why are old school amps worth so much?

That is true in some cases, but I was being more concerned with electronics, Technology has moved on and what it took to make an amplifier in the old days was large 5 and 10 % tolerance through mounted components ie. resistors, capacitors, ect.
Now days many high tech companies are using surface mount 0% tolerance components which are smaller and only use one side of the circuit board and the other side free for more stuff. That alone reduces costs and improves consistency.
I am not an engineer but I am sure one could tell you many ways that technology has improved and cost less. Not to mention that labor cost in Asia are far less then in North America. Sad as it is most of the Amplifiers are made in Asia , the companies had no choice in order to be price competitive. Designed here and built there and quality controlled here. That is the formula for todays Car Audio. Mostly.
Components are not 0%... in most cases, even in high end gear you will find that resistors are 1% or 5% tolerance and capacitors are 20% tolerance. There is no real need for anything better because we design to not rely on the tolerance of non-linear components (capacitors, inductors) where possible, or use feedback to cancel out the distortion that is unavoidable (e.g. from transistors). Tolerance of linear components will usually just cause the volume of the output to be slightly out (fractions of a dB) and often the manufacturer will use an adjustable pot for passive components that adjust things like DC offset of an amp - so tolerance there doesn't really matter either. If a component doesn't need to be a low tolerance, they will use a higher tolerance component to save $ - for instance it's probably not going to matter if the turn-on delay of an amp is 7 seconds instead of 5 seconds due to the tolerance of a capacitor in the delay circuit, and the ESR of that cap isn't going to affect the sound quality of the amp so they will just use the cheapest nastiest cap that they can ;)*

Surface mount boards are cheaper to manufacture because the boards, components are cheaper to make (cheaper/faster not to drill so many holes in the board, the leads on a through-hole component cost extra, it all adds up!) and surface mount parts can be placed by machine. Through hole requires a human to place the components - Chinese labour is pretty cheap but not cheaper than a surface mount pick and place machine! It's still cheaper to get a Chinese person to operate said pick and place machine than an American though :p

*Interestingly, it can also be cheaper just to use exactly the same component over and over again on your board (requires less reels of components to be loaded into the pick and place machine) so they might engineer the delay circuit to use the same components that are used in part of the amplifier or something like that, even if they are complete overkill for the job.
 
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It's not the best comparison, but I purchased a newish class-D Alpine MRX-F30 amplifier about a month ago. A week later, I picked up a Jensen KA3 from the late 1990's for $25. The older Jensen is a class AB and can drive a subwoofer at 1 ohm but otherwise, I cannot hear any difference in sound quality. The Jensen just runs hotter lol. Popping open the unit revealed a standard selection of output transistors (enough for 1-2 ohm operation) mounted to a beefy heatsink. Opamps were of the cheap, nasty 4558 kind.

I've heard that this is a rather nice Jensen, not like one of the nasty poor-quality amplifiers they make now. When I bought it, the unit looked like it had been used in the jungles of Vietnam for a decade but it still works like new haha. The bottom line though is that the new F30 produces the same amount of power while running cooler and more efficiently.
 
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1986 Kenwood Amps

Simply looking for opinions whether or not I should continue on plans to use two Kenwood amps (KAC-720 and KAC-8020) that I've owned since new and never used (long story) in my '78 VW bus.

So far my expenses are limited to buying the service manuals to give to an electronics guy (cause I am not one - lol) to build new din pin / RCA cords (to run to speakers which have been lost and one new power cord (for the 8020) that was lost.

Given I will have to pay someone to build these (trust me I've been all over then net searching for them and all or discontinued) just in order to install / use them, in your opinion(s) should I continue with the project?

TIA.

wb
 
Here is an oldie I just found, REALLY basic amp by pyramid...and made in USA. Pretty dirty and assembled with rivets. I had to drill a few out to see what makes it tick. Looks like the push-pull early design with only two transistors per channel. I still haven't attempted to power it up.

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Possibly, maybe before they sold out? I remember having a cheapo amp in the 80's and it used this same design but with more transistors and an actual board. This little amp is pretty heavy with four transformers. It also says "Elite Mobile Sound Devices" on the sides. The bottom slides out of the main heat sink and it and both ends are aluminum. I did a little searching on the company name and the model number but couldn't find anything solid.
 
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IMO, amps using SMD parts wouldn't be old school.

I don't think made in the USA would be a requirement but most OS amps would have been made in the US. Amps like the Kenwood KAC-1020 and the Alpine 3521 would be OS.

Of course, this is my opinion. It's all relative. I was reading on some forum where they were talking about old school Audiobahn amps.
Mostly old school amps are Made in USA, absolutely.
It isn't a building factor only, but sound's quality, with dynamic thrust and great control of response.
Bass range control has the best..
For sound quality and life's product, american OS is unsurpassed! :mischiev:
 
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LOW distortion

Certain Old amps are desireable because they can give High output @ very low distortion (.05% THD) at rated output.

Most current amps (Yamaha) rate their output power @ 10% Distortion (Music Power). Am I the only one who knows how to convert "Music Power" to RMS?

Clean amps will Always be desireable over 10% Distortion, Multi-amp, abortions!!!


MLStrand56
 
For old school amps I really like the Harman Kardons, I have the 40 watter its a CA240 sitting in a closet, just a beautiful heavy design. I swear it has more power than modern 100 watt amps. Anyway am I the only H/K amp-o-phile or are there others out there?
The Otala's sons? :lickface:
More beautiful amps i ever seen, great construction.
And very musical sound!

I will never sell those.
 
I think it is like classic cars, If you find one that looks like new and was a favorite in the day it is worth something to a collector.
I do not think that they were any better in general, that is like saying that a 1965 Mustang is better then a 2013 mustang. I am sure if you drive them both today you will find that the new one looks cooler, handles better has a smoother and quieter ride and has more features that make it a better car. I would say the same about the newer amps. The fact that cheap labor and modern factories turn out a less expensive product does not mean that it is an inferior product. I am sure a well designed amp with modern architecture built in a modern factory and good quality control testing will out perform and cost less then an old school amp.
Sorry, but i don't believe..
Where is this factory?
Control quality and hand labor today's very expensive, instead all to save up everywhere, design it's the same ever..
Old school and his factories not's so that, but i think good materials, constructive care, semplicity and strenght IMO. :cheers:
 
Got my BNIB ZAPCO Studio 150 in today :)

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Here's my latest NOS (new old stock) amp.
Early 1980's Concord HPA-26 50 watter :)
Very tiny amplifier, around the size of my hand.

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This thread brings back so many memories. My fist taste of great car audio was back in 1980. The owner of our local stereo store (remember those?) let me hear the biamped Zapco system in his Z28. He had 2 of the 75WPC Zapcos with the ESMs and their studio EQ running Pyle 6x9 subs, 4 peerless TO-125Fs, Peerless 1.25in mid domes, and JVC HSW-110101A ribbon tweeters. Head unit was a 500 series Concord.

He played some Supertramp, and I was hooked. It led me to a 30-year career in audio after college. The old stuff sounded great for 2 reasons. It pushed serious current, and no one had ever heard anything like it back then. I had an Alphasonic A-451 and Subamp running Peerless TO-125s and JVC ribbons with 6x9 Pyle subs in my Chevy Luv in 1982. People couldn't believe it. Those were the days. Soon graduated to a VW Rabbit with a Fosgate Power 6, the 650's predecessor. I hot-rodded it by adding caps to the power supply. Never looked back. Still have some Orion left over from time as a factory Orion rep back in the day, and a bit of HiFonics from circa 1990.

Thanks for the memories!
 
Bought this Hi-Comp HCB-8120 amp from The Starvation army yesterday for $6.
I think it is from 1986 ?

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