Worthwhile PA Amps

[Apreggiator]

Hi all, curious about your experiences with PA Amps!

I've used a JBL/Urei 6260 and another one I've never been able to identify.
The JBL/Urei served me well for a while, but the sound was, whilst not bad in any way, nothing to write home about. Used this one for quite a while.
The mystery one had a dual mono setup, and sounded excellent - minus a hum I or any tech accessible to me couldn't manage to get rid of. Stayed with a tech, should still be sitting on one of his shelves after a decade or so.

I'm curious to try a digital Labgruppen one day, and perhaps a decent 'boat anchor' if I run across one with good SQ.

Again; Curious about your experiences with PA Amps for HiFi/home use!

 

[Lavane]

Crown makes good Pro amps that are great for home use.
There can be a difference with some PA amps thst really may not be meant for music purposes.
I have a couple Crown CDi-1000 pro amps. This series is meant for PA systems in schools, etc. Mine came from a school. While this series has good specs, the connections for input are all Phoenix connectors. They can also be wired balanced or unbalanced. I just replaced the Phoenix connectors with RCA jacks and wired them unbalanced. I use one in my garage system.
But the other series amps are great for home use as is.
Look up the XLS, and XLi series amps. Both series come in different power ratings and have both balanced jacks and unbalanced RCA jacks for input.
Crown has been around for a long time. You can find older Crown amps used also.
There are cheaper brands like Pile, Dayton, etc. But you get what you pay for.

 

[Northwinds]

Cerwin Vega A-2200 though it's not a PA amp but came from same family of Sensurround amp series. The 2200 was for home use and has no fan. 200wpc 8ohm and 375wpc 4ohm. Made in 1978

The Lab Gruppen Amps are very good though the 20000wpc one I was looking at had a power cord as thick as my thumb and needed it's own power panel. Obviously they make lesser power output Amops but I think the lesser ones are not built to the same level as the stadium amps. Here's a pic of my A2200 which you can see at lower right. It's dual mono channel

 

[mad shadows]

Yamaha PC2002 is good PA -amp. It delivers 240 watts at ohms. I use one to drive my subs.

 

[Semanon]

A true PA ( as in ‘paging and announcement’ or ‘public address’) amps are most often mono with 70 volt outputs. Think TOA, Biamp, Atlas/IED, Bogen). These are built for durability and specific functionality.

The other PA amps (think pro audio) include stereo amps that are for 70 volt and low impedance loads. There are some really fantastic offerings in this group and great prices. Crown, BGW, Crest, QSC, Yamaha are some I’ve owned over the years. These tend to be simple amps, but can have added functionality.

There is certainly a lot of overlap, and a lot of Crown amps are driving 70 volt speakers in mono or multi zone mono, but few TOA amps find their way into home systems.

 

[SVI2004A]

Ramsa

the WP-9xxx series are good… workhorses with superior output stages. Have a few 9220s n quite a few 9440s

9440's. A/B'ed tagainst Crown Macro 2400, BGW GTA, and Crest 7001. Other than weight it was a better performer than those, mechanically and electronically overbuilt. Routinely bridged into 4 ohms without complaint.

 

[Lavane]

Ramsa

the WP-9xxx series are good… workhorses with superior output stages. Have a few 9220s n quite a few 9440s

9440's. A/B'ed tagainst Crown Macro 2400, BGW GTA, and Crest 7001. Other than weight it was a better performer than those, mechanically and electronically overbuilt. Routinely bridged into 4 ohms without complaint.

Nice amplifiers!
I don't know about the other newer Crown amps, but the CDi series use swith mode power supplies. They also use there own version of a Class D type amp to drive a decretete output stage with a fan to keep the TO-3 output transistors cool. The SMPS and Class D amp stage are very well filtered. I can pick one up with two finger by the mounting flanges.
I use one in my garage and use a SS integrated amp as a preamp connected with the pre-outs of the integrated amp. These CDi's can drive a 2 ohm load and can be bridged to mono. They also have built in DSP.
I mostly just stream Pandora through my garage setup.
I want to use the second one as a sub amp. Or maybe bridge both to mono for a powered sub. if I bridge them to mono, and use a 4 ohm subwoofer I can get 1000 watts out of them. If I use one in two channel mode that would a little over 500wpc into 4 ohms. Not too shabby for subwoofer duty.

 

[asilker]

Cerwin Vega A-2200 though it's not a PA amp but came from same family of Sensurround amp series. The 2200 was for home use and has no fan. 200wpc 8ohm and 375wpc 4ohm. Made in 1978

The Lab Gruppen Amps are very good though the 20000wpc one I was looking at had a power cord as thick as my thumb and needed it's own power panel. Obviously they make lesser power output Amops but I think the lesser ones are not built to the same level as the stadium amps. Here's a pic of my A2200 which you can see at lower right. It's dual mono channel

View attachment 3412360

mmmmmmmmmmmmm Traynor

 

[SVI2004A]

Nice amplifiers!
I don't know about the other newer Crown amps, but the CDi series use swith mode power supplies. They also use there own version of a Class D type amp to drive a decretete output stage with a fan to keep the TO-3 output transistors cool. The SMPS and Class D amp stage are very well filtered. I can pick one up with two finger by the mounting flanges.
I use one in my garage and use a SS integrated amp as a preamp connected with the pre-outs of the integrated amp. These CDi's can drive a 2 ohm load and can be bridged to mono. They also have built in DSP.
I mostly just stream Pandora through my garage setup.
I want to use the second one as a sub amp. Or maybe bridge both to mono for a powered sub. if I bridge them to mono, and use a 4 ohm subwoofer I can get 1000 watts out of them. If I use one in two channel mode that would a little over 500wpc into 4 ohms. Not too shabby for subwoofer duty.

The 9440s are hefty… 74lb
true dual mono and use the top tier 2SA1295 / 2SC3264 output transistors (8 pair/channel)
conservatively specced at 350/ch 8 ohm 650/ch 4 ohm anf 1.3kW bridge 8 ohm

 

[Lavane]

The 9440s are hefty… 74lb
true dual mono and use the top tier 2SA1295 / 2SC3264 output transistors (8 pair/channel)
conservatively specced at 350/ch 8 ohm 650/ch 4 ohm anf 1.3kW bridge 8 ohm
View attachment 3413224 View attachment 3413226 View attachment 3413228 View attachment 3413229

Those are heavier than one of my biggest tube mono blocks.
They weigh in at 38lbs each.
That amp probably put out as much heat as the quad of KT-88 power tubes in each of my mono blocks.

 

[whoaru99]

I have a couple QSC PLX3402 and PLX2402, a QSC PL3.4, QSC PL236, and a QSC 3500. As well, three Crown CE4000, a couple Crown MT1200, a Crown XLS1000, a few small E-V 7100, a single Phase Linear A30 (I think), and a Yamaha P2200. Might be something I forgot, LOL.

The Yamaha sounds good, and for full range operation I prefer the QSCs over the others possibly excepting the Yamaha but could go either way.

The Crown CE4000 are beasts on subs, the two Crown MT1200 I set up in parallel mono so they excel into very low impedance loads, 1300W each @ 1 ohm, 900-something each @ 2 ohms.

 

[Lavane]

I have a couple QSC PLX3402 and PLX2402, a QSC PL3.4, QSC PL236, and a QSC 3500. As well, three Crown CE4000, a couple Crown MT1200, a Crown XLS1000, a few small E-V 7100, a single Phase Linear A30 (I think), and a Yamaha P2200. Might be something I forgot, LOL.

The Yamaha sounds good, and for full range operation I prefer the QSCs over the others possibly excepting the Yamaha but could go either way.

The Crown CE4000 are beasts on subs, the two Crown MT1200 I set up in parallel mono so they excel into very low impedance loads, 1300W each @ 1 ohm, 900-something each @ 2 ohms.

Niiiiiice.