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<blockquote data-quote="helotaxi" data-source="post: 1555183" data-attributes="member: 550915">It wasn&#039;t true Class A either.Pretty?&nbsp; They looked way worse than the Linear power and Soundstream.&nbsp; At least the Punch series did.&nbsp; The fan shroud for the Power series were nice looking.&nbsp; The DSM series looked good IMO.I can&#039;t think of a PPI amp that I would classify as anything other than elegant, at least until the PC series came out.&nbsp; Wasn&#039;t a fan of those.The first edition Orion amps were plagued with bad annodizing.&nbsp; It got better and thus prettier.These were some of the amps I really wanted back in the day.Hifonics and Zapco were very well designed and made but I would venture to guess that the others that you saw a bunch of was mainly due not to their inferiority but due to their sheer numbers.&nbsp; They were the in demand item and were fairly commonplace.&nbsp; As a result, I would bet that a lot more of them got abused compared to the Hifonics and Zapco amps.Some you forgot:Phoenix Gold:Cosmetics: 5Build: 5Price/Performance: 5Comments: The MS, MQ and MPS amps were, IMO, some of the best amps ever made.&nbsp; No frills.&nbsp; Rock solid design.&nbsp; Elegant cosmetics.&nbsp; The M series were good.&nbsp; I would pay a mint for a NIB MPS-2500 or MS-2125.Audio Art:Cosmetics: 4Build: 4 (based on heresay, no personal experience, though I have been trying to get ahold of one or two for &quot;evaluation&quot;)Price/performance: 5Comments: By all accounts I&#039;ve seen they make rated power + and are solid amps.I LOVE old amps.&nbsp; Solid design and construction.&nbsp; Function was the most important thing, appearance was secondary at best.&nbsp; As someone mentioned above the newer mass produced amps are marketed to the typical car audio buyer; younger people without a lot of money who just want loud and pretty.&nbsp; Appearance is more important than quality.&nbsp; If it wasn&#039;t Audiobahn would have gone under a long time ago.&nbsp; These amps are disposable IMO.OTOH I have 4 Orion HCCA amps that are still going strong after 10 years.&nbsp; I ran the hell out of them when they were new and they shrugged it off.&nbsp; They were expensive at the time, as the high end amps of now are.&nbsp; They were meant to be competition amps in a time when SPL was not the emphasis, but doing the most with the least amount of &quot;rated&quot; power and sounding good was.&nbsp; Solid power wasn&#039;t cheap.&nbsp; But 10 years later I still think it was money well spent.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="helotaxi, post: 1555183, member: 550915"] It wasn't true Class A either. Pretty? They looked way worse than the Linear power and Soundstream. At least the Punch series did. The fan shroud for the Power series were nice looking. The DSM series looked good IMO. I can't think of a PPI amp that I would classify as anything other than elegant, at least until the PC series came out. Wasn't a fan of those. The first edition Orion amps were plagued with bad annodizing. It got better and thus prettier. These were some of the amps I really wanted back in the day. Hifonics and Zapco were very well designed and made but I would venture to guess that the others that you saw a bunch of was mainly due not to their inferiority but due to their sheer numbers. They were the in demand item and were fairly commonplace. As a result, I would bet that a lot more of them got abused compared to the Hifonics and Zapco amps. Some you forgot: Phoenix Gold: Cosmetics: 5 Build: 5 Price/Performance: 5 Comments: The MS, MQ and MPS amps were, IMO, some of the best amps ever made. No frills. Rock solid design. Elegant cosmetics. The M series were good. I would pay a mint for a NIB MPS-2500 or MS-2125. Audio Art: Cosmetics: 4 Build: 4 (based on heresay, no personal experience, though I have been trying to get ahold of one or two for "evaluation") Price/performance: 5 Comments: By all accounts I've seen they make rated power + and are solid amps. I LOVE old amps. Solid design and construction. Function was the most important thing, appearance was secondary at best. As someone mentioned above the newer mass produced amps are marketed to the typical car audio buyer; younger people without a lot of money who just want loud and pretty. Appearance is more important than quality. If it wasn't Audiobahn would have gone under a long time ago. These amps are disposable IMO. OTOH I have 4 Orion HCCA amps that are still going strong after 10 years. I ran the hell out of them when they were new and they shrugged it off. They were expensive at the time, as the high end amps of now are. They were meant to be competition amps in a time when SPL was not the emphasis, but doing the most with the least amount of "rated" power and sounding good was. Solid power wasn't cheap. But 10 years later I still think it was money well spent. [/QUOTE]

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