ART Audio SLA amps

[gus6464]

Has anyone had any experience with these pro amps? They are rather cheap and small while delivering good amount of power. The 100w @8ohm SLA-1 is $199 or less and the 200w SLA-2 is $299 or less online.

http://www.artproaudio.com/

 

[fmw]

I don't personally but I can tell you that ART is a budget line of pro audio gear something like Behringer but, unlike Behringer, they actually design and develop their own products. Behringer just knocks off the designs of others.

What does "budget" mean in terms of performance? While the pro audio people love to knock the ART microphone preamps, a power amp is pretty much a power amp. As long as it increases the amplitude of the waveforms without changing their shape, it will produce sound like all the other power amps with flat, distortion free, quiet performance. So I would say that sonically, these would be fine.

In a recording studio, the equipment runs all day long day after week after month after year. The budget gear is generally not as reliable as more expensive products. However, in a home application, even the budget units would be more reliable than gear made for home audio applications. So I wouldn't worry about the budget moniker in your application either.

In a nutshell, these amps will probably work as well as any.

There might be some cabling issues. The inputs to the amps are not likely to use RCA. They probably use 1/4" jacks. The speaker terminals are probabaly speakon and/or 1/4" but some pro amps have a way of connecting bare wire as well. At worst, you may need to make up some cables or have them made.

Good luck.

 

[gus6464]

I don't personally but I can tell you that ART is a budget line of pro audio gear something like Behringer but, unlike Behringer, they actually design and develop their own products. Behringer just knocks off the designs of others.

What does "budget" mean in terms of performance? While the pro audio people love to knock the ART microphone preamps, a power amp is pretty much a power amp. As long as it increases the amplitude of the waveforms without changing their shape, it will produce sound like all the other power amps with flat, distortion free, quiet performance. So I would say that sonically, these would be fine.

In a recording studio, the equipment runs all day long day after week after month after year. The budget gear is generally not as reliable as more expensive products. However, in a home application, even the budget units would be more reliable than gear made for home audio applications. So I wouldn't worry about the budget moniker in your application either.

In a nutshell, these amps will probably work as well as any.

There might be some cabling issues. The inputs to the amps are not likely to use RCA. They probably use 1/4" jacks. The speaker terminals are probabaly speakon and/or 1/4" but some pro amps have a way of connecting bare wire as well. At worst, you may need to make up some cables or have them made.

Good luck.

Reason I came across these amps was because the Emerald Physics owner actually recommends and sells these amps for his speakers. I just found it odd that a man who sells $3500 speakers recommends these amps. Unlike the experience I had when auditioning Totem speakers and the owner of the shop was trying to get me into an Arcam which cost 3x the price of the speakers. I really wanted the Totems but I was put off by the whole experience.

 

[fmw]

It is very important to understand that price has absolutely nothing to do with sonics in a power amplifier. There have been exhaustive bias controlled tests conducted and they all conclude that amplifiers with inaudible distortion, inaudible internal noise and a flat frequency response all have the same sonics as long we don't clip them. Some tube amplifiers sound different from others but that is because they have audible distortion and audible peaks and valleys in the frequency response. You would have a tough time finding a modern solid state amp that sounded different from all the others in a bias controlled test. People who buy high end amplifiers should do so for reasons other than sonics.

The speaker person simply understands this and recommends amplifiers that he knows will drive his speakers accurately without clipping in a home environment. Many, many other amplifiers would do the same thing but, at least, these amplifiers can leave some money in the customer's budget. I applaud that.

Speakers, as you probably know, have lots of audible distortion and lots of peaks and valleys in the frequency response, unlike power amplifiers. That's why they all sound different from one another. The speaker is the key to sonics, not the power amplifier. If you prefer the other speakers then buy those and go get the ART amp or whichever one suits your fancy. Since the ART amp is designed to drive PA speakers, many of which have low impedance, driving home speakers in a living room would be a piece of cake for them.