New Hifonics

[gunz4me 10+ year member]

The Punch 75 not as impressive.

Bite your tongue! I had a Franken Punch 75 that was the most awesome amp I ever threw together. It had a power supply from a Punch 150 along with some other internal tweaks and tested right at 400 watts RMS into 4 ohms bridged. The only problem was I needed to run a fan shroud to keep it from going thermal on me:laugh:

I don't know what I regret more.... trading that Punch 75 for a modified Punch 150 or selling that modified Punch 150 that is still rocking along in my friend's truck:crying:

 

[cleansoundzz 10+ year member]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

No response, cleansoundz?

It's not always about the power more than the install. Again, whether you choose to believe me or not I have heard 500 watt systems easily outperform 2000 watt + systems. My buddy had an old punch 250.1 power pushing 2 15 inch Kicker CVRs in a sealed box and that is one of the loudest setups I have ever heard. He had a 4 channel Alpine pushing his mids and highs and he had an excellent combination of SQ and SPL. The vehicle made a huge difference as well. It was in a 96 Ford Expedition. So yes if a 1000 watt SAE mono block has the right combination of woofers and a perfectly made box in the right vehicle it will eat a Hifonics 2608 for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Actually there is one car audio shop that sells JL Audio, Crossfire and Hifonics who will back me on it. Say what you want, believe what you want I have heard many many systems dating back to 1988 that will prove my point.

 

[cleansoundzz 10+ year member]

This is not the case 90% of the time but maybe 5%. I have seen a lot of excellent installs in my time.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

Try $550. I bought one brand new in 1990. The Punch 75 was $350 brand new. Even now they go for about $180. The punch 150 easily put out 400 + watts. We used many of them. Even the punch 45 was a beast. The Punch 75 not as impressive.

just my point...LOL

 

[DBBOOM 10+ year member]

It's ok for people to have an opinion about products they do or do not support and i can respect that, but it sure seems like you have a very emotional opinion about a product you have "never used and never will".

Perhaps if you were to try one you might just change your mind.

When API bought Hifonics, fired all of the engineers and took the product over sea's to be designed and engineered, it killed not only the quality of the product but it also killed their reputation.

When we bought Hifonics and fired the people at API, we hired back the original Hifonics engineer from generation I to generation VIII.

We design and engineer our own products just like Hifonics used to in the old days except we now do not hand insert and hand solder components.

We use high precision auto insertion and wave soldering equipment for better reliabilty and dependability.

The old amps used to be $1.00 per watt.

If you still want that kind of product, buy XXV amps.

If you can't afford that, buy Brutus and Zeus.

They are designed and engineerwed by the same guy that designed the old amps but of course they do not share all of the really expensive components that go into the higher end amps.

If you want to compare old vs, new then compare apples to apples.

Compare Generation VIII to XXV and I can assure you the the XIII will not hold up to the XXV in performance, efficiency and long term durablity.

Hifonics has done pretty well the last 7.5 years considering how many other companies have tanked or are in serious financial trouble.

This is just my opinion and no hating on others opinions.

This forum is not just about opinions but it's about getting factual information and sharing it.

Steve Mantz(Zed Audio) developed and built the early Hifonics amplifiers, and last time i spoke with him(today), he is not an employee of Maxxsonics. You may have one of the engineers that collaborated on the early Hifonics(probably Lukas Louw), but he was not THE engineer by far. And this is not my opinion, it is fact, which can easily be proven with very little effort. But i am impressed with the truth in the rest of your post. Who knows,(no disrespect intended) you may not even be aware of all of the facts behind the Zed Audio era of Hifonics.

 

[bigbangtheory 5,000+ posts]

Must **** to be so close minded like cleansoundz.

That is all I have to say. I guess if I had money to just do whatever with, I would get something along the lines of an expensive well known brand, but I don't have the funds, so nothing wrong with using the Brutus line. Will it last 10 years.........maybe, maybe not. Is all about how you take care of your stuff IMO.

Hell I have never owned an amp.......let alone a car more than 10 years. Do you want to know what amp I had the longest? My old school targa fle market amp........really, I got it at the flea market, lol! And god dam, I wish my flea markets would sell Hifonics stuff. I would eat that shit up all day and night!

Have a good day kind sir!

 

[crownvic02 10+ year member]

i have had 2 brutus series amps, had a 1606, i played that thing with voltage drops all the way to the lower 11s and upper 10s for a year, still in circulation till this day, also had a 2608, and if dude thank a jl1k will out sound that amp, i just will not even comment on that, cause thats just ignorance, i actually had a guy who had a charger with 2 jl w6s on a a jl 1k, and he heard my setup and was dying to buy my amp (2608) from me, guess what 2 days later he did //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

Steve Mantz(Zed Audio) developed and built the early Hifonics amplifiers, and last time i spoke with him(today), he is not an employee of Maxxsonics. You may have one of the engineers that collaborated on the early Hifonics(probably Lukas Louw), but he was not THE engineer by far. And this is not my opinion, it is fact, which can easily be proven with very little effort. But i am impressed with the truth in the rest of your post. Who knows,(no disrespect intended) you may not even be aware of all of the facts behind the Zed Audio era of Hifonics.

Did he have anything to do with nexus?

 

[finkster 10+ year member]

I have never considered running hifonics because all i heard was shit talked about them. I think this topic made me see them in a different point of view. I may consider running them in the future....

 

[crownvic02 10+ year member]

I have never considered running hifonics because all i heard was shit talked about them. I think this topic made me see them in a newer point of view. I may consider running them in the future....

trust brah, over half the people talking shit about them never ran them, just going off what they heard or just bashing a name just because, i'm a free lands guy, i'm not gonna nut hug any company, if they make a good product i'll buy it just as simple as that

 

[DBBOOM 10+ year member]

Did he have anything to do with nexus?

Not to my knowledge(which isn't saying much,LOL), i haven't ever heard mention of nexus from him. Steve is a very helpful and EXTEREMELY knowledgeable man, you could ask him yourself with an E-mail: zedaudio@aol.com

He's sometimes hard to catch with a phone call, but he usually replies to his e-mails within a day or so.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

i just remember nexus as the brand that was from the original hifonics owner...guess they didnt last long as they were out around 97-99 ish

 

[cleansoundzz 10+ year member]

Must **** to be so close minded like cleansoundz.
That is all I have to say. I guess if I had money to just do whatever with, I would get something along the lines of an expensive well known brand, but I don't have the funds, so nothing wrong with using the Brutus line. Will it last 10 years.........maybe, maybe not. Is all about how you take care of your stuff IMO.

Hell I have never owned an amp.......let alone a car more than 10 years. Do you want to know what amp I had the longest? My old school targa fle market amp........really, I got it at the flea market, lol! And god dam, I wish my flea markets would sell Hifonics stuff. I would eat that shit up all day and night!

Have a good day kind sir!

Bigbangtheory I have changed my opinion about Hifonics. Call me closeminded but check the post where I conceded to Team Maxxsonics. Don't beat on a dead horse. I know one thing though if you would say that s**t in front of me, you would be missing a few teeth. You would be a nice sparring partner. It's funny how little people become big people over the internet. Again, attack my views I can respect that, but attacking me you cross a whole different line. Be an audlt bigbangtheory, I don't know you, you don't know me, don't attack me and I won't attack you. Being that I don't know you, I give you the benefit of the doubt my not attacking you personally, show me the same respect. In the future if you see my posts I won't respond to anything you say and vice versa.

 

[pawn man 10+ year member]

dude i dont know WTF but i had one that said stillwater on the bottom.all i remember is that it was a big white monster.maybe older than the zed built ones?maybe somebody changed the cover?
if your so smart tell me who makes American bass AMPS ? very few know,are you one?

to the other poster "around car audio since 1989" //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wow.gif.23d729408e9177caa2a0ed6a2ba6588e.gif shit youngin i had already taken 2 breaks from it in 1989...nothin to say about orion,rodek,soundstream and the others kicking fosgates *** back in the day?

american bass is built in korea.

 

[Team Maxxsonics 10+ year member]

I am familiar with Steven and his great contributions in the history of Hifonics.

Steve is indeed a very good engineer and was very much a part of the development in the early days and just as well he had developed products for many companies including earlier Autotek products.

We have made efforts several years back to include Steve in the new future of Hifonics but things just never did pan out.

Our current engineer was one of the first engineers at Hifonics (if not the first) and one of the last prior to API purchasing Hifonics and he was very involved in the development of the "old school" amplifiers and now for the last 7.5 years is again our chief engineer.

He is also very up to date on current technologies and design trends.

We feel that "old school" had it's place in history but we also strive for future technologies and system designs.

Vehicle electrical systems have evolved and hence the need to keep up is critical.

Knowing history helps you understand the future.