Old School
How far back are you going ? If you go way back {1983-1991}, then this is my opinion
using the 5 star rating, 5 star being best.
Linear Power;
Cosmetics - 3 star {not the prettiest amp due to heatsink design}
Build quality - 1 star {subpar PCB design, point to point wiring on 1 layer pcb}
Price/Performance - 3 star {pretty good for the money}
Misc - Great functional heatsink design, robust output stage, weak power supply
that failed often.
Soundstream;
Cosmetics - 3 star
Build quality - 3 star {Not amp repair friendly}
Price/Performance - 2 star
Misc; Class A over-hyped.
Rockford Fosgate;
Cosmetics - 5 star {Pretty amps}
Build quality - 5 star
Price/Performance - 2 star {too expensive per watt}
Misc; Over-hyped.
Precision Power;
Cosmetics - 5 star
Build quality - 5 star
Price/Performance - 4 star
Misc; Good bang for buck, Cosmetics vary, some are ugly.
Orion;
Cosmetics - 5 star
Build quality - 5 star
Price/Performance - 4 star
Misc; Good bang for buck. Cosmetics vary, some are ugly.
Zapco; {Model 150/200 only}
Cosmetics - 2 star
Build quality - 5 star
Price/Performance - 2 star
Misc; Very expensive low powered amplifier, but performance is excellent for
said watts. Seperated amp/PS chassis was a bad idea. Despite it's drawbacks,
it still outperformed the competition in it's time for it's power class.
Zapco; {Model Z220}
Cosmetics - 5 star
Build quality - 5 star
Price/Performance - 2.5 star
Misc; Model 200 amplifier in it's own single chassis, yay! Finally they got it
right!. But, not the most powerful amp compared to the competition, but
a solid amplifier overal. Zapco is still behind the competion by using a bipolar
power supply as competition was using mosfet.
Hifonics series V
Cosmetics - 2 star
Build quality - 2 star
Price/Performance - 2 star
Misc; IIRC, ambitious design to offer high power but it was a mess of an
amplifier. I called it 'sloppy bass power'.
Hifonics series VI
Cosmetics - 2 star
Build quality - 4 star
Price/Performance - 5 star
Misc; IIRC, new design.
Hifonics series VII
Cosmetics - 4 star
Build quality - 5 star
Price/Performance - 5 star
Misc; My favorite. Best dollar per wattage ratio, highest power per real-estate,
looks better than series VI or series VIII.
Hifonics series VIII
Cosmetics - 3 star
Build quality - 5 star
Price/Performance - 5 star
Misc; IIRC, same as series VII, different look.
Hifonics Gen X only {not Gen XI or beyond}
Cosmetics - 2 star
Build quality - 5 star
Price/Performance - 5 star
Misc; IIRC, no vari-power power supply like previous series, instead,
more real estate is used to dissipate heat and give it a lower impedance rating.
Very robust, probably the beefiest old school amp in it's time for the money spent.
Even today, it's a monster of a design.
I used Zapco model 200's in the day, may of them to split the load. Worked great
in bridged mode, but you needed alot of them. Later, I started to really like Hifonics
series VII and Gen X. Zed Audio wins the old school war if you ask me if you analyze all variables.
I used to do amplifier repair so guess what happened? I never got a Hifonics or Zapco for repair,
only Rockford Fosgate, Soundstream, PPI, Orion, Alphasonik {junk}, flea market amps.