Why Companies Going To Old School Approach

[corrie32 10+ year member]

stop living in the past

 

[Upgrayedd 10+ year member]

No matter what. MOST(not all) of these "old school" amps will be produced in China. However, this is not always terrible. Despite how I hate it as far as our economy, it is a fact of life if you want to turn a profit and remain affordable. You can still as a manufacturer design a solid amplifier with quality components and make it overseas. Many of the decent amps currently are. IMO the old school thing is somewhat BS anway. It is basicly good companies saying "we ****ed up making this crap for profit. here is a better product. That just doesn't sound as good as oldschool.

As far as actual classic equipment being overpriced. I blame hype and collectors. When people with disposable income snag up stuff for them to show off, it saddens me. I also agree that there are alternatives to old school quality that dont have the rep. Old Mtx thunder amps (circa 97) in my opinion are as good or better than the i and ix punch amps, yet they sell for 75-50% of the value for a comparable model. In those days I had both, still do but just liquidated a crap ton of fosgates, including getting 75 for a BROKEN 150hd, that is silly to me. I'll put an mtx2160 against that 150 any day and you can find them working for that. I also love my Adcoms but I know they were never popular (over a grand for a 40x4 back in 95) and they can be a pain to setup with the line drivers that are super susceptible to noise. Collectors and fans will keep driving prices up of decent equipment and I'll keep looking for the less popular stuff that kicked ***.

 

[Rich B 5,000+ posts]

Almost all of those companies have been sold once (or several) times, and the current owners have seen sales fall every time they introduced another "all new!", "its better, honest!" design.

In an attempt to resurrect sales they are looking back to the simpler designs they already own to try to lure customers.

Its probably a good idea, who really needs crossovers and EQ's on amps now with all the DSP and crossover duties being done by even $200 HU's?

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

The only Linear Power amplifiers that I liked were the LP, DPS, HV and HVS series. Unfortunately, they are NOT worth the price they command on the used market. For example, I watched a DPSQ50, which is rated for 50x4 @ 4 ohms with 25 amps of fusing sell for $700. Are you going to tell me that the Ell Pee is worth $475 more than the $225 I paid for my Lunar Amplifiers L450 used? FWIW, the Lunar is rated for 50x4 and uses a 70 amp fuse.
On the other hand, nearly EVERY IQ or older Linear Power amplifier that I owned had some sort of noise issue or another, and MOST did NOT make rated power.

Of course, there was a major failure in my nostalgia.... The Ell Pee relics were designed in an era when power was hard to come by and speakers were highly efficient. Coupling those amplifiers with modern day, highly inefficient drivers, was a MAJOR mistake! Thinking TIPS (aka RIPS) modifications would bring those relics up to modern date, was another pipe dream. Basically, the modifications take those overbuilt amplifiers and run them closer to the edge, only to cause them to need repair again.

Regardless, I am pretty much over that brand. If one wants a 500 watt RMS amplifier that takes nearly 80 amps of current draw at 14.4 volts to make said 500 watts, stick with Ell Pee. There are better old school amplifiers out there for less money.

On a positive note, I only lost $26 over the 14 Linear Power amplifiers that I sold.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/greedy.gif.5a53e6246569d7ab79867170f3b06629.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Ah, well deciding they arent worth the price they bring is totally different than deciding they werent high quality pieces. I agree, their prices dont justify their performance, generally speaking. The vast majority of people could not tell if they were listening to a top quality amplifier, or simply a solid mid-grade one, if they didnt know before hand. That is not to say many exclusive enthusiasts wont see a difference between these units if they were to swap them out in their own system, but with so many other larger factors playing a role, the brand of amplifier falls way down the list in regards to potential SQ.

I dislike using the 'overrated vs underrated' idea as a measuring stick of amplifier quality. "Rated" power is many times dictated highly by the marketing department of the company, especially in more recent years when so many people perceive 'underrated' as a sign of a quality piece. Not saying you used this factor exclusively, just reminding you to keep this in mind when demo'ing a product.

cleansoundz, I think I answered your question in our PM conversation.

Cheers.

 

[RFCV 10+ year member]

Stop living in the past

Just learn from it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[cleansoundzz 10+ year member]

stop living in the past

It's not about living in the past but using a quality product even if it was built in the 1990's why change just for the hell of it. Just because you have all these new companies building new amps, speakers, etc doesn't necessarily mean that people are going to be using them. Some companies made their best amps in the 1990's and early 2000 era. And they had that classic look to them as well. Look at MTX, RF, US Amps, Phoenix Gold, and Lanzar Optidrive. The older versions of those amps look nice and are made better than today's stuff. If it's lasting 10-15 years after they are built then we can say that the build quality and components used are top notch.

Living in the past to me would be looking on EBAY for everything built in the 1980's and 1990's. If mint condition older amps are available online, through shops or through EBAY and certain people just like their looks and the way they are built then go for it.

 

[cleansoundzz 10+ year member]

Televisions, cars and lots of other electronics built overseas are breaking down much faster than they used to, that's a fact. There is no way to assume that home audio and car audio and exempt from the poor quality of today's products being made overseas.

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

Hey I still run an old 90's Hott Setup amplifier for my doors //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

but admittedly i'll be retiring it here when I get back in the states.