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Are any of these good power amps?

I would't say Adcom is much better than Yamaha. I owned several Adcoms (GFA-545, GFA-585, GFA-5500) as well as several Yamahas (MX-600, M-50, MX-M70).
They all are very capable and great sounding amps. It all comes to personal taste.
Can't comment on Crown though.
 
As I noted in my post earlier, the Adcom is simply not worth 3X the price of the Yamaha OR the Crown... not that it's a bad amp, it's a fine amp, it's just that you asked which ones we'd buy and pretty much everyone has indicated that from a quality of build and quality of sound standpoint, the extra expenditure for the Adcom is simply not justified.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Thanks, everyone.

Stopped into a local hi-fi store a bit ago, and the guy there recommended two others, so let me throw those into the mix. I've found them both online for about $220, so they fit my budget as well:

1. Art SLA-2

2. Behringer EP-1500

I told the guy about the others, and he cautioned me against buying them because they are older amps that do not have relay breakers. He claimed that the Art and Behringer would perform just as well as the Crown, Yamaha, or Adcom for about the same price, but also that they were safer to use. Of the two he recommended, he said the Art SLA-2 was probably better than the Behringer.

What do folks here think?
 
I'd give the sound edge to the Yamaha and the Crown of course is built to last so I'd give that one to durability..

Great prices for all of them.
 
Some time ago I had Yamaha MX-600U. It was rated 135 WPC RMS at 8 ohm and 190 WPC RMS at 4 ohm. But manual also mentioned Dynamic Power of 500 WPC at 1 OHm !!!!
I had a pair of AR-3 hi-res series speakers and that's probably when I was stupid enough and damaged my hearing by driving them to insane levels! Yamaha didn't even sweat! Incredible machine!
 
I would go with the crown it drove my kappa 9s without any problems and kappa 9s are known to be amp killers.......for a budget amp what do you want????????????????the yamaha is a steal too you want more then what these will give you. better put up alot more dough...I beleive the dc 300c gives you 340 watts into 4ohms...
 
One more thing. Eventually everyone (I guess) tries to make a complete set: amp, preamp, CD player, tuner, etc. It's relatively easy with Yamaha, Carver or Adcom (and I'm not gonna talk money here).
What can you get to match Crown or Art? Just my 2 cents.
 
For what it's worth, the M-45 also has a switch to operate in Class A for the first 5 or 10 watts (can't remember which). I have one, and while I prefer my M-4 due to it's higher damping factor, the M-45 sounded -great-, especially on mids and highs while running in Class A. Score of an amp for $100.
 
I've got 8 amps laying around.. All good amps and none of them cheap.. A Crown D150 is one of them. (a smaller version of the 300 basically) and I would say it's probably my most trusted and best sounding amps of my SS amps...

Right now I am using it as a bass guitar amp.. and yes it does it very well.. I don't see the other amps you listed being able to do what the Crown can.
 
Behringer gets a bad rap for quality of build, but you get a lot of watts for your $$. I believe the EP-1500 is rated 700Wx2 into _2_, yes that's 2, ohms. Or 1400W bridged into 4. I know people who own them, and I think the sound is good although the setups I've seen were PA-type EV speakers that can handle that crazy power. If you're looking for cheap raw power, you really can't go wrong with Behringer. They are not known for their high fidelity, but nor are they known for their lack thereof...
 
gladiator335 said:
One more thing. Eventually everyone (I guess) tries to make a complete set: amp, preamp, CD player, tuner, etc. It's relatively easy with Yamaha, Carver or Adcom (and I'm not gonna talk money here).
What can you get to match Crown or Art? Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

Compiling a complete set is really not a concern of mine. In fact, I've already got an ADS tuner, CD player, and amp that I want to use as a preamp. I just need to add more power, and I want to do it without damaging my speakers.

So if the Crown or Art can do those things well while also providing good fidelity, I'd be willing to go for them.
 
similost said:
I've got 8 amps laying around.. All good amps and none of them cheap.. A Crown D150 is one of them. (a smaller version of the 300 basically) and I would say it's probably my most trusted and best sounding amps of my SS amps...

Right now I am using it as a bass guitar amp.. and yes it does it very well.. I don't see the other amps you listed being able to do what the Crown can.
Click to expand...

In your opinion, what can the Crown do that the Adcom, Yamaha, Art, or Behringer cannot?
 
They can take a lot of abuse, put out a lot of power before they really start getting into clipping, stay pretty cool over a long time while even putting out their max power without a fan, and just sound damn good the whole time they are doing it..

PS.. I have Behringer equipment, but I really won't mess with their amps.. they aren't nothing special other than a lot of power, for a really decent price.. they would make a decent sub amp, but I wouldn't want them for anything else..
 
Just to be clear, not saying any of them are bad, but as far as using one of them as a hi-fi amp, I'd go with the Crown hands down..
 
similost said:
They can take a lot of abuse, put out a lot of power before they really start getting into clipping, stay pretty cool over a long time while even putting out their max power without a fan, and just sound damn good the whole time they are doing it..

PS.. I have Behringer equipment, but I really won't mess with their amps.. they aren't nothing special other than a lot of power, for a really decent price.. they would make a decent sub amp, but I wouldn't want them for anything else..
Click to expand...

Sounds good. I'm set to check out the Crown tonight or tomorrow night, so I'll get a better impression afterwards.

That being said, the guy at my local hi-fi store sure put the fear of God in me when I told him I was considering the Crown, Yamaha, or Adcom. He said if I try to play the speakers loud or if I accidentally drop the needle on my turntable hard (like if it slips out of my hand as I'm going to cue it), there is a high risk that my speakers will blow because of clipping and the lack of a relay breaker in any of those amps. That's why he recommended the Art or Behringer. To be sure, the guy is quite opinionated, but he has been a technician for three decades and for a bunch of reputable audio companies.
 
the guy at my local hi-fi store sure put the fear of God in me when I told him I was considering the Crown said:
I don't get it. You can blow your speakers with any of above mentioned amps.
Just leave power amp on and then turn pre-amp on with the volume all the way up. It's easy. And somehow I have a feeling that something is missing in this discussion.
We all talk about watts per channel and totally forgot about music and quality sound. I would never believe Behringer or Art will sound as good as Yamaha, Carver or Adcom.
Unless you're trying to piss off your neighbors of course:scratch2:
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steelglam said:
He said if I try to play the speakers loud or if I accidentally drop the needle on my turntable hard (like if it slips out of my hand as I'm going to cue it), there is a high risk that my speakers will blow because of clipping and the lack of a relay breaker in any of those amps. That's why he recommended the Art or Behringer. To be sure, the guy is quite opinionated, but he has been a technician for three decades and for a bunch of reputable audio companies.
Click to expand...


I'm calling :bs:

....except for the part about him being very opinionated... He's just trying to make a sale it sounds like to me...

Yes, some amps do have a clipping protection circuit, but it's not something you have to have if you use half a brain..
 
steelglam said:
Thanks, everyone.

Stopped into a local hi-fi store a bit ago, and the guy there recommended two others, so let me throw those into the mix. I've found them both online for about $220, so they fit my budget as well:

1. Art SLA-2

2. Behringer EP-1500

I told the guy about the others, and he cautioned me against buying them because they are older amps that do not have relay breakers. He claimed that the Art and Behringer would perform just as well as the Crown, Yamaha, or Adcom for about the same price, but also that they were safer to use. Of the two he recommended, he said the Art SLA-2 was probably better than the Behringer.

What do folks here think?
Click to expand...
I have owned Art and Behringer equipment before and Never will again except for the Behringer rack effects I have. Stay with the real deal not the high profit products!

-Mike
 
Amps

similost said:
I'm calling :bs:

....except for the part about him being very opinionated... He's just trying to make a sale it sounds like to me...

Yes, some amps do have a clipping protection circuit, but it's not something you have to have if you use half a brain..
Click to expand...


Exactly!
 
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