Amps

[integraracing91]

How does Audiobahn stuff rate? good quality? or crap <_<

 

[Jim Truett]

Originally posted by liquid00meth@Nov 23 2003, 01:30 PM
RMS is the actual power of the signal the amp produces. It's the (root mean squared) value. It's to convert A/C power (which changes from + to - ) to an average power regardless of sign. If you just do a google search im sure they have pages explaining it.

The RMS value of an AC signal will produce the same amount of heat in a coil as a comparable DC signal. Basically 100 watts RMS of music (alternating AC signal) will heat your woofer voice coil the same as a 100 watt DC source. This is a good way to determine the actual output power of an amplifier.

 

[Jim Truett]

Originally posted by integraracing91@Nov 23 2003, 10:50 PM
How does Audiobahn stuff rate? good quality? or crap <_<

Audiobahn is decent, somewhere in the middle between crap and the high-end.

 

[Citizen_Insane]

Are Boss amps any good? I've seen them for really good prices on Ebay.

 

[Jim Truett]

Originally posted by ktanaka@Nov 23 2003, 11:53 PM
Are Boss amps any good? I've seen them for really good prices on Ebay.

If you had a scale of 1-10 with 1 being crap and 10 being the highest quality the Boss amps would fall around a 2 for their lower end line to about a 3.5 for their premium products. Honestly, for a good amp you should be looking to spend 75 cents to $1 per watt of output power. If you were looking at a 200 watt amp, and the retailer was selling at market price, expect to pay $150+ for it.

 

[Smonkeyboy]

Originally posted by Jim Truett+Nov 24 2003, 12:41 AM-->

ktanaka

@Nov 23 2003, 11:53 PM
Are Boss amps any good? I've seen them for really good prices on Ebay.

If you had a scale of 1-10 with 1 being crap and 10 being the highest quality the Boss amps would fall around a 2 for their lower end line to about a 3.5 for their premium products. Honestly, for a good amp you should be looking to spend 75 cents to $1 per watt of output power. If you were looking at a 200 watt amp, and the retailer was selling at market price, expect to pay $150+ for it.

 

[preluderjs]

Originally posted by MaliWho97@Nov 21 2003, 10:54 AM
Hell, Rockford even proves themselves wrong. Look at the ratings on it..... One of my customers bought one of the Best Buy punch amps for $500, it sayed it was 1500 watts. It didn't do shit. I told him to get the certificate out of the box that fosgate gives with their amps.... Guess what..... "This amps maximum output at 14.4v is 654 watts." That shit is junk.

When advertised, my amp (rockford 851s) is rated at 450x2 at 2ohms so that would be 850 watts rms at 2 ohms. My birthsheet says my particular amp was rated at 899 watts. You have to look at everything, including ohm load, amp voltage, and RMS vs. max power. Do you remember what model he bought? And if your customer got fucked, sorry... that would sound like an isolated incident though.

Rockford..... I wish they would have never tried to cut corners on cost.... You ever notice that their older stuff was better than their newer stuff?

I agree, they used to rate they're products at a lower voltage but advertise the same amount of power. They're smart for saving money and knowing people arent going to notice the voltage or even know about it. I couldnt find an old power 800.2 but im happy with the one I got. Hits hard enough and its clean.

 

[Juce]

Granted, in the olden days (ha) rockford was one of the few companies that advertised their power output by rms, which was cool. But now, my alpine deck going through my stock 6x9's (honda prelude), put out twice the bass as my rockford amp that made 100 rms and 200 peak. I realize that different setups give completely different results, but not only is there more bass, but it sounds more clear and rich. I've lost all faith in rockford because I don't think they're what they used to be. Just my two cents.

 

[hammerdgolfer]

Hell, Rockford even proves themselves wrong. Look at the ratings on it..... One of my customers bought one of the Best Buy punch amps for $500, it sayed it was 1500 watts. It didn't do shit. I told him to get the certificate out of the box that fosgate gives with their amps.... Guess what..... "This amps maximum output at 14.4v is 654 watts." That shit is junk.
-----------------------
Rockford is shit but besides that ALL amp makers besides MTX advertise 1000w peak power saying oh 1000 watts blah blah blah, in all reality your gettin 300-500 rms power, ESPECIALLY with kenwood and sony. these are shitty amps that never give you accurate power.....on most manufacturers take 60% of the watts and thats what your basically getting unless you see ### RMS power....
----------------
Granted, in the olden days (ha) rockford was one of the few companies that advertised their power output by rms, which was cool. But now, my alpine deck going through my stock 6x9's (honda prelude), put out twice the bass as my rockford amp that made 100 rms and 200 peak. I realize that different setups give completely different results, but not only is there more bass, but it sounds more clear and rich. I've lost all faith in rockford because I don't think they're what they used to be. Just my two cents.
---------

rockford just this year started giving the punch line amps a "peak" power rating to keep up with all the crap brands such as lanzar and sony , kenwood, pyle, boss... all those brands since noobs to car audio didnt knwo why a 3000 watt boss amp costs the same as a 300 watt fosgate amp,
im fosgate all the way and will talk shit to anyone that cares to doubt it, but im not biased i just go for the BEST AUDIO OUT THERE and alot tends to be rockford,
especialy the new type rf amps-cleanest quality amps ("200"watts for 700 dollars retail with a digitla crossover/gain/anythingscreen) and especialy the fantic q components speakers and i will let you guys know right now, yall dont know nothin about this right here-i will put this beast agaisnt ANY spl woofer in the world, its prooven itself to me and team rockford fosgate took home more tropphys from db drag world finals this year with these woofers, dealer cost 900 retail2000+ heres my personaly TEAM RF 15 74 pounds of pure loud&clear

 

[hammerdgolfer]

ohh yeah, just to even things out between rf and mtx, mtx this past year also took a marketing ploy-they rasied ther power rating voltage from 12-14.4 upping the power about 1/2,

but also, the fosgate power series amps are still great quality no cheap marketing peak numbers with those, and bd series amps are ofcourse known around the world

the guy who bought the 500 watt"1500 watt peak" amp from best buy, yeah just tell your freind to stop buying his audio gear at best buy, but i can tell you that amp is prob the best one they had thier unless they had the punch 801s which is 800 watts and "2400" peak, peak is nothing and is uselss

 

['90ShowCRX]

Yes, I do agree that it boils down to "you get what you pay for"...to a certian degree.

Basically, what i think is anything that you can buy at a mass such as stuff at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Circuit City is crap...the reason i say this is because the companies are focusing on quantity rather then quality...not say that for all companies, because there are a few that still maintain a certian value...

Ex. of a downfall...Rockford...I mean until they went to Best Buy, and started mass production...and then they totally turned for the worst...

Basically, in my opinion...i think people should stick with brands like US Amps, Zapco, Eclipse, and Phoenix as far as amp...You may pay more to begin with, but you'll get more overall...

Brandon

 

[hammerdgolfer]

yeah but noobs dont knwo abotu that kind of stuff,
rf hasnt lost its quality though, i mean like 2 he 12s ina box with a 401s amp all for like 350 dollars is a pretty darn good deal and will pound for a noob but the higherend rf products(power and type rf lines) are for audio enthusiasts

 

[Smonkeyboy]

Andrew you are still a n00b.

"ohh...look at me i have 28 posts, im an expert"



j/k mang i know you know your stereo

 

[truoss]

Here's a thought. What is the REAL reason to have the most powerful amp? Maybe it's so that you can say...hey, I have a Zapco amp...and hear the oooohhh, and ahhhh's. Or, if you're a loner, maybe pounding the street in your truck gives you a confidence boost. Who knows...

Maybe it would be good for everyone to remember that with the money you spend on that hot amp, you could have fed a person in Bolivia for an entire lifetime.

Goodness...Rockford is just fine, what are yall bitching about. Okkkk, there is something a tad bit better out there, SO WHAT. There'll ALWAYS be something a lil better than what you've got. Ever heard of green grass on the other side thing. Rockford has been known to make good equiptment for quite a while. If you get down to it...it's all about music.

 

[Jim Truett]

Another thing people who don't really know car audio don't understand, it that Rockford's quality and technology have not gone down. They simply have expanded thier lineup with a lower-end (less expensive) model series. These amps were manufactured to compete with the likes of Sony and Kenwood, and are not rated the same way as their premium products.

Hell, Rockford even proves themselves wrong. Look at the ratings on it..... One of my customers bought one of the Best Buy punch amps for $500, it sayed it was 1500 watts. It didn't do shit. I told him to get the certificate out of the box that fosgate gives with their amps.... Guess what..... "This amps maximum output at 14.4v is 654 watts." That shit is junk.

I guess your customer can't read, because that amp says 500 watts RMS right on it. It does say 1500 watts on the top logo, but that is given as a peak number in the spec sheet. Also, did they really expect 1500 watts RMS for $500 retail? That would be the deal of the century. :roll:

Many of the high end companies have begun producing products for the average consumer because it is profitable, and funds the numerous other projects. Take Phoenix Gold for example. Here is a post by one of their tech support personnel:

It is a distributor-only line of very inexpensive amplifiers which are still designed and engineered by PG but without the typically high price associated with the brand.

It is branded as PG RYVAL DESIGNS

RYVAL DESIGNS is a special line of Phoenix Gold's 12V audio offerings, but are essentially a separate entity with low cost product for wholesale distribution in small part to the US, and in larger part, internationally.

I wouldn't honestly expect anyone audio-savvy enough to be on this forum to pursue this product. It is a good product for an entry-level consumer, but will not necessarily meet the needs or the expectations of most dedicated audiophiles and PG afficionados.

Best wishes,
Tad@PG

I would assume that most companies are taking a similar approach to the market to remain viable.

 

['90ShowCRX]

Me a noob to "ICE"? haha...maybe to hondaswap...but not car stereo...

Rockford isnt all that bad of a company, dont get me wrong there is a lot worse out there, all im saying is that there is a WHOLE LOT better out there...And then we hear all this stuff about Rockford is winning this and that...that is true, but rockford's team stuff that they are running isnt the same stuff that "you all" are running...

umm...and about that 1500 RMS @ $500.00 retail? Look at the JBL BP1200.1...over 1500 RMS...only a retail of around 500...

One more thing to add...why should these companies try to "squeeze" their ratings or anything more that matter when someone is buying something, but yet the elite always give you way more for what you ask for! So in the long run you are also getting more then what you pay...EX: A Rockford 500 watt RMS amp will push 500 watts RMS no doubt, but i doubt that you will get anymore! Yet, while a US Amps 500 will push closer to a 1000 watts RMS...see what I mean?

Just me,
Brandon

 

[hammerdgolfer]

yeah but its all how amps are rated, people know something like a us amps 2000x will do close to 3k, and a few yearsback most every fosgate amp did 150% fo its rating but now they are made by machines except for a few,

you get what you pay for and rf is a company of quality, just like zapco and everything, rf sells cheaper stuff at bestbuy to make a profit

ohh yeah, my names david

that is my bros msn acocunt but now we have this new comp and i havent been on the net much, i will download msn againa nd tell you about my new car soon

a noob here yes... but in like 6 months ive got over 1500 posts on the rockford forum, but again since ive got this computer like a week or two ago i havent been on there much either, the net for somereason doesnt imress me to much anymore....

my new car: 93 vx hatch that my freind hit a tree in hen he was drunk and sold to me for 500 plus a dope fosgate cd player, i have the severley bruised core support out now except for the lowest beam which i need soemthin special to cut through, the clutch is smashed somewhere(dam hydro clutches, i love my cable pull) and a new radiatore and it will run except for the front end, but i am doin a integra front end i think,

 

['90ShowCRX]

i'll have to admit most of my car audio experience has been with lightning audio and pyramid, one of my favorite subs are lightning audio, i did my buddy's blazer with two lightning 15's and a 800watt pyramid. they even cracked the back window after a couple of weeks, and then the amp got wet and blew up. we never had a chance to put it on the meter, but i'm sure it was doing at least 165. we are fixing to redo it, we're using 4 pyramid royal red 12's they're 1200 watts apiece with one pyramid super blue pb449x amp per sub. it should be over 165 cause these amps put out over 1000 watts apiece. we're having bullet proof glass put in it to keep the windows from cracking anymore. i'll let you know how it comes out. B) by the way my friends call me jugghead. talk to ya later

 

[EGLSHB]

apparently some one has NO IDEA what it takes to do 165 db in a stereo competition.... maybe 165 outlaw, but not on the dash...

Our competition car did 163 on the dash, and a 172 outlaw, and it was not a blazer with 2 15's.... and it took home 1st at the SPS world finals 2 years ago...

 

[civ96]

Hey guys i was reading this thread and figured i would put in my two cents in too. Well you do get what you pay for you cant compare a $1200 zapco amp to a $400 Rf amp from best buy if your going to compare do it right compare the zapco to the rockford type rf mono block thats worth $1400 bones. I am an installer with furureshop here in canada for a year now. Before that i worked at a high end family owned shop where we used focal, MB quart, PG, Memphis, USamps, RF, and a few more and what i have experienced is that it all comes down to what you want. If you want SPL you better sit down and break out the calculator a pencel and a whole wack of paper cause you just cant build a box and expectit to be loud you have to factor in driver displacement, X-max, resistance, the fs of the driver, all this plays a role in the final sound. I helped build a truck with mobile dynamics electronics school called the danger ranger it bright yellow and green you can prolly see it on their site it took us like a week to figure out all the specs we ran two mmats quad voice coil 15'' drivers in a 20cuft box port tuned to 45hz with 8 mmats x class 2000w rms amps and 8 locomotive batteries running at 14.9 volts we pulled off a 167.5 good enough to take home first prize and a world title in our class at daytona last year. So in short there is alot of planning that goes in to systems you cant just buy a prefab box through some subs in it and hook up a amp and expect to bang off 165s. you have to build it all together your whole system workes together if one peice is garbage that the rest is garbage. "it is only as good as the weakest link" so with that in mind good luck to all with their systems.