Help... Old School vs Late Models

[The Natural 0]

I absolutely loved the old school USA-2000 I used on my front stage at 8 ohms a few years ago. But, now that I have sold all four that I had (like a nutcase!) I am interested in what would be as good or better in the near future. I am considering switching to a 4 ohm load so I am very interested in the old USA2000x.

My questions center around comparing these models to some of the newer lines. Would I be better off with the amps mentioned above or something like AX-1000, AX-2000, MD23, or maybe some similar 4 channel models bridged to 2? I have been thinking old school the whole time because I haven't kept up to date on the new stuff enough to know how it compares.

Thanks,

Paul

Edited September 25, 2007 by The Natural

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

I have not played with the new AX line, but they have the MLT where you can link the amps. Same guy (Dirk) designs them. The brand new Merlins (2007) are up to spec with the AX models. So maybe an MD3 could fit.

[///M5 2,833]

Personally I am an old skool guy, but there are definite options in the modern world as well.

Don't get tied up in the 4ohm thing, considering what you are doing you will be better off with an 8ohm driver anyways.

[The Natural 0]

"considering what you are doing you will be better off with an 8ohm driver anyways"

I was thinking that, but again, have never studied up on it enough. I guess the higher the impedance the load is, the better control the amplifer can maintain over it? Does feeback from the coil moving (is that EMF?) have more effect at lower impedances? Does this work similarly at all frequencies? In other words, would an audiophile want is tweeters, mids, and subs to be 8 ohm as opposed to say... 2 ohm drivers?

Also, does it counteract the effect if you bridge the amp? Example:

200 watts at 4 ohms from a single channel of amp A

vs

200 watts at 8 ohms from two bridged channels of amp B, all else being equal

[JimJ 11]

For solid state amps, damping factor doesn't change enough to have to worry about it.

The only new USAmps I've had the chance to demo was the AX-TU300C...just don't use that with the stock preamp tubes. There's too much gain in the preamp stage.

[///M5 2,833]

Not to take away from US Amps at all, great stuff, but really the amplifier is the least important portion of what you are doing. Of course install is the most important followed by the capabilities of the raw drivers. Adding gain really at this point isn't so difficult.

*note in no way at all am I recommending cheap amplifiers. Stuff with crap components in it will always be crap, but once you get to a certain level it is the last thing that I would really worry about.

[cblaze 0]

i have yet to try out there new stuff,going to soon hopefully a md2d,but every single person now days,besides on here says thats us amps quality has fallen ,some claimed to even have tested them.but i know they got cheaper lines of amps now but,just abotu every company has a budget line to make money off of

[flakko 1]

i have yet to try out there new stuff,going to soon hopefully a md2d,but every single person now days,besides on here says thats us amps quality has fallen ,some claimed to even have tested them.but i know they got cheaper lines of amps now but,just abotu every company has a budget line to make money off of

indeed the most of the trash talking going on about the new usamps is about hte xterminator (entry level) line and how they overrate them. the new merlins and ax seem to be very very solid and whoever has one seems to be uber happy with them i'm gonna have to buy a Merlin so i can send it around for another demo ring....I'd better git this one back.

[jearhart 0]

i was very happy with the i/s2200 that i was using for a little bit. seemed very underrated which supprised me for an entry level amp.

[flakko 1]

i was very happy with the i/s2200 that i was using for a little bit. seemed very underrated which supprised me for an entry level amp.

werdup. the I/S line was how you say, overbuilt. ive got a 2200 sitting around in my garage needing to be fixed.

[Hayabusa 0]

I got my MD43 installed last week and I love that thing to death. It makes my Nextels pound like subs @ 8 ohms :-D. I'll have a full review on em once I get my tweeters back from madi monday and install them next week and get some time to do some real testing with my system at full strength. I just know the amp is a BEAST @ 8 ohm so I can only imagine what it would do if I needed it to carry a 4 ohm or 2 ohm load limit.

[Adrian_D 520]

i was very happy with the i/s2200 that i was using for a little bit. seemed very underrated which supprised me for an entry level amp.

werdup. the I/S line was how you say, overbuilt. ive got a 2200 sitting around in my garage needing to be fixed.

interrested in selling the is 2200 ?

[flakko 1]

i was very happy with the i/s2200 that i was using for a little bit. seemed very underrated which supprised me for an entry level amp.

werdup. the I/S line was how you say, overbuilt. ive got a 2200 sitting around in my garage needing to be fixed.

interrested in selling the is 2200 ?

sure, 40 shipped or 20+shipping and its yours

the only thing cosmetically wrong is that the one of the endcaps screw hole is broken.

[Adrian_D 520]

can you pm me a pic of the internals ?

so i can try to get an idea about the damage.

[flakko 1]

can you pm me a pic of the internals ?

so i can try to get an idea about the damage.

sure ill pm you the pix tomorrow

[Adrian_D 520]

can you pm me a pic of the internals ?

so i can try to get an idea about the damage.

sure ill pm you the pix tomorrow

tomorrow is almost over and no piccies

[flakko 1]

got a little side tracked yesterday...switchin systems over o_O

did take pix today tho ygpm looks like 2 blown fets

[USAMPFREAK 4]

If you are looking for that old school sound I would Look at the AX2000's they are built to the same standards as the old florida amps.