'Old School' guy returning to the scene...

[1LOWCHIEF 10+ year member]

Hey all,

I'm 35 years old and was heavily into car audio in the early to mid 90's. That;s back when the 'good' price of amps was 1 dollar per watt, and 1,000+ watt amps were relatively rare (and **** expensive!).

between my friends and I we have experimented with numerous brands and types of equipment... anything from dual voice-coil Cerwin Vega 10's to (4) Rockford Punch 10's to Alpine 15's to dual voice-coil Orion 10's to JL audio 12's and more;

Infininty and Rockford separates to Alpine 2 and 3 way speakers as well as Pioneer 2 and 3 way speakers;

Soundstream, Alpine, Rockford Fosgate and Precision Power amps, Alpine and Kenwood EQ's and CD players ranging from Alpine to Pioneer to Kenwood to Clarion (my personal fave back in the day).

Anyways, I'm amazed at the wattage and price of amplifiers now-a-days, as well as the craftmanship of certain builds... especially those with fiberglass, etc.

My personal vehicles include a 2005 Saturn LS300 with sony subs powered by a Rockford amp, a stock 2003 Honda Civic commuter, a '55 Pontiac Starchief that will someday have a badass system and a '64 Nova that needs a serious horsepower transplant.

I live in Central Cali... Santa Barbara County to be exact, and I'm here to learn and absorb serious knowledge.

Click to read more...

 

[bumpincrv 10+ year member]

pics of 64 nova My brother (forum name Etznova) has one

 

[kmanian 5,000+ posts]

welcome, I am also OLD SCHOOL, 36 yrs. It will take a few to get into the groove of what is and isn't $hit now, the best I can say is disregard 99% of the companies that you thought were great stuff, and start reading. There are a bunch of guys that really know their stuff, but sometimes you have to cut through all the crap first. but they are a great bunch of guys.

 

[Johnny Drama 5,000+ posts]

Welcome to the board.

 

[snoopysnooper 10+ year member]

i like old school and im only 16..

i got like 12 old school orions, lol..

but yeah, most componeies that were good in the day really are not any more..

for instance, orion, they are not bad stuff, but for sure not what they used to be imo..

their hcca subs are teh shyte, cus tc sounds made em =]

 

[slam 5,000+ posts]

old schooler here too(35) with competition under my belt in the early 90's. learning whats in and out as far as subs, just dont know what to believe with out hearing sh!t. For my jeep wrangler im looking at (1)dd 1510 or re sx10. I want it loud with the top off and sound good with the hard top on. just dont wanna drop all that money and maybe sell for a loss if i dont like.

 

[oldschool4me 10+ year member]

welcome, im also an old school guy. im 31 and been into audio since i was 16. i buy old school stuff all the time just to have it. there is some equipment out now that is also good but its just rated different now. not often you get 1kw out of a 200w amp these days. also most arent rated at 12v any more either. yea alot of our os favorites are now sellers of poooop. i should say they sold the company and is now cheap chinese poop. well welcome and enjoy.

 

[Audio Master 10+ year member]

if its says Fi in the dustcap its good and if mid 30s is ol skool im in trouble

 

[slam 5,000+ posts]

no after that its call vintage lol

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

I remember the dollar per watt days. 1000w was unheard of unless a serious competitor, most of the time 200w per sub was bangin. Speaking of gettin ready to put an Oldschool Stroker in my car with really low hours on a new recone.

But like everyone says, majority of the companies you used to deal with, forget them, they have either sold or quality had dropped so they can sell cheap to best buy and circuit city. Other than headunits, Alpine, Pioneer, Eclipse and a few others stick to the small internet companies you will see all over the forum.

 

[TheNoobBoob 10+ year member]

im 30, i holy shyte i remember the dollar per watt days.. My first amp that was worth a **** that i bough tin 93 was an orion 2100hcca (I still have it!!!) I paid 1299.99 for it back then, i think i was 14 or 15 when i picked it up!! I remeber when the kicker comps and orion xtr dvc were the ish, kicker IMO sucks now.. L7 or not, i just dont like the way they sound..

 

[1LOWCHIEF 10+ year member]

if its says Fi in the dustcap its good and if mid 30s is ol skool im in trouble

Thanks everyone for the replies. I didn't want to imply that I, or anyone near my age was themselves "old school", but that I've been around since the 'early dawning' of car audio, at least as far as I know.

I remember my Mom was dating a musician right before I became a freshman in High School (that would be around 1985 to 1986), and he had the first car audio "system" I had ever heard. Unfortunately I cant remember any brands but I DO remember that he, being a musician in a band, was very serious about his music. His car system of (and again, I don't remember the brands) consisted of some separates in the door, 4, 8" subs in an enclosure under the rear deck, an equalizer and a CD PLAYER! Honestly, I saw his setup in his car before I saw his home setup, so yea... the first CD player I ever saw was installed in some dudes car! Oh yea, all of this equipment was crammed into an early to mid 80's mazda RX7, and the install was done by some shop in Santa Barbara, California. I know for a fact that he paid well into the THOUSANDS of dollars for this equipment and install, especially when general car audio was relatively unheard of.. and that is how I got my start! This guy was the true definition of an audiophile!

Oh yea.... back to "Old School!" That was merely an indication to the type of equipment I was used to, because now-a-days it seems to be a whole new world.

As I was 'schooled' on a dollar per watt rule, you can all understand my hesitation to buy an amp within the last 5 years or so. Some of the amp/watt ratings I have seen are ridiculous, but when coupled with the price it seems literally too good to be true. Not to mention the fact that brands I used to hold sacred are now available at retail/chain/monster outlet stores.

I appreciate everyones welcome an input and I cant wait to start my own monster build threads on my cars!

 

[kmanian 5,000+ posts]

if its says Fi in the dustcap its good and if mid 30s is ol skool im in trouble

well then your in deep!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[siacarman 10+ year member]

i am salso old school...i remember buying my first cd player...kenwood 900 or something like that..had no deck power...a/d/s 320is..alpine mrv400 and the 300...on two kicker s10 solobarics..the first edition...they were bad *** then...i prefer old school stuff over newer stuff all day long..car audio is an addiction..now that i am older i want it clean...i just bought a new treo ssi 12...going to run a reference 1000s on it..should be ok...but anyway welcome to the forum...enjoy your stay i have been enjoying it..

 

[1LOWCHIEF 10+ year member]

Speaking of gettin ready to put an Oldschool Stroker in my car with really low hours on a new recone.

Wow... the Stroker model name really brings back some memories. There was a local car audio shop that had 1 Stroker 15" or 18" ( I can't remember which) hooked up in a little side room set aside from the 'normal' equipment. Instead of hooking that monster up to a head unit and an amp, they just had the sub hooked directly to an electrical outlet! Pure voltage into that thing made my teeth hurt! I, at the time, couldn't even IMAGINE having 1, or more, of those in my car!!!