ShockingCanada

iTrader: (1)

actually i think SPL is the only way to measure the reliability of an amp. The average daily driver doesn't use a high powered class D amp to even close to its rated output. If you drive around listening at 120db and your system is capable of 140db with full power than you are really only using around 1/64th the power the amp is rated for...so if 2400watt rating you are only really using around 40watts...thats hardly a test of the amps reliability. I don't know of too many amps that will not put out 40 watts (and transiently during music at that). If I want to see if an amp is reliable I want to make it make its rated power and have it hold that for 5 minutes (indicating an rms value)...the old 2400ds were lucky to last 10 seconds at full tilt

Brad-S.A.

iTrader: (35)

But thats like saying a car goes 130MPH and its built for for that, but most people drive under 65MPH so you cant determine the realible.???? Sure you can, cars just like audio equipment go through different environments all the time. Just cause they dont have them at full power doesn't mean they dont go through the paces like sitting in 120 degree cars in the summer and get cranks as soon as they get turned on. Or -20 degree weather and then turn them on and cranking them building up heat and condensation. Or in a off road truck bouncing around. Its daily driving and life when you own it for years that makes something reliable. Not having 14 amps of all the same model and doing SPL drags and then changing you whole system off next year. The guy that has them for 4 -5 months a year cant really be a good test of reliablity.

ShockingCanada

iTrader: (1)

except cars have moving parts to wear out and audio equipment all comes down to how well it can manage heat and current. If you never stress it you won't ever test that. That is probobly the least applicable analogy i have ever heard

MTA neon

It's all a matter of chance and luck with any thing in life, cars, stereo, ETC.
I run MMATTS Amps the have'nt let me down but I know of others that had issues so as to say because the had problems that MMATTS suck is wrong and look at it this way when you break it give's you the oppertunity to get better gear like the old saying go big or go home. There is so many other things that I could give for eamples also but enough said

Brad-S.A.

iTrader: (35)

Dude it sounds like your out for an arguement. It was just an example. By the way amps also have moving parts though they may be tiny. There is switching circuits, relays, and fans ect. Same diff. I have had amps that I have pounded the crap out of and a day later turn it on at half volume and nothing. And I have had amps I have not cranked up at all and it dies too. Its luck of the draw. I have a feeling this SPL team you talk about that blows 8 of them in one run was having other issues because I fail to believe that if a pile of teams had the same experience......ya I would have to say everyone would be changing manufactures. There is alot of knowledge here including guys that have been in car audio since christ was a cowboy. My experience with them is limited but from what I have had there fine. Also another point, even subs from high end companies being used for SPL are put to the ultimate test and pushed beyond there mechanical limits to win the comp. and many blow up into firey inferno's doesn't mean the company is un-reliable. Correct? Your also trying to make a point that electronics dont wear out. If that were true I would still have my 1972 RCA 19" Big Screen TV with high end turny dials. Get what im saying?

ShockingCanada

iTrader: (1)

there were many more people that blew up many many amps running them as recomended. One person did blow 8...a few differant times. Plus many others blew many many amps until everyone stopped using them. I get where you are coming from I suppose. I am not saying their products are crap I am just saying that they have a history of releasing products before they are ready for the market and as such would not support the company. As far as amps having moving parts not all amps have relays and fans...although your right they do move (however have nothing to do with the apm making actual sound). "Electronic switches" are not moving parts...they are transistors that work via s and p fields which overlap to either stop or permit electron flow through them...its slightly complex but there are no moving parts just fyi

veeman

iTrader: (3)

Reliability is defined as," the ability to yield the same results on successive trials." Therefore, it is actually the design parameters that are most important when determining if a product is reliable or not. If it is designed to work at 100% for short periods and do so for only a limited number of cycles, and it does so, then it is reliable. similarly, if the product is designed for everyday use in normal conditions for a long period and many duty cycles, and it performs well, it also has proven itself a reliable product. Running an amp at 100%+ for spl competitions, if it was not designed for that, is not testing it's reliability, it is inviting it to fail at something it should not be doing.

MR2NR

iTrader: (66)

I had a run of Crossfire CFA400 or CFA401 amplifiers one year. Their first class AB 2 ohm mono sub amplifiers. The first and second production runs were stellar, no problemo. The third production run, well, I blew 5 in one day, 2 the next and another a couple of days later before the distributor said, whoa, there must be something wrong. Yup, there was, a change had been made in the amps parts when one part was not available, the distributor took all of the amps back, packed up all of their amps and sent them back. The build factory fixed the bad part issue on the build line and life went on. At no point in time though could I ever label Crossfire as crappy product because of one bad run of amps. All the balance of the amps I ordered after that, no issues at all.

Problems happen with every line and all models. In some cases it is build quality, some cases it is shipping damage, other times it is installation and alot of the time is it customer abuse. No line is immune to it. It is what can be done to fix the problem that counts. By your own admission there was a revision to the Concept amp in question and it worked perfect after that, yet you would still not recommend them at all. Kinda makes one think in that aspect doesn't it....

MR2NR

iTrader: (66)

And for some of us that are older that dust as it pertains to this industry, we might just be able to say this....Based on your comments about how reliability is tested in a SPL contest to be the better way to test a product (or whatever the jist of it is), how on earth would we old guys have tested a products reliability in the days before a SPL contest?

ShockingCanada

iTrader: (1)

I am simply saying that I beleive an SPL contest is better than listening to everyday music. These amps are rated at like 2400wrms so that means they should be able to put out 2400watts for 5 minutes. if they cannot do that then they are not reliable. I would never say that a 2400wrms amp is reliable if it can't reliably put out what it is rated to do. Just because people can reliably use it in their cars doesn't mean its reliable to me because they are never asking of it what it has been stated by the company it is capable of. Just because back in the day there was no SPL meter in the car doesn't mean people weren't turning it up to see how loud it would go and then sitting around with a beer watching the cans jump around on the roof.