Studio/Performance Amps for High-End Systems?
EMMLabs is used by as James Guthrie (Pink Floyd sound engineer). Here is a list EMM Labs Users I agree about Peavy and others you mention - these are high power but low quality stuff and have a "PA" sound. |
ATC, Bryston, Manley and EAR make amplifiers suitable for professional and audiophile applications. Also didn't Boulder start out making pro-oriented amps. I agree with the tone of Shadorne's comments about audiophiles wanting a softer presentation than what is useful in a studio environment. As an aside, there is a school of thought that takes the position that power amplifiers, while important, just aren't that critical to getting high quality sound. Peter Walker of Quad and Siegfried Linkwitz are prime members of that school. Historically, at least for solid state designs, amps didn't become important until Apogee came out with their sub-2 ohm speaker designs. It was then that you saw an explosion of pricey, high current designs and people started to talk about how amps sounded. |
Onhwy61- And which of those companies offers a 500wpc power amp for $2500.00?(Read the original question) I know beyond doubt there are a lot of people that are happy with a "softer presentation" or a "warm, sweet, fuzzy, tubey" or whatever sound from their equipment, or that can be satisfied listening to PA gear. I'll never tell someone what makes them happy in their listening room is wrong. Like I said: Enjoy the savings. |
As a fellow pianist (and keyboardist/electronicist), I'm interested in this, but from a slightly different angle: I'm interested in using home speakers in performance. The ultimate goal is a higher-quality sound that fits in acoustically with other instruments, even though the source may be a keyboard or laptop. This motivation has resulted in things like this hemispherical speaker: http://www.electrotap.com/hemisphere/ I'm wondering if a Ohm Microwalsh, for instance, could be driven with a small instrument amplifier (Acoustic Image?). Any thoughts? |
