Behringer A500 Amplifier: Objective Test Results

[beppe61]

I got my hands on a new A500 and a Rotel 1070.
...
I gotta say I liked the sound of the Rotel better as it seemed richer and fuller.
As Beppe alluded to, the voices sounded a little "thin" with the A500 versus other amps.
Now, is it fair to compare a $700 amp with the A500? Probably not, but will I more than likey go for a used Rotel over a new A-500. Probably so..more unscientific testing hopefully over the weekend.
...
Rgds,
PM

Your impression mirrors mine own Sir.
Nevertheless before shelving this very remarkable product (I am referring to its price/performance ratio) I would try to mate it with a tube preamp.
Tube preamps have usually a softer sound that could tame some hardness/harshness in the A500's sound.
Tubes are also known for adding "body" to human voices.
IMHO this hardness of the A500 is due to a too small capacitance (low quality also?) in the power supply.
I underline that I am using quite demanding speakers (Dynaudio).
An Adcom GFA 545 has already failed to drive them adequately.
I always look at filter caps in the power supply as lungs.
Also solid core cables as interconnects could help.
Problem is the low (about 10kohm) input impedance of the A500.
I am pretty sure that an A500 driven by a nice cathode-follower could gain a lot in "musicality".

Thank you and kind regards,

beppe


P.S. Reading the title of the thread " ... Objective Test Results " I understand that I have gone off-topic quite a bit.
Please tell me if I have to redirect myself to the other thread talking about the A500 in more generic terms.
My impressions are everything but "objective".

 

[PENG]

Thanks for the reply.

No, it is already tripped beforehand. Almost like it is tripping when I turn them off. I am turning then on and off using a Furman rackmount power strip.

Very weird...

It is weird for sure. If it tripped during switching on or off, and off apparently in your case, that is a hint. No ground fault protection? If there is, it could be something to do with that, have you tried feeding it from another 20A circuit/breaker? If I can think of something else I will let you know.

 

[vlad335]

It is weird for sure. If it tripped during switching on or off, and off apparently in your case, that is a hint. No ground fault protection? If there is, it could be something to do with that, have you tried feeding it from another 20A circuit/breaker? If I can think of something else I will let you know.

I just came home from work and turned the amps on and no problem.

Excellent idea BTW of trying another circuit. Maybe a bad breaker, Eh? Going to get some sleep and try this when I wake up.

Thanks for you help, I appreciate it.

 

[majorloser]

The new arc fault breakers are worse than GFCI breakers.

 

[dentman67]

Hi guys ,
Heres a review a wrote for another forum on the A-500 . I noticed you guys were looking for a few more reviews on this amp . I'm not just copying the post I made because I think there is some very good follow up remarks made through out the thread .

Here's the link . http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=51135&pageNo=1&num=

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hi guys ,
Heres a review a wrote for another forum on the A-500 . I noticed you guys were looking for a few more reviews on this amp . I'm not just copying the post I made because I think there is some very good follow up remarks made through out the thread .

Here's the link . http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=51135&pageNo=1&num=

Who is HR there? He doesn't recommend comparing amps outside their price range? I wonder why that is?
One only has to ask Tom Nousaine why you can and in fact encouraged

The famous Steve Zipser DBT

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.audio.opinion/browse_frm/thread/664b8681ab141263/3fd91bcb6a1522a0?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rnum=1&prev=/groups?q=sunshine+stereo+yamaha+abx+nousaine&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=501fl6%24ac3%40oxy.rust.net&rnum=1#3fd91bcb6a1522a0

A $300 integrated and a $15K amp. LOL. I wonder what HR would say?

 

[dentman67]

Here's an intresting blind test that was done with the Behringer .

http://www.matrixhifi.com/contenedor_ppec_eng.htm

 

[jeffsg4mac]

Here's an intresting blind test that was done with the Behringer .

http://www.matrixhifi.com/contenedor_ppec_eng.htm

LOL, that is great. LOL. I am laughing all the way to the bank. Thanks for posting that.

What is really funny is that I keep puting on different music to try and hear something wrong with my Behringers, and I can't seem to find anything wrong with them. Best 1000 I ever spent.

 

[majorloser]

Best 1000 I ever spent.

$1,200.00

 

[billy p]

Simply then

the answer to the blind a & b test is 12 grrrr dosen't get you much. Now a days!!

 

[mulester7]

Who is HR there? He doesn't recommend comparing amps outside their price range? I wonder why that is?
One only has to ask Tom Nousaine why you can and in fact encouraged

The famous Steve Zipser DBT

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.audio.opinion/browse_frm/thread/664b8681ab141263/3fd91bcb6a1522a0?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rnum=1&prev=/groups?q=sunshine+stereo+yamaha+abx+nousaine&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=501fl6%24ac3%40oxy.rust.net&rnum=1#3fd91bcb6a1522a0

A $300 integrated and a $15K amp. LOL. I wonder what HR would say?

.....Readers, don't listen to this guy....Mr. T busts through his sheetrock walls at least three times a day....he also has a $19.95 entry-level HungChow receiver that boasts 11 watts times 5 at 67% THD....three reviews by Mortimer "WhiteVan" Hoodwinker told him that's all he needs......

 

[mulester7]

I am sure the Placette is much better than my preamps.
It is very difficult to beat a passive preamp.

....Beppe, it took about 15 seconds of listening to the Placette linestage pre-amp to want it out of my house....the return to my McIntosh vintage solid-state pre-amp varified the decision....the adding of quality clean color in a pre-amp is where it's at....you can't beat a McIntosh pre-amp, solid-state or tubed, paired with McIntosh amp channels, Krell and Mark Levinson go hug a banana considering your price points....you Guys will notice PENG advised someone to get a Mc C2200 tubed pre the other day....you don't have to get loud with McIntosh, moderate to moderate-plus is all you want or need....Beppe, I suspect any harshness in the mids you heard with the Behringer A500 is coming from somewhere else, possibly the passive crossover of the speakers....thinness in the mids another poster mentioned would be another matter, but I also suspect the best application for the A500 would be with it strapped/bridged to get the stout supporting low-mids strapping/bridging virtually always gives for mains....

 

[vlad335]

.Beppe, I suspect any harshness in the mids you heard with the Behringer A500 is coming from somewhere else, possibly the passive crossover of the speakers....thinness in the mids another poster mentioned would be another matter, but I also suspect the best application for the A500 would be with it strapped/bridged to get the stout supporting low-mids strapping/bridging virtually always gives for mains....

Mulester's correct. I think these amps are best bridged. Your speakers are 4 ohm so you probably can't do that.

One thing you could do before you spend a lot of money is get a dual channel EQ. I hook up an old DOD stereo 15 band EQ last night for my front channels and got rid of the midrange honk with music playback. I disable it for movies. ( I have horn speakers and really don't like their sound with music, with movies they are awesome.) Originally there was a tube preamp with parametric on the fronts but I just couldn't get it set right.

 

[beppe61]

....Beppe, it took about 15 seconds of listening to the Placette linestage pre-amp to want it out of my house....
the return to my McIntosh vintage solid-state pre-amp varified the decision....the adding of quality clean color in a pre-amp is where it's at....you can't beat a McIntosh pre-amp, solid-state or tubed, paired with McIntosh amp channels, Krell and Mark Levinson go hug a banana considering your price points....you Guys will notice PENG advised someone to get a Mc C2200 tubed pre the other day....you don't have to get loud with McIntosh, moderate to moderate-plus is all you want or need....Beppe, I suspect any harshness in the mids you heard with the Behringer A500 is coming from somewhere else, possibly the passive crossover of the speakers....thinness in the mids another poster mentioned would be another matter, but I also suspect the best application for the A500 would be with it strapped/bridged to get the stout supporting low-mids strapping/bridging virtually always gives for mains....

Thanks for the advice.
I will try other speakers in order to get a more complete picture of my system.
If so many people praise the unit the fault should be evidently somewhere else in my system.
Kind regards,

beppe

 

[beppe61]

Mulester's correct.
I think these amps are best bridged. Your speakers are 4 ohm so you probably can't do that.
One thing you could do before you spend a lot of money is get a dual channel EQ. I hook up an old DOD stereo 15 band EQ last night for my front channels and got rid of the midrange honk with music playback.
I disable it for movies. ( I have horn speakers and really don't like their sound with music, with movies they are awesome.)
Originally there was a tube preamp with parametric on the fronts but I just couldn't get it set right.

Yes Sir. My speakers have written 4 ohms on the back.
As I said in a my previous post, they have already "seated" an old Adcom GFA 545, for other aspects not a bad amp.
They seem to swallow current without giving music, just a bland sound.
This is particular evident with rock-pop tracks.
It is very difficult to get punch with speakers like these.
Maybe a change of speakers is the best option, keeping the nice A500.

Thanks and kind regards,

beppe

 

[mulester7]

My speakers have written 4 ohms on the back. They seem to swallow current without giving music, just a bland sound. This is particular evident with rock-pop tracks. It is very difficult to get punch with speakers like these.

.....Beppe, I want you to try something....try bridging the A500 and see what you get with it bridged pushing "one" speaker....mono the signal to the bridged A500 if you can, and power the "one" speaker with the A500 bridged....check your manual that came with the A500 to ensure all hookups are correct....I assure you, your ONLY enemy here will be the amp overheating.....try this and keep feeling the amp to see if it gets hot....you have thermal cutoff protection anyway, but there's no reason to take it that far....you'll probably get multiple minutes at LOUD levels before it would even approach hot, but Major reported the bridged A500 amps "barely getting warm" at an 8 ohm load pushed at LOUD levels for HOURS, so it may do better pushing a 4 ohm load bridged than we think....Beppe, humor me, I promise you it won't damage the amp in any way, and I promise to buy the thing if it does, but it won't....let us know how it sounds......

 

[krabapple]

.....Readers, don't listen to this guy....Mr. T busts through his sheetrock walls at least three times a day....he also has a $19.95 entry-level HungChow receiver that boasts 11 watts times 5 at 67% THD....three reviews by Mortimer "WhiteVan" Hoodwinker told him that's all he needs......

..says the guy who seems to be spiking his audiophile Kool-Aid with stronger stuff.

 

[mtrycrafts]

LOL, that is great. LOL. I am laughing all the way to the bank. Thanks for posting that.

What is really funny is that I keep puting on different music to try and hear something wrong with my Behingers, and I can't seem to find anything wrong with them. Best 1000 I ever spent.

That web site has a whole bunch of DBT, in Spanish. The Google toolbar can translate

One comment though is that apparently on this round of testing, they just picked a preference, not really if they could hear a difference between the two setup.

And, no matter how well you conduct the test, subjectivists will find fault and does not apply to them. But, they will not sit down to do one just in case they cannot hear a difference, then their 'golden ear' status is revoked.

 

[mtrycrafts]

... 12 grrrr dosen't get you much. Now a days!!

When did it?
Not in 1995 when that Steve Zipser DBT was performed, or 98

 

[jeffsg4mac]

$1,200.00

Well, 1079.70 if you want to get technical about it.