Old School amps > New shit?

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

There's some great new amps out there, and older junk...can't generalize too far. I'd love to have new Genesis, Helix or Sinfoni - or older Zed-made products or Phoenix Gold.

Then there's the question of what actually is desirable...just because Amp A is higher in efficiency than Amp B, is that a problem for Amp B? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Lil Poot 5,000+ posts]

meh... for what its worth, i think my old *** zed amps that i run my highs with now just somehow sound more rich and just THERE than the crossfire they replaced. no on board processing used, everything is active through the deck. a crossfire isnt exactly a high end SQ amp, but then again neither is us acoustics.

maybe its just the headroom from the extra power... but i'm very satisfied with them.

 

[gunz4me 10+ year member]

I miss the old school ratings, like Linear Power, Rockford Fosgate, and Orion. If the amp said 150 watts on it, that was the absolute MINIMUM RMS power it would put out at an extremely low distortion figure.

Look at the amps of today with their CES power ratings. Oddly, many of them do NOT make rated power on the test bench //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[Boo]

old skool amps had lots more headroom than current amps.

ran a full PPI art series awhile back. quite good but needs filters and lots of tuning though.

i sure miss my PPI arts.

 

[letchcore 10+ year member]

Let me say this the new RF amps are simply not as good as the ones comming out in the mid to late 90's. I dont like any of their P1, P2, or P3 compared to my old Punch DVC's.

I would say that as a generalized statement that old school amps where better then todays would be wrong. But their where many.....Audio Art, Orion, PPI, RF, Old school Pheniox Gold that I would put up against any new amp in their price range for SQ.

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

my old school > yo new school

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[cleansoundzz 10+ year member]

I feel that today's new amps are good however have not yet stood the test of time as equipment made in the 80's & 90's. The old school amps have 15 -20 + years of backing behind them. There are so many people who have stories of running the same amps in their cars for 10+ years with no problems. Preferably, I would take an "older Made in the USA" amp in my car then the newer made in Korea or China product any day of the week. That's why in both of my vehicles I have ZED and PPI amps and they sound great.

People can argue about double blind tests or that the distortion rates of the newer amps are lower which may be true but the newer products have not stood the test of time. Also older amps hold their value very well. An original RF Power 300 will always be higher valued than a Sundown, Atomic, etc 300 watt amp.

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrp-XFjO-mI

 

[gunz4me 10+ year member]

I feel that today's new amps are good however have not yet stood the test of time as equipment made in the 80's & 90's. The old school amps have 15 -20 + years of backing behind them. There are so many people who have stories of running the same amps in their cars for 10+ years with no problems. Preferably, I would take an "older Made in the USA" amp in my car then the newer made in Korea or China product any day of the week. That's why in both of my vehicles I have ZED and PPI amps and they sound great.
People can argue about double blind tests or that the distortion rates of the newer amps are lower which may be true but the newer products have not stood the test of time. Also older amps hold their value very well. An original RF Power 300 will always be higher valued than a Sundown, Atomic, etc 300 watt amp.

A friend of mine is still running my old pre-HD Punch 150 that I purchased back in 1989 or 1990. That amp went into three of my different vehicles, and my friend has installed it in several of his vehicles too! Throughout the years, I used that amp to power four 8" kickers @ 2 ohm stereo, a pair of 10" Kicker Comps @ 4 ohms mono, a pair of 10" Savard HQ subs @ 4 ohms stereo, and an original 12" round solobaric @ 4 ohms mono.

In 2007, I purchased a new PR amp from the Memphis dealership and had them install it for the warranty. I had TWO amps replaced under warranty in a 6 month time frame. I ordered a MOJO and a M Class online and BOTH amps arrived DOA resulting in me having to file UPS claims to get my money back. Memphis is one of the NU-SKOOL amps that I will no longer consider due to my negative experience with them.

As of late, I have been on a Linear Power jag and that is the only Old School amp that I will pay a small fortune for. I feel sorry for anyone who goes up against me on eBay

 

[bumpin_blazer 5,000+ posts]

The only way IMO that I've noticed a difference from say my old school setup, (PPI Art 1200.1, 600.2 and 150.2 or whatever the smaller amp was) and a newer setup I ran which was all C2K Zapco with Symbalink was that I had more EQ options on the Zap's. I had about 10-20 different people listen to both setups who also helped tune everything and when all was said and done we concluded the main difference in sound might have been b/c of the higher power we had with the c2k line vs. the ppi arts. In all, I REALLY miss my old school PPI Art amps with the watercooling....mmmm nothing better then being a harsh bump away from a watery grave lol.

 

[RUGERJITSU 10+ year member]

is this considered "old school"??

2001 Hifonics Zues z600

150 x 2 @ 4ohm

300 x 2 @ 2ohm

says 1 ohm stable...

anyways, it's blown....would it be worth spending the $75 on refurbing??

 

[Enellz 10+ year member]

I like the whole look of the old school, even the huge amps. I feel that 'big' factor isnt there due to technology. I mean todays 1000rms amps are small, and even the 2ks are getting tiny. I always loved huges amps, and that big d*mn thats big factor you get from people. I think small amps with big power are good but lose that how they f*ck will i fit this in factor.

 

[bumpin_blazer 5,000+ posts]

I like the whole look of the old school, even the huge amps. I feel that 'big' factor isnt there due to technology. I mean todays 1000rms amps are small, and even the 2ks are getting tiny. I always loved huges amps, and that big d*mn thats big factor you get from people. I think small amps with big power are good but lose that how they f*ck will i fit this in factor.

Yeah the surfboard amps as me and my buds called them were fun times. Kicker XS100 was a fun amp to install. I mean that thing was what almost 2 1/2 feet long lol. Then again the amp that replaced that was my all time favorite amp I've ever owned, MMATS D300HC....drool......8.5x11x3 **** near 1800watts @2ohm with proper electrical.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Sorry, but no. If you were to put the amps on actual measurement equipment the new amps would have less noise, be more powerful and be more efficient.

And you have evidence of this? Or even a logical argument how technology has changed so drastically in say, the past 10 years, that you feel confident in making such a blanket statement?
The main improvements in amps in recent history have been in their internal processing (mentioned earlier) and their price per watt ratio. The latter of which is due mainly to cheap over seas labor. So again, tell us why new amps are inherently cleaner than old ones.

 

[Grinder1989 5,000+ posts]

Sorry, but no. If you were to put the amps on actual measurement equipment the new amps would have less noise, be more powerful and be more efficient.

Now what amps are you comparing? I agree on efficiency but I can promise you my VLX-400 would stomp the shit out of a lot of the new class A/B amps in terms of power, noise (lack of) and sound sound quality.