That's funny! I bought a pyramid gold series amp at a YARD SALE, new in the box for $25. the PB-300.
the manual rates it at 75wpc rms.
I swapped out my Coustic AMP-160 with it (35wpc rms) and can you guess?
the Coustic blew it out of the water.
Why?
simple.
There are 3 grades of amplifiers.
Worst-
Clone amps.
stuff like Pyramid, unic, speco, legacy,jensen....
these amps have big ego's without the balls to back 'em.
Yeah, they may have 1800 watts!! painted across it in big numbers, but this could be any of the following--
rated at 14.4v
peak power (usually doubled or even tripled)
bridged mono (will cause overheating and clipping in cheap amps)
Total combined power(which can mean anything)
Better-
consumer grade amps.
like sony x-plod, kenwood, pioneer, clarion........
these amps have power ratings at or near their quoted specs, and are usually rated at 13.8 volts. (this is closer to what your alternator actually produces)
You will get what you pay for with these, don't expect much more.
For many people, this is as good as they need. They will play hard when you want. they may or may not shut down or overheat during abuse. (like sound off's)
best-
competition amps.
stuff like jl, eti, soundstream, phoenix gold, ppi,zapco...
these amps are often indestructible.
they are rated at 12volts. Many have cooling fans to ensure no shutdowns.
their wattage ratings are commonly lower than they actually are.
(a 100wpc amp, with an unregulated power supply will commonly push 140w/rms or more as the input voltage varies.)
why do they underrate?
If you compete, you know.
There are power classes in competition.
100W and under-
100w-300w
unlimited wattage
The goal is to get the best sound and highest spl out of the fewest watts.
So if all else was equal, and you had a consumer grade amp that was 100wpc
and I had a competiton amp rated at 70wpc,
my system would eat yours for lunch.
And thats what its really about isn't it?
your EARS hear the music. A big painted 1800 watts on an amp doesn't mean much.
My next door neigbor went to circiut city and got 2 mtx 12's and a huge alpine amp. she has gone back to them 6 times because of problems.
She just doesn't understand how my ETI 100wpc amp and two tens blows her 1000 watt alpine and 2-12's away!
This is why!
