Well yeah, it'd be very hard for everyone to literally name the brand of ANY equipment by sound. I've worked with JL amps for about 5 years and I know that there isnt a "JL" sound that you can pick up. It's not like you can hear "booom..........jl" or anythign of the sort.

Furthermore, the one test would be flawed at enclosure, not to mention t/s for power and efficency. Comparable subs can perform different in identical volumes, and power.

Amps are a whole different ballpark. Boiled down, and amp should be an amp should be an amp. the nuts and bolts of circuity are going to be roughly the same inside every amp ont he market today, and with all filtering and equing off of the signal every amp SHOULD sound the same. IE: richard clark amp challenge. Almplificationof power is simple electircal engineering. Anyone with any idea of how electornics work could build one with a radio shack catalog, parts list, and soldering iron. Would it work? Probably (unless I built it, then it'd end up half finished and me missing a fingerprint ) As they say, the devil is in the details. Quality of materials, and engineering behind certain components of the amp that make it stand out. If I put my hand made amp in my truck, would it last more than a trip down the road? Who knows. Will the brand name? Of course. Will the off brand? Probably. But then it comes into "How long" If my Jl dies, I can send it back. If my rockwood dies, well I'm out 100 bucks. Ok who am I kidding, 12.50.

But that's all trivial. SOUND is what we are after. Could I hear the difference in the brands on the same power and same enclosures? No. Would I guess and probably get 30 percent right? Sure. Would I pick my least favorite brand and associte it with whatever one sounds the worst? Of course.