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newtocaraudio Unregistered guest | i am looking for a cheap amp which brand is better? |
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Silver Member Username: Infinity_addictSanta Rosa, California USA Post Number: 120 Registered: Jul-05 | kenwood |
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newtocaraudio Unregistered guest | and what about hifonics are they better than kenwood? |
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Silver Member Username: LegacyaudioPost Number: 155 Registered: Feb-05 | not much |
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Silver Member Username: RovinTrinidad & T... Post Number: 156 Registered: Jul-05 | Check this out Mr. Newbie http://pub14.ezboard.com/fcaraudiotalkfrm27.showMessage?topicID=27.topic The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly *or* Is this brand any good? These are some pretty generalized groupings and also very subjective. We've simply based our experiences with the products whether they are direct installs, personal property or extensive research. You should always physically listen to a product before purchase because you are the one who will determine whether or not an item "sounds good" or not. This topic, while being controversial, is simply a generalized guide meant for beginners in the hobby. Many brands specialize in certain items, ie. better amplifiers than speakers, better mids than subs, etc... Also almost all manufacturers offer entry level products as well as high quality lines. As I stated before, this is a GENERALIZED guide. It is your responsibility to research and audition every brand before you purchase anything. Good luck with your decisions. We've broken this section into 4 catagories: 1: Bad 2: Questionable 3: Good 4: Highly Recommended Bad American HiFi (Rockwood) American Pro Audiovox Automobile Becker Boss DHD JDL Jensen Kenwood (speakers) Kole Kraco Kronik LA Sound Legacy MA Audio Optimus (Radio Shack) Planet Audio (Boss, by any other name) Power Acoustik Profile Pyle Pyramid Rockwood SAS Bazooka (amplifiers) Sherwood Sony (anything by Sony) Sound Storm Sparkomatic SPL Audio Thump Ultimate Sounds Visonik Volfenhag Questionable Aiwa Alpine (lower model speakers) Autotek Audiobahn Blaupunkt Crunch Hifonics Hollywood Kenwood (amplifiers, head units) Lanzar Lightning Audio Matsui MTX (subs) Onyx Mobile Audio Panasonic Phoenix Gold (ask on specific models) Pioneer (amplifiers and speakers) Precision Power (PPI) (newer non-US made amplifiers) Rockford Fosgate (current products) SAS Bazooka (all products) Good Alpine (amplifiers, Type-R speakers and subs) Altec Lansing Alumapro Ample Audio Audio Development Avionixx Boston Acoustics Cadence (current amplifier products) Cerwin Vega (subs) Clarion (head units) Coustic Crossfire Crystal Directed (DEI) Earthquake Eaton Elemental Designs (ED) Helix Illusion Infinity JBL (amplifiers) JVC Digifine Kicker (amplifiers, subwoofers) Lunar Memphis Audio MTX (amplifiers) Phoenix Gold (some models) Polk Audio Rockford Fosgate (some models) Soundstream USAcoustics Highly Recommended a/d/s Adire Alpine (head units, signal processors) Arc Audio Audax Audio Control Brax Butler Audio CD Technologies (CDT) Diamond Audio Digital Designs (DD) DynAudio Eclipse (Fujitsu Ten) Esoteric Audio Focal Harrison Labs Image Dynamics (ID) Infinity Kappa/Kappa Perfect components JL Audio (subs, XR components, slash series amps) KEF Kar components Kove Luxman MB Quart McIntosh Laboratories MMATS Morel Nakamichi (tape transports) Ohio Alternator Orion OZ Audio Pioneer Premiere (head units) Precision Power (PPI) (Art series amps, old) Rainbow Resonant Engineering (RE) Rockford Fosgate (older 80s and 90s models) Sinfoni Streetwirez Stinger US Amps Wrangler Alternators Xtant Zapco |
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Bronze Member Username: TdbdadrummerPost Number: 49 Registered: Aug-05 | Hold on there. AIWA is better than Volfenhag? Now come on, I own an older Aiwa shelf system, and it's a POS! AND BAZOOKA? Is it just better because it's sold at CC and BB? Lightning Audio, come on, it's cheap RF stuff, and no good. DHD is not a terrible brand even though they are affiliated either. Panasonic is what really gets me. I saw some of their speakers at CC one time, they don't even have foam/rubber/ANYTHING for surrounds. IMO, those lists need revamped a bit. And if you're gonna pick on Volfenhag/DHD you might as well pick on Performance Teknique, as they are affiliated as well. Oh yea, since you're all so knowledgeable, SAS Bazooka is in two categories. |
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zook Unregistered guest | Power Acoustik is not bad is xtant on your list i do not c it what do you think of them |
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zook Unregistered guest | i c it |
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Silver Member Username: RovinTrinidad & T... Post Number: 161 Registered: Jul-05 | Ain't my list , i did not write it - lol Glasswolf ,i believe compiled that list from his 15yrs of expertise . Thought i would post it so the newguy would get a few ideas ...... |
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Gold Member Username: GlasswolfWisteria, Lane USA Post Number: 9548 Registered: Dec-03 | for an amp I wouldn't buy sony or kenwood.. they both love to fail in less than a year. power acoustik is total garbage. xtant is pretty good. |
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Bronze Member Username: TdbdadrummerPost Number: 54 Registered: Aug-05 | I love how people rag on Kenwood. I would take a Kenwood over a Sony any day. Oh well, anyone here know of a sub that will give me the SQ of a good home audio system? In other words, I want subs that have a good THUD, and not a BOOM like most car subs. I've heard a decent amount of subs, even my friend's Kicker's, and they BOOM. I want THUD damnit! Any ideas, that don't involve not going to college/taking out college loans? |
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Bronze Member Username: TdbdadrummerPost Number: 55 Registered: Aug-05 | May I also point out that Infinity has not made a decent product since the 80's as well as JBL. Although, JBL still holds its ground to a point, it does not rival it's original stature, as Infinity does not either. Maybe you people need to check into where some of these companies started back in the 70's and 80's. They all started with damn nice home gear. Since then, they've expanded, become mass marketed, and therefore somewhat trashier than their former greatness. Kenwood is not exemplified from this problem either. Same with Sony and Pioneer. All of these companies started out with beastly powerful and good sounding equipment, but nowadays, have really lost their touches. I noticed someone wrote RF (Older 80's and 90's). That should be a really good indicator that what I'm saying is true. Sure, Infinity and some of these brands sound VERY good, but give them about a year, and I bet they won't hold out. They just are made for durability, especially at high levels. And don't throw it in my face about my Volfenhags either, as I know they aren't made for insane durability at all. One last thing, why are only CV's subs good? Their amps are damn nice amps. I refuse to believe that they aren't on the highly recommended list. Sure, they aren't insanely powerful, but most likely have headroom and are underrated, as a lot of their products are. Yet again, don't tell me I have no idea what I'm talking about, because I've seen their gear in action, especially home audio gear. |
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Silver Member Username: RovinTrinidad & T... Post Number: 169 Registered: Jul-05 | PPL do say alot on this forum that Power Acoustik is a POS & crap - but my bro used their amps 1 for mids & 1 for bass in his system 6yrs ago & even today its still running perfectly fine . He did not have much experience with car audio @ the time & did not want to risk messing up higher ranking more $ brands so he chose that . So that would be the best of the 'low-end' brands that i would use on a BUDGET install . I mean its unbelievable that a Sony/Pyramid/Kenwood & especially Boss amp rated @ 2,000wrms to co$t $200 or less to give that much true power when its more like $1000 for a good brand like kicker,RF ,Orion ,JBL |
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Gold Member Username: GlasswolfWisteria, Lane USA Post Number: 9603 Registered: Dec-03 | Rovin, a lot of people like power acoustik, audiobahn, sony, and even pyramid, legacy, and rockwood.. they have great luck with jensen, kenwood, and panasonic, and even swear by Roadgear, swiss audio, and MA audio. while I'm glad they've had good luck, it doesn't mean I'd recommend any of them based on my own experiences, which is what I'e shared. I won't be mean and say I told ya so if they buy one of these and it does die.. but I do hope they take the time to research before buying instead of making purchases when they see something that looks cool at a price too good to be true. I feel it's always better to save for something good, than buy something cheap over and over when it dies or doesn't sound that great. There is a reason BOSS and Pyramid are so cheap per watt. One reason is they use peak power instead of RMS. That inflates their numbers by 3 or 4 hundred percent. Then when you do get an RMS rating be even more concerned because to geth that much power, that cheaply, you're sacrificing any quality at all of internals to get it.. so you're buying a crappy amplifier that will probably die as soon as you get it home, just to save a few dollars. Tyler, Infinity's Perfect line of Kappa components aren't all that bad. I've used them in my Jeep without any problem. You just need to feed them enough power to sound good. They don't do well with head unit power, much like any component set. JBL makes terrific amplifiers for their price range, since very few reputible companies offer anything comparable for as little money. There are a lot of companies that aren't what they used to be though. Things always change. Cerwin Vega, JBL, Infinity, Orion, PPI, a/d/s, RF, and plenty of others. As far as the type of sub you're after, it has as much to do with the sub as it does with your enclosure and the amount of power given to teh sub, as well as cabin response, box positioning, and source material. The sub itself plays a very small part in the type of response you get from it. |
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Silver Member Username: RovinTrinidad & T... Post Number: 176 Registered: Jul-05 | Fully agre with u Glass on the save the $ for better , but when someone's asking about the 'dog' brands PA would be the lowest i would ever go . To add to your statement - In my country ALOT of ppl buy Boss because its the cheapest brand they can afford & its carried in ALL audio shops so its popular . Those who bought it are satisfied thats all they ever had & have nothing better to compare it to . We all know if some1 buys a Kicker for example they would obviously NEVER go with a lower brand . Like everything else better products always costs more $ . To the guy who started this thread : All here will agree - it will take some time , but save the $ & buy a better product ....... |
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Gold Member Username: GlasswolfWisteria, Lane USA Post Number: 9609 Registered: Dec-03 | well even for the price of the kenwood (not sure what it is) he could probably get a better amplifier.. just a matter of knowing his budget and power needs.. so we can recommend better stuff |