Behringer A500 Amplifier: Objective Test Results

[majorloser]

More power, Arr arr arr

When I initially posted the objectively measured test results, and subsequently recommended this amplifier due to the relative low cost, I did not expect for people to go nuts like this! This is the 2nd person in this thread that has now purchased one for each channel, to use bridged, in home theatre. That's just nuts!

-Chris

Actually, I was thinking about buying seven more and putting them in the bedroom

I mean really. What's the sense in replacing an amplifier if I don't get more power? My last amp was 200 wpc, why not go for 500 wpc? You think that's nuts? You want me to use something with less power?
Besides, I have plenty of room for a stack of mono blocks.

Mule, to answer your question....Yes, more power has done the ol' Cantons a LOT of good. An another big bonus is these amps run 10 times cooler than the B&K 7270. The B&K pre/pro runs twice as hot. Now I don't have to explore an additional AC duct for the closet.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

Hey guys, here they are with black knobs. What do you think? Next up is a new rack where I can rack mount them. I got an idea the other day Take notice of the where the blue led is. I have it covered with a little vinyl oval from some self stick vinyl letters from the craft store. You now just barely see the blue glow. I also opened up each one and disconnected the meter lights. You can disconnect it from the display on the left side or on the back near the speaker leads. The portection and clip lights still will still work when or if needed.

 

[majorloser]

Hey guys, here they are with black knobs. What do you think? Next up is a new rack where I can rack mount them. I got an idea the other day

It's a tough choice. I think maybe matte or satin black would look nice. The original knobs were matte silver.

I've been thinking about putting a layer of mirror window tint over the LED analog section. I'm tinting some windows this weekend and thought I'd give it a shot for S&G's.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

It's a tough choice. I think maybe matte or satin black would look nice. The original knobs were matte silver.

I've been thinking about putting a layer of mirror window tint over the LED analog section. I'm tinting some windows this weekend and thought I'd give it a shot for S&G's.

Any black would look good I think. Mine really are more satin than gloss. I tried the window tint route. It did not cut it enough for me. So I just disconnected them.

 

[majorloser]

Any black would look good I think. Mine really are more satin than gloss. I tried the window tint route. It did not cut it enough for me. So I just disconnected them.

My stuff's in the closet so they can't be seen. I was just thinking a mirror with light behind might be cool.

The wife was just saying the bezel around the meters should also be black.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

The wife was just saying the bezel around the meters should also be black.

She is right, I did not dig into it to see how hard it would be to do it. But it would look better.

 

[billnchristy]

These things are definitely interesting.

One problem, maybe someone has a good solution.

I have the Rocket RSC200 center channel that is a 4ohm speaker. The A500 cannot run bridged to this speaker.

Anyone know of a 4ohm mono amp around the same power range that could be used in conjunction with the 500s?

Or should I run center and back surround on one stereo pair?

 

[majorloser]

For $179 buy one and play with it. I think you'd be fine running your front and rear with one in stereo.

 

[mulester7]

I have it on good authority that Mules nipples got hard when he first started reading the thread.

Nick

......Nick, I saw a long time ago that large continuous watts gives a better sound quality at "louder" spl levels, and better low end at moderate levels up....but loud spl levels is not what I want when a group comes over for grilled hamburgers and a movie....the women start wadding up kleenex and sticking it in their ears....a few of the guys do too....call it a graduation, a divergance in mid-stream, or whatever you will, but I now seek the best sound quality possible at moderate levels, and that says the overall degree of "live presence" of the sound chamber....you guys that have delved into multiple Behringer A500's might consider the Behringer tubed pre-amp WmAx suggested....once again, go for audio, the video will take care of itself.....

 

[majorloser]

..once again, go for audio, the video will take care of itself.....

Sorry, it's a package deal for me. I have a dedicated theater room that I use for nothing else.

If later I decide to set up a dedicated 2 channel audio listening system in another room, I'll look into a couple of Canton Vento Ref 1 towers and a couple massive monoblock amps............only the future (and my ability to convince loserwife on the need) will tell

 

[mulester7]

I have the Rocket RSC200 center channel that is a 4ohm speaker. The A500 cannot run bridged to this speaker.

.....Bill, I pushed two unpowered SVS subs rated at 4 ohms and 2500 watts continuous for about six months, to thunderous levels, with two Carver Mt-1.0's that were not rated at 4 ohms bridged....just because an amp is not rated at 4 ohms bridged doesn't mean you can't use it that way....get one and try it bridged on your center....if you have subs, the load of wattage demanded won't be that drastic anyway....Major has reported the A500 barely getting warm bridged with an 8 ohm load, I say try one....also try it stereo to your center and surround rear, sure, but bridged to a 4 ohm load should be ok......

.....edit....now, I fixed it, Major....you're off the hook......

 

[mulester7]

Sorry, it's a package deal for me. I have a dedicated theater room that I use for nothing else.

If later I decide to set up a dedicated 2 channel audio listening system in another room, I'll look into a couple of Canton Vento Ref 1 towers and a couple massive monoblock amps............only the future (and my ability to convince loserwife on the need) will tell

.....full speed ahead, Major Dave, but I wasn't talking a 2 channel setup at all....

 

[majorloser]

.....Bill, I pushed two unpowered SVS subs rated at 4 ohms and 2500 watts continuous for about six months, to thunderous levels, with two Carver Mt-1.0's that were not rated at 4 ohms bridged....just because an amp is not rated at 4 ohms bridged doesn't mean you can't use it that way....I agree with Major....get one and try it bridged on your center....if you have subs, the load of wattage demanded won't be that drastic anyway....Major has reported the A500 barely getting warm bridged with an 8 ohm load, I say try one....also try it stereo to your center and surround rear, sure, but bridged to a 4 ohm load should be ok......

Whoa!

Behringer A500 states when bridged must be used with 8 ohm speakers ONLY.
That's asking for trouble.

I was suggesting trying one in stereo driving the center and rear and see how it handles the load.

 

[mulester7]

Whoa!

Behringer A500 states when bridged must be used with 8 ohm speakers ONLY.
That's asking for trouble.

I was suggesting trying one in stereo driving the center and rear and see how it handles the load.

.....I understood what you said, Major, I was just telling Bill what I did....now it's his call.....

 

[jeffsg4mac]

Keep in mind that Behringer is giving that rating with the assumption you would be hooking this amp to a guitar and pro sound equipment which places a much greater demand on the amp. I agree with Mule. I bet it would have no problem driving a 4ohm load bridged for HT use. Remember that is has good protection and will shut down if it gets too hot.

 

[mulester7]

Keep in mind that Behringer is giving that rating with the assumption you would be hooking this amp to a guitar and pro sound equipment which places a much greater demand on the amp. I bet it would have no problem driving a 4ohm load bridged for HT use.

.....good thinking, Jeff....Major saying the A500's were barely warm after hours of producing high spl's spoke to you too, huh?....

I agree with Mule.

.....the check's in the mail.....

 

[billnchristy]

Actually they reccommend it for studio and post production work, so really in the grand scheme of things not much different than what we would use it for.

I consider it audio heracy to intentionally overload an amp, so I wouldn't be trying it 4ohm mono. I will have to decide between these and the Emotiva UL amp.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I consider it audio heracy to intentionally overload an amp, so I wouldn't be trying it 4ohm mono. I will have to decide between these and the Emotiva UL amp.

At least the A500 was tested with a proprietary amp test, Power cubed method by David Rich. Loads the amp at 8, 4, 2, 1 ohms and 60 degrees of shift from resistive loads to inductive and capacitive and measures the rail voltages.
This one was flatter across from 60 deg Ind to 60 cap than the Bryston. Didn't say it had a flay rail voltage but very decent ones especially for the price.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Question - when using a pro amp to drive a home audio system (maybe something more than the A500), which (and why) would you use here? Is this just a "given" when using pro amps with home equipment? Any truth to the quote below?

http://www.music123.com/Rolls-MB15--Promatch-i11845.music

http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?ItemID=31161&DepartmentID=6&ovchn=GGL&ovcpn=ART&ovcrn=Art+CleanBOX&ovtac=PPC&gclid=CJbZl8m7hocCFQaKIgod8janZg

I got this off Crownaudio.com's site:

...you may have a bigger problem getting the proper amount of signal out of your home stereo. You must know the output level of this line level signal in order to set up the proper system gain. Some Crown amps have fixed input sensitivity, while others have adjustable settings from .775V, 1.4V and 26 dB.

Let's say you are going to use a K series amp. They have two choices of input sensitivity, 1.4V and 26dB. In other words, in the 1.4 volt setting, you need to supply 1.4 volts of signal with the input attenuators turned all the way up (no attenutation) in order to get full out put of the amp. What if your home stereo only puts out .5v of signal. The amp will pass audio, but nowhere near what the amp is capable of. In order to get the full output level of the amp, you will have to add a pre-amp between your Home Stereo and the input of the K series like a Rolls “MB-15 ProMatch” (www.rolls.com) or the ART “CleanBox”. They will take the unbalanced -10dBu signal and raise it to balanced +4dBu (1.23V nominal) which will work very well with the K series amps."

 

[mulester7]

Question - when using a pro amp to drive a home audio system (maybe something more than the A500), which (and why) would you use here? Is this just a "given" when using pro amps with home equipment? Any truth to the quote below?

http://www.music123.com/Rolls-MB15--Promatch-i11845.music

http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?ItemID=31161&DepartmentID=6&ovchn=GGL&ovcpn=ART&ovcrn=Art+CleanBOX&ovtac=PPC&gclid=CJbZl8m7hocCFQaKIgod8janZg

I got this off Crownaudio.com's site:

.....Buck, I tried the two input settings on the back of the K2's I have, now gathering dust, and only heard a drop of volume with the 26db click over the 1.4v click....upon raising the gain with the 26db setting chosen to about the same spl level as the 1.4v setting, I heard no difference in any part of the sound quality....there have been reports at this site of hearing no difference between balanced XLR's and RCA's at short distances....concerning the links, I believe these are the units WmAx and I have discussed by PM....I suspect the units are only unnecessary +4db signal boosters, so who cares if the THD is .003, and if you'll notice, the noise floor, or signal/noise ratio, is -88 db, which falls short of the -100 db rating which is considered the standard for noise being inaudible to "any" ears....but, I wish WmAx would comment as I only have suspicions at this point, and no experience with XLR cables except many years ago with microphone cords with long runs needing XLR low impedence inputs and circuitry in the amp head....WmAx, is there a change in impedences with six foot XLR's and six foot RCA's for home stereo?....jump in here too, Mtry and MDS, if you can.....