Bingo. To believe that any specific brand of gear is going to make a substantial difference at the world level is foolish. :ohwell:

every amp built will modify the sound output, period... but to what extent.. according to poppy crumb, audible distortion dosent occur until 15% !!!so your arc amp with a rating of .00015% is meaningless as a canadian tire amp that sells for 29.99 has .0015% distortion, will sound identical to the listners ear within its operating parameteres. this has been proven yr. after yr. buy engineers, and scientists. its only back yard hacks that think amps will improve your sound quality.. people please use some common sense.. amps dont make your system sound better.. my zapco sounds just like your pioneer, just like your autotek, So now the question you are asking is then why the hell is a Pioneer PRS-A900 amp $1600.00. and a canadian tire amp 129.99? and both are rated at 50wx4. well first off the Pioneer will due 50 watts befor plus all day and night without stress. The canadian tire amp wont due 50 watts rms. The Pioneer will run cooler longer due to a heavier more efficient heat sink, thus more reliable, the canadian tire might last one week might last one yr. the Pioneers pre amp is more acurate than the canadian tire amp that just prints numbers around a potentiometer, there can be as much as 30% varience.. ect ect ect..

without fail...this subject is on here every year at least 2 times! Love it! I'm so glad I abx tested amps a long a time ago (and realized that audible differences are so minute, that I can't hear them)..saved me a fortune..now all I have to look for is the brands I like, features I want, and a price that's nice! To all the young'ans out there, do yourself a favour and learn about abx testing..it'll save you a fortune and allow you to spend your money on things that really make a difference...speakers!!!

I would not overlook older products like Blaupunkt velocity amps. I have 2 2 channel (50 watts rms per channel) and the sound is great. You can get good bargains on e-bay

good luck with your search

randy

Based on what criteria? By that I mean how are these amplifiers dominating, is it possible that there is some other factors involved that could be contributing the vehicles using Arc Audio sounding good?

Blaupunkt is good stuff. i used to run there amps along long time ago.. all iam saying is with amps. since they are so close to sounding the same within there paramaters, i would look at the past history of the amp, has it been reliable, do sq cars use brand a alot, do spl cars use brand b alot, ask the people who run the product what they think, you will get an answer very fast if its junk, There really is no perfect amp so until someone shows up and there car sounds exactly like live production. this topic is a moot point.

One only has to try some of the cheap Chinese stuff!

ive owned a jl 300/4 and im currently running the v2. kinda pricey and im not a jl fanboy but it really does sound great. super clean with a very very low noise floor. i would say its a very neutral amp. not warm sounding or colored in any way. its pushing some old boston acoustic z6's in the front and pro60 se's in the back