at a church sale, there was a hundred watt Bogen w/eq.
when asked how much they wanted, $10US was the reply.
when asked if it worked, " how about $5 ? " was the reply.
listened mono w/altec 515b's, and 808/811 horn
cleaned the pots/sliders with WD40.
plenty of room to add parts, or to rearrange things.
the casework is worth $5 ...
when asked how much they wanted, $10US was the reply.
when asked if it worked, " how about $5 ? " was the reply.
listened mono w/altec 515b's, and 808/811 horn
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
cleaned the pots/sliders with WD40.
plenty of room to add parts, or to rearrange things.
the casework is worth $5 ...
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A few months back I managed to find a studio version (which has quieter fans) of an Australian Monitor 1K2. I LOVE this thing. It sounds amazing and can effortlessly deliver huge amounts of power if needs be.
I was first alerted the merits of this amp by William Cowan on his website. I agree with everything he says about it;
"These are some of the very best amplifiers available at any price, and are used extensively in recording studios world wide."
I was first alerted the merits of this amp by William Cowan on his website. I agree with everything he says about it;
"These are some of the very best amplifiers available at any price, and are used extensively in recording studios world wide."
I picked up a couple Crown Comtech 400 amplifiers (guaranteed 250 watts per channel) and one sounds great as a stereo amplifier. It has so much power that I simply wired a 250 watt subwoofer in parallel with my two Pioneer BS41-LR's. Even with all of these drivers, I barely even see the usage indicators light up when playing music at uncomfortable levels. The amp also has a fanformer that hardly ever turns on (I have never driven the amp hard enough to activate it).
Finally, sound quality appears to be excellent so far. I have followed DJK's recommendations and have installed 22uf capacitors in parallel with the large 6300uf filter caps and .1uf capacitors in the signal path. The result of these mods is that bass is much tighter and highs are much more defined than they were originally. In their stock state I would say that these amplifiers deliver overly-heavy, almost booming bass, but after a few modifications sound quality is excellent. I have noticed a far bigger difference after swapping out my computer's DAC for example. It's almost like I'm in the recording studio in front of my favorite artists when listening to music through this amplifier.
Like lowpoke, I LOVE my trusty Crown. There are definitely better-sounding amplifiers out there, but I can't imagine any other nice 400-800 watt amplifiers selling for less than $100! Also, you can't forget that Crown provides unlimited comprehensive diagnostic support over the phone even on products that are 20 years old.
Finally, sound quality appears to be excellent so far. I have followed DJK's recommendations and have installed 22uf capacitors in parallel with the large 6300uf filter caps and .1uf capacitors in the signal path. The result of these mods is that bass is much tighter and highs are much more defined than they were originally. In their stock state I would say that these amplifiers deliver overly-heavy, almost booming bass, but after a few modifications sound quality is excellent. I have noticed a far bigger difference after swapping out my computer's DAC for example. It's almost like I'm in the recording studio in front of my favorite artists when listening to music through this amplifier.
Like lowpoke, I LOVE my trusty Crown. There are definitely better-sounding amplifiers out there, but I can't imagine any other nice 400-800 watt amplifiers selling for less than $100! Also, you can't forget that Crown provides unlimited comprehensive diagnostic support over the phone even on products that are 20 years old.
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I intend to buy at least one Crown D-45 and if I go active, a dbx crossover and another Crown D-75A. The good ones are bullet proof.
Oh no, they are monitor amps, for mastering a CD or something in the studio. They are claimed to have the full dynamic range of the CD standard, extremely low noise and distortion and a lot of protection as well. Crown says they are intended to be extremely reliable, hence the high price for them I guess.
I thought the price was pretty low when compared to a Hi-Fi amp. High when compared to a PA amp perhaps.
In any event I like the D-75A very much and have been considering a second unit to use them in bridged mode. But the power of one D-75A in stereo mode seems plenty and bridged would make headphone use difficult.
Until I come up with something better I have bare wires from the outputs going across my desk, so I may get to test the protection circuit at some point.
In any event I like the D-75A very much and have been considering a second unit to use them in bridged mode. But the power of one D-75A in stereo mode seems plenty and bridged would make headphone use difficult.
Until I come up with something better I have bare wires from the outputs going across my desk, so I may get to test the protection circuit at some point.
Hard to say which amp you prefer until you test it in your application and you can´t possibly test them all. To me, -who dispate my age, is listening a lot to rythmical music like reggae there is a clear difference in just how amps can be more or less adapt or "thrilling" in delivering the goods-maybe the core or intention of the music.
So if I consider a PA amp for my subs, I may or may not lose the qualities I now enjoy so highly. Building an amp without any reference to how it performs in my system is much of a chance. Buying a PA amp and selling it if not satisfied with it is less risk I suppose. Thus I have considered amps like this DB TECHNOLOGIES HPA 1400 - Thomann UK Cyberstore
For the record I am triamping and have at least one expencive amp so I´m now looking for a cheap one.
So if I consider a PA amp for my subs, I may or may not lose the qualities I now enjoy so highly. Building an amp without any reference to how it performs in my system is much of a chance. Buying a PA amp and selling it if not satisfied with it is less risk I suppose. Thus I have considered amps like this DB TECHNOLOGIES HPA 1400 - Thomann UK Cyberstore
For the record I am triamping and have at least one expencive amp so I´m now looking for a cheap one.
Some of ,,pro,, amps have really good sound.....are reliable and powerful....but most of them have very loud fans....For me that's not an option. For an example. I have 2 Crown MA1201 amps which have so da.. loud fans....and those fans are actually fans + motor transformers.....which supply low level circuits so can't be omitted....uh. On te other side there is a lot very good vintage amps which can be refurbish. Good example are Crown amps which Dirkwright mentioned. For those who wants even more of brute force some Phase Linear can be good choice....but it is dangerous amp.....very powerful and very easy to destroy...Cheap class D,T.....amps often sounds like sh.. in both pro and domestic use...
Regards
Regards
A mate of mine swore on his Flame Linear amp… until he heard my MC2 Audio pa amp.
Since then I found out that the co-founder of E.A.R. was responsible for the sound and the founder and ex-technical director of Klark Teknik for reliability, unlike Flame Linear they do not have tendencies to incinerate themselves.
Power ranges from 175w/ch to over 2000w/ch, the fans are quiet and the SQ has been favourably compared to domestic amps costing over 10x as much.
Since then I found out that the co-founder of E.A.R. was responsible for the sound and the founder and ex-technical director of Klark Teknik for reliability, unlike Flame Linear they do not have tendencies to incinerate themselves.
Power ranges from 175w/ch to over 2000w/ch, the fans are quiet and the SQ has been favourably compared to domestic amps costing over 10x as much.
The need to acoustically isolate amps with fans in them, while keeping cables short for optimised damping and power transfer, is indeed contradictory, and also assumes that any PA will invariably be making enough noise to cover fans, which is not always the case. If I am reinforcing a choir or a string quartet I an not necessarily looking for 86 dB pianissimo, so having a vacuum cleaner running on the edge of stage is not always appreciated either.
PA amps are more robust (they have to be), designed to run for longer periods continuously, and modern ones can sound as good as their studio monitoring equivalents (with whom they frequently share a circuit) or HiFi amps (Not all of them do, obviously, so listen first).
And, watt for watt, they are generally cheaper than their domestic bretheren.
Often not pretty, and balanced inputs complicate matters for some users, no input selection, separate volume controls for each side rather tan one stereo control, thus requiring an outside preamp of some description unless you run in "calibrated" mode, if you need really high power (which to me translates as really inefficient loudspeakers, but could be a desire to reproduce the full dynamic range of a symphony orchestra; if you don't have neighbours, that is) they can be a very effective, cost-efficient solution.
PA amps are more robust (they have to be), designed to run for longer periods continuously, and modern ones can sound as good as their studio monitoring equivalents (with whom they frequently share a circuit) or HiFi amps (Not all of them do, obviously, so listen first).
And, watt for watt, they are generally cheaper than their domestic bretheren.
Often not pretty, and balanced inputs complicate matters for some users, no input selection, separate volume controls for each side rather tan one stereo control, thus requiring an outside preamp of some description unless you run in "calibrated" mode, if you need really high power (which to me translates as really inefficient loudspeakers, but could be a desire to reproduce the full dynamic range of a symphony orchestra; if you don't have neighbours, that is) they can be a very effective, cost-efficient solution.
The best sounding amp I've owned is the Peavey CS800s. I don't need the power, but love the price ($200) At the 1.4 Vpp I typically listen to it, the fan never runs. If it did, it fits under the couch anyway, it is 2" tall. I saw a new CS600s at the store before I bought the used one, it was $999, so catching a bar band breaking up and liquidating is a better deal. I bought the package for the SP2 speakers, but was surprised how good the amp is. I was too suspicious of direct coupled amps that blow speakers to use it for a year, but Sakis convinced me the protection circuit on this amp was properly engineered. Output relays, output current transformers, D/A conversion, a microprocessor current analyzer, a current protection phase at turn-on before the relays close, and a DC protection crowbar.
The CS800s has balanced and unbalanced inputs. I built cables for both ways, and hum is lowest unbalanced. Part of the reason it was $200, some guitar **** had plugged his guitar amp in the 1/4 phone in's and blown the 1/8 watt series resistors. Peavey has been around the block, resistors are cheaper than fuses. The hardest part was getting the correct input PCB schematic to figure out the cinders were resistors and not capacitors.
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Well, the only reason I got into these pro amps is because I wanted to use an electronic crossover for an active system, and almost all of those have XLR connectors and it so happens that I got lucky with my DAC since it has XLR outputs as well. So, I need a few low power amps that have XLR connectors. Trying to find something like that in the consumer hifi arena is next to impossible. As far as I can tell as well, there are very few electronic crossovers with RCA connectors on them in the consumer hifi area, so I'm forced to go to the pro side to get what I want. The good news is that very capable pro crossovers are not that expensive. So much of that consumer stuff is way over priced or it's just junk.
Indeed they are, Class HD if it makes sense, two tier supply lines. I have looked for a good pro amps for years, one that has no fans or at least were fans are not loud. Information about this is rather spare on the web and I find a lot of invalid information. MC2 audio turned up at an early stage but I didn´t find any used ones at a reasonable price. Australian Monitor seems interesting but one page claims they are out of business, I don´t know and importing from Austrailia is too difficult.
I get some information about the amp considered by me on the German version of Thomann site. It contains some user reports witch dosen´t appear on the Swedish or English version.
I use a VMPS electronic crossover(modded) for the subs.And a J.Rowland Synergy II preamp.
Here are three pro amps, two of them without any fan att all.
DB Technologies HPA 1400
Apart Champ-1
PAS 2002PCA - Thomann Cyberstore Sverige
I designed Pyramids for pro usage, on stage. But all prototypes I built as far as I know ended at homes, driving magneplans.
I remember, on a meeting of management of one automotive giant with computer company, CEO asked, "If your computers are superior for our business, why don't you run your computers for your own manufacturing"?
So, if somebody manufactures and sells gear for thousands of listeners, why would not they use it at home for own listening pleasure?
But according to what I've seen and heard in Guitar Center, I doubt somebody would put own production in own listening room... Especially speakers...
I remember, on a meeting of management of one automotive giant with computer company, CEO asked, "If your computers are superior for our business, why don't you run your computers for your own manufacturing"?
So, if somebody manufactures and sells gear for thousands of listeners, why would not they use it at home for own listening pleasure?
But according to what I've seen and heard in Guitar Center, I doubt somebody would put own production in own listening room... Especially speakers...
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