US AMPS : New or Old?

[DJGTSR 10+ year member]

Im a fan of the old school amps, US AMPS, Soundstream, Audio Art etc...

I really dont like the newer amps that they (usamps) are making. The boards dont look as beefy as before and the components look cheap. What are your opinion as to the new US Acoustics/US AMPS as compared to the older ones? I currently have 2 in my car and LOVE them.

Opinions? Discuss..

J

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[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

Old amps FTW.... i got some pics of a team mates amps

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

My brother has a oldschool usa-400 and usa-100. He got nothing but good luck out of those things. I just don't like their terminals.

 

[DJGTSR 10+ year member]

I have a USA-200 in my car powering my interior speakers and a USA-50 HC bridged to one ohm on my sub. I LOVE these things.

I was just getting into US AMPS when the company was sold //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif Im assuming they will never be as good as before?

 

[JoseMCeee 10+ year member]

well i know for sure the new US Acoustics is less quality than the old ones. I dont think US Amps had been making those for a while now. At least a year

 

[flakko 5,000+ posts]

well i know for sure the new US Acoustics is less quality than the old ones. I dont think US Amps had been making those for a while now. At least a year

ZED made usacoustics no?

as for the comparison, no one has tried the new 2006 AX lines yet, so its impossible to make a comparison.

when people get thier hands on an AX, it is THEN when you can make a comparison... The Merlin and Xterminator lines are for the budget minded people.

 

[revrider1 5,000+ posts]

Old amps FTW.... i got some pics of a team mates amps

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yumyum.gif.0556df42231b304b9c995aefd13928a8.gif , I have used many of the US Amps from the past. I had a USA-2000, a USA-400, 2 USA-100 and a USA-50. IMO the old school US Amps were the best amps ever made.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[stones 10+ year member]

100 watts today is exactly the same as 100 watts 10 years ago, its just more affordable these days.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

US acoustics, back when they were still built by Zed Audio, were pretty outstanding for budget amps.

Unfortunately, they are not what they once were //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

Still decent for the budget-minded user but still not what they used to be.

I have no experience with US Amps old or new so I cannot particularly comment on those.

 

[DJGTSR 10+ year member]

ZED made usacoustics no?
as for the comparison, no one has tried the new 2006 AX lines yet, so its impossible to make a comparison.

when people get thier hands on an AX, it is THEN when you can make a comparison... The Merlin and Xterminator lines are for the budget minded people.

Where are the new US AMPS being manufactured? Are they still being designed by that Jeff guy (i think thats his name), the orginal US AMPS engineer?

 

[flakko 5,000+ posts]

Where are the new US AMPS being manufactured? Are they still being designed by that Jeff guy (i think thats his name), the orginal US AMPS engineer?

its kindofa complicated story about how/where they are made. PM me and ill explain it to you.

as for the design, the original designer from USamps's start Dirk Ecker is still designing the amps so its the same quality. This time he has better technology, and more funding so he is able to do even more with the design of the amps.

 

[DJGTSR 10+ year member]

its kindofa complicated story about how/where they are made. PM me and ill explain it to you.
as for the design, the original designer from USamps's start Dirk Ecker is still designing the amps so its the same quality. This time he has better technology, and more funding so he is able to do even more with the design of the amps.

PM sent //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[btnhfan 5,000+ posts]

Flakko you should just post it to clear up confusion

 

[JoseMCeee 10+ year member]

US acoustics, back when they were still built by Zed Audio, were pretty outstanding for budget amps.
Unfortunately, they are not what they once were //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

Still decent for the budget-minded user but still not what they used to be.

I have no experience with US Amps old or new so I cannot particularly comment on those.

Yea you guys are right. Well the main point is that they are not as good as before. I owned one of the newer ones and I can honestly say that the Sony amp I had performed better than it. Could have been a defective amp or something but they swore nothing was wrong with it.

 

[flakko 5,000+ posts]

pm responded //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Flakko you should just post it to clear up confusion

fine fine fine, i keep posting and posting about this subject. i guess people dont read hehe.

okay to start out, Usamps was bought out by Mr. Kim because the USamps in FL was near bankrupt due to many reasons, one being that Jack (started usamps along with dirk) was more of an engineer than a business man. .

The new usamps is individually owned (NOT bought out by directed or maxxonics or some umbrella corporation, nor subject to a cookie cutter buildhouse). Dirk ecker is still designing the amps so there is no worry about the design quality, after talking to Dirk a little bit, he will NEVER let USamps go down in quality, he doesnt really care much about the money, but new innovations and ways he can make his amplifiers even better. The man is a true genious, and money is the last thing on his mind. as stated Dirk now has more up to date technology and funding (thanks to Kim) to work with so the designs are even MORE mature and efficient.

On to where/how they are made. The Xterminator line and the Merlin line are made and assembled (NOT DESIGNED) in Korea, which is in a way a good thing. Them koreans have better technology than we do at makin amps. Think a bout it, the powerhouses of amplifiers, IA, MMATS, DD, JL, watever, are Korean.

the AX line however, has the boards stuffed in Korea with the Little circuitry. the boards are then shipped back to the US where the big stuff, hand wound TOroids, transistors, etc. are hand soldered (as seen in the pix i posted) and assembled here.

The toroids used in ALL of the Xterminator, Merlin, AX lines are AMERICAN toroids. USamps has to Ship some circuitry used on the board to Korea because korea doesnt have certain aspects of the amp to make it run to its full capacity, so the US excells on some and Korea excells on some. Also moving some of the business to Korea helps shift funding to R&D, where IMO is the most important.

As for the amps being built here/not built here, remember the pictures i posted with the mexicans building the amps? you would have never known unless i posted those pictures. Would it have made a difference if koreans, chinese, black, even white people were working on them? If the people know what they are doing, and has the right guidance (Dirk spent 3-4 months in Korea to tell the koreans how to build the amps) it DOESNT MATTER who builds it.

that was a lot of typing hehe.