Radio Shack MPA-200

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plug-n-play

Active Member
Hi all, I picked up a Radio Shack MPA-200 "PA" power amplifier and am very pleasantly suprised at the fidelity of this unit, Robust build, big VU meters, adjustable output...nice find at $25.00, looks like the varnish on the power supply may require something in the future, but perfect operation is the current status. Am running a NAD 1130 pre-amp, Denon 1500II CD, with AR9ls speakers, very potent combination for sood sound, at least to me, best $100.00 bucks total I ever spent on a system...excellent tunes for my weight room again!

Radio Shack, duuhh, sorry for the spelling
 

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Owned one in the past. I found it to lean a bit towards sterile, but otherwise enjoyed it.
Pyramid also had the same amp in their line up, but with a ficticious power rating, whereas Radio Shack was honest about it.
 
I have the same unit except it's the 150 model. I've thought about using it for the bottom end of my bi-ampable speakers with tubes for the top but haven't done it yet. I had it briefly hooked up to some 12" 3-way E-V's and also thought it to be very sterile. But the location of the speakers and running it off the PC's CD player was not IMHO giving it an honest evaluation. One day I'll put it in line under better circumstances and report back on my findings. By the way, they were made by Pyle for Radio Shack.
 
I have had a chance to compare this amp directly to Outlaw monoblocks, with an Outlaw 990 pre/processor
time to sell the outlaw stuff....made in "indonesia", not saying that chinese crap is any better, certainly no worse...seemingly no sonic differences.....
The Bryston 4B still rules the roost, miles ahead of any chinese rig made

shakin' the tree now!
 
Last weekend at the SA in Perris I saw a Realistic PA-Speaker model number PA-100....there was only one but I believe it can go with your unit. Any way the woofer looked to be at least 15 inches and it had a horn on top....I do not know its efficiency but if there had been a partner with it I would have bought it to hook up to my tube amp perhaps...
 
I had a mpa 250 back in the day for my weight room set up. I thought it was a very nice power amp that sounded better than it should. Lots of features for a power amp and vu meters as well just like yours. I ran mine with a pair of hpm 100's and it was just what the doctor ordered for the weight room. It's not the last word in fidelity by no means but they will get the job done no doubt. You did quite well.
 
Anybody know were and what voltage the vu lamps are? I have contacted
radio shack and they do not know.
 
I still have one of those in really good shape, I use much more power now but they do drive 8 ohm speakers well.

MPA 200
 
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Hmm, looks like plenty of room under the hood for cap upgrades...and 3 pairs of output transistors per side is nothing to sneeze at. I bet this could be quite a sleeper with some tweaking under the hood...
 
I worked for them in the days they sold these, and they are definitely over built, and sold way more than my share for home use rather than PA which was the intent. The fact that they are so over built seems to be why I still see so many, I can count on one had with fingers left over how many I ever saw come back with an issue over a period of 18 years. The current one in that lineup is a 250wat (125wpc) little beast. Everyone looks down on it now, but in 5 10 or 15 years they will be glowing about the "Scroe!"
 
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I just got my hands on one of these and am looking to get it operating at the best of it's abilities. You guys mentioned the possibility of cap upgrades, is there anything else you'd do to these older amps? I don't know enough about this to say what components could benefit from an upgrade, but I am capable of performing any sort of upgrades myself.
 
This, also any recommendations for cleaning or replacing the volume pots? My right channel feels “loose” compared to the left and has gotten scratchy and works intermittently.
 
I just picked up an MPA-200, the left channel is scratchy, it would only work at full volume at first, but I sprayed the pots with some contact cleaner and have it working down to about 2/3’s volume now. Any tips to get it working better, or do I just need to keep spraying and working with it?
 
plug-n-play said:
Hi all, I picked up a Radio Shack MPA-200 "PA" power amplifier and am very pleasantly suprised at the fidelity of this unit, Robust build, big VU meters, adjustable output...nice find at $25.00, looks like the varnish on the power supply may require something in the future, but perfect operation is the current status. Am running a NAD 1130 pre-amp, Denon 1500II CD, with AR9ls speakers, very potent combination for sood sound, at least to me, best $100.00 bucks total I ever spent on a system...excellent tunes for my weight room again!

Radio Shack, duuhh, sorry for the spelling
Click to expand...
Varnish on the Power Supply?
 
PetyaShark said:
This, also any recommendations for cleaning or replacing the volume pots? My right channel feels “loose” compared to the left and has gotten scratchy and works intermittently.
Click to expand...
I had an Optimus MPA-250 same thing very loose pots. I replaced them both with indented versions. They work well
 
JimL1 said:
I had an Optimus MPA-250 same thing very loose pots. I replaced them both with indented versions. They work well
Click to expand...
plug-n-play said:
I have had a chance to compare this amp directly to Outlaw monoblocks, with an Outlaw 990 pre/processor
time to sell the outlaw stuff....made in "indonesia", not saying that chinese crap is any better, certainly no worse...seemingly no sonic differences.....
The Bryston 4B still rules the roost, miles ahead of any chinese rig made

shakin' the tree now!
Click to expand...
Yes I own 2 Bryston 4 B's and the 10B x-over they are fabulous
 
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