The Best Amp for the Price of Dirt

I just purchased one of these and hooked it up to some Paradigm Focus speakers in my office. I liked that it had plenty of power, but even compared to my Denon 3200 receiver it was not as natural. The high end was too bright and lacked in midrange. The bass was great but it was like having the loud button on the entire time.

The amp also was broken right out of the box. Channel 1 is shot. The front panel was loose and every time you moved the amp it would shoot static through that channel.

I heard great things about them, but I am going to pass and look for something entry level for my office so I can take my Denon back home.

Tb69396: Sorry to learn of your problem. By chance did you buy from Musicans Friend ? They sent mine Fed Ex no problem. Several years ago I was trucked a CJ 100 that was pretty banged up when I opened the box . I had to drive to N. Va from Towson, MD 3 x to fix the Amp.

Tb , are you awaire that when the 500A is used solo it rating is 130w @ 4ohms. I'm uncertian of the load factor for the focus but possibly the ohm rating was off resulting in thin mids , weak highs and bloated bass. Sometimes a resistor change within the amp or added to one link of the interrconnects can restore balance . Sounds bad but fixable.

The Denon is a good unit . A nice alcohol swabbing of the of the connections , a little fine sand paper on the plug , alcohol soaked cotton balls to clean the prongs of any residue w/ a touch of 3-in-one-oil on the cleaned plug prongs , hook it up and away you go to music-land. You could also crack the case replace the fuse with one of those upscale 24k units ( at approx. $30 ea.) & sapp the connections on the back w/ a little battery dc from a Aq Phono Demager to recalabrate , putting a Eagle socket in the wall($1.49). The re-do will flip you out. Best of luck!

Hi Fi world magazine reviewed these amps recently.They concluded they are excellent value PA type amps but did not measure or sound up to dedicated Hi Fi standards.

If you want cheap amps that do sound fantastic you probably can't beat the Sonic Impacts or kit chip amps.

Jtgofish

I agree that the Sonic Impact sounds pretty good but I am packing up my second "audiophile" version amp to return to Parts Express.

I have been trying to use a cheap as dirt amp for my PC setup with Epos ELS3s.

The first was DOA, and the second has loud static in the left channel any time you adjust the volume.

Otherwise, it sounds pretty good, but it is also underpowered and clips quickly.

Therefore, I am wondering if the Behringer amp would sound much better.

I have never had a problem using high powered amps, even with mini monitors.

The other thought was a chinese clone integrated tube amp but it seems like those are more like $700 bucks, rather than $199.

I would like a cheap as dirt amp for each of my 3 computers, so I hope this thread continues.

Jtofish : Have you reviewed the article on The Audio Critic web Site. Peter A. thinks they are a great buy. As for being PA amps well I think studio /stage amp is closer to the facts.

To Seth: The sound to me could be characterized as silky mids , no congestion during complicated musical passages ,lots of detail an deep bass. No solid-state burnout to my ears. Perhaps they are a tad "dry" but listen to the 500's in a reference system changing them out for anything between 5-10K US. Of course they are voiced differently but not that different to justify the expense. Buy them , save as much money as possible buying the best speakers your money can buy. If possible have a dealer hook up the 500s so you can hear them in real time before buying those speakers.

Seth,do you know what's really scary in 2 channel? Buy a Oppo HD 970 via the internet hook that unit straight into two 500's, the 500's into your choice of speakers. Perhaps one of the best buys in audio today for less than $700 w/o speakers.