DIYMobileAudio.com Car Stereo Forum banner

Audio Dynamics?

21K views 65 replies 15 participants last post by  SkizeR 
#1 ·
anybody have experience with this company specifically their amplifiers? all i can tell about them... they have an old designer from zed audio. pretty much the same footprint as phoenix gold's SX series amplifiers. a shop near me recommended these amplifiers to me. i have no experience with them at all. any input would greatly be appreciated.
 
#2 ·
I am currently building a T-line box that Pete designed for me. I had one other box designed by him 5 years ago that was great. It seems to me that people that have never worked with or used their stuff come out of the woodwork to bash them, but most people who use their products are very happy. i have only used the design services so i can't speak to the amps sorry.
 
#9 ·
you dont hear much about Pete stuff anymore. I see he posts on social media but it looks like he complete stepped away from box designs. I have one of his designs from years back. People did love to hate on Pete designs. Back then, he was more expensive and I used to read all these people that could do better designs for far cheaper. At one point I was trying to get him to for a 6th order he did for a set of 6.5 subs. He never responded and I moved on as it seems that is not the business he wants to deal any any longer. What is the T line you are building?
 
#8 ·
i'd like to know their noise ratio does it do its rated power if not more... does it sound dynamic... from what i see their pretty much clones of phoenix gold. i guess when you deal directly withdealers you going to pay more so is it worth paying extra versus going with a company like NVX that provides the same amount of power and they are also d class amplifiers...

what's so special about audio dynamics versus nvx?
 
#13 ·
How does their spec sheet compare with the NVX?
If they're to be believed then I would start there, rather than hearing testimonials from people offering their perspective.

Did you see what I did here?)
 
#28 ·
I install products for mobile audio about 1/3 of my time spent at work as an ASE certified auto tech. I've used Zapco Z series, JL Audio, Hybrid Audio, Focal, American Bass, Orion (old & new), Rockford fosgate (punch to power), Crossfire Audio, DB Drive Euphoria, and a million other brands. I use Audio Dynamics as much as possible now. I'm sorry, but it's true.... Buy a set and listen. I put a set of 4000 series 6.5" components on a Zapco Z series SP amp and we did back to back with another very similar sedan running legatia 8 inch components on a Rockford power series. Out of the 5 of us there 4 of us thought the AD setup sounded better. And it was damn near as loud. Guess what vehicle the person owned who didn't side with the rest of us?
I've installed about 8 sets of AD mid-ranges so far And I'm never disappointed.
I brought a customers car to another very high end shop here to get a sublet quote on fiberglass work as I don't do fiberglass. He heard the 2000 series 12" AD sub in the trunk and immediately asked me "who the fxck are these guys?" It was in a custom box I built to AD spec and it sounds damn good. I've seen allot of people bash the owner of AD. I speak with him fairly regularly. He's never hated on another brand to me on the phone, he's always been informative, punctual with call backs, and very attentive to detail. He wants to make good products. and..... Yes, I think he DOES want to beat up on giants that are caught resting on their name. AD listens to their customers, installers, and current trends.
Ive had some good systems in my time, and I'm impressed with AD, but when I show other installers that have been in this game decades these products, and I see the look on their face, that's how I know I'm on the right track with this company. You can put these speakers in a bowl of water for a half hour playing, take them out, and they still sound good. There's videos on YouTube of 3000 watts getting pushed through a pair of their 600 watt subs hitting crazy dB numbers. And still living on and sounding musical. AD is a solid brand, and deserves a little more respect and attention from the masses. I'm not part of this company and I don't get any incentive for this post. This is just the reality. Take it for what it's worth
 
#30 ·
I install products for mobile audio about 1/3 of my time spent at work as an ASE certified auto tech. I've used Zapco Z series, JL Audio, Hybrid Audio, Focal, American Bass, Orion (old & new), Rockford fosgate (punch to power), Crossfire Audio, DB Drive Euphoria, and a million other brands. I use Audio Dynamics as much as possible now. I'm sorry, but it's true.... Buy a set and listen. I put a set of 4000 series 6.5" components on a Zapco Z series SP amp and we did back to back with another very similar sedan running legatia 8 inch components on a Rockford power series. Out of the 5 of us there 4 of us thought the AD setup sounded better. And it was damn near as loud. Guess what vehicle the person owned who didn't side with the rest of us?
I've installed about 8 sets of AD mid-ranges so far And I'm never disappointed.
I brought a customers car to another very high end shop here to get a sublet quote on fiberglass work as I don't do fiberglass. He heard the 2000 series 12" AD sub in the trunk and immediately asked me "who the fxck are these guys?" It was in a custom box I built to AD spec and it sounds damn good. I've seen allot of people bash the owner of AD. I speak with him fairly regularly. He's never hated on another brand to me on the phone, he's always been informative, punctual with call backs, and very attentive to detail. He wants to make good products. and..... Yes, I think he DOES want to beat up on giants that are caught resting on their name. AD listens to their customers, installers, and current trends.
Ive had some good systems in my time, and I'm impressed with AD, but when I show other installers that have been in this game decades these products, and I see the look on their face, that's how I know I'm on the right track with this company. You can put these speakers in a bowl of water for a half hour playing, take them out, and they still sound good. There's videos on YouTube of 3000 watts getting pushed through a pair of their 600 watt subs hitting crazy dB numbers. And still living on and sounding musical. AD is a solid brand, and deserves a little more respect and attention from the masses. I'm not part of this company and I don't get any incentive for this post. This is just the reality. Take it for what it's worth
‘Interesting reply, I was once an ASE master certified A1-A8 technician but left that profession long ago but respect anyone who makes a living in it. Where are you from? I‘ve looked at AD before but shy away because I can’t find good information to back them up. I like your positive post but the low post count (first one actually) makes me take pause (no offense intended there).
 
#38 ·
I tested a Zapco ST 2x SQ and it was ok but not any better then other similar in its class. I had some class D that sounded better. They’re not terrible but in my opinion don't live up to the hype they get.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ANS
#39 ·
St is the entry level. And I still think they're Mono ST amps sound better than most others. The ST Class A/B are ok. But I mean like the Z-Series SP and Z-Series AP. Pretty much untouchable. I heard a studio door shut or something in a song I've heard a million times after running the new Z-150.4SP
 
#40 ·
Ahh, I have read about those. I figured those were the ones you were referring to. The thing that bugs me about those.. And mmats as well even though i would love to upgrade to a mmats hifi 6450... is their s/n ratings.. I'm sure they are great but the zapco says "103db" signal to noise ratio... But NOWHERE does it say how it was measured... at full power or at 1 watt into 4 ohm? Useless number! I expect more from such an expensive thing I know its nice and probably designed by Zeff but when i see manufacturers not releasing specs like how they made their measurments it makes me feel like they are hiding something. Even rockford fosgate lists two different s/n ratings and states how they were measured...


275964
 
#42 ·
I know i saw it was a few months ago. I was wondering why he was not showing up spouting immature trash with his weirdo surfer kid avatar anymore. I will give him that, he at least changed his avatar to something less lame before he got banned. LOL
 
#43 ·
They are notorious for bad communication. But I'll be honest, I had an issue once with one (out of probably 50 SP series I've installed,) and Jeff Borges the current CEO emailed me within 24 hours and the issue was resolved immediately. They don't release CEA compliant numbers. But I've seen them tested. They put out rated power, and as far as anything I've heard personally, nothing touches it.
Zeff has been gone a long time. He's with ARC Audio now.
 
#44 ·
Oh, I thought Zeff was just doing bespoke designs for multiple companies. Intresting to know he is not with Zapco anymore considering the name of the company is his name LOL
 
#48 · (Edited)
Zeff owns a consulting firm doing work for multiples companies, he is based out of the Northwest and also works within the telecommunications industry providing internet services for his local area. He also coordinates with an Asia based consulting firm doing work overseas. Arc Audio is one of his largest clients. The current CDT Audio amplifiers were designed by the Asia based firm overseas, if you ever open on up they look very similar to an Arc Audio XDI or X2 amplifier.

I have heard really good things about the higher lines of Zapco but not impressed with the lower lines. It always hard to get a hold of anyone for support at Zapco.

The best product Audio Dynamics sells/sold are the Steve Mantz engineered amplifiers, which are really nice, very well made. It looks like AD is phasing them out with Korean designed/built amplifiers. Not that they are bad, but I would venture to say they are not as good as the Mantz engineered previous generation.

I wasn't impressed with the Audio Dynamics speaker, regardless of series. I tried them all. They cater towards spl customers, heavily biased midrange with a lot of boosting to the higher frequencies. The youtube videos they have produced doing a to b comparisons of their 2000 lines to Morel, Dyn, etc are a joke. Unless you can hear a speaker in person, you cannot go off of a video. Maybe AD watched too many Fred & Sound videos on youtube and decided if they sound good on camera, they must sound good in person lol.

Three favorite speaker companies I have heard and used are PHD Audio/Italian Hifi, Dynaudio, and CDT Audio, all with a lot of good products and a few bad like any company. Would have said Rainbow out of Germany but doesn't seem like they are producing the high-end products anymore.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Genesis
#49 ·
I have a wholesale account with CDT. They sound about the same as the Audio Dynamics. I just did a Firebird using all 2 ohm speakers from CDT. They make good stuff too. But I think paper cones sound better than kevlar like CDT uses in most of their higher lines.
 
#50 ·
I disagree, I wouldn't classify them in the same class. A lot of the CDT sets being sold are last minute designs due to running out of supplies due to logistic issues from Covid.

Combine the es-6im (inverted magnet) with CRM-1200 and run it active. Cross anywhere between 2,500-3k. One of the best combinations I have tried. You will be happily surprised.

Unity 8 is one of the best widebands I have used other than Audible Physics.

I prefer the es line over the Kevlar line (other than the CRM-6k), the es-6cv is my favorite go to midbass from them off the shelf. The lower CL line is a great value.

The biggest issue with CDT is that you need to pair the drivers with the right crossover. A lot of the sets come with crossovers which don't do them justice. I hate to say this being a distributor for CDT, but the ex-530 and ex-550 arent the best design, granted they are old. The new EX-560CD crossover is superior, crosses around 3-3.5k and highly suggest with any of their speakers or running them active really let's them shine.

We have been working with them for the past 6 months on a several sets OEM'd for our business with newly designed crossovers for specific applications. Should be releasing next month.
 
#52 · (Edited)
I tried them a year ago. Just looked up the newest offerings. The new designs are very similar to the old ones. The 4000 series uses the same tweeter as before but now they charge more for the option of having an aluminum housed tweeter. I see they created a lesser version for $150 less. At $1,000 a tweeter which only crosses as low as 3,500hz is not very impressive. They added push-in terminals and changed the basket of the midbass. The previous version (same tweeter) had a large bias in the midrange, near vocals around 3,000-6,000hz and everything above 10k hz was boosted. Similar to what pro audio and spl options do.

The 3000 series is $700 and you get a stamped steel basket for the midbass. The tweeter is similar to the 4000 series, instead of being in an aluminum housing, you get a plastic housing. From that point down to the 2000 and 1000 series become more unimpressive (my opinion of course). They use a Chinese build house who uses off the shelf parts (nothing wrong with this other than pricing them as a bespoke product) just in different configurations.

None of the options sound bad, but they don't sound amazing, especially for the prices asked. They do have one of the best dealer margins which makes it hard to resist but the product doesn't meet the asking price when compared to other available options. Here is a set using off the shelf parts from a Chinese build house, for a quarter of the price of the 4000 series, and also better: AA-6.5c That brand knows what they have and are not trying to charge $1,000, just $200-250.

When you compare AD to PHD Audio/Italia Hifi, Dynaudio, Focal, Audiofrog, Audison, CDT Audio, Hertz, Audible Physics, Blam, Ground Zero and several other well-known companies, you get more for your money with these other companies. I will admit, CDT Audio, Hertz, and Ground Zero have used off the shelf solutions (CDT rebranded a beryllium dome tweeter with minor modifications, Hertz is currently using an off the shelf amplifier design for one of their cheapest options, and Ground Zero uses Soundigital for their spl amplifier offerings) but a majority of their designs are done in house.
 
#53 ·
After all of the ******** I've seen from them, I wouldnt give them a dime as a consumer or a shop owner, no matter how high their mark ups are

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
#59 ·
dynaudio
 
  • Like
Reactions: ANS
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top