# Old School and why choose this route



## Porter (Nov 27, 2009)

I have read many forums on why a lot of people prefer old school hardware. Now don't get me wrong. I'm sure their is a lot of good modern equipment. My head unit is only 2 years old and is a digital only. I got into car audio back when it was in its golden age. This was around 92'. Toward the end of the 90's when most brands started selling out as I still kept with the old hardware. Class D was entering into the market with mixed reviews and quality issues. I choose to use older hardware not because I'm trying to relive my past. I use old hardware cause I know what is good and what is not. With new amps of today, I'm not sure who is trust worthy and the long term quality will be. I have faith in the old hardware. I can even get most of it repaired if so needed. I use to work at Five Star Audio in Cleveland. This is the home company of American Bass. To this day I still talk to the owner once in a while. He is a riot to talk with. Back then I was in a hub in the Cleveland area of top of the line equipment back then. Down the street was a PPI/JL/Protech dealer. Across the way was B&B witch sold Phoenix Gold. Another Dealer was a Rockfort dealer. We sold Zapco, Hifonics, Autotek, American Bass, Rainbow before anyone knew of them. Then their was a US Amps/Dr Crankensien/Lanzar dealer a few miles away. With all of the exposure I had with all this solid equipment I see I was spoiled. I seen the industry changed so much. I seen how the newer equipment of the 2000's turn into junk. So I kept using older hardware. Now with amp houses gone over seas and many companies sharing boards and such. I was not comfortable with how things had turned out. Now that class D switching has gotten much faster, I still have not made the jump to newer amps. Even my speakers are old school due to the efficiency of the old. Just my view. Thanks for giving me your time.


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## Bchester6 (Jan 15, 2020)

I think the newer stuff is fine but I understand your reluctance to use it as it doesn't really blow you away from a craftsmanship or an aesthetics standpoint. There really isn't a wrong way to do this just depends on how much space and electrical current you have available. I'm an old schooler myself and prefer to run bigger a/b amps mainly because I have the space to pull it off while others don't and a smaller footprint class D amplifiers makes total sense.


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## carlthess40 (Aug 21, 2018)

I so dislike the new amps
I’ve bought 4 different brands of amps
Soundstream, and the other brands I forget
But the things is this. I opened all of them up to see what’s inside, and what I found pissed me off. The all had the very same boards inside them. Are you kidding me? What the H. So this tells me that most brands are just having some China Comp building their amps and slapping a logo on them. This is B/S and misleading the consumers
If you look at my old school alpine, soundstream and JL amps. They all have the makers name on all the caps and other parts inside them. They have lasted me well over 20 plus years. They all can be repaired. And to me, they all sound great. Each one has its own flavor of sound. 
Newer gear pretty much sucks and 1 or 2 Chinese companies are making these for 90% of the car audio companies 
Sad sad


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## TomV (Nov 17, 2020)

I'm from the Cleveland area and I clearly remember all of those old audio stores!

I took a break from car audio in 2000 and just recently have regained interest after purchasing a 2019 Lincoln MKZ with a Revel sound system.

The Lincoln Revel system has 14 speakers driven from a 12-channel class D amplifier. Except for the rear doors tweeter/woofer, all the other speakers are powered by independent channels. Each driver is actively crossed over and time aligned via a DSP built into the amp. This system sounds excellent and really only lacks a true subwoofer.

I liked the Revel system so much, that I upgraded mine to the Revel Ultima 20 speaker system which uses class AB amps for all 7 tweeters and class D for the 13 other drivers. Every driver is actively crossed over and time aligned via a DSP built into the amp. I was lucky to find the extra components on eBay and thanks to a wiring diagram I repined the harness. This system sounds even better than the standard Revel, however still lacks a true subwoofer.

So the Revel project above is new school, but it has got me planning another old school system for my 1989 Mustang GT. The Mustang currently has a newer Kenwood DNX9990HD double din navigation and DVD head unit, Focal Access speakers and no sub. I plan to install my old MB Quart 3-way front speakers, use 2 or 3 of my old Precision Power amplifiers and add some sort of sub. It will probably be a mix of old and new school when it's finished, but this thread caught my attention and I couldn't help but share.


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## miniSQ (Aug 4, 2009)

Porter said:


> I have read many forums on why a lot of people prefer old school hardware. Now don't get me wrong. I'm sure their is a lot of good modern equipment. My head unit is only 2 years old and is a digital only. I got into car audio back when it was in its golden age. This was around 92'. Toward the end of the 90's when most brands started selling out as I still kept with the old hardware. Class D was entering into the market with mixed reviews and quality issues. I choose to use older hardware not because I'm trying to relive my past. I use old hardware cause I know what is good and what is not. With new amps of today, I'm not sure who is trust worthy and the long term quality will be. I have faith in the old hardware. I can even get most of it repaired if so needed. I use to work at Five Star Audio in Cleveland. This is the home company of American Bass. To this day I still talk to the owner once in a while. He is a riot to talk with. Back then I was in a hub in the Cleveland area of top of the line equipment back then. Down the street was a PPI/JL/Protech dealer. Across the way was B&B witch sold Phoenix Gold. Another Dealer was a Rockfort dealer. We sold Zapco, Hifonics, Autotek, American Bass, Rainbow before anyone knew of them. Then their was a US Amps/Dr Crankensien/Lanzar dealer a few miles away. With all of the exposure I had with all this solid equipment I see I was spoiled. I seen the industry changed so much. I seen how the newer equipment of the 2000's turn into junk. So I kept using older hardware. Now with amp houses gone over seas and many companies sharing boards and such. I was not comfortable with how things had turned out. Now that class D switching has gotten much faster, I still have not made the jump to newer amps. Even my speakers are old school due to the efficiency of the old. Just my view. Thanks for giving me your time.


I'm also from the era of PPI, SS, Hifonics, Zapco, MB Quart. The thing to keep in mind was i paid over $600 for a PPI A600.2 back in the day, and fast forward that 25 years and accounting for inflation lets say that now becomes $1500 for an amp purchase. There are a TON of really good quality amps available today if you are willing top spend. JL Slash, Mosconi, Tru, Mmatts to name a few.


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## TomV (Nov 17, 2020)

I’m using old school amps for a few reasons:

1. I already own 3 of them.
2. Clean class AB sound.
3. Period correct vehicle with upgraded alternator (170amp)
4. Work well with passive crossovers on component sets and active front/rear/sub pre-outs crossed over in the head unit.

Some benefits of new school amps:

1. Advanced features built in, such as crossovers, DSP, signal summing, etc.
2. Class D efficiency for less draw and smaller wiring.
3. Multi-channel designs for bi-amping and active crossovers.
4. OEM integration support.


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## Porter (Nov 27, 2009)

I don't disagree about newer equipment having better options. In my Supra I'm going to be running all old school amps, with a underhung subwoofer, and modern DSP and head unit. This set up will get me what I need. I don't need 5k watts. On paper I'm only pushing 1033 watts total 😉. Real power is much higher. Yes class D is efficient. Till the switching speeds are on par or better than AB amps I'm sticking with what I have. Tru amps are in my mind, but that is a hole burning in my pocket.

Tom, it was great back in the day when Safe & Sound had demo days. Seen lots of nice cars. Five Star had there van that was stupid loud back then. I think it was pushing the 150's back then. 8 15's in a 4th order bandpass with a wall of Rainbow components. The Thunderbird they had was a SQ car. My god that was a clean sounding car. All old school SoundStream amps. Joe was the tech guy there. He was extremely sharp. Sometimes a prick, but smart.


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## Theslaking (Oct 8, 2013)

Shoot back in the day I watched an Eclipse rep pick his leg up and kick the head unit in the plastic demo car to prove you couldn't make their HU's skip nor hurt them with teenagers bashing buttons. I'd love to seen that kinda of moxy from a rep now. Heck I'd love to randomly see a rep nowadays.


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## WhiplashMotorbreath (Jan 10, 2021)

I use old school gear as I own it.
And are not surface mount circuit board design, So it can be a lot easier to repair if needed.
If I didn't own a bunch of old stuff, I would most likely get new gear that was from a long term company . But even then you have to do research and what your budget is as many have different product lines.
I am sure like most anything a LOT of brands are the same guts in that brands case. 
There IS a reason most speakers the brand is a sticker on the magnet, and maybe a logo on the dust cap.
one factory is making the same units with a different sticker, and dust cover. for a bunch of brands


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