Refurbished amp still good?

saab92x · 06-23-2005, 08:41 PM

I'm just starting up my carputer project and I'm looking to buy a decent amp for under $100. I always see decent amps on ebay for a good price, but they are refurbished/remanufactured. What I am wondering is if the product looses any quality or reliability after a refurbish. Has anyone had experience with refurbished audio equiptment? Or does anyone have a suggestion for a decent 4 chan. amp <$100?

Thanks a ton, Dave

ckpcw · 06-23-2005, 09:45 PM

I am wondering this too... The "Factory Renewed" Kicker amps are priced very nicely...

xdjxklusivex · 06-23-2005, 10:57 PM

usualy they get checked by the factory and if its got bad comps they replace it with new or fixed ones id give it a shot !

boomintrac · 06-24-2005, 12:11 AM

yes they are still good amps its just that they sell them at a lower price because they are nolonger considered a-stock items (new built items) after the amp (sub whatever you buy) is blown up you send it back to the company they replace the bad components (motor structure, voice coil spider. all for woofers) (transducers, inducers powersupplys caps, ect. for amps) basicaily they are just replaceing the bad components to make the unit like new again then it is considered a b-stock item. Sometimes the manufacture will get an item in for repair and if they have an over the counter exchange policy they give you a new item ( I know coustic did this quite some years ago but I believe they quit when they were aqqired by MTX). On amps many companys will also just switch the boards out and repair later, and some companys just send out a different amp altogether. anyway his is how you get the refurbished kicker amp so cheap say your friend buys a new kicker amp (A-Stock) 2 days later blows it up, and sends it in for repair. amp arives at kicker repair facility 3days later placed on shelf to get repaired and the send out new one. later they repair the old one and eithier use it to exchange for repairs or if they have an overabundence that were sent in they repair the bad components and remarket it as a (B-Stock) item all this means is that the product was purschaced prior sent back for x reason and is new again without the z warrenty that was there when new
Some companys do give a 30 day warrenty on B-Stock items though.
sorry for the ramblin but its late and to much

and

which lead to

Aron

SickVette · 06-24-2005, 01:23 AM

Aron is correct but missed one item. Any product that is returned for any reason to the manufacture is now B stock. Some items are not even broken. Often a failure is reported by an incompetent installer, then product is returned to manufacture. The manufacture properly tests the item to see nothing is wrong with it but it has to be resold as B stock. You would not believe how often that happens.

As long as the item is repaired by factory I would not worry about it. I have a B stock Pioneer nav unit in my truck that works great.

sdashiki · 06-24-2005, 11:23 AM

Its ebay. If its broken, you can get your money back (PAY THRU PAYPAL!)

Buying a new amp is kinda silly with the advent of eBay..

I bought a Punch 45.2 amp in 1998 for like $150 new...

In 2000 I bought a used, off eBay, Punch 600.5 for $200.

And it still works beautifully for one simple reason:

AMPS are solid state, nothing can break on them. You can probably drop a decent amp plenty of times and it will still kick out the watts. As far as I know amps dont really perform badly, they either turn on or not. Amps either work or they dont. If you recieve and amp and it works, as long as YOU dont ****up the wiring, it should last damn near forever.

SOLID STATE ROCKS.

FociMan · 06-24-2005, 11:32 AM

It's not recommended to throw your amps around though... Oh and water/damp in your car can screw up even solid state kit. In fact there are many creative ways to kill amps... mmmm let me think.

Sorry, I'm just totally mad?!"?£?$

sdashiki · 06-24-2005, 11:35 AM

yeah i know, but i meant that someone who sells an amp as refurbd or used is still totally cool because its very difficult to **** up an amp and then attempt to sell it as working. It either works or not, and if it says it work than it must or you get your money back.

Back to yer question:

What are you going to run with this amp?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 channels?

RFMan · 06-24-2005, 11:23 PM

Actually, an amplifier may still turn on and amplify the incoming signal, but nevertheless be bad. Here are a few cases that come to mind at the moment:

-Internal power supply problem sends DC ripple straight to the audio secion resulting in horrendous alternator whine (actually happened on an MTX amp I had).
-Failed crossover circuitry
-Dead fans causing overheating

So be sure to test every feature of the amplifier in a car, because using a benchtop power supply will usually not reveal power supplu isues in the amplifier.

koolaidkitten · 06-25-2005, 03:29 PM

yeah amps can have their issues.
I was looking for a amp to power my 4 speakers and a friend let me have his old pos he had lying around *Jensen 4 channel* and the front right channel produces static. I tried everything, regrounding, RCA plug changes, speaker changes, speakerwire change. Just something not right on that thing so it produced static laced sound on that channel.

BTW there is nothing wrong with a refurbished product. It just means it was broken once and now fixed. My RF 801s roxors and its refurbished.

ill_ace · 06-26-2005, 10:12 PM

factory renewed stuff is just as good as any new stuff. Some company acctually do more thorough checks of their renwed stuff. The only thing i wouldnt do is buy refurbs from ebay. Its better to get stuff from authorized dealers or a reputable store. Buying stuff on ebay is always risky.

edscholl · 06-27-2005, 02:59 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by ill_ace

factory renewed stuff is just as good as any new stuff. Some company acctually do more thorough checks of their renwed stuff. The only thing i wouldnt do is buy refurbs from ebay. Its better to get stuff from authorized dealers or a reputable store. Buying stuff on ebay is always risky.

there are authorized dealizer, operating out of reputable stores, that sell refurbs on ebay. i believe these guys are authorized resellers of mtx refurbs: http://stores.ebay.com/The-Stereo-Direct

Altimat · 06-27-2005, 04:45 AM

I get ****ed if I can't find something refurbed and have to buy new. Warranty doesn't concern me since I've never had a product fail under warranty in my life. Every refurbed product I've ever bought has been like brand new in every way.

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