• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

"Pro Gear" vs Home Audioee

Ross6860

Ross6860

Super Member
If the purpose of a good amplifier is to just add signal gain without adding any coloration, what, if any, is the disadvantage of using decent "pro gear"?

Mostly concerned with the power amp and equalizer (if used).

I have a couple JBL UREI power amps. They are not anything to look at, but they have plenty of iron in them.

I have gone the vintage route with speakers, receivers, and turntables (good choice or not could be debated). A couple of my speaker choices can use some serious power (AR and Infinity), so my receivers may be a little shy on power. The JBL amps are plenty big, but a switch to audio grade amps may be in order for the future, if I upgrade anything.

I'm pretty happy over all, so I'm not necessarily looking for a change, just continual improvement.

Thanks...
 
Register to hide this ad
IMO and experience, there is no reason why good quality pro amps can't sound as good as good quality home audio amps. I own and use both. I'd say try it out and let us know what you think.
 
I've tried a couple o pro amps at home, Crown DC-300, Peavey CS-800, Carver TFM.15 and others.

All of them sounded AMAZING with my speakers.

The ones with cooling fans can be noisy in a home environment.
 
Nothing at all wrong with using pro gear at home. Keep in mind pro gear will have different input and output configurations. For instance most pro amplifiers have XLR inputs and Speakon type speaker connections. Like anything else, they are purpose built devices and will have a heavy duty chassis and provisions for mounting in a 19" equipment rack so they may not match the aesthetics of your living room. If you don't mind that aspect of it, a pro amp may be an good choice depending on your speakers. Any notion that a pro amp is any less capable of excellent sound quality simply because it is designed to be installed in a rack is nonsense.
 
Depends on the amp. Pro amps typically are built to withstand the rigours of the road, are rack mountable, typically they incorporate forced cooling, they also sometimes lack some of the protection circuitry and speaker on delay found in home audio equipment, sometimes the distortion ratings and or sensitivity won't be as good as home audio but then sometimes the amp comes in a home and pro version with very minor differences. Do your homework and if it looks good give it a try. One of the best surprises I've ever had came in the form of the Yamaha p2201, imho a fantastic amplifier originally designed for the pro market.
 
Leben said:
IMO and experience, there is no reason why good quality pro amps can't sound as good as good quality home audio amps. I own and use both. I'd say try it out and let us know what you think.
Click to expand...

I have run them in all kinds of configurations, straight two-channel, dual-mono, and bridged. Used them with and without the equalizer. Nothing to compare them with except receivers and a tube integrated. I certainly can't tell a difference in my limited experience. The room I have run them in is terrible for acoustics and that probably plays a part. I need a rack to bring them anywhere where the public may see them...

The "warning lights" on the equalizer are kind of mesmerizing;)

My amps do not have fans, so no extra noise.

I have a feeling, contrary to others in the household, that I don't push anything hard enough to really notice a big difference. Two of my receivers are relatively stout at 70 wpc and 85 wpc at 8-ohms, and are rated for four-ohm loads. They just aren't 300 wpc @ 4-ohms and even though they are heavy 70's vintage gear, no where near the iron that is in the JBL amps.

I'll be working on a pair of KEF 104/2's that are supposed to be power hungry and sound best on a high-current power source. They may be a good test.
 
A quality pro amp is just as good (if not better) than a consumer (home) amp. The primary thing to remember is that they are not "voiced" like a lot of home amplifiers--so what goes in is what comes out--just louder. A lot of home amplifiers are "voiced" to the "house" or "signature" sound of the brand--that's why people will call some amps "warm" and others "dark" or "analytical". Pro amps are also generally not particularly attractive--they are built for abuse and durability, not to look nice in your living room. Most employ fan cooling, but it is generally a non-issue, since by the time the fan has to kick on or kick up in capacity, the music will be so loud that you will never hear it. I own three DBX BX-3 amplifiers (which are home amps with wood end-caps and big pretty meters), and they have cooling fans that will kick on when the chassis temp reaches 90C, and I never hear the fans. The other advantage to pro amps is that most are designed to handle 4 or even 2 ohm loads, so for "difficult" speakers, that is definitely a plus.
 
Your higher-end pro amps will have built-in DSP for speaker processing (parametric EQ, crossover points, driver delay for time alignment, etc.) as most of the higher end PA speakers have no built-in crossovers.
 
You can't really lump all "pro" amps into a single category and generalize about them any more than you can do the same with all "home" amps. Judge each piece based on it's own merits. Absolutely, there are some real gems out there. Some, like the Yamaha P2200/P2201 amps mentioned earlier, can give you excellent quality and considerable power output at the same time.
P2200_poweroutput.png
 
I run Ramsa power amps - WP-9220 and WP-9440. Solid amps. The JBL UREI the OP mentioned are some good pro amps too
 
I love classic Crest Audio amps

crest_8001.jpg
 
My thoughts on pro gear means heavy with longevity and made to slam around. Built more ruggedly than home stuff.
However there are home gear that is made very well indeed.
I also think that fans are a must no matter what. If the fan is loud, time to replace. I have added fans on a lot of my stuff that is not road gear.
Also years ago pro gear meant unlimited operation in unwelcome enviroments and higher distortion ratings. Distortion ratings into the 3%-5% common. Not now a days. Many road gear is comparable if maybe better to home gear.
 
I use a Crown XLS1000 on a regular basis to drive my AR3's and it's perfect for these quite difficult to drive speakers. Recommended by many of the AR pro's over at the Classic Speaker Pages, it's a clean 350 watts into 4 ohms, completely neutral sounding. I use it with a tube preamp and the combination is perfect. And you can get it for less then $200. Small footprint to. Easily as good as my Adcom GFA 5400 and Yamaha M4 amps, and they ain't no slouches.
 
Thanks, all. I'll be hanging on to the UREIs. Running a Kenwood Basic C2 pre-amp to feed them. A clean 300 wpc into 4 ohms, more bridged, but I will probably not bridge them. They can be run 300 wpc in dual-mono mode, so 1200 watts to feed four speakers or into a pair of bi-amped speakers.

sberger said:
I use a Crown XLS1000 on a regular basis to drive my AR3's and it's perfect for these quite difficult to drive speakers. Recommended by many of the AR pro's over at the Classic Speaker Pages, it's a clean 350 watts into 4 ohms, completely neutral sounding. I use it with a tube preamp and the combination is perfect. And you can get it for less then $200. Small footprint to. Easily as good as my Adcom GFA 5400 and Yamaha M4 amps, and they ain't no slouches.
Click to expand...

My AR3a's, Infinity RS5b, soon to have RSII, and the KEF 104/2 all have the rep of either needing big, clean power to sound their best or being hard on amps. These are the speakers I think my receivers may have trouble with.

My other speakers include a couple pair of Klipsch, so they are nominally efficient or very efficient, and 8-ohm, so my receivers and tube integrated are plenty.


savatage1973 said:
A quality pro amp is just as good (if not better) than a consumer (home) amp. The primary thing to remember is that they are not "voiced" like a lot of home amplifiers--so what goes in is what comes out--just louder. A lot of home amplifiers are "voiced" to the "house" or "signature" sound of the brand--that's why people will call some amps "warm" and others "dark" or "analytical". Pro amps are also generally not particularly attractive--they are built for abuse and durability, not to look nice in your living room. Most employ fan cooling, but it is generally a non-issue, since by the time the fan has to kick on or kick up in capacity, the music will be so loud that you will never hear it. I own three DBX BX-3 amplifiers (which are home amps with wood end-caps and big pretty meters), and they have cooling fans that will kick on when the chassis temp reaches 90C, and I never hear the fans. The other advantage to pro amps is that most are designed to handle 4 or even 2 ohm loads, so for "difficult" speakers, that is definitely a plus.
Click to expand...

My equalizer is a DBX 1231, 31-band. Never had any issues with it coloring the sound if it is flat or by-passed. Clipping and output indicators are a nice option, too. I didn't even know they made power amps.

The UREIs are not ugly, or attractive, just black boxes with clipping indicator LEDs and attenuators. That's it.

Now I need to hunt dow a decently priced rack to hold it all.

Thanks again everyone.
 
Ross6860 said:
My AR3a's, Infinity RS5b, soon to have RSII, and the KEF 104/2 all have the rep of either needing big, clean power to sound their best or being hard on amps. These are the speakers I think my receivers may have trouble with.
Click to expand...

That "rep" is a funny thing. I've had some interesting conversations with some of the regulars over at CSP about amps for the AR's. I'm lucky enough to have a small enough listening area, and listen mostly at levels where one can converse with another in the same room, so that I can, and do run successfully a Fisher 400 with the 3's as well. In fact, I prefer it over the 200 and 300 watt amps that I referred to including the Crown. All excellent amps, all provide a different flavor.
 
sberger said:
That "rep" is a funny thing. I've had some interesting conversations with some of the regulars over at CSP about amps for the AR's. I'm lucky enough to have a small enough listening area, and listen mostly at levels where one can converse with another in the same room, so that I can, and do run successfully a Fisher 400 with the 3's as well. In fact, I prefer it over the 200 and 300 watt amps that I referred to including the Crown. All excellent amps, all provide a different flavor.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I only occasionally listen to music at levels I consider loud, and half of the time that loud music is not rock. I enjoy classical music, blues, and some country.

Fifty wpc is usually more than sufficient, and the majority of my listening is through a 20 wpc receiver.

I've heard, and somewhat agree with, having more power on tap than you will ever needs helps out with fast transients and big swings between soft and loud passages.

Usually the volume is just cracking the sweet spot, but then there's just those days when you need to rattle the windows with Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor, Orange Blossom Special, or Bring it on Home...
 
Ross6860 said:
Usually the volume is just cracking the sweet spot, but then there's just those days when you need to rattle the windows with Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor, Orange Blossom Special, or Bring it on Home...
Click to expand...

Sure. My biggest fear though when using the 3's is the fragile, not so easy to find AR tweeter. I know I'm never going to blow it out with a 28 watt tube amp. But if I get carried away with a 300 watt amp, well...

And for the record, I have no problems rattling windows with the 400. Just ask my wife.
 
sberger said:
Sure. My biggest fear though when using the 3's is the fragile, not so easy to find AR tweeter. I know I'm never going to blow it out with a 28 watt tube amp. But if I get carried away with a 300 watt amp, well...

And for the record, I have no problems rattling windows with the 400. Just ask my wife.
Click to expand...
Easier to blow a tweeter with too little power than it is with too much! If it sounds bad, turn it down!
 
Price per watt ratio is just unbeatable with public address amps such as Crowns and Carvers and whatever, to get a 400W "audiophile" amp a kidney would have to come out of your body or a house/car would need to be sold and sound-wise many blind tests have proven that even a cheap Behringer will be indistinguishable from a Mark Levinson... you can shoot me now ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom