Question of the day. An amp doesn't do rated (by far) but is still affordable power...is it ok?

[Moreno93]

I think there's multiple thinga wrong with it. One general rule is you get what you pay for, but for someone who has never bought a amp and see's a amp box that reads 5000w Max they might buy it because they think there getting a good deal on it. But another person who see's the same box who has more knowledge in the area will say that amps a piece of shit.

The other thing is how efficient are these budget amps? How clean is the sound. i use to buy hifonics amps, they seemed okay for the price, but pulled alot of power & dont sound that clean. & i always bought for over the the RMS that i needed because we know they dont do rated (Thanks to Steve)

I honestly think someone needs to create an archive & Amp Dyno as many amps as they can old & new. Someone needs to call these manufactuers out on there BS.

[Moreno93]

Taylorfade isn't far off. Didn't ghostrider our old buddy burn someone elses car?

[Swordlordboy1234]

It sure makes life harder in the world of sales in my shop. Everyone and their brother have between a 1200 and 6000 watt amp and they do like 1/3 of that power in real life.

Try selling a JL xd 600/1 for $429 when someone thinks they already have a 1200 watt X brand amp they bought for $129. Even though their amp is 4x the size and does 1/2 the power as the amp I'm trying to sell... I've lost multiple sales because some manufacture puts out far overhyped junk.

[Swordlordboy1234]

Morally.... I think it's bullshit. It's flat out misleading the uninformed consumer and tricking them into buying it.

The whole "good for the money" thing is suspect too. Is it good for the money? Chances are that an amp with an inflated rating isn't going to be a quality piece of gear. So yeah... you get 1,000w for $100, but for how long? And with what sort of efficiency?

Say you spend $100 on a "4,000w" amp that only does 1k. On the surface it seems like it's a good buy. BUT.. the thing is 40% efficient and drawing 2k worth of current. Your lights dim and now you buy another bullshit marketing piece- a cap. Now you're out $100 for the amp and $100 for the cap (or whatever those things cost) and your electrical is still lacking. You're straining your alt and digging an early grave for it. You're chuggin along in the 11's and now since the amp is low quality, it pops. So, what do you do? Repair it for $150? Nope, it goes in the garbage and you buy another one. $100+$100+$100... now you're $300 deep and still only have a crap 1k and subpar electrical. The new amp is still killing your factory 90A alt and it finally dies. Now you're stranded on the side of the road and hopefully didn't burn up anything on the car in the process. Hopefully you have roadside assistance, but if not... you have to pay for a tow. That's 150 bucks. Add another 150 bucks for a new factory alt. Now you're $600 in for a crap 1k and subpar electrical. But now you have a lifetime warranty on your AutoZone reman alt so that's good. You're back on the road and back wangin. But since you're the kind of guy who buys a "4,000w" amp for 100 bucks... you got the Install Bay "4awg" CCA kit and the grossly oversized fuse. It melts and you need a new fuse holder. Chalk up another 20 bucks. You figure it's good to go now and just wang out. You didn't spring for a dash mount voltmeter so you have no idea you're in the 10's when you're demo'ing and that melted fuse holder starts a fire under the hood because your 150A fuse is allowing way too much current for the crappy 8awg aluminum wire. Your car burns down and you call your insurance to file a claim. You tell them what happened and the insurance adjuster is a car audio guy and denies your claim because he knows you overfused subpar electrical with crap wire running a crap, inefficient amp.

You spent $620 and lost a car... but at least the amp was "good for the money".

Can I print this out and require all of my customers to read it first before talking to me? Because I have to deal with them bitching about my prices for those first 5 trips before their car burns down. I know this is likely the wrong place to be talking about shop vs online... But even as a bass head I can see value in having a person to come complain to, a company to handle your returns, and a store to stand behind the warranty on labor.

[Ahmed Johnson]

If I'm going out and buying the amp brand new then it would be a problem. If I'm buying it used for a good price from somebody then I wouldn't care.

[Ram]

I look at the bigger picture too though, sure it might do a decent number for the price even though they lied about it but what kind of quality is it.

To me if they would lie that much about the numbers I'd have to guess that they have no problem selling low quality products too.

There are plenty of amps out their that probably make what they claim or close too it that are pieces of junk as well.

Or how about them ones that make rated but have a nice fuzzy line on a o-scope.

i am talking about clean power. Almost all amps can put out some amount of clean power before it gets dirty...rendering the test over. How much power before it gets dirty is the question.

I was trying to relay this point the other day. Alot of amps will do "close to rated" dirty power which might be fine for alot of the general public, but to alot of us on this forum, we know better and wouldn't trumpet an amp as the next best thing. From a business point of view, it's a shitty way to do thing, but a lot of amp companies do it. Theres really no "standard" (CEA-Compliance isnt a standard unless a company pays for it) so you are stuck not knowing unless you dyno every amp.

[aculous]

I use my money to support companies and people that I feel like I can trust. Before the amp dyno I think it was pretty hard to test a amp adequately, because of that you would look at other things to see if it actually supported its claims. i would look at efficiency, THD, lowest ohm load, fusing but in actuality I was flying blind.

if it doesn't do rated I am not going buy it. If a company over inflates their ratings i can't trust that they did the rest of the design correctly or safely. And my money will go elsewhere.

also grossly under rating is really annoying too, however i dont get the feeling i was cheated, just makes choosing the right amp harder. Like zuki saying an amp is rated at 25wpc rms when it would most likely be closer to 100. That is just as frustrating.

[2loud4uboyz]

Never liked the over rating on amps. Very misleading not good. Lot of good people think they have all this power and don't misleading. This forum made me realize I don't know as much as I thought I did about amps and so on. Opened my eyes up to car audio. I'll put it thatway.

[Jessica]

i dont like to see anything with a Max rating yet even the some of best companies do it because thats what sells product. Even looking at speakers its like science, max is always double rms.