What the H is going on with JBL's product line?

[scott fitlin]

Originally posted by kenratboy
But Crown is still making good gear! As long as the cheap stuff is not trash (as in, it is reliable and as good or better than same-priced amps), it is fine.

It's like Klipsch. Yes, that have the Synergy gear at Best Blow, but Klipsch makes the Reference line, Heritage line, and they have a THX system on the way, and some really cool flagship tower. Sure, the Synergy gear isn't as good as the Reference or Heritage line, but it is NOT cheap junk, and for the price, it is very good. ANything wrong with that?

Well, Ill tell ya what! Crown does still make good sounding amps. The Macro, Micro tech line, and K series is decent. The Studio reference is good. BUT, the CE series isnt all that great! They break! The knobs break off, the amps crap out. The service center I use for my electronic repairs have CE,s in all the time for service, and they hate the amps! That surface mount technolgy is almost impossible to work on, and the amps are NOT the most reliable either. Granted you can purchase 660wpc of Crown CE power for under $700, but these amps are not workhorse amps like Ive come to expect from Crown! Matter of fact, the whole reason they came up with the CE series was to compete with QSC and their USA line of amps. They saw QSC selling alot of amplifiers and wanted a slice of those sales!

[kenratboy]

So what is the best 'cheap' NEW pro amp? Cheap is up to you (as in, least amount of cash to get something acceptable)

[Robh3606]

Why buy new??? You can get great used amps off Ebay. Just got another Crown PS-200 for $128 delivered. How can you beat that?? So OK they are not mega watts and don't do less than 4 ohms but strapped you got 325 watts of clean power in an amp with real balls that you can run all day without a fan.

Rob

[Hofmannhp]

Originally posted by kenratboy
Huh! You don't like Klipsch, well take THIS:

Hi Ken,

the pic shows the radio clock from my bedroom desk

HP

[4313B]

"Who's on First?

Why do so many innovative products appear in Japan first?

"Japanese consumers are serious technophiles and like to buy gadgets," explains Roger Kay, vice president of client computing for IDC, a market research firm. Also, Japanese consumers have an even more important trait, according to Kay: "They are far less price-sensitive than U.S. buyers." As a result, Asian manufacturers have more leeway to build well-designed or miniaturized products. "U.S. buyers are more no-nonsense. They want the best deal, the best product for the buck. That attitude tends to stifle innovation here. No one is interested in taking a risk on technology because there's [often] no payoff," Kay says.""

http://msn.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114029,00.asp

[Alex Lancaster]

"U.S. buyers are more no-nonsense. They want the best deal"

To say nothing of the cat, oops, I mean Us Mexicans.