Anyone use Hifonics? I've been hearing good thing lately.

I'm an old-schooler who usually uses Alpine, Kicker, Rockford, Precision Power, Polk, or JL Audio. I'm not a big bass head, I just like good sound.

I'm looking to add 1 10" to the rear of the Camaro and to my Eclipse, upgrade the speakers in both, and put in new decks(Camaro has an old pullout Denon and Eclipse has an old Clarion cassette deck).

 

I personally have never used any of their products, however I have heard good things from people who have.

 

Since 2005, when they were purchased by MaxxSonics, they have turned to total crap. I had two 1605Ds arrive basically DOA... they still worked, but they are HIGHLY receptive to EMI... my fuel pump caused a whine on the subwoofers, and I have great wiring, every other amp, from the old Autotek I had before, to the nINE.1 I ended up with, had no problem whatsoever.

go eD way before you touch Hifonics... total... complete... garbage...

oh yeah, and they are nearly the same price as eD...

 

i disagree, i love hifonics stuff.. when i had my old car i ran just a 5 channel zeus and it powered everything real loud n clear... now i'm my system is going to be the zeus running 4 channels and a brutus running 2 12" kickers..

and i convinced my friend to buy a hifonics amp for his system and his works great too..

i have nothing but good things to say about hifonics.

 

If you can score some of they're older gear, it is superb equipment, but like ScrapMaker said they're new gear is far below par of the original Pegasus or Zues amps. I wouldnt be a bit afraid to pickup a used amp from them that is at least a few years old.

 

Yup, a 1500D is a great amp, or so I've heard...

anything that ends with 5 is crap... well I bet some of their $1,000 + stuff is good... their competition stuff... but that's not realistic for most of us

 

Hifonics was a budget brand not even a year or two ago and there stuff got decent reviews, on par with Audiobahn amps. There subs were always rated as ok, nothing to brag about. Then alot of the SPL competition guys started running them and the prices skyrocketed from what I've seen. In any event there's much better stuff to be had at a better price. The Hifonics gear seems to be aimed at the SPL crowd, not the audiophiles.

 

Like I said, they were purchased by MaxxSonics... actually, SEVERAL companies were... and even a bunch of others were bought out by Directed... now they all suck... Orion and PPI are among the victims....

Hifonics and Autotek have already fallen... MBQuart is on it's way, and Crunch was already crap... but that is who MaxxSonics is going to take down with them...

Stick with something a bit more expensive, but something you can live with... JL, Memphis, or even elemental designs... they are as cheap as Hifonics (used) to be, and even cheaper now... much better product... all their stuff is... if you're on a budget, hard to go wrong with them... a 1200-1400WRMS monoblock for $315? Pretty hard to beat.

 

If you go into car audio shops that USED to carry PPI, Orion, and Autotek... they most likely DON'T anymore... at least I have found that true of about the 3 main stores in Austin... they will not hesitate to explain how crappy all this new stuff is... if you mention Hifonics, they will probably just laugh, if they even know what it is....

 

I believe its an alright brand...i used one of their amps about 3yrs ago to power my 2 kicker L7's 12". For the price i was able to push them to their limits. I never had a problem with it heating up at all. I never had used any of their other stuff. But today we installed one of their new 1500watt to power 3 audiobahn 12". And it was definitely under powering them big time with the gains turned all the way up.

 

Yeah please don't call them an "alright brand." They used to be, but not anymore... it's misleading...

anyways, to the OP, find something that is a few years old, and you'll be set... or just get something new that's much better.

 

dude, dont listen to any yahoo who ever says hifonics is not good, their brutus line kicks ***, i own a brutus 2006D, and its definately underrated, it kicks ***, most people who say hifonics is not good, means they have never owned them, go for it, hifonics rocks!

 

but yes i do agreem autotek definately sucks ***, as for the orion 2500D, its probably the best amp iv'e ever had, definately better than ALOT of brands out there, and directed also owns viper amps, the viper 2500D is excellent, i am not pointing fingers but whoever thinks these brands i just mentioned are bad, they really need to learn how to hook up there systems.

 

I got a chance to listen to some of the gear in a bud's car. Not too shabby, but I used to sell SPL brand in my shop and it sounded just as good and cheaper. The stuff he has is all new, he just finished the system a few days ago.

I think I'll just stick to JL or find some older Precision Power gear.

Otherwise, has anyone heard of Niche audio? A new store in town is carrying them. I've demo'd in store, but haven't gotten a chance to demo in a car.

 

its ok, not that good honestly, theres obviously better stuff out there!

 

I had a Hifonics Taurus X amp in my car for the past 8 years or so and just changed it to a PPI amp. Let me tell you, it's night and day. I didn't know what I was missing. The PPI amp is 10 times clearer; it sounds like a whole new system. Don't know anything about more recent products.

 

even PPI is a brand you have to watch out for now... since they were bought out by Directed Electronics... all the manufacturing is being out-sourced and there have been MANY problems with the amps...

but yeah, typically a PPI amp would be of much greater quality than a Hifonics... since Hifonics is basically garbage... they USED to be a fairly good deal (better deals out there,) but now that they are more unreliable than a Mitsubishi Eclipse... they really have lost any benefit...

 

well i got a brutus 1606 coming sometime soon...for my 15 L7...heard the brutus 2000 on that same sub and it freakin slams...its an overkill lol