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<blockquote data-quote="profoundwill" data-source="post: 753599" data-attributes="member: 557604">This has a little to do with the buy out and also explains the S &amp;amp; SX.&nbsp; I found it on another forum and it was good.&nbsp; Check it out.DO NOT BUY THAT AMP. At least until you read this:Trust me on this, I have been one of the Soundstream faithful for over a decade.The majority of the Reference series were awesome amps. But right around &#039;97 they started screwing with the power supplies and trying to sqeeze more power out of them then they could really deliver reliably without overheating.The problem was that they wanted to give the consumer a better value in terms of watts-per-dollar, but the power supplies were not re-designed like they should have been in order to accomplish this. Instead, they reworked what were the original Reference amps and badged them with an &quot;S&quot; or &quot;SX&quot; designation.Now, that is not to say that all of these amps are not worth having. Once they realized that they had a problem, the PS was redesigned and new features were added (the Rubicons) - bringing them back to the quality amps which SS had become knowm for. But it was too late, the damage had been done and that was the begining of the end for the original Soundstream brand.What we don&#039;t know is exactly which of the S / SX amps are still out there and how many of the ones that are left are bad. Chances are, that if a particular amp has been being used without trouble for several years then it is safe to assume that it is one of the models with the updated power supply and would be a great amp to have. On the other hand, if it has been sitting in a box for who knows how long then I would seriously consider looking elsewhere for an amp.Just for the record, older SS amps still sell for surprising amounts of money on ebay all the time, and even can keep up with most of the newer designs in terms of power and performance. It&#039;s not that new amps aren&#039;t as good as &quot;old school&quot; gear, it&#039;s just that several older designs were so good that they have stood the test of time and people will try them even today.Before you decide to purchase the amp you are looking at, make sure that you get it&#039;s history. Otherwise, look elsewhere.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="profoundwill, post: 753599, member: 557604"] This has a little to do with the buy out and also explains the S & SX. I found it on another forum and it was good. Check it out. DO NOT BUY THAT AMP. At least until you read this: Trust me on this, I have been one of the Soundstream faithful for over a decade. The majority of the Reference series were awesome amps. But right around '97 they started screwing with the power supplies and trying to sqeeze more power out of them then they could really deliver reliably without overheating. The problem was that they wanted to give the consumer a better value in terms of watts-per-dollar, but the power supplies were not re-designed like they should have been in order to accomplish this. Instead, they reworked what were the original Reference amps and badged them with an "S" or "SX" designation. Now, that is not to say that all of these amps are not worth having. Once they realized that they had a problem, the PS was redesigned and new features were added (the Rubicons) - bringing them back to the quality amps which SS had become knowm for. But it was too late, the damage had been done and that was the begining of the end for the original Soundstream brand. What we don't know is exactly which of the S / SX amps are still out there and how many of the ones that are left are bad. Chances are, that if a particular amp has been being used without trouble for several years then it is safe to assume that it is one of the models with the updated power supply and would be a great amp to have. On the other hand, if it has been sitting in a box for who knows how long then I would seriously consider looking elsewhere for an amp. Just for the record, older SS amps still sell for surprising amounts of money on ebay all the time, and even can keep up with most of the newer designs in terms of power and performance. It's not that new amps aren't as good as "old school" gear, it's just that several older designs were so good that they have stood the test of time and people will try them even today. Before you decide to purchase the amp you are looking at, make sure that you get it's history. Otherwise, look elsewhere. [/QUOTE]

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