SOT: amplifier brands?

[scirocco16vr32 at gmail.com (Chris Bennett)]

My Fosgate amp melted down spectacularly when my hatch leaked.  I didn't
have a full blown class charlie but I hit it with the extinguisher anyway as
I have a vested interest in not becoming a full blown screaming alpha.  That
and the good theme song for that situation, "Say it ain't so" has been used
already, so...

I would go to an audio shop and ask those guys.  I currently have two
fosgate amps one a NEW one in the scirocco, and a LARGE one for the R.
However their warranty program sucks and I will NEVER buy another one.  I
paid like $300ish for this amp and I have sent it back three times and they
keep sending the same friggin one back.  It's shorting a cap, they replace
the cap and send it back.  They don't figure out why the caps are failing.
I hook the damn thing up and it blow again immediately.  I marked the
board--not to mention they do a shitty solder job.  I called them out on it
and they said I was doing it intentionally and that my subs were prolly
blown.  You know I am not a terribly smart guy... somewhere just above that
peak of the bell curve if I had to guess... but I know how to use a @#$%
multimeter.  No my subs aren't blown they work just fine with another amp.
/end rant/

I am fond of Kenwood.  Not the best sound... Not the cheapest but they work
great.  You can get 2 channel kenwood amps--100 watts (50 per channel) for
like $69 new.  However if you have a good head unit--the can put out in the
neighborhood of 50 watts per channel anyway, so in that case you really
don't need an amp.

I would be especially careful of buying electronics on ebay.  You get
generally speaking exactly what you pay for.  If you find a really cheap amp
it will probably sound like a really cheap amp.  Also AMTBF is your friend
and a very good reason to buy new.  (AMTBF=average mean time between
failures, think of it as an average life expectancy)  Throwing out arbitrary
numbers here that are NOT real... lets say an amp has an AMTBF of 1000
hours.  That means that's the average--some last less than 1000 hours some
last more.  Quality control weeds a good portion out that fail early and so
on.  Now if I am selling on ebay a used amp, and I used this for 800 hours
but it's shiny and new... how are you going to know how used up it is?  80%
of it's expected life is gone, you buy amp give me good feedback I whined
said you paid late blah blah blah, yadda yadda.  200 hours later you have a
dead amp that has NO warranty.

Horse lifeless and sufficiently kicked?

Please fwd all opposing views to the round file cabinet.  LOL

Chris


On 1/31/07, Jeff Toomasson <area53@validpath.com> wrote:
>
> Hey, folks - I'm just putting the finishing touches on my project, and I
> now
> need to buy an amplifier. Needs to support four channels. Bass will be
> taken
> care of by an Infinity Basslink.
>
> The wierd thing is that it seems like all the brands that used to be good
> back
> when I was really into stereos now suck - Autotek, Soundstream, etc. -
> that's
> at least by judging their prices on Ebay.  Fosgate's were great too, but I
> seem
> to remember them having some problems starting fires??  Conversely, they
> still
> seem to be in the mainstream. Alpine still seems to be doing well too.
>
> Of course, I'm not trying to win an ICE contest, just trying to get a
> decent
> sound when I crank up the volume.   :)
>
> Also, it would seem cheaper and more effective to just get two 2-channel
> amps.
> Any drawbacks to this on than the draw?
>
> Any input is appreciated.
>
> Thx, JT
>
>
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80 Scirocco Callaway Indiana Red
87 Scirocco 16v Tornado Red
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