Pro Amplifier recommendations

[jliedeka]

I'm looking to add amplification to my home theater. In the near term, I want 4ohm stable amplification for some speakers I'm building (3 NatP fronts and 2 Modula MT surrounds).

Longer term I'm going go the active route so I'll need more amps plus a bunch of Behringer DCXs.

My requirements for the near term is enough headroom for 120W speakers in a smallish (12x16x8) room. Also, sound quality is a factor and quiet or easily replaced fans would factor in. I don't have a fixed budget but I'd be most comfortable in the $300-$400 per 2 channel amp range.

Also, if anyone wants to chime in about pitfalls of integrating pro amps with a HT receiver, comments would be welcome. I expect that at minimum I'd need to make or buy RCA to XLR adapters.

Jim

 

[Chopin_Guy]

Well I think I that only option in your stated price range is the EP1500/2500....there are no commercial 2-channel amp that you can get for that price---ones that are worth anything at least...

As far as intergration of pro amps with a HT receiver I see no pitfalls--aside from appearance--as long as everything is calibrated correctly you get about 3x the amount of power for far less money than you get in commercial amplifiers...

 

[jliedeka]

For a near term solution, I'm also considering the NAD T955 which is currently selling for $799. If I do that, I'll probably have to sell it later when I go the active route.

I've heard some people are happy with Crown and QSC amps but I'd like more current information. I also saw that a bunch of B-stock Yamahas are about to hit the channels.

Jim

 

[jamie2112]

The Behringer ep2500 is a great amp. It will run you about $300. It is about 850w into 4ohms. The fan mod is very easy to do and I think its about $8 from PE.....The yamaha pro amps are great as well and you don't have to worry about fan noise as they will never come on in HT use.

 

[jliedeka]

I think the 1500 might be better. I don't think I need all the power of the 2500. Is the EP1500 also a good sounding amp?

Jim

 

[jamie2112]

Absolutly it is. All of the Behringer amps are very well built and sound great. There is also the A500 as well....

 

[jliedeka]

In a private correspondence, WmAx mentioned that the A500's quality may not be what it was. He suggested Crown XLS and Yamaha as alternatives. (I'm actually hoping Chris will chime in at some point.)

On Home Theater Shack, Wayne suggested Carvin amps which also seem to be reasonably priced.

Jim

 

[mike c]

i'll take the EP2500 over the A500 and EP1500 anyday.

if you don't like fan mods, i would take the Yamaha P*500S series over the A500

 

[jamie2112]

In a private correspondence, WmAx mentioned that the A500's quality may not be what it was. He suggested Crown XLS and Yamaha as alternatives. (I'm actually hoping Chris will chime in at some point.)

On Home Theater Shack, Wayne suggested Carvin amps which also seem to be reasonably priced.

Jim

Chris knows his stuff for sure. If he says its not what it used to be then in ain't..

 

[typehxr1]

For a near term solution, I'm also considering the NAD T955 which is currently selling for $799. If I do that, I'll probably have to sell it later when I go the active route.

I've heard some people are happy with Crown and QSC amps but I'd like more current information. I also saw that a bunch of B-stock Yamahas are about to hit the channels.

Jim

Where are these Yamaha commerical amps?

 

[WmAx]

The Yamaha amp models that I recommend are: P2500S, P3500S, P5000S and P70008. Despite the low weight and high power, these are not digital/switching amplifiers. They use conventional class AB output stages. The weight savings and low heat is a result of modern power supply design technology.

The Yamaha amps are top notch in build quality and provide for transparent amplification that is fitting for ANY level of stereo system. Of course, some may find the cosmetics not to their liking, or falsely believe they need some special high end/exotic amp for their B&W 802D speakers, but in fact the amps are suitable to any speaker load that is not under a nominal 4 Ohms. The Yamaha amps do have fans for cooling. However, these fans are only for extreme heat. They do not come on unless you use the amps at very high continuous power for sustained time periods; even then - they only start out at very low RPM. I have never been able to get the fans to activate for music use - and I have set up special testing conditions that represent the most extreme listening circumstances. Remember, these were designed for extreme conditions

If you are going to directly connect a receiver or pre-amp that has RCA outputs, there is the possibility the pre-amp RCA jacks will not have high enough voltage to drive the pro amps without turning the gain knobs on the pro amp up to a high degree. Some RCA outs do have relatively high voltage output potential; brands/models vary. Having to turn the pro amp gain knobs up very high can potentially result in audible hiss. To prevent this problem of consumer to pro gear matching, you can buy converter boxes that increase the voltage and convert the signal to balanced. The Art CleanBox is an example of a low end box that is suitable for the purpose in most cases.

-Chris

 

[WmAx]

My recommendation against the A500 amplifier is a result of a trend for a seemingly high percentage of random units to have a high frequency distortion problem. While some will work and measure perfectly, some will exhibit this HF distortion that will become especially noticable on things like piano music. I have myself, had at least one of these defective units, as well as I know some one else that has had the distortion on one or two of their A500 amps, and at the same time, had another A500 that worked perfectly. This trend is isolated to the A500 Behringer amplifier. The higher power Behringer amplifiers have no such issue.

-Chris

 

[jliedeka]

Where are these Yamaha commerical amps?

Musician's Friend for one.

Jim

 

[Soundman]

Musician's Friend for one.

Jim

How about this? http://emotiva.com/xpa3.shtm Not bad for $499. I mean, I was doing some thinking and this pro gear is a good value, but to do the front stage with the Yamaha's, you're goig to need 2 amps, so bridge 1 of them for the center maybe, and then use the other for left/right channels. That's going to cost more even with the cheapest Yammy. (cheapest yammy at 250wpc is $349x2 is around $700 for the 2 amps) Sure it's more power then this Emotiva, (your getting about 50 more watts per channel, but there isn't going to be an audible difference. I'm thinking the Emotiva with 200 wpc should be sufficient for just about any room. What do you guys think?

 

[jliedeka]

I want all 5 channels amplified. If I just wanted a consumer amp for now, I'd probably get the NAD T955. I still may do that but I'm investigating pro amps because I'll probably want to use them down the road with active crossovers.

Jim

 

[Soundman]

I want all 5 channels amplified. If I just wanted a consumer amp for now, I'd probably get the NAD T955. I still may do that but I'm investigating pro amps because I'll probably want to use them down the road with active crossovers.

Jim

OK, I see. Which Yammy were you looking at? I was just pointing out that it seems like alot of people are saying that if you get pro gear, you can get alot more power for your money, which I believe is generally true, but I think you need to look at the particular situation. I was just pointing out in that example that the Emotiva looked like a better value.
Also, if this is for HT, at some point it looks like you are going to have to bridge one of them. Whether it's a 5.1 or 7.1 setup, either way it's an odd number and since they are 2-channel amps....well, you see what I mean.

 

[Chopin_Guy]

I want all 5 channels amplified. If I just wanted a consumer amp for now, I'd probably get the NAD T955. I still may do that but I'm investigating pro amps because I'll probably want to use them down the road with active crossovers.

Jim

Personally, if you know you are going to need to go to pro-amps later down the road once you have your speakers built and have everything actively crossed-over, I would just go with the pro-amps to begin with--not that the NAD isn't a good solution for the moment. You go so much more power and headroom with the pro-amplifiers...

All the suggestions thus far have been the best solutions for pro-amps...the Behringer EP1500 being the most cost effective one, which will give you more than enough power into 4ohms. The Yamaha pro-amps are also very good and QSC is also very well regarded but those models up the $$$$ factor quite a bit....

 

[Soundman]

I want all 5 channels amplified. If I just wanted a consumer amp for now, I'd probably get the NAD T955. I still may do that but I'm investigating pro amps because I'll probably want to use them down the road with active crossovers.

Jim

Nothing against the NAD (they make great amps), but for the same price you could get an XPA-5 which delivers approximately twice the power at 200 wpc http://emotiva.com/xpa5.shtm

 

[Soundman]

Personally, if you know you are going to need to go to pro-amps later down the road once you have your speakers built and have everything actively crossed-over, I would just go with the pro-amps to begin with--not that the NAD isn't a good solution for the moment. You go so much more power and headroom with the pro-amplifiers...

All the suggestions thus far have been the best solutions for pro-amps...the Behringer EP1500 being the most cost effective one, which will give you more than enough power into 4ohms. The Yamaha pro-amps are also very good and QSC is also very well regarded but those models up the $$$$ factor quite a bit....

Maybe you can help me understand some things since my experience with pro gear is limited. I can get HT gear in the 200-300wpc change for a good price. I know with pro gear, I can get considerably more power, but of course the price really starts going up from that point. But really once you have over 300wpc, does it really matter at that point? I mean 250- 300wpc should be plenty of headroom for just about any application. Is there going to really be any audible difference beyond that??

 

[Chopin_Guy]

Soundman,

I think your question more or less comes down to question of application. For most people, power in the 300watts per channel range is indeed going to be plenty of headroom. But then again, it also comes down to the speaker resistance, size of room, and user listening preferences that will determine if that will even be enough.

I mean, for example, take the JTR Triple 12LF speaker, which is a unit that I have seen members on a couple of forums using in their theaters. This speaker is a 4ohm load that has a recommended amplifier power rating of 1,000 watts. For this speaker, the Behringer EP2500 would probably do, but it could take even more power than that unit supplies into 4ohms--in which case you would be stepping up to the more costly Yammy and QSC models.

In terms of shear price point the pro-amps win the battle as you would have to get three XPA-2's to even compete with three EP2500's. The three XPA-2's into 4ohms would be pushing 500 watts a channel at a cost of $2,475 shipped--while the three EP2500's would be pushing 750watts a channel into 4ohms at a cost of $900 shipped (these can be had for $300 each shipped BTW). So there is absolutely NO competition in terms of price or power here.

But then again, this leads into the aesthetic battle, as indeed not everyone can have the look of pro-amps sitting in their living room. Those who have dedicated and/or custom cabinets can utilize them--and people who have media closets for all their gear---and then you have the dedicated hardcore folks who don't care and/or like the way they look.

So their are alot of facets to the use of pro-amplifiers, but they certainly offer a value and power that cannot be had in commercial 'botique' gear...