If a piece of "pro" gear meets your criteria for "good", fly with it! I've been using a Hafler TransNova 9505 to bi-amp my woofers with for years. It's a "pro" studio amp(though not a particlarly inexpensive one), and I couldn't be happier with it's performance, in that capacity. I might even be able to live with it full-range, if I absolutely had to.
Can pro amps possibly sound good? Crown, QSC, etc
I have been looking into pro amps for a to-be-built HT/music room. Recently I came across an old review in The Stereo Times: The Complete Audiophile Magazine, which reviewed 2 discontinued Crown amps, the K2 and the Studio Reference I. The K2 the reviewer thought "not distinguished or especially musically refined", but the Studio Ref he thought an EXCELLENT full-range amp. It does have some amazing specs:
Signal-to-Noise (A-weighted) below rated full bandwidth power: 120 dB.
Damping Factor: >20,000 from 10 Hz to 400Hz.
780WPC into 8 ohms, 1160WPC into 4 ohms.
The review is here.
From what I've found so far, there are possbile downsides to using pro gear in an otherwise consumer setup, but in my case I think these are non-issues:
-fan noise: not an issue for me since I will have an equipment closet. Won't have to do a "fan mod".
-ugly: again, not an issue for me with an equipment closet
-hum: I believe not an issue as long as I use balanced interconnects from the prepro. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
-expects pro-level input levels: I think not an issue if the amp has dip switches or gain controls?
And yet, over on a couple of AVS forum threads, I actually got asked to leave when I started suggesting pro amps. It seems as though some of the audiophiles there (and the same guys might be over here) don't even want to hear about a class of gear which imo just MIGHT sound good. It just isn't worth "polluting" an audiophile thread. Am I missing some other downside to pro amps, other than the above pints? Were these guys attitudes based on something substantive and audibly detectable, or just a form of audio bigotry?
I'm not saying all pro amps are going to be great (for instance I know the Behringer A500 is lousy), but might there be some good stuff too, like QSC DCA, or Crown Macro Reference (other suggestions would be welcome)?
Signal-to-Noise (A-weighted) below rated full bandwidth power: 120 dB.
Damping Factor: >20,000 from 10 Hz to 400Hz.
780WPC into 8 ohms, 1160WPC into 4 ohms.
The review is here.
From what I've found so far, there are possbile downsides to using pro gear in an otherwise consumer setup, but in my case I think these are non-issues:
-fan noise: not an issue for me since I will have an equipment closet. Won't have to do a "fan mod".
-ugly: again, not an issue for me with an equipment closet
-hum: I believe not an issue as long as I use balanced interconnects from the prepro. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
-expects pro-level input levels: I think not an issue if the amp has dip switches or gain controls?
And yet, over on a couple of AVS forum threads, I actually got asked to leave when I started suggesting pro amps. It seems as though some of the audiophiles there (and the same guys might be over here) don't even want to hear about a class of gear which imo just MIGHT sound good. It just isn't worth "polluting" an audiophile thread. Am I missing some other downside to pro amps, other than the above pints? Were these guys attitudes based on something substantive and audibly detectable, or just a form of audio bigotry?
I'm not saying all pro amps are going to be great (for instance I know the Behringer A500 is lousy), but might there be some good stuff too, like QSC DCA, or Crown Macro Reference (other suggestions would be welcome)?
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- 49 posts total
Surprised the Applied Audio Research Labs SLA1 or SLA2 have not come up. You can get the SLA1 for $189 and it is 100 watts per side. The SLA2 is 200 watts per side and $289. These are 80-85% as good as many great amps I have owned. Every Aphile should have one around. They are just awesome. When folks hear them they are floored. Bill |
If you have not bought your Revel's yet then why not consider Active speakers ? If you are looking at pro amps then why not check out the speaker section at your local music store - listen to the Genelec 8050A and see what you think....Revels are pretty neutral as far as audiophile speakers go - so pro speakers may be up your street! Just a thought. Listen to the quality of the bass and midrange of these speakers - damn good at any price. (but they come at a very reasonable $4.5K for a pair new and no need for a power amp!) |
Oh and before these speakers get dismissed as crap along with other pro gear just take a look at Blackbird Studios in Nashville - especially Studio C designed by George Massenburg - you will see a cost no object setup and guess what - Genelec 8050A speakers for near fields. |
Thanks again for everyone's thoughts. Grannyring - thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not looking for 80-85% of the performance of "great amps" for $200-300 per channel, but rather (I'm hoping) 99-100%, for up to $1000-2000 per channel. I'm wondering how a $1200 QSC PLX3602 or $1600 QSC DCA3422 is going to sound vs a $6000 Bryston 14B-SST, for example. I know the Bryston has somewhat better specs, but is QSC already at the point where differences are inaudible? Unfortunately, the Crown Studio Reference I posted the review of is discontinued. I have my doubts as to whether I would be able to discern differences by auditioning different amps in different locations with differing associated gear and acoustics. |
- 49 posts total