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Hi All,I know this has been discussed a lot on the
Planar Speaker Forum. How do you think an amp
such as the EP1500 will perform with standard
cone driver speaker systems? The planar boys
appear to be raving about how good the EP1500 is.I tend to be a bit sceptical about PA amps
for hifi use but maybe Im wrong....
Follow Ups:
That is a very good question for an amp designer, not a "audiophile". The amp designer will tell you that nowadays there's not much difference between 2 class AB amps provided they are built with comparable quality components; the law of diminishing returns hit quickly. If you ask an "audiophile", he will tell you that setting the amp on spikes and lifting your cables off the floor with ceramic -not wood- makes a difference. If you drive 8 ohms high sensitivity speakers, there's no need for a 300wpc amp imo; 1/2 that would be just fine unless the room is big. With Maggies for instance, it is a must. MAggies driven with high-quality (high $) LOW wpc amps will lack the dynamic impact that can be had with a beeffy "cheap" pro-amp.
I have now a 2x400+wpc on my magggies, and I bet those who believe MMGs lack bass and dynamics (I did once; I returned them) would rapidly change their mind. With the pro-amp, they sound clean clear articulate dynamic and image great, better than with hi-fi amps costing 3x what i paid for the QSC. I attribute that to the huge power reserves and probably very similar circuitry. Now I know also that a class A audiophile amp would bring the sound reproduction to a new level of refinement, but at 15x the price at least.
Out of curiosity which QSC amps do you use?
Thanks
rmx 1450. On Magnepan, I don't think nothing at less than 2k can touch it OVERALL. On refinement alone, maybe, provided that you have the front-end and the cables and the cosmic tweaks to let it through. But not overall.
I must say, i have not heard the Behringer, so view my comments in that light.The planar guys that love these amps do so because they solve a challenge and re-enforce their world view.
The challenge is that Magges are a bear to drive adequately. You really do need a ballsy amp (not saying that you cant DRIVE them is a 50what amp, but to make them sing you need some real power). Pro amps definatley have a ton of power for the dough.
The world view they have that this re-enforces is that there is some monetary equation for creating a system. Ie something like 50% on speakers and 20% on a pre, blah blah blah (the actual percentages don't matter). So when ou have a $550 maggie, a $200 amp makes sense to them. Other who are bi amping bigger maggies see a pro amp as having the juice to drive the big bass panels, and do so economically.
But IMHO all of this is mis-guided. Maggies performance isn't indicative of her price points. What one needs is amplification befitting more expensive speakers maybe 10 times the maggie price (not necessarily a dollar figure, but performance wise). WOuld you use a behringer to drive a $5k speaker? Most likely not. IMHO this is no different, you need resolution as well as power and slam to really get what the Mags can deliver.
I read that the EP1500 shares very similar design with other power amps.
One is Tapco J-1400 that happens to have a better build quality and a more powerful transformer.
There are cheaper parts inside the Behringer.
The price should be quite similar anyway.
To end I would also try a Tapco amp.Kind regards,
I've seen the guts of Behringer products and while they are a good value, imo, there are "pro" power amps with much better build quality and cosmetics.
especially the SX series. I have a 3200 which is actually built to very high standards. Of course if you don't need 3200 watts, try a Samson servo.
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