I grabbed this from a BMW forum and thought you all could use it here. if you know of anything that should be added, just add it. This list is current as of February 2006
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Camxrunner of toyotanation.com came up with this list. Thought it was ingenious and could be very useful to the BFC CA&E community. Thank you Cam.
This list is my personal OPINION on what I consider how manufacturers and their products rank. I have used some of the products listed, but most of these brands/models listed is what I have came across from years of research on the subject, and/or from first hand listening.
Amps:
Audiophile
McIntosh
TRU
Audison VRx, LRx series
Brax
Milbert
Butler
Zapco C2K
Genesis Series 3
Sinfoni
Xetec P5 line (
www.xetec.de )
Steg K series
Steg Master Stroke
Focal Power
Audphile but a step down from the above
Genesis Profile Series
U.S. Amps Tube amps
Phass
Linear Power
PPI Art amps
DLS A series
U.S. Amps
Soundstream Reference, Class A
Helix
Xetec Gravity
Zapco Reference
Denon
Adcom
Diamond D7 and D9 amps (D7's can be had cheap right now, good amps)
Esoteric
Arc Audio CXL, XXK
Phoenix Gold Ti, ALso Older MS and Limited Production amps(Anniversary Editions, etc)
ADS
Phase Linear
Quality
JL Slash amps
PPI Powerclass (Pre DEI)
Elemental Designs (good warranty, underrated power too)
Diamond D5 and D3 (very cheap right now on ebay, good amps, esp. D5's, very flexible crossovers if you need onboard crossovers)
Arc Audio Kar
Phoenix Gold Tantrum
Memphis-Very compact
Alpine
Pioneer PRS (older line)
Orion-Pre DEI
XTant
MB Quart amps
Rockford Fosgate
Avionixx
MTX
Older Mobile ES Sony
Exile Audio, new company founded by former Phoenix Gold employees.
Xetec Xircuit and Vector Series amps
Value
MTX
Kicker
DEI
Clarion
Pioneer Amplifiers
Coustic
Crossfire
Infinity, and JBL amps (pretty mch same thing)
Hifonics
Poor
Audiobahn
Dual
Jensen
Boss
Volfenhag
American HiFi
Rockwood
Legacy
Kole
Pyramid
MA Audio
Kingwood
Newer Sony
Pyle
XPlore
Lanzar(Except Opti Drive amps. Those are pretty good actually)
Audiofonics
Rampage
Audiovox
New Soundstream
Phoenix Digital
Formula
Koiker
Nitro
Power Acoustik
Lightning Audio
Niche
Verge
Crunch