Cheater Amps?

Hey my friend gave me this Apline 3522S two-chanel amp. He called it a cheater amp and said he paid $100 for it. From what he told me this originally 30W x 2  RMS amp, has been modified on the inside to make it more powerful.

Can anyone tell me anymore about cheater amps?

And what kind of wattage (sp?) can I expect out of it, if it was done right?

Can I expect it to perform as well as a brand new $100 amp?

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huntin' muddin' fishin' - nuff said

I do not really think that amp is a so called "Cheater Amp".  I have known some people to use that amp on mids and highs.  I think the max mono output for that amp is 80 watts.  From my experience that amp is not strong enough for subs, but this is my opinion.  Good Luck

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Cheater Amps are more for like subs, but what they are is like hi end amps that produce a lot more than they say they will. Example: US Amps. They say on the site like 400 x 1 @ 4 ohms, when it can do around 700-800 x 1 @ 4 without a problem. But by statistics, you can enter them in at SPL Competitions as only a 400 W amp, when it really will do 7-8 hundred. Henceforth, they are called "cheater" amps.

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"I don't play games. I play Nakamichi and that for real yo" - Probably some japanese kid said this in the early 80's trying to sell stereo out of his trunk lol.

Here is a post I made recently regarding this very issue.

It *IS* possible, but I don't expect it would be very economical. For an amp to make more power, you need to have more output voltage, which then means more current capacity. In order for an amp to do both of these, the power supply driver transistors must be either bigger (higher current capability) or more of them, preferably both. These then must drive a higher capacity (read: bigger)transformer, and the output devices must be changed out for higher voltage rated and/or more devices. It CAN be done, but why would you want to? It'd cost a few hundred bucks, probably, and you can buy an amp WITH the capabilities you are looking for, for less than that difference...

Personally, I think he was pulling your leg.

Really, what I am saying is "Probably not", and even if it WAS actually modified, there is no way for us to be able to tell you how much power it can/will make - there are literally an infinite number of variables to this process... how would we know what steps were taken?

Uthink is correct, and this is where the cheater amp concept started - take for example the Orion 225HCCA - I had it (a 50 watt amp at 4 ohms) bridged to 4 Infinity Pro 12's (am I dating myself?) loading the amp to .5 ohms per channel, and making (I never measured, actually) close to 800 watts. I should pull that amp out of my closet - eBay is having free "But It Now" options for sellers.

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

I own a 3522s. It's a quality amp that is good for driving components or coaxial speakers (I had it running a pair of Boston Acoustics FS60 components). I probobly would not use it for a sub though.

If i'm not mistaking did soundstream (old school) make 2 cheater amps? the 10.0 which was rated at 1/2 watt but when driven down to .5 ohm it was 1000 watts. and also the 5.0 which was rated at 1/4 watt but when driven down to .5 ohm it was 500 watts.

I could be wrong but that sound right!

US Amps is bad about underating their equipment....Also they are bad about saying that an amp is only stable down to 2ohms.....But an SPLer can burp the darn thing at .5 ohms.....Love their amps...most are tough as nails...

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Making the World A Louder Place

Well, i don't know where you got your info, but US Amps makes a fine amp, and they underrate their power ratings so you can enter in lower levels in comps and sweep away the competition. They rate their amps fine as far as impedance, as their amps can usually go anywhere from .5 - 4 ohms. MMATS is also a really mean company when it comes to amps. Some of those suckers can handle a 1/4 ohm.

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"I don't play games. I play Nakamichi and that for real yo" - Probably some japanese kid said this in the early 80's trying to sell stereo out of his trunk lol.

Old Orion amps are perfect example of cheater amps. The HCCA stuff is ridiculous. A HCCA 425 is rated at 25x4 at 4 ohms but at one ohm it does like 600x2 or some damn thing like that. They also made an amp that dated back further but the model number escapes me at the moment, but the thing was rated at 1.5 watts and when loaded down did 1600 RMS. I remember a guy went to finals with a old style civic or bettle about ten to twelve years ago, before they changed the classifications and rolled up, they asked how much power he was running and all he did was simile and say 3 watts. Thats why they changed the classes. Kicker also made cheater amps, off the top of my head the XS100 was 50x2 and 1000 x1 at one ohm. The amp you are talking about in the original post is not a cheater amp though, I think your buddy is making up stories.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

Indeed, those Orions were vicious! I loved those things!

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"I don't play games. I play Nakamichi and that for real yo" - Probably some japanese kid said this in the early 80's trying to sell stereo out of his trunk lol.

Hey guys thanks for your input. I got the amp hooked up to a sony 12" sub. The amp gets a little hot naturally but it definately pushes the sub. I'll probably never know how much wattage the amp is putting out, but I'm getting the amount of sound I need from the 12. If I guessed I would probably say its putting out about 400 watts or close to it. 

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huntin' muddin' fishin' - nuff said

I miss my HCCA 2100. Definately would be considered a cheater amp.

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