500 watt monoblock

[larry7995]

I was wondering about amps that don't cost an arm and a leg (like the McIntosh MC501), there are a bunch for pa systems but I don't know if they are clean enough for a home system, the outlaw is nice at 200 watts but I was looking for something between 400 and 600 watts.

 

[dsa220]

My first question would be why do you need so much power?

 

[pearsall001]

Check out the Behringer A500 reference amp. I have 2 of them running bridged mono (500w / 8ohm) according to Behringers specs. They drive my mains beautifully w/ plenty of dynamic power for both HT & 2 channel. The sound is extremely clear & neutral. At $180. each these are absolutely a diamond in the ruff. Parts Express has a 45 day return policy. Needless to say mine didn't go back!

 

[mulester7]

Check out the Behringer A500 reference amp. I have 2 of them running bridged mono (500w / 8ohm) according to Behringers specs. They drive my mains beautifully w/ plenty of dynamic power for both HT & 2 channel. The sound is extremely clear & neutral. At $180. each these are absolutely a diamond in the ruff. Parts Express has a 45 day return policy. Needless to say mine didn't go back!

.....great report, Pearsall001....were you pushing the two mains at one time with a receiver's amp sections?....can you describe any differences heard?......

 

[highfihoney]

I was wondering about amps that don't cost an arm and a leg (like the McIntosh MC501), there are a bunch for pa systems but I don't know if they are clean enough for a home system, the outlaw is nice at 200 watts but I was looking for something between 400 and 600 watts.

what is your budget & what speakers are you going to be driving,im also wondering how hard you intend to push the amps being that you are looking for alot of wattage.

 

[pearsall001]

mulester7

My receiver is a NAD T773. Very high power & current. Pushes 145w in stereo mode. With that being said let me explain further. MY initial speakers were Energy C'7's. The NAD T773 drove them without breaking a sweat (90db sen.)
Then after reading many posts discussing tube power I decided to give it a shot. I bought & modified Jolida 502B int amp. It worked out well w/ the Energy C7'S but still seemed to be lacking. Maybe I'm just not a tube guy. Then I had to scratch the itch again & went looking for new speakers. I fell in love w/ AAD 2001 monitors (86db sen) however the Jolida just couldn't drive them the way they need to perform. The T773 drove the AAD 2001 monitors pretty good. Then on this forum I heard great things about the A500 amps. For the price I just had to give them a shot even though I was quite happy w/ the NAD. When I hooked them up I could not believe the difference in the sound. They gave the AAD monitors the power they were craving. At low levels the clarity & dynamics are all there. In HT the raw power is quite evident watching dvd's. For 2 channel they perform like real sonic wonders. All in all I am overly pleased w/ the A500 amps & would give them 2 thumbs up.

 

[larry7995]

I am just planning, I may go with the Axiom M80s and VP150 and I have a Yamaha RX-V1500 and someone I was reading about was pushing their M80s with QSC SRA 3622s (1100 watts) happily so I was just thinking as long as I had to get power for the 4 ohm speakers anyway...

 

[MACCA350]

pearsall001, do those Behringer A500 amps have a 12V trigger. If not do you turn them on separately or do you have another way to turn them on with the receiver?

cheers

 

[pearsall001]

macca350

No 12v trigger on the A500'S. I turn on & off manually same as my cd player. Not a big deal to say the least.

 

[WmAx]

Check out the Behringer A500 reference amp. I have 2 of them running bridged mono (500w / 8ohm) according to Behringers specs.

Measured maximum continous output power with low distortion is about *440 watts, mono, 8 ohms, bridged.

-Chris

*Power output based on 4 ohm, both channels driven, as measured by Audio Critic Magazine. In bridged mode, a typical amplifier will output into 8 ohms bridged, the total 4 ohm stereo output capacity, which in this case is 220 x 2 = 440.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

I was wondering about amps that don't cost an arm and a leg (like the McIntosh MC501), there are a bunch for pa systems but I don't know if they are clean enough for a home system, the outlaw is nice at 200 watts but I was looking for something between 400 and 600 watts.

Check out the Crown I-Tech 8000.

If that's too rich for your blood, try a QSC PL 6.0 II.

When you're dealing with that much power, cooling fans are necessary. Thus, you'll need to isolate these units away from the listening area. Your other option is to go with massive 100+ lb. home audio amplifiers with huge heat sinks which take the place of these fans. The tradeoff is paying an arm and a leg.

 

[highfihoney]

Check out the Crown I-Tech 8000.

ive had nothing but good luck & stellar performance from the crown amps i have ran,sometimes its worth paying for the build quality of a crown

 

[mulester7]

My receiver is a NAD T773. Very high power & current. Pushes 145w in stereo mode. With that being said let me explain further. MY initial speakers were Energy C'7's. The NAD T773 drove them without breaking a sweat (90db sen.)
Then after reading many posts discussing tube power I decided to give it a shot. I bought & modified Jolida 502B int amp. It worked out well w/ the Energy C7'S but still seemed to be lacking. Maybe I'm just not a tube guy. Then I had to scratch the itch again & went looking for new speakers. I fell in love w/ AAD 2001 monitors (86db sen) however the Jolida just couldn't drive them the way they need to perform. The T773 drove the AAD 2001 monitors pretty good. Then on this forum I heard great things about the A500 amps. For the price I just had to give them a shot even though I was quite happy w/ the NAD. When I hooked them up I could not believe the difference in the sound. They gave the AAD monitors the power they were craving. At low levels the clarity & dynamics are all there. In HT the raw power is quite evident watching dvd's. For 2 channel they perform like real sonic wonders. All in all I am overly pleased w/ the A500 amps & would give them 2 thumbs up.

.....aaaaand, two thumbs up to the report, Mr. Pearsall....

.....WmAx, only 440 watts at 8 with the Behringer A500 strapped???....well crap, back to the drawing board, haha.....Chris, a bit of bad reputation is associated with the name Behringer....can you clear that up as you did to me in a PM?.....

 

[mulester7]

ive had nothing but good luck & stellar performance from the crown amps i have ran,sometimes its worth paying for the build quality of a crown

.....HiFi, you should hear 2 Crown K2's, strapped, kicking my two mini-barn subs....things are about to ease up at work with almost all of the younger guys on the extra-board and regular turns having already burned up their vacation and paid personal leave time....then they will have to show up, haha....I am soon to get on the small cannons which will be kicked by strapped K2's also, from about 175-200 hz down to about 60....then the subs will take it from about 60 down....I are excited, I are indeed, yeth thureeee, Buddy....here's the elements for the small cannons which will fire from a sealed enclosure with about 1.1 cubic footses internal, and the 10 inch elements have variable Q adjustment for alignment with the Q factor of the box.....

http://www.cardomain.com/item/INFPERFECT10DVQ?ref=bizrdf

 

[mtrycrafts]

I am just planning, I may go with the Axiom M80s and VP150 and I have a Yamaha RX-V1500 and someone I was reading about was pushing their M80s with QSC SRA 3622s (1100 watts) happily so I was just thinking as long as I had to get power for the 4 ohm speakers anyway...

The M80 is 95dB spl Sensitive in room, rated 4 ohms, as you indicate, and are 400 watts max amp by the maker.
You really want to forgo your warranty perhaps?

 

[larry7995]

Well actually I am bidding on a Klipsch RC-7 so might be changing everything around a bit unless it goes too close to new price. I don't know whats up with people at ebay they bid stuff right up to new prices often...

 

[WmAx]

....Chris, a bit of bad reputation is associated with the name Behringer....can you clear that up as you did to me in a PM?.....

Behringer has a well-deserved reputation for quality control problems. Several years ago, they used to outsource most of their products to 3rd party manufacturers, built to Behringer's specifications. This resulted in relative high number of failures of products, and in addition, Behringer's warranty/support was very poor and took an extended amount of time to process. Today, Behringer owns their own plant to insure much improved quality control(compared to previous state) and their support/warranty is first class. In fact, they recently implemented a policy in the United Sates where, by standard warranty, if a product fails[and you have a local participating Behringer dealer to return the broken unit], it is now replaced with a brand new unit instead of repairing the broken unit.

-Chris