# Old School Zed - Was Stephen Mantz really that good?



## ANT

ZED - Planet Audio
Old School Planet Audio HVT 752 Tube Amp Made by ZED Audio Clean Smooth Power | eBay


MONITOR 1 MK 2.70/ MK2.120
Old School Planet Audio HVT 752 Tube Amp Made by ZED Audio Clean Smooth Power | eBay


Autotek
Autotek Model 66 Model 44 FX 2 Eclipse 5341 Vintage Package ZED | eBay


Planet Audio
Planet Audio HVT 754 Old School 4 Channel Tube Amp Made by ZED Audio Sq USA | eBay


Hifonics
Hifonics Pluto Series VII Old School ZED Made Amp | eBay


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## 66efisteed

The Monitor 1 is not Zed but ARPA who is linked to Arc audio and Zapco. A nice amp but not by Zed audio.


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## Neel

I know you meant no disrespect but Stephen Mantz is STILL that good.


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## Ultimateherts

Neel said:


> I know you meant no disrespect but Stephen Mantz is STILL that good.


How old is he? And how old is Robert Zeff?


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## minbari

the series VII and VIII hifonics were some of the best amps every made IMHO. clean, they sounded nice and had plenty of power. stiffly regulated so input voltage didnt effect them much.

in the 90's I had 3 systems of just hifonics amps.


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## SilkySlim

Ditto min. I really liked the look too. Clean, Solid and strong. Most of his designs from that era were very good and comparable. The autotek bts, and square white mean machines were very good. My buddy is running some ESX in his car one of the best sounding zed designs I have heard complicated and far ahead of its time in features. Rodeks were also very nice. Funny back in the middle of it when they were new I never new he was responsible for so many of the great amps of the day. The us acoustic usa series don't sound as clean slight drop as the others I mentioned but they do have plenty of grunt and man I have seen them take serious abuse. Pretty compact too. 

Model 66 a strong amp for the money. 


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## minbari

ya, and somehow he managed to make them run cool as well. my brother had an orion 250SX (50 x 2) and I had an odin (60 x 2) and his could cook eggs and mine always ran cool. about half the size too.


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## BuickGN

:inout:


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## SilkySlim

Yea the only ones I remember being on the warm hot side was the little usacoustics USA series the Usx run cool though.


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## ou812

SilkySlim said:


> Yea the only ones I remember being on the warm hot side was the little usacoustics USA series the Usx run cool though.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


I ran 3 USA series for a few yrs and the only one to get a little warm was the 2150 on my sub. Never really got what I would call hot.


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## SilkySlim

In the dirty south driving large subs 12-15's I used to see them got hot in trunks more. Not common just more than a hifonics or autoteks. Normal SQ listening would probably never get hot.


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## chefhow

Why are you linking auctions to a known scammer?


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## BuickGN

chefhow said:


> Why are you linking auctions to a known scammer?


It's pretty sad around here.


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## minbari

chefhow said:


> Why are you linking auctions to a known scammer?


Which one? I will personally vouch for andy. Bought from him before. Ships very fast and stand behind what he sells

sent from my phone using digital farts


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## Hispls

Ultimateherts said:


> How old is he? And how old is Robert Zeff?


Stephen looks to be in his mid 50's. Considering how long he has been making amps, he either started in the business quite young or is older than he looks.


I've never regretted buying one of his products.


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## BuickGN

And people continue posting as if nothing is wrong here. Is everyone really oblivious to what's going on?


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## minbari

BuickGN said:


> And people continue posting as if nothing is wrong here. Is everyone really oblivious to what's going on?


Well, why dont you let us peons in on the joke

sent from my phone using digital farts


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## chefhow

minbari said:


> Which one? I will personally vouch for andy. Bought from him before. Ships very fast and stand behind what he sells
> 
> sent from my phone using digital farts


Here you go

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/off-topic/153185-ebay-scammers-andy4879.html


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## ESW

Mantz is and will always be the man!!!! And Andy.......is and will always be a joke!!!


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## Hispls

chefhow said:


> Here you go
> 
> http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/off-topic/153185-ebay-scammers-andy4879.html


3200+ feedback at 100% and he is a scammer?


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## minbari

Hispls said:


> 3200+ feedback at 100% and he is a scammer?


exactly. reading this whole thread and 1 or 2 people had a bad experience and the rest is hearsay. I have bought a couple things from the guy. always got what I ordered in 2 days and it always worked as advertised.


anyway, this is suposed to be about weather or not the old Zed audio was good stuff or not. not an ebay bashing party.


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## [email protected]

chefhow said:


> Why are you linking auctions to a known scammer?


He gets money when people click the links here to Ebay. He might not have been aware of Andy's history being shady.


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## [email protected]

minbari said:


> exactly. reading this whole thread and 1 or 2 people had a bad experience and the rest is hearsay. I have bought a couple things from the guy. always got what I ordered in 2 days and it always worked as advertised.
> 
> 
> anyway, this is suposed to be about weather or not the old Zed audio was good stuff or not. not an ebay bashing party.


There is alot of info out there on various forums about Andy, here is another one and if you search, more will come up.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...-andy4879-ebay-scammer-does-charge-backs.html


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## vincywiz

SilkySlim said:


> Yea the only ones I remember being on the warm hot side was the little usacoustics USA series the Usx run cool though.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk



Really? you should talk to the people at BOSS AUDIO (Planet Audio) and see what they think...those tube AMPS had all sorts of issues, mainly associated with poor socket contacts. As for the other PLANET amps; the platform impdeance was only 4 ohm but sold & rated @ 2 ohm. No matter how good the Engineer (including Steven) it is very difficult to build good amps these days because the industry has matured and the business owners want MORE profit and care less about quality. Back in the 80's & 90's EVERYONE (Power Acoustik, Coustik, Pyramid, Boss and etc...) all had decent amps...even though bac then, they were made in Korea instead of China.


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## SilkySlim

I remember the first real wave going to Korea i think the second series autotek street machine, and second series of mean machine. Also lanzar, hifonics after genX, etc. It was crap compared to zed built. Decent compared to new amps though. There are many people who swear by the PA tubes check out the your favorite zed amps thread. I have never owned one though. 


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## ESW

Zed Audio is still building quality amps. Mr. Mantz still cares about quality so he continues to use quality parts in his amps. That's another reason why they cost a pretty penny but IMO it's all well worth it.


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