Lets discuss some Old School ...

[DJGTSR 10+ year member]

Hey,

I, and many others, am not a fan of the new school amps. Certainly there are some nice amps out there (Zapco, Sinfoni, Audison, Brax) but they are out of the price range of many. The old school, better built stuff, is more in the price range of young buyers like me, yet harder to attain because its so rare.

I didnt grow up wth old school, i kinda discovered it (as im only 19). I really like the attention to detail that the older amps had. They seem better built and seem engineered to perform and compete. The new stuff seems built to sell.

Im a diehard fan of USAMPS. I know there are other brands out there, a close second would be Zapco for me.

Im just curious on some of the brands that were good back in the day. I hear things about Linear Power, old school Fosgate, MMATS, Audio Art etc. I dont know all the good brands though as I wasnt around then.

I was hoping to stir up a discussion about the old school performers. Maybe we could learn about some of the rarer brands //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Discuss.

J

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[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

The old-school Fosgate stuff was great, to be sure.

For a great long while I was a huge fan of Yamaha's mobile amps. Not real sure why they got out of the mobile audio bit (at least stateside ~ dunno if they still sell car gear in Asia or not)

The original SoundStream stuff...

Manoman....this list could potentially go on for a very, very long time!

 

[DJGTSR 10+ year member]

Maybe we could get a timeline going? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

Again DJ, you gotta throw in soundstream, phoenix gold, and linear power up in the mix. old school fosgate as well were freaking solid. The reason why many old school amps were solidly built was because well the companies that were making these amps wanted to make a mark in the industry so thats why they worked extra hard to get amps that had great build quality but once they got commerical obviously the quality has dropped significantly (fosgate, phoenix gold, soundstream, etc...).

But their are some "new school amps" that are solidly built. just to name a few: arc audio xxk, zapco reference c2k and reference, brax (helix //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/naughty.gif.94359f346c0f1259df8038d60b41863e.gif), sinfoni, DLS Ultimate amps just to name a few. Especially with zapco's new amps with built in DSP its hard to say which "school" is better.

 

[jujumantb 10+ year member]

The reason why many old school amps were solidly built was because well the companies that were making these amps wanted to make a mark in the industry so thats why they worked extra hard to get amps that had great build quality but once they got commerical obviously the quality has dropped significantly (fosgate, phoenix gold, soundstream, etc...).

I'd argue that its more that most companies are simply adjusting to the changing car audio market, not that they were making a name for themselves at first by selling solidly built amps. With that logic, Zapco and Mcintosh should be making complete crap by now. Back in the day, car audio was much more expensive, the market was more focused at a crowd looking for quality caring less at the price. These days, social factors have dramatically shifted the market towards a much younger crowd of teenagers, with much less income, who would rather spend as little as possible on an amp whether it be junk or not. This trend obviously opens up a big market for shoddilly built amps and shrinks the old, quality driven market, forcing certain random companies, who find it advantageous for whatever reason, to change their market niche (RF, MTX, etc) while a smaller group of companies were able to maintain their niche in the old, now smaller market (zapco, mcintosh, us amps).

(yes I'm an economics major //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif )

 

[flakko 5,000+ posts]

But their are some "new school amps" that are solidly built. just to name a few: arc audio xxk, zapco reference c2k and reference, brax (helix //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/naughty.gif.94359f346c0f1259df8038d60b41863e.gif), sinfoni, DLS Ultimate amps just to name a few. Especially with zapco's new amps with built in DSP its hard to say which "school" is better.

its too early to tell if the "new school" is solidly built or not.... they havent taken the test of time yet... you see, these new school amps are, well, new you know? theve been around what, 2, 3 years, 5 at the most.

what makes old school so amazing, is the fact that they have lasted for all these decades, and are still running strong, you still see people running orions, usamps, RF WATEVER.

of course the new school has newer technology, very very few companies are using it to thier advantage, and like JUJUman said, companies (PG, Sony, Hifonics etc.) have thier focus on the teenage/young adult demographic, who can care less what kind of power supply, or how clean the circuit of the amp is, as long as it can send a signal to the speaker.

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

true but just open up a new zapco, brax, arc, dls,tru amp. man those things are beautiful. Build quality is simply (well not that simple) looking at the amp and looking at the parts and how its designed. But theres no time table to say oh it has to be at least 10 years before we way an amp is solidly built.

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

I've owned a SS Rubicon 500-1 and a set of Aura MR62's... both kicked ass! I sold them both to move to my new setup but we'll see how these old school IDW's rock on my new school MB quart amp (new RF?) and I switched the diamond d5 (not totally satisfied) for a new school zapco reference 350.2... I'd have to say though, it seams the SEAS Lotus speakers are a cornerstone of alot of people's SQ cars, I don't know what used to be popular and I've never heard them but old school isn't the final word in every segment of car audio...

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

ohh yah, and "new school" has produced my personal favorite value amps... the Zapco I-force serious.. they are amazing for the price. I managed to snag my g/f her iforce 2100 for 91 shipped BNIB off ebay!!!

 

[DJGTSR 10+ year member]

One would think that with the increase in technology there would be better amps being made. Instead, it seems like amps are being mass produced with slightly above average quality for a cheaper price. No one is making use of the technology to actually improve the sound - or at least not many. If they were we would be seeing fiber optics intergrated fully into cars, but I only think a handful of amps do that.

J

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

well with the market for car audio booming your going to see lots of companies take the profits road... then there will be the high end companies to move up to... Imagine if the only cars sold were Lamborgini's.... they'd still cost a **** load and only rich people would drive them, the rest of us would be walking....

 

[flakko 5,000+ posts]

true but just open up a new zapco, brax, arc, dls,tru amp. man those things are beautiful. Build quality is simply (well not that simple) looking at the amp and looking at the parts and how its designed. But theres no time table to say oh it has to be at least 10 years before we way an amp is solidly built.

i get wacher saying, those amps have the potential to be the next OG orion or PG. its just that those companies havent been around long enough to be deemed how you say worthy of comparing to the old stuff.

oh and p.s.: sometimes in an amp, simple = better //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

i think one of the companies definately taking advantage of the new technology is zapco. zapco this year is coming out with amps that have a built in DSP. basically can do everything. time alignment, 3 way crossover, peq. which can obviously make up for any flaws in their design with just the amp alone.

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

monitor 1?

they were just coming out when I was last active here. I'm not sure they turned out to be the audiophile level stuff they were supposed to be but they were stipped down and supposedly worked well...

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

i think one of the companies definately taking advantage of the new technology is zapco. zapco this year is coming out with amps that have a built in DSP. basically can do everything. time alignment, 3 way crossover, peq. which can obviously make up for any flaws in their design with just the amp alone.

nice... I'll have to get one //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif... once they are well used and get cheap //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif or I finally get out of college and get a real job