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What are some mid to high level amp companys that consistantly make quality amps? Some I have seen and heard are: Zapco, Phoenix, US Amps.
What are some others? And what makes them better then lower level amps, and amp makers...features, power, looks, reputation, longevity?
What features do you look for in an amplifier? Just want some opinions from others [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG] What would you run if you could run amps in this finacial catagory?

 
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personally, i look for word of mouth and my personal ear more than anything.

i'd kill to run an all zapco or all phoenix gold setup

 
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hifoncs, arc are favorites of mine....

what makes them better is that they sound better [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

what woudl i get if i wanted to upgrade from a small black earthquake amplifier? prolly these three sweet chrome amps....

 
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I have the hook-up on Phoenix (and MTX)...wish i word have known before i bought all my ish, because i could have bought it for much less then the cheap prices that i paid for my MTX and JBL Friend has the hook-up with a local distributor.

Anyway, sumthin to look forward too [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/IMG] Anyone hear anything about the Phoenix R/Octane series?? Let me know because my friend can get me them for such a cheap price that I am wondering if they are a lower line (kinda like JLs new E series)...and if i should start saving.[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/IMG]

WR, that first one looks like a BA amp? How do you guys like that amp?

 
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Amps themselves are pretty much all the same with very rare exceptions. You always get what you pay for... I think Kicker makes some mad as amps for bass because thats tests for power and underrates their amps. When they say 25 watts they mean it at 12v and RMS not peak. My what they know. They are one of the few companies out there that uses real world kicker amps are about 30% more powerful then they spec on the actual amp test sheer from the factory. I love the features and capabilities of them, plus the looks are wicked. I think all in all there are alot of good companies out there...but I think there are also alot of crooked companies out there..so you have to do your home work.

Here is some info to help you tell the difference

Alot of companies (sony for one) will claim massive amounts of power but none of it is real world or realistic. 750 W from an amp but it you check the fuse you will see they cant make that power. Here is a simple test....and you dont have to be an electrical person to undertand.

Power into an amp has to equal power out.....Its the basic law of physics

To figure power in take the amp rating and multiply by 14.4 (Volts for car)

example 25AMP fuse X 14 = 360 Watts. This means in a perfect world you could get 360 watts of peak power out with the car running

however the amp loses power while running other circuitry (crossover, lights...its all adds up) And the big loss is heat. Any amp for a car is A/B config which has about 50 % efficiency (50% goes to speakers, the other 50 % is los). The exception is big sub amps which are class D and you will know this cause they cost like 3 times as much and will use it as a selling feature

So if you take the same amp, using that figure you have 50% of 360 Watts is 180 Watts.

Now check how many channels the amp has. If if is 2 channel divide by 2, if it is 4 divide by 4 etc.

So lets say this amp is fused 25 AMP, has 2 channels and is A/B....you are now having 90 watts peak each channel, and rms about 60% of that. So this amp is real world 55 watts max and could be less depending on the makeup of the amp. Dont forget that is only when the car is running. Powered off the power would be more like 45 watts.

So when you see an amp for sale and they claim wicked power....double check cause no matter what they tell you....you cant make more power than you put. 10 Caps and the best wire cant make it any better than that.

Another way to help check the quality of the amp. Check the THD or Total Harmonic Distortion. Often a company will try to up the rating of the power of the amp. The human ear hears distortion only after it exceeds 10% (scary huh) so they use that figure. A real company will have their power rated at THD of less than 1% and usually they are more like .01%

And the last way to help judge and amp.....is by size. They say size doesnt matter but with amps it does! Unless you have a class D amp (subs only) the heatsink on the amp is a direct proportion to the wattage. Since a 500 W amp makes twice as much heat as a 250W amp at full volume you need a bigger heatsink. True you can find a fan once and a while to help cool things in there but its used as a last ditch effort to protect the amp. Generally the bigger the heatsink, the more power the amp makes.

 
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dont take fuse rating as a perfect measurement. A fuse can take double its rated amount of power for a short period of time

 
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ba amp is so sweet. huge powe,r so clean, and only $50 more than the 1200.1? yet puts out 1580 rms?

sold. [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

we did some tests on it because we thought we had a problem, our specific amp tested to put out 4356 watts peak at 1 ohm [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG] we didnt use an osciliscope, but running at 3 ohms, the clarity and cleanliness of the signal was comparable to arc at worst, and beat the crap out of it at best. [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

sweet amp

edit: that was 4356 peak watts at 1 ohm at 14.2 volts, but for being rated at 1580 rms?....... [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/IMG]

 
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I love my BEtteraudio amp (its the first chrome one in whiterabbit's pic)

 
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or wait... isn't power=current squared times resistance? so 25A^2 time 4 ohms=2500W. so this amp must be MASSIVE!!!

or voltage squared over resistance. so 14.4^2 divided by 4 ohms, so 52W. what a wussy amp!!!



most of that is just voodoo electronics, you're forgetting a lot in your explanation there.

 
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In my opinion JL is the best way to go

 
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i would think PPI's are one of the top brands as well

 
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sinfoni [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG] those are some swank amps

 
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Nice!

 
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PPI, SoundStream, A/D/S

 
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power equals VOLTAGE.....over resistance [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

so your amp puts out 66 volts AC ouput, measured from the speaker outs, thats 66^2/1 = 4356 watts PEAK at ONE ohm [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

doubledeuce, his post is so flawed, i wouldnt worry abotu it too much, its true just like the "all decks sound the same" fact and the "sealed is tighter, ported is boomier" fact. they are all true, but only in certain conditions. 99% of those conditions are people shopping at a caraudio shop. thats why shop employees say it. cause its true for them, but not according to us or the laws of physics.

...... =D