Cheap power amp, will it sound terrible?

Have a look at this. Has anyone ever heard this kind of amp? I'd guess it's made for pro use rather than home but still, that's a hell of a lot of power for the price.

Spec. here

 

Looks impressive!!!

I was considering to buy several Behringer products myself, and this one got me thinking even along a broader scale. There should be a forum with musicians using this type of stuff for HT. Mackie's active studio speakers are also promoted as ideal HT components.


ps: a cheap online shop for Behringer, etc. is here: Musik Produktiv, though I couldn't find the above amp there. Shipment is 13 euro's to Great Brittain, when buying with a credit card.

 

Last time I was subjected to a PA type power amp was one of the old Crown DC power amps....plenty of power,pretty much unbreakable,but the sound quality you'd expect from a PA amp.

This may be a much better sounding product,but I'd be very careful to try before before buying.

 

Check Behringer's site for the manual and specs.

Most of its properties look to be pretty good, except for the THD of 0.02%, and the fact it has a variable speed fan.
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Having looked at it a bit more I would prefer the EP1500. It has lower distortion, a better 4 ohm - 8 ohm power ratio, and more than enough power for HT usage. And probably it is cheaper too!

 

You might find this thread of interest.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=169714&highlight=EP2500

 

If you want big power/low price and are willing to go a bit more exotic..... try nOrh LeAmp II. This is a 200W monoblock which has the lovely habit of doubling with halved impedence right the way down. I have heard seriously good things about these and intend to grap a pair sooner or later to try out. I initially was intending to buy 10 of them to biamp my whole setup (but they werent released yet so I got something else). They are $300 each shipped to you

 

How about these for cheap power amps, http://www.unbeatable.co.uk/CatalogueItem_123.html to my ear they sound pretty good even when driven from an AV amp.

 

Link doesn't work.

 

Fixed, I Hope.

 

Uh-oh.

If you delve into pro-audio forums and ask a question like "any thoughts about the Behringer brand....?" it's generally a case of light blue touch paper and run like hell !

I certainly don't want to trigger such a debate here and will try and keep my comments to things which are generally regarded as fact rather than opinion.

With Behringer products you almost always (if not always) get very good value for money. But given that their products are normally very cheap for the spec they offer, you can draw your own conclusion as to the overall performance.

As with anything, auditioning a product before you buy is probably the best advice, or second best buy second hand and if you don't like it sell it (unlikely to find any of these power amps second hand though as they're quite new).

I would suspect that if you're into true high-end AV this amp will probably not satisfy your needs. However if you want something big and cheap to give a room shattering slam bang and not too worried about absolute fidelity then I'm sure it would be fine.

Just my 2p worth.

If you do go ahead and get one let us know how you get on with it.

Cheers,

John

 

Buns, how did you manage $300 shipped? I emailed them a while ago and they wanted $150 to ship a pair so that was going to be $750 plus duty so I was looking at about £520 all in.

 

Well the price on the site is $300 including shipping to most locations..... I had a pair of nOrh speakers sent to me and it was covered in the price quoted on the website....

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I'll give them a kick and see if I can get the amps without paying anything extra for shipping. I'm not supposed to be getting any more power amps! Damn you buns!

 

I reckon you'll probably be thanking me when you get them..... would love to know what someone from on here thought of them

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If I can get them @ $300 each and no additional shipping costs it may prove too good to resist. I just hope the quality issues I've seen mentioned on Audio Circles have been resolved. The only other concern I have is that they are supposed to get quite hot.

I'll let you know if I place an order.

 

ah, I havent been on audiocircles since I sold my Bryston...... I wasnt aware of quality issues

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The original Norh Le amp is still available direct from the designer/builder IRD audio not as powerful but AFAIK doesn't run hot.

Norh include shipping but remember there's customs duty, etc. they are however very quick, my speakers arrived in a couple of days and were then held up by an 'inspection' at customs.

 

Hrm, that IRD preamp looks nice, maybe I should get that instead of the ATC CA2. Ponder ponder.

I like the look of the Le Amp 2 better than the original plus 200W is more appealing than 100W. The balanced input may come in handy too. Since I can't demo either I'm going to have to go with the better specced amp.

 

It looks like the Le Amp II is a no-go for a while, they are still having noise issues with the amp.

I'm looking at the Sabai from IRD though as a pre-amp. It has an AV pass-through, a remote and dual outputs. The only thing missing is balanced outputs but I can probably live without them.

 

Have you had a look on some more exotic sites.... tnt-audio as an example has some very interesting reviews. This was where i first encountered my Koratos and they are the bedrock of my entire system (and will continue to be for many years). If you are prone to a big of travelling or are willing to blind buy for fun.... then there may well be other things that might be of interest

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Thanks ad, anything in particular you think I should look at?

I'm a bit put off the Le Amp thing now but that preamp is very nice. Any one do a cheap version of the Bel Canto amps? (that sounds so bad)

 

I'll have a bit of a look over the weekend if I get a chance and get back to you

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