here for bench testing and once overs per the customer.

Just trying to help people out buying up this used stuff. The people here that are complaining are likely in the pocket of some manufacturer or own one of the amps listed and are simply upset. Sorry, it wasn't my intention to upset anyone, but rather inform everyone.

 
In my humble opinion, the main problem here is in his presentation of his information.
Given all of the variables, he hardly has the necessary data to determine what the "worst" used amplifiers are or to rate amplifiers based solely on his invoices.

Now, if he had simply said something along the lines of "if you are having a problem with X amplifier, this is the most common reason for failure I have observed....."

But that's NOT how he labeled or presented the information. He pretends (and labeled the information) as if he has some knowledge that in reality he does not possess. And most manufacturer's, I presume, would not take kindly to being slandered against based on faulty or fallible information.
very,very well said.
 
no more like6 years of setting aroundIts been under my bed for a little over a year, I did not abuse the amp are used it incorrectly.....it was used to run my active setup and I did use a meter to set my gains so that I was not sending my front stage a clipped signal...I was playing it one at moderate listening level and it just stop playing my tweets...like I said I like kicker amps but there seems t0o be some truth what DB-r says aboth the KX AB series of amps .
yes but it was brand new in box still sealed , this is not a used amp it is still new

so, it is used, not brand new in the box....was new, 6 years ago, kinda past, not present.

Do 6 year old cars run worse, than when they were brand new? Do they see more problems, than when brand new?

See my point?

Not bashing you so please don't take it that way, but see it from the 'used' side of the fence as well.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 
so it's been sitting somewhere, for almost 8 years?
8 years, pfft //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Although having an adjustable voltage DC supply would probably have saved that amp //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Do 6 year old cars run worse, than when they were brand new? Do they see more problems, than when brand new?See my point?
C'mon //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif The only component I'd worry about for that length of time would be the electrolytics potentially drying out, which is why I don't like to bring up old electronics on 120VAC without a variac of some kind. But once those are replaced, often times 30-40 year old pieces of gear will operate exactly to their factory specs, maybe a bias pot needs to be tweaked here and there, but nothing major //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 
But that's NOT how he labeled or presented the information. He pretends (and labeled the information) as if he has some knowledge that in reality he does not possess. And most manufacturer's, I presume, would not take kindly to being slandered against based on faulty or fallible information.

Faulty or Fallible information... LOL I repair the things, so since I repair them, I still don't know what I am talking about? Whatever. I could say something really not nice here but I think I will keep that to myself...

Looks like this is going to be a neverending battle with a manufacturer breathing down everyones neck here on this forum, so I will just shut up and do my repair thing, and next time I post a list of "problem amplifiers" I won't even bother to respond to posts like this one. The info is there, take it however you want to take it, use it, ignore it, whatever you choose, THAT IS UP TO YOU. I understand it pisses off the manufacturers that are on the list, but I don't really care. Bring it on, it isn't like I am intentionally lying about anything here, just stating observations as a repair tech, I am here to help out the little guy with making a choice on buying a used amplifier. It had nothing to do with new amps. All of the amps on the list are older amplifiers, but are plentiful on the used market and people need to know what stuff they may want to stay away from.

Im done with this thread...

Anyone who expects a response from me regarding this matter can PM me. I am done posting here about this topic.

 
I'm not breathing down your neck, just showing some possible inaccuracies in your assumptions.

Like I said many pages ago, I personally have about this much into your assumptions, so it's not going to make or break my thoughts.

But if you have seen say 100 of these KX amps, from 2000-jan 2008, that's less than .000001% of what was possibly sold.

You don't like the amps mentioned, ok. Fair. I don't like yellow Corvettes. Fair.

This is why God created us all as individuals like I mentioned in another post, doesn't make me, or you right.

But you don't see me or others posting if they had two bad experiences with a certain 'amp repair station', all over the net. You would come on too, and say "I have repaired hundreds of amps, and 'maybe' a few had bad experience with a return".

I wouldn't, and hope others wouldn't hold it against you, or say, this 'amp repair station' has bad customer service or procedures.

But taking a small thing, under a magnifying glass and blowing it up into BIGGER and larger ordeal, is something we need to leave to countries. It's bad enough they can't get along, with out us making 'mountains out of mole hills."

 
so, it is used, not brand new in the box....was new, 6 years ago, kinda past, not present.
Do 6 year old cars run worse, than when they were brand new? Do they see more problems, than when brand new?

See my point?

Not bashing you so please don't take it that way, but see it from the 'used' side of the fence as well.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
the amp was not used it was brand new(how do you get used out of brand new never used?)

when i got it....and yes I see your point on the six year old car but there is always two sides to a coin, there are six year old cars that don`t have problems too,,, all I`m saying is I have other older kicker amps(used) and I have not had a problem with them and btw I love my 2500.1 and dx350m and I`m thinking about getting a zr460 to match my dx350,,,,Tracy this is my point, there seems to be a problem with the kx AB series amps, hey no company builds perfect amps or a perfect line of amps.

 
When I started audio 25 years ago and learned of Zapco amplifiers, I got hooked and bought

them. I punished the amps and blew some up. It's already a PITA to afford one, but to blow

one up by abuse and having to spend more money on the repair isn't sweet. I after I sent

one in for repair, I decided to tackle this repair job myself, a new hobby is born.

It was easy to do the repair as I had previous electronic experience. By then I have

already made friends with the Zapco repair guy. We talked on the phone, he sent me

schematics and told me alot of stories. He gets alot of blown amps from crazy users

who would install higher than recommended fuses, amplifiers with nails in the fuse holder,

etc.,

Everyone in my area was using that product. The fact that he was fixing amps all day doesn't imply

the product was bad, they just sold alot of product and the users just abused the amplifiers

beyond recommended operating parameters.

 
When I started audio 25 years ago and learned of Zapco amplifiers, I got hooked and boughtthem. I punished the amps and blew some up. It's already a PITA to afford one, but to blow

one up by abuse and having to spend more money on the repair isn't sweet. I after I sent

one in for repair, I decided to tackle this repair job myself, a new hobby is born.

It was easy to do the repair as I had previous electronic experience. By then I have

already made friends with the Zapco repair guy. We talked on the phone, he sent me

schematics and told me alot of stories. He gets alot of blown amps from crazy users

who would install higher than recommended fuses, amplifiers with nails in the fuse holder,

etc.,

Everyone in my area was using that product. The fact that he was fixing amps all day doesn't imply

the product was bad, they just sold alot of product and the users just abused the amplifiers

beyond recommended operating parameters.
that just it I do not abuse my equipment it cost to much to keep getting it fixed, but nails in the fuse-holder wow, now that is just stupid. You would have to agree that sometimes there are design flaws in some amps, and sometimes they just don`t catch it until the amps start to come back in for repairs withe the SAME PROBLEM not different problems but the SAME PROBLEM this is the point I`m stressing.

 
the amp was not used it was brand new(how do you get used out of brand new never used?)when i got it....and yes I see your point on the six year old car but there is always two sides to a coin, there are six year old cars that don`t have problems too,,, all I`m saying is I have other older kicker amps(used) and I have not had a problem with them and btw I love my 2500.1 and dx350m and I`m thinking about getting a zr460 to match my dx350,,,,Tracy this is my point, there seems to be a problem with the kx AB series amps, hey no company builds perfect amps or a perfect line of amps.
it was brand new, until you used it, now, it's used, correct? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gifBut we see re-calls on brand new cars, and sure, my 2005 Maxima has never had an issue, but some have recalls. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

See, you've never had issues with the DX350M you have, or others, some had connector problems with the modules on the D series DX700 and DX350. So it's kinda mute, ya know?

Nobody is perfect.....well, not human anyway //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 
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