Amp quality

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Old 09-07-2006 | 05:55 PM
stsausser's Avatar
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Amp quality

I recently purchased a Power Acoustik amp and the damn thing wont power on now. It started going into protection mode often and getting hot and now wont even turn on. Ive been away from car audio for a couple years now and there are so many new brands now. Is Power Acoustik a brand like Jensen and Lightning audio - you know the outstanding numbers for low price thing and it only reaches peak power if lightning hit it. Something tells me I should have stuck with Kenwood, Alpine, RF.
 
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Old 09-08-2006 | 02:55 PM
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Yes, Power Acoustik is so-so. Alpine is good, and there are several other brands I'd consider before kenwood for the money. It sounds smoked, maybe tried to pull to much out of it.

What are you looking for?
 
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Old 09-08-2006 | 11:22 PM
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Originally Posted by stsausser
I recently purchased a Power Acoustik amp and the damn thing wont power on now. It started going into protection mode often and getting hot and now wont even turn on. Ive been away from car audio for a couple years now and there are so many new brands now. Is Power Acoustik a brand like Jensen and Lightning audio - you know the outstanding numbers for low price thing and it only reaches peak power if lightning hit it. Something tells me I should have stuck with Kenwood, Alpine, RF.
Yes, for the most part...they are all up to par with each other.

Like mentioned, I'm not a fan of Kenwood amps...Alpine and RF have nice ones. My favorite are Zapco.
 
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Old 09-09-2006 | 02:30 PM
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Bang For The Buck!!

A General Rule Of Thumb When It Comes To Purchasing Car Audio Amplifiers - For A Good Quality Amp, Expect To Spend About $1 Per Watt.

A Good Rule Of Thumb When It Comes To Installing Car Audio Amplifiers - Use The Same Gauge Ground Wire As Power, Keep It As Short As Possible And Always Verify That The Ground Is Solid, Solid, Solid!!!

I've Been In Car Audio For 15 Years (recently Retired). I Am An Mecp Certified Installer, And Was Among The First Mobile Product Specialists In The Country (i Actually Helped To Develop The Mps Exam). Most Every Time That I Had To Troubleshoot An Install, I Could Attribute The Problem To A Neglected Ground. A Poor Ground Can Cause Your Amp To Overheat, Leading To All Kinds Of Other Problems!!

As Far As Amps Go - Pioneer, Alpine, And Kenwood Are Ok, But Stick With A Solid Amplifier Builder With A Passion And Reputation For Building The Best Equipment Out There Like Jl Audio, Zapco, And Rockford, And Not Just Another Me Too Company.

My 2 Cents!!
 
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Old 09-10-2006 | 11:30 PM
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I figured I made a purchase to quick. Ive been away from the car audio scene for some years now and now that im customizing my '97 f150 im back in it replacing the componets I had in it. I was really into it back in the 90's and then i got married and had kids and the car audio money had to go other places - HEHE. Should have done some research first but I guess i wasnt thinking. think i might look for an old school PPI, Orion, Autotek, Soundstream .... Oh does any one know the name of the company back in the 90's that made an amp with a security device. think it was some kind of pin or key that had to be in it or something like that. cant think of the name to save my life
 
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Old 09-11-2006 | 09:26 AM
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Do A Search For A Ppi 5440. It Is A 5 Channel Amp That In My Opinion Is One Of The Best Amps Made In The Last Ten Years. If I Remember Correctly, It Was Rated At 50x2 Front - 35x2 Rear, And 100x1 Sub (200x1 @ 2 Ohm). I Ran Jl Audio Xr 6.5 Inch Components In Front And Vr 6x9's In The Rear(wired Out Of Phase And On A Switch To Turn Them Off) And A 15w3 Sub. The Amp Is Slim For The Power, And Would Fit Just About Anywhere. It Has Real Linkwitz-riley Built In Crossovers With Precise Tuning. It Was The Most Well Built And Versatile Amplifier I Have Ever Used. Don't Let The Power Ratings Fool You. I Did A Lot Of Custom Work Where I Made Floating Amp Racks, And Would Remove The Bottom Of The Amps And Solder Wires Directly Into Other Connections And Remove The End Blocks For The Factory Connections. The First Time I Opened The Ppi 5440, I Was Amazed At The Construction. There Were No Jumper Wires Like In Every Other Amp On The Market. Everything Was Connected Through Copper Rails!! The Shop I Worked For At The Time Kept Ppi In Business, I Bet We Sold Hundreds Of Those Amps!! Wish I Still Had Mine!!

Old School Stuff Is Great. I Would Love To Get My Hands On A Precision Power Tube Driver, Autotek 44 Or 88, Or Even The Lanzar Opti-drive Amps.
 
  #7  
Old 09-11-2006 | 09:43 AM
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Ive been doing alot of looking around the past few days and it seems the old school amps are still in high demand. for some reason it looks like amp companies dont care about building them cheap and alot of the quality companies sold out and now their just a name. Its a damn shame but guess thats the way it is. Yeah the lanzar opti drives were nice too. Just wish I could remember the name of that amp
 
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Old 09-11-2006 | 02:46 PM
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I have been running Crossfire amps for a long time and they are tough. So far I havent seen another amp that can come close to dependability and the super clean power.
 
  #9  
Old 09-12-2006 | 07:18 PM
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Crossfire Is Probably One Of The Best "cheap" Amps You Can Buy. Look Into Db Drive As Well, Good Clean Sub Amps With A Good Warranty For The Money. Add Dei Amps(the Company That Makes Viper Alarms) To The List Too. They Have A 2 Year Replacement Warranty That I Never Had To Use On The Nearly Hundred I Sold/installed.
 
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Old 09-12-2006 | 07:22 PM
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Ive had no problems out of my 1200.1 JBL amp. its about 2-3 years old, ive had it for about 10 months.

-Patrick
 
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Old 09-15-2006 | 09:55 AM
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Crossfire amps have a Seven year warranty. I don't think any other amps have that.
 
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Old 09-16-2006 | 01:39 PM
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How about a lifetime warranty from Diamond :P Thats if you have it installed by an authorized dealer though...
Ive heard of some people doing the install themselves and taking it back to the dealer to see if they aprove of it, and still getting the warranty...
 



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