old school vs new school

[Dragon_fire]

simple idea. Which is "Better". Based on sound and construction. Old school orion/PPI or the new high quality amps ? I know the new ones win with features so we wont count them. Im at a loss. I really want a great high quality amp that will push around 300-400 watts per channel over 2 channels into a 4 ohm load. And i've narrowed it down to Either the Arc 4150 (cxl or xxk) or Maybe Kiki's suggestion of the orion 2250 (or the 475) or maybe even a PPI Art series 600.2 (Which according to the net is the best amp ever made). So what do the more veteren players have to say about the subject. Should I push my speakers old school or new school ?

(I have electronic crossovers with subsonic filters and the such so that is not a factor)

[William from NOLA]

The SQ is better on today's high quality amps (most of them anyway). With old amps, I'd make sure that the capacitors haven't dried up and all of the wires on the inside are replaced (loose wires), if necessary.

The old ones' construction are typically better than most amps today (including all amps). That is unless you go along the lines of McIntosh or such.

I think it's more of your personal preference overall.

[xloudcivicx]

im using the art series amps and let me tell you, they are badass for SQ. I'm using a 600.2 for a pair of W3s and a 300.2 pushing my front sound stage which is 2 pairs of MBQ components. It is crisp, clear and very accurate.

[Dragon_fire]

Awesome, I just won an art series 600.2 off ebay for 350 shipped. Ill be using it to push my 3 way comps & rear fill. (Diamonds RAF technology)

[xloudcivicx]

350 shipped is a bit steep if you asked me. I won my auction on ebay for 225, it cost 250 shipped. Nevertheless the amp is worth the cash as long as it's in good condition. The cosmetics tell whether the person took care of it or not on a 10 year old white amp. Did you pick up the white art or black?

[Dragon_fire]

Bah. White art. It has a few spots of rust which bother me. I'll just have to wait and see what it looks like when it gets here. The seller also had a black one and a first series white art.

[GlassWolf]

personally I prefer the older Orion HCCA, SX, and GS series, and PPI Art series amps.
solid state, milspec components throughout. 15 volt DIN phantom power supply and balanced signal path for signal processing. all class AB, which are always going to have superior sound quality to any class D amplifier.
what you will sacrifice is efficiency compared to SMT technology and class D amplifiers and integrated features like crossovers and equalizing, class-D strapping, etc.
the older amps are also gibber, and get hotter.
Overall SQ though, a class AB amp isn't going to spike in distortion as you approach pak output the way a class D amp does, and it's going to work full range, also unlike a class D amp. I'll stick to the older amps, but a lot of people are fine with the new ones, which perform just fine for most applications.

[xloudcivicx]

kiki got me addicted to the art series amp well over a year ago. Ya it lacks a crossover, but who cares. Great choice. I'm sure you'll love it. Not sure why it'd have rust on it unless part of the paint got scraped off. Either way as long as that green LED lights up and everything works, it's worth it.

[Dragon_fire]

yeah, Im probably gonna get two of them, 600 to the comps, 600 to the subs.

[ridr4lif]

600 watts to a component set?

Damn man...what comp set is that that can handle 600 watts?

TEDD

[Dragon_fire]

Diamond Hex three way, 6-5-tweet. 6's in the door w/ the 5 & tweet in pods. Plus you can attach your rear fill speakers to them through Diamonds Rear accustic fill technology (it just cuts out some of the frequencies so it doesnt draw the sound to the rear) so I'll have 4 speakers on each side getting about 350/4 = 80 watts EACH speaker. Plus, I called diamond and the tech guy told me a three way hex set alone should get 300+ to make them sing.
Currently I have 160 going to just the 6's and tweets w/ a rear channel and they bang, I cant wait for more power more speakers.......*drools*

[GlassWolf]

really, even my DynAudio system 360 set is only rated for 200wRMS/channel and I'm using a 2250SX for those, conservatively.
The other nice thing about the older solid state amplifiers, is that if you know what you're doing, and have the amp schematics, you can do some relatively easy upgrades to the amplifiers to boost output or improve their performance, too. Not nearly so easy to do on SMT PCboards.

whatever fits your needs is the best choice though. A lot of people don't want to mess with upgrading the charging system, so a class D amp is their best bet.

[Jonathan]

Remember that if you are applying 350 watts (per channel) to a 3 way set, or 2 ways for that matter, each speaker gets 350 watts (assuming all are the same impedance), it isn't divided between the speakers due to the crossover. Can't remember what Diamond uses as crossover freqs. for the 6 combined with the 5 and tweets, though.

[Dragon_fire]

oh good. Then that makes me feel better knowing that its actually only 150 watts. per channel at 4ohms. between 4 speakers altogether.

[spkrman]

For sub use, class D works just fine.

IMO, get any amp that appeals to you... in the end it really wont make the least bit of difference.

Or you can buy my can of snake oil for 50 bux, sprinkle some on any amp and magically gain SQ :)

[smoker]

well that 600.2 if memory serves me correctly is rated at 150x2 at 4 ohms and 600 bridged. i had one running a pair of 12 solobarics back when solo's were new and had an ax400 running the rest of the system. i you can find an ax400 they are a pretty solid amp with a built in crossover and pretty good power like 50x4 or 200x2

[Renegadesrun]

I like the old school. Always looking thru eBay for Dr Crankensteins, Adcoms, HK's, Carvers, and especially old US's.