May 15, 2012 10:38 am Any particular reason you are looking at such high wattage...studio use could be much lower...I have always found it best to mix and master at reasonably comfortable listening levels.
What Amp to buy for my Event 20/20's http://www.homerecordingconnection.com
Posted on May 15, 2012 10:36 am
The Captain
Member Since: May 15, 2012
Hi,
I am currently in the position to buy a new amplifier for my home studio.
I am currently running a pair of Passive Event 20/20 v2's through a Cambridge Audio Azur 640a. Though it has served me very well it has became clear that this amp is not suitable for the speakers.
The speakers take 150w at 4ohms and 300w at 8 bridged.
Ive been looking at the Alesis RA300 and the Samson servo 300, both do well on performance, but not on reliability as I am hearing a lot seem to break after a year, problems with the electronics that can't seem to be fixed.
I have also heard a lot about Hafler amps with excellent reviews, and ART SLA amps, also with good reviews.
My knowledge of amps is quite poor, but I want something thats going to give the accuracy and clarity for mixing that my 20/20's deserve as they truley are fantastic speakers.
My budget is around £200,
any advice would be most welcome
Thankyou
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May 15, 2012 10:38 am Any particular reason you are looking at such high wattage...studio use could be much lower...I have always found it best to mix and master at reasonably comfortable listening levels.
May 15, 2012 11:32 am Quote:
The speakers take 150w at 4ohms and 300w at 8 bridged.
That's an amp rating, not a speaker rating. A speaker is either 4 *or* 8 ohms (or 6, or whatever). An amp's output power changes (well, it *can* change) in connection with the speaker's impedance.
That all said -- I'm having an incredibly difficult time trying to find the actual specs for the passive 20/20's...
That said, I'm quite a fan of overpowering.
THAT said, you're not going to find a nice, clean amp with the sort of headroom you're looking for in that price range.
If you can find a used (they don't make amps anymore) Hafler TransNOVA in that price range, it's a solid amp. The TA series were okay as well. I'd steer far away from the Samson/Alesis/Behringer type stuff.
Any good used Rotel stuff in your area...?
May 15, 2012 06:05 pm I'm running my passive Tannoy Reveal 6's(about 50-60W RMS at 6ohm 100W max IIRC) off of an ART SLA-1 (130W/channel@4ohm or 100W @ 8ohm IIRC) I'm also a fan of more power amp than the speakers need.
The 20/20's appear to be 150-200W RMS and they are at 4ohm. So you'll need a good amp to run em with. Better than my SLA-1, and probably better than the ART SLA-2 amp, which is only 200W per channel @ 8ohms (so about 280W at 4ohm according to specs)
I also remember the Hafler brand back several years ago when I was researching monitors and amps for my situation. (back around 2005 I think) I remember the TA series, but it was way more than I needed at the time, and over my price range besides.
Likewise, I'd avoid the Alesis amps. The higher end samson servos MIGHT cut it, but they aren't really known for their amps, so I'd avoid them too.
The ART SLA-2 could work, but it won't provide a ton of headroom for your particular speakers. I'd say if you can find a good amp that is close to 300W per channel at 4-ohms (or possibly a little more), you'll probably be pretty well off, but you're be spending more than £200 for sure. If you can get that up to £250 to 300GBP, then you'll be much much better off for choices.
The ART SLA-2 runs about $370 USD (230-ish GBP?), but could possibly be found for cheaper. My SLA-1 has been running just fine for about 6 or 7 years now, but it's only 130W per channel at 4ohms, so won't be at all good for the 20/20's.
Other brands to check out might be QSC, Crown, possibly Carvin (at least I think Carvin makes speaker amps as well as the guitars and guitar amps they're known for) but Carvin stuff is US-made, so there will probably be an overseas shipping charge as you order direct from their site. :/ The Carvin units themselves are about the same price range as the SLA-2, and the DCM1000L might be a good fit at 325W @ 4ohms.
The QSCRMX850 might be a good fit, and gets pretty good reviews. It's about $400 USD though. And the Crown XLS1000 appears to be about 350W @ 4 ohm, and is a bit cheaper at $300 USD.
Also: there is a Hafler Transnova sitting in the used section of the guitarcenter.com site. It does not list the model or the specs, however, so I have no idea which one it is, or what the power ratings are. :P
May 15, 2012 06:08 pm hey guys thanks for this info, like i said; don't know a great deal about this stuff, but this is all helpful.
I wanted a more powerful cos i felt like i'm not getting the whole audio picture at lower levels and i though a more powerful amp would give the speakers what they need to drive at lower levels.
I accept that I could be wrong about this, I just want to get the best possible amp for references my mixes, feel like my Cambridge is not open enough.
specs were very hard to come by; www.zzounds.com...tem--EVE2020V2.
Any thoughts on the slightly more pricey ART amps?
Thanks for your quick replies guys
May 15, 2012 06:20 pm I think you could probably do "okay" with the SLA-2. I think they do some of the better budget-level amps. I chose my SLA-1 instead of the alesis/beheringer/samson/etc. And the Crown/QSC/Carvin stuff was more than I wanted to spend at the time. The SLA-4 is just the SLA-1, but with 4 channels instead of 2.
I'm okay with my SLA-1, and it drives my Tannoys just fine. But I also double-check stuff a lot. (I'm a little obsessive/compulsive)
I think you would do better with the QSC I mentioned, which isn't much more than the SLA-2. It would probably run you a little over 250 GBP.
This is just my impressions though. I haven't actually -used- or -heard- the amps in question, so do take my thoughts with a grain of salt.
May 16, 2012 08:28 am thanks J-Bot, just looking through all the amps and the QSC seems to be the best at its price, they all look nice but the reviews for the QSC are fantastic across the board, for P.A and studio use which is excellent.
Seen a few going for around the £300 mark, guess i better start saving again.
Do you think I'll get the clarity I need through these for mixing? The reviews I read seem to say so, but I just wanted to ask your opinion, as I've only heard these sort of amps through big P.A systems.
Some awsome information though, thank you so much
May 16, 2012 08:33 am I tend to shy away from big PA power amps for studio use...studio reference amps I generally see run quieter, and they often cool with heat sinks rather than fans (contributing to the quieter operation).
That being said, I have known many folks that do use them and get great results, so, while I won't knock the practice, I won't do it either...and in some studio's (J-bot I believe fits this mold) where there is a lot more sound design, synthesis, and perhaps a need for large format speakers now and then, the bigger power amp canbe useful.
I don't do a lot of that, as I am typically a 4-5 piece rock band type musician, simple stuff, and prefer to mix and master at comfortable listening levels, I tend to get a better mix and my ears don't fatigue as fast.
Before I got self-powered monitors, I had some JBL speakers and a very inexpensive Alesis reference amp that had power when I needed, operated silently and lasted forever with a good clean, flat response.
May 17, 2012 04:55 pm I have a friend of a friend who has a crown 202 so I'm going to going test my speakers through them just to try them, noise from the amp is a concern as it will be relatively close to me.
Listening at confortable levels was one of my originals problems too, my current CA amp doesn't seem to drive my speakers brilliantly at lower levels, if I can find someone with an Alesis I'll give em a whirl, I'm just a bit dubious as I've read that a lot of them seem to break down and are un-fixable.
Thanks dB Masters, I tend to mix smaller rock bands but want the option to expand and just get the best sound as I love my Events, when I push them a little they can really go!
May 17, 2012 06:09 pm I might get flack for this, but I am a huge fan of single ended triode amps. You can do a bit of research on it and find out that you will never afford it. So from my point of view, if you are going transistor then give yourself way more power handling than the speakers need, as per jbot's suggestion. This will prevent the 4th and 5th order harmonics from fatiguing your ears over the long haul. I would also go for class A, again for distortion reasons.
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