21 replies to this topic

[MAS Andrew]

To Forbidden:

Which current Rockford amps are made in Asia?

The Soundstream of old is dead... All you will see now is Power Acoustic and Farenheit rebadged as Stream with a couple of high priced signature models at the top end. Rubicon II IS THE LAST OF THE GOOD STUFF

[atsq2]

I am about to buy a Soundstream Tarantula 2 Channle 700W amp.... is it crap?

[shiny_car]

hardly crap. they are a good amp, especially for sub duties.

'nemesis' had a tarantula 2-channel. heaps of power. but he also had the chance to use my audison VRx2.150 to drive the same splits in his car. he prefered the SQ of the audison to the tarantula. i didn't get the chance to hear the comparison myself though.

still, for sub duties, it'd be a good amp.

[atsq2]

I am considering a Phoenix Gold Ti monoblock 800.1

whose specs blow the tarantulas specs away BUT the tarantula looks way cool 3d tarantula...

[forbidden]

Battaboom, you are partially correct, you will see some 'stream gear as rebadged farenheit, mainly in the video products. Power Acoustik is a huge company and makes products for many respectable companies, so does Hyundai for that matter, ever wondered what factory produces Rockford cd players? I just yesterday received my first MB Quart head unit, for those that do not know, MB Quart, Lightning Audio, Q-Logic, Hafler and others are owned by Rockford Corporation. The head unit comparison to a Rockford is unmistakeable and guess where it is made, in Korea, proudly stamped on, and coming out of a Hyundai factory. Where some products are made is now not wuite of so much concern anymore and to slam a company and brand them crap because they are made "offshore" is just plain wrong. While I may joke about made in singakoreachinatiawanapore, I also have the necessary years of experience behind me to make a valid and educated judgement call that encompasses a huge variety of products. It however is in the ear of the beholder. Anyone can put junk in the trunk and get loud, more people notice when it is a company like Power Acoustik rather than a company like Rockford. Here is a prime example of how manufacturing changes and reliability do to these changes can affect a brand. Kicker has been a great American company for years and years, and for us in Canada had a distributor that carried their products since day 1. Well 2 years ago when the drastic revamping of the products from Kicker took place, the warranty claims rose almost uncontrollably. The old Canadian distributor was faced with more warranty claims in one year than they had had since day 1, and Kicker did not allow anywhere even close to the proper repair ratio to sales ratio to cover the warranty issues, basically the distributor was losing their shirt, and shorts, and shoes, and socks.... The distributor dropped the line. Kicker found a new distributor, this company has been around for years as well, but now has inherited the problems of previous, Kicker has been improving the reliability of their products again, ever since this first started, hopefully they will again become a great force to be reconned with and have the reliability that they once were proud of. This does not mean that because Kicker went to manufacturing in the far east, there product was crap, it meant that they had growing pains with bringing new products to market. Power Acoustik has been manufacturing for years in the far east and build some very good equipment. I personally do not like Sony, friends do not let friends buy Sony, but if it is all you can afford, I'll work with you on making it sound and behave the best it can. This is the difference between me as a dealer and the vast majority of you, the consumer. I have the luxury of playing with different brands all day long, rather than finding one favorite and all the others are carp. Any US company for example can have a circuit board made in the far east, say Korea for example only, have it shipped to the United States and assembled there, thus made in USA. See how it works.

[MAS Andrew]

Sorry, I thought we were talking amplifiers in particular. I can tell you that not one Rockford Fosgate amp is made outside of Tempe Arizona. Except for the amps built into the haed units.

No the Soundstream Tarantula amps are not crap, they are made in the USA. The mono model is the same as the original they showed many, many years ago. The other 2, 4 and 5 ch is also made in the USA, just not using the old tried and true SS amp building methods.

[nemesis]

shiny_car said:

hardly crap. they are a good amp, especially for sub duties.

'nemesis' had a tarantula 2-channel. heaps of power. but he also had the chance to use my audison VRx2.150 to drive the same splits in his car. he prefered the SQ of the audison to the tarantula. i didn't get the chance to hear the comparison myself though.

still, for sub duties, it'd be a good amp.

exactly what the man said :wink:
though 440rms into each side of a front stage is rather painful at full volume
for interests sake, ive owned 11 different Soundstream amplifiers, had only one fail and was repaired and worked perfectly from then on. im running TRU gear at the moment, but i'll always have a soft spot for their gear.
atsq2 - i'd never call anything SS crap, as stated above there's different levels, and comparing them to limited edition, hand-built amps from a few years ago aint exactly fair (owned a couple of those too ) i very much doubt you would be dissapointed in the amp if it suits your needs, just watch out for the heatsink as its 'very' prone to fingerprints, scratches and....fingerprints :evil: