Why are Amplifiers So Expensive?

[Skullz]

Dollar per watt really hasn't gone up much today from years past for quality products that will stand up to the test of time compared to most all of the lower cost alternatives.

Ebay any amplifier maker from 20+ years ago and see how popular they still are and for good reason, quality designs with quality parts leads to quality products that will last longer than many cars they are installed in.

[conceptM]

Skullz, head on, I was amazed that after so many years an Audison VRX amp (as I have) still sells for real money. Lately I saw an older Audison Thesis amp (really strong amps, few were made) selling second hand for not much less than they used to 8 years ago.

Ach, it always was a rare bird, but still +2000 Euro's for a +10 year old amp...

And ow yes, I'm a sucker for Audison amps

[grim83]

lol at all the people in here talking about quality and shit the amps are cheap from the manufacturer not the manupacker. take a jl slash 500.1 for example say it costs 100 bucks to make and get here (it doesnt) they double that first 100 dollars to cover any warranty issues, so now your at 200. then you add in the cost of theyre over head and lets say were at 350 then it goes to a distributor normally who has to make money so now lets say its 450 bucks then it goes to a shop and all the sudden this 100 dollar amp costs 600 dollars. the vast majority of amps we use today are made in a small handful of asian buildhouses for pennies on the dollar, the technology used in most is old so that wont affect pricing, most use the same exact designs as the others and just change the heatsink design. As far as power output goes it aint worth even discussing people bitch because power acoustik for example rates at 2000watts @ 1ohm @whatever voltage and whatever %thd but you only get a clean lets say 1200 watts @1ohm 14.4v and 1%thd now the reverse is true for companys like dd who mark an amp as bein a 2k and it does 3k so it must be god and you will pay god prices for it guess what that pa amp is a fuckin 1200 watt amp and the dd is a 3k amp its called marketing just because an amp can beat what its "rated" to do doesnt mean shit other than the people who "designed" it put a higher power board in it than what they claimed. its like putting a 350 on a rascal scooter then comparing it to a stock one.

p.s. dont get your panties in a wad over the numbers or brands i used in the examples its all just used to prove the point