Sorry for the delay Chris,my wife has been very sick requiring several surgeries & my dog died to boot so audio has not been on my mind much,however i have spent quite a bit of time now with the behringer.
Ok guys time for the long overdue write up on the A-500 that wmax so generously gave me.
I have one negative comment that i should get out of the way right from the start & that is design,if behringer is not affiliated with Alesis in any way then they clearly ripped off the design of the A-500 from Alesis,the Alesis RA-300 is an exact mirror image of the Behringer A-500.I have a pair of Alesis amps that i was running as monoblocks somewhere around here that once i get time to look for them i will pop the hood & compare the interiors so i withold any comment on amp design until i can do that,the cosmetic issue is a no brainer though as Behringer clearly took the design from Alesis.
Link for reference as to cosmetics.
http://www.alesis.com/ra300
Anyhow with the negative post out of the way on to my experience with the amp.
On set up the amp is a versitile amp allowing for several different ways to incorporate it into a system,the binding posts are good quality & easy to use as well as are all other jacks needed,i also liked the fact that the power cord is removeable,not for the reason of botique power cords but i prefer removeable cords for storage & set up.
So far here is a list of associated gear that the Behringer A-500 has been ran with.
Preamps.
Mcintosh C-2200 tube preamp.
Dynaco PAT-6 solid state Preamp/tuner.
Speakers.
Klipsch Heresy 2.
Mcintosh XL1 & XL1-W 3 peice monitor & bass module system.
Mcintosh XRT 22 Line array system.
Sources.
Dynaco hdcd tube output stage hdcd player.
Mcintosh MVP 841 dvd/cd player.
Cables & speaker wires.
All cables & or speaker wires are either home brew jobbers or ultra high end gimmick deals ive acquired along the way,i have no faith in cable mumbo jumbo so i paid zero attention to what cable did what.
The 1st set up i inserted the A-500 into was my reference system with the C-2200 preamp teamed up with the MVP-841 cdp,the speakers used were the XRT 22 line arrays,the amp was way underpowered to push the line arrays but i expected that right from the start,the line arrays require a minimum of 250 wpc to push them properly so it was no suprise.
I then took the amp into another system with the dynaco preamp as well as dynaco tubed cd player,the 1st speakers used were the Klipsch Heresy's which are fairly easy to drive,the amp performed very well but the heresy's could easily take 100% of wattage availble & send into heavy clip,keep in mind that this was at very loud if not extreme listening levels that heavy clipping began,at normal to loud levels the amp performed very well with zero noticable signs of distortion & drove the big 12 inch woofers easily.
We then put in the Mcintosh XL speaker system,this is where i had the most fun,the amp did a fantastic job driving the 3 peice system,the XL system was never intended for extreme listening levels to start with so all listening was done at moderate levels,the amp performed very well in all areas.
I really liked the stepped gain controls for each channel,they have a quality feel to them & the stepped attenuation settings are in small enough incriments as to make them extremely valueable getting a 2 channel system tuned in.
I didnt do any direct comparisons against other amps as there was no real need, it's an excellent amp & i would highly reccomend it to anybody looking for a low wattage solid state amplifier,it's an easy to use amplifier that delievers all its rated wattage with no noticable distortion issues & it has a nice look to it as well.
