Old school versus New school amplifier- which side are you

[tsikotshop]

Around the car audio forums there's always a debate about which is better, current model amplifiers or older amplifiers. There isn't much discussion between new and old for other car audio equipment, but there seems to be a real passion for older amplifiers. Since I've been around long enough to have experienced both new and old I'm going to share my opinion on the topic and let you know the pros and cons of both.
Generally old school car audio amplifiers are those that are 10-15 years or older. There's no real cutoff but that's the general consensus. Amplifiers that were made in the mid to early 1990's or before (depending on who is defining) are considered old school. They are highly regarded, in my opinion, for two main reasons. First, they have a lot of nostalgia for many people. These were some of the first large amplifiers that were available and car audio was really starting to hit its stride. There were a lot of really great, really expensive amplifiers out at that time. Second, these old amplifiers were generally very well built. They didn't have a lot of extras like signal processing or built in crossovers. Maybe they came with bass and treble controls but that was generally it. They were designed for one purpose and that was to put out raw power and that's just what they did. Think of these old car audio amplifiers as the equivalent of classic car. They were big, expensive, built like a tank and were often design works of art.
Now not all old car audio amps are classics. Like now, some were very poorly designed and built. But many are still sought after and work just as well as they did fifteen years ago. The great amplifier manufacturers back in the day (in my opinion) were a/d/s, Alpine, Autotek, Earthquake, HiFonics, Linear Power, MTX, Orion, Phoenix Gold, Precision Power, Rockford Fosgate, Soundstream, U.S. Amps and Zapco. Notice how all of those companies are still around after all these years? Some have been sold to new parent companies but most are still putting out good amps.
That brings us to the new crop of amplifiers. My feeling is the new amplifiers are not as well built as the older amplifiers. Now this doesn't mean that the new amplifiers are put together poorly. They're just not built as solidly as the older amps. And they really can't be. Manufacturers have found newer, cheaper and sometimes better ways to build amplifiers. This has allowed the price to come down and the power to go up. If an amplifier company was still building amplifiers the way they were fifteen years ago they wouldn't be able to compete on a price basis. That's very important in today's price conscious market where finding a lower price is just a few mouse clicks away.
The new school amps also have many more features. Built in DSP, crossovers and other goodies have blurred the line between amplifier and signal processor. Now for a few hundred dollars you can get a multi-channel amplifier with built in speaker level inputs, crossover, and filtered RCA outputs. This would be at least three separate boxes for most old school set ups but now it's almost standard. The new amps have more power and lower current draw thanks to new technologies such as the class D amp. This is a real plus for systems with large amps and a stock alternator.
Bottom line: The new car audio amplifiers offer more power, more features and cost less than the older amplifiers (original price). On the other hand the old amplifiers were arguably built better and will last longer than the new amplifiers. But amplifier technology has come a long way and if I had to choose between a new amp at new prices and an old amp at its original price I'd have to choose the new amplifier. There is better value in terms of watts per peso, features and often current consumption. Much of the attachment to old school amplifiers is sentimental on the part of those (myself included) who remember fondly our first systems. But with prices of used equipment often being much less it pays to take a look at the older offerings as long as you know what to look for and what to stay away from. There's still a lot of life left in old school amplifiers.

[jhnkvn]

Ah, the classic old vs new debate. No real "definitive" answers since walang proof. These are merely opinions, but hell, I'll join in.

Personally, the main selling point for old school amps is that of "nostalgia". It's like seeing your first car being revived. With that comes a sense of "rarity". There's a reason why well-preserved old-school vehicles are often featured in MIAS or other car showcases. Kung makakuha lang ako ng Ford Model T, *** na, kahit bigyan mo ako ng apat na Bugatti Veyron di ko i-swap yun!

Whether they're more well-built than their modern-day amplifiers, I don't think so. List of old-school amplifier builders I respect are: Precision Power, Linear Power, Xtant, Zapco. Well-built, yes. But most "competition-grade" amplifiers are. Taking off my Xtant's cover and seeing its guts is a thing of beauty. But I like DLS Ultimate amps' guts better both sila gets extremely hot on those "loud" moments... as in fry-an-egg hot but so far buhay parin sila.

Come and go rin naman ito eh. Fast forward 10 years, we can revive the debate again except rather than Xtant, you can put a DLS A7. Rather than PPI Art, you can put Genesis Profiles, etc. You can only reach the status of "old-school" if you're tested and proven over the years. Bigyan naman natin ng time mga "new school" amps.

One brand I also miss is AudioControl. Dati very famous sila for their equalizers, ngayon since modern-day HUs have advanced EQ settings, masbali wala na. They seem dead to my eyes (kung hindi pa sila "patay")