I was flipping through the new edition of CA&E today and saw an amplifier
that looked REALLY familiar. At first I thought CA&E was doing a story on
great products from the past, but on closer inspection I saw that this was
new products at the '06 CES. Soundstream is re-introducing the Reference
series of amplifiers, and the picture in the magazine looks EXACTLY like my
10 year old SS Ref. 700.

Now, I don't know if this says anything about the quality of newer amps in
general, but it certainly says something about the quality of the recent
Soundstream amps. Apparently putting sculptures of howling faces on
amplifiers (and neglecting the quality BEHIND the face) IS NOT a viable
strategy. Sometimes a simple design (and LOTS of quality inside) is the
best strategy.

MOSFET

Very cool. I remember the good ol' days of their reference line of amps. I
know this won't appeal to the masses, but there'll definitely be a
substantial group of hard-core enthusiasts that will be very excited to hear
about this!!

Tony


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2001 Nissan Maxima SE Anniversary Edition
Clarion DRZ9255 Head Unit, Phoenix Gold ZX475ti, ZX450 and Xenon X1200.1
Amplifiers, Dynaudio System 360 Tri-Amped In Front and Focal 130HCs For Rear
Fill, Image Dynamics IDMAX10 D4 v.3 Sub

2001 Chevy S10 ZR2
Pioneer DEH-P9600MP Head Unit, Phoenix Gold Ti500.4 Amp, Focal 165HC
Speakers & Image Dynamics ID8 D4 v.3 Sub

2006 Mustang GT Coupe

not as good as the older ones.


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Member02

Very cool. I remember the good ol' days of their reference line of amps.
I know this won't appeal to the masses, but there'll definitely be a
substantial group of hard-core enthusiasts that will be very excited to
hear about this!!

Well, Tony, it will be exciting if Soundstream puts the quality in these new
Reference amps they put in the old ones. I went to their website and saw
kind of an ominous sign. I noticed the RCA inputs on these new Soundstream
amps ARE NOT the high-quality variety that are on my vintage SS amp. It's
a bit hard to explain, but my RCA inputs are sort of "attached" to the
chassis of the amp so they cannot possibly bend, be pushed in, or be damaged
in any way. The new RCA inputs are the typical variety found on most amps
(like Fosgate) that are only attached to the circuit board inside the amp
and can be much more easily damaged. Maybe this doesn't mean much, but it
says to me they are NOT QUITE REFERENCE QUALITY.

Nick