# Korean based amps



## cleansoundz (May 14, 2008)

I know that SoundQubed is a good brand and their products are quality but when I openned up my Q1 2200D I saw cheap chinese made capxon capacitors all over the board. The bigger capacitors were all 85○ vs 105○. I looked at some of the mosfets and remembered being told that they were midline quality. Are all of the other Korean amps like DC Audio, DD, Crescendo, etc made this way? Needless to say I will not be re-installing this amp anymore. What gives?


----------



## dallasneon (Nov 3, 2005)

Well, it's not a high end amp so don't expect high end components internally. If the amp functions and sounds good then why wouldn't you reinstall it?


----------



## cleansoundz (May 14, 2008)

Because I have been in car audio for a long time and could afford better quality equipment like what I have. If I was a noobie it would be a different story.


----------



## dallasneon (Nov 3, 2005)

So are you more of a "basshead" or more SQ oriented? Only asking being all the brands you listed are more associated with SPL than SQ.


----------



## JBThompson (Oct 3, 2013)

I don't understand why one wouldn't use an amp just because of where the parts come from. As long as the amp makes clean rated power and doesn't have noise issues I'd say run it. Hell I'm pretty certain my Polk amps are Chinese built and they've sound fricken awesome for the last three or four years.


----------



## T3mpest (Dec 25, 2005)

Define high end... If your looking for a high powered korean and 2kw+ of power SQ isnt' your primary concern. Your not going to hear a difference in SQ from amp to amp at 150db with the car rattling and your ears overloaded, at all.

As far as durability goes, regardless of where they come from AQ amps have proven to be durable as hell time and time again. You want to pay 1.5x the price for sundown go ahead, but in the lanes I can't personally say sundowns have been any more reliable than AQ. I know plenty of guys semi local to me running AQ gear and NONE of them have had amp issues.


----------



## cleansoundz (May 14, 2008)

T3mpest said:


> Define high end... If your looking for a high powered korean and 2kw+ of power SQ isnt' your primary concern. Your not going to hear a difference in SQ from amp to amp at 150db with the car rattling and your ears overloaded, at all.
> 
> As far as durability goes, regardless of where they come from AQ amps have proven to be durable as hell time and time again. You want to pay 1.5x the price for sundown go ahead, but in the lanes I can't personally say sundowns have been any more reliable than AQ. I know plenty of guys semi local to me running AQ gear and NONE of them have had amp issues.


Makes sense. I like a blend of SPL and SQ as far as what I expect from my equipment. As far as durability, I like the solid feel of my SQ 2200 amp but was not impressed when I looked inside at the components. I am just picky like that. Regardless of the amp, speaker or woofer, one always wants to know that quality is on the inside and outside.


----------



## qwertydude (Dec 22, 2008)

If you've got money and concerned about the actual components inside, buy a Brax. You said you wanted all top end components inside. Are you really willing to pay for true high end amplifiers, cause the ones you listed aren't high end, they're in reality only a step above the big box brands and heck I'd pick JL amps before going with DC or DD amps. Those companies make decent SPL subwoofers but why think they'd focus on the minutia of high end SQ amplifiers. They won't they'll contract to a build house and use generic designs. JL at least designs their amps to meet good performance specs.

Buy that 4000 dollar Brax and will you get 10 times the longevity and 10 times the performance of a 400 dollar midline amp? Nope not by a long shot.


----------



## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

expanding on this theme, the inclusion of good parts in anything today is a price barrier that most manufacturers, selling in less and less quantity as the 12V continues to slide into oblivion, aren't willing to absorb.

you ask if all the current glut of commodity cone mover/watt champs, display bottom barrel parts and from what I've seen that is definitely dependent on the manufacturer.

I'd be more enthused to see high grade parts, but today it's not so simple as judging a capacitor by the brand, or the semi-conductors, or the umpteen indicators of quality we used to be able to tell the good amps from the junk.

The market has matured, again. I think the best we can do is look for durability first, if we want high value and if we want prestige or the kind of stuff you feel when looking into an amplifier's guts, that pleasing sensation when you see the manufacturer put some good stuff in their build, then you forget about high value and start thinking about vanity, much of car audio is built on vanity and giving vanity it's due is just logical processing of the hobby.


----------



## bgalaxy (Aug 18, 2006)

Really the internal parts manufacture zip code does not matter. It is the tolerance level accepted by the build house of the amplifier. I have seen individual parts from a "cheaper" country out perform quality parts from manufactures who have desirable zip codes. 

Quality of SPL based brands come down to how they handle their customers, "if" there is an issue. It isn't difficult to read up on who takes care of their customers over the long run.


----------



## cleansoundz (May 14, 2008)

bgalaxy said:


> Really the internal parts manufacture zip code does not matter. It is the tolerance level accepted by the build house of the amplifier. I have seen individual parts from a "cheaper" country out perform quality parts from manufactures who have desirable zip codes.
> 
> Quality of SPL based brands come down to how they handle their customers, "if" there is an issue. It isn't difficult to read up on who takes care of their customers over the long run.


Agreed. I respect the hell out of Digital Designs and have many many gut shots of my M2A, M2, C4B, etc, etc and when I looked very closely at the differences between the components of my old M2A pictures and my current SQ 2200.1D I noticed that they do indeed use the same parts, tolerances, etc. I stand corrected.


----------

