why were they called cheater amps ?

Cuz they were badass.

Cuz they were badass.

were they not rated properly (underrated)

Back in the day some SPL competition formats arranged competitors according to the rated wattage of their amplifier(s). So the manufacturer's would "rate" the amplifier at some ridiculously low wattage, much less than what the amplifier was actually able to produce, in order to (hopefully) give the competitors using their amplifiers an edge during the competition.

These were referred to as "cheater amps".

Back in the day some SPL competition formats arranged competitors according to the rated wattage of their amplifier(s). So the manufacturer's would "rate" the amplifier at some ridiculously low wattage, much less than what the amplifier was actually able to produce, in order to (hopefully) give the competitors using their amplifiers an edge during the competition.

These were referred to as "cheater amps".

so old school us amps can produce more watts per channel than the rating shows .....is this correct

Back in the day some SPL competition formats arranged competitors according to the rated wattage of their amplifier(s). So the manufacturer's would "rate" the amplifier at some ridiculously low wattage, much less than what the amplifier was actually able to produce, in order to (hopefully) give the competitors using their amplifiers an edge during the competition.

These were referred to as "cheater amps".

so old school us amps can produce more watts per channel than the rating shows .....is this correct

What amplifier do you have?

i have a usa 300x and a usa 400x

just trying to get a good grasp of what i have

i purchased them new on a spl guys word and dont have much to go on

I wouldn't consider those cheater amps. Yes, they will probably output a little more power than rated, but not an audibly significant amount.

The "cheater amps" were the amps that were, for example, rated 25w @ 4ohm that really output 1kw @ 4ohm.

The "cheater amps" were the amps rated 25w @ 4ohm that really output 1kw @ 4ohm.

That is alot of cheating lol...

The "cheater amps" were the amps rated 25w @ 4ohm that really output 1kw @ 4ohm.

That is alot of cheating lol...

Here are the specs of the old Soundstream Lil Wonder (last page)

That was common back then. Similar to Orion and the HCCA line as well as many other companies.

While some still exist, it is much less prevalent now then it used to be.

The "cheater amps" were the amps rated 25w @ 4ohm that really output 1kw @ 4ohm.

That is alot of cheating lol...

Here are the specs of the old Soundstream Lil Wonder (last page)

The little wonder was not a cheater amp though, it was a marketing gimmick that was massively successful.

The "cheater amps" were the amps rated 25w @ 4ohm that really output 1kw @ 4ohm.

That is alot of cheating lol...

Here are the specs of the old Soundstream Lil Wonder (last page)

Now those are specs I would beleive lol...

The "cheater amps" were the amps rated 25w @ 4ohm that really output 1kw @ 4ohm.

That is alot of cheating lol...

Here are the specs of the old Soundstream Lil Wonder (last page)

The little wonder was not a cheater amp though, it was a marketing gimmick that was massively successful.

I know. This thread make me think of it though. IIRC Soundstream did it in part to poke fun at the cheater amps that were around at the time.

Not many cheater style amps around now since there's really not much point. Zuki is the only one to really come to mind, and he doesn't have much point behind doing it other than marketing.

The "cheater amps" were the amps rated 25w @ 4ohm that really output 1kw @ 4ohm.

That is alot of cheating lol...

Here are the specs of the old Soundstream Lil Wonder (last page)

The little wonder was not a cheater amp though, it was a marketing gimmick that was massively successful.

I know. This thread make me think of it though. IIRC Soundstream did it in part to poke fun at the cheater amps that were around at the time.

Not many cheater style amps around now since there's really not much point. Zuki is the only one to really come to mind, and he doesn't have much point behind doing it other than marketing.

USACi still uses power classes and there are still several amps that are "cheater" style, but nothing like there used to be.

The last one I can think of was the Atomic amps that placed larger power amps in smaller chassis for their competitors. Also the Clif Designs CDX-20A.

Cool info here guys

The true old-school "cheater" amps, U.S. Amps VLX series, Orion HCCA and Concept series, Soundstream high currents, etc., weren't really underrated at 4 ohms so much as they could run REALLY low impedance loads...typically they did close to rated power at 4 ohms. For example, the U.S. Amps VLX-400 was rated at 200x2 at 4 ohms and did really close to that, but could run .5 ohm ALL-DAY and even lower many times (Mine ran 12 - 4 ohm 15" subs in mono/parallel daily) and they would do up to around 3500 watts if you could supply the voltage/current they needed.

wow thats some info

thanks for the input

USACi still uses power classes and there are still several amps that are "cheater" style, but nothing like there used to be.

The last one I can think of was the Atomic amps that placed larger power amps in smaller chassis for their competitors. Also the Clif Designs CDX-20A.

I don't compete & SPL isn't my thing, but I thought the newer competition formats used actual power rather than rated power as they used to. I remember the Atomic's (or maybe it was American Bass, someone) being a huge controversy for that reason a few years ago....they output a lot more power than they were rated, so some people were trying to get the competitors using those amps bumped up in power class.

The true old-school "cheater" amps, U.S. Amps VLX series, Orion HCCA and Concept series, Soundstream high currents, etc., weren't really underrated at 4 ohms so much as they could run REALLY low impedance loads...typically they did close to rated power at 4 ohms. For example, the U.S. Amps VLX-400 was rated at 200x2 at 4 ohms and did really close to that, but could run .5 ohm ALL-DAY and even lower many times (Mine ran 12 - 4 ohm 15" subs in mono/parallel daily) and they would do up to around 3500 watts if you could supply the voltage/current they needed.

That is true as well. Amps like LP did the significant underrating, other amps weren't underrated at 4ohm but would run at very low impedance.

usaci uses rated power at 4 ohms.

my Dc5ks are rated at 900 at 4 ohms

usaci uses rated power at 4 ohms.

my Dc5ks are rated at 900 at 4 ohms

As you can tell, I'm starting to get outside my area of expertise