Behringer A500 - Any Thoughts?

[jandl100]

A quick search reveals some of Jerry's thoughts, which are rather different to what everyone else has been saying about these:

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...500#post171520

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...A500#post72135

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...Behringer+A500

Ah - just noticed the links that Chris kindly gave.

Words of Wisdom

[Chunky70]

I use two of these bridged as monoblocks and i absolutely love them. Really opened up my tannoy floorstanders, they now sing! There clean powerful and transparent too my ears, i can't fault them. In the 12 months i've had them they have never let me down and at £320 for two what's not to like!
Just make sure you have the gains up full and control from preamp (i had to use xlr attenuators as gain too much from my preamp).
There are loads of tweaks that can be done with this amp i'm sure. Replacing gain controls for a start. Check what this guy has done.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/linux-works/2640387307/

[jandl100]

I use two of these bridged as monoblocks and i absolutely love them. Really opened up my tannoy floorstanders, they now sing! There clean powerful and transparent too my ears, i can't fault them. In the 12 months i've had them they have never let me down and at £320 for two what's not to like!

Aha! Nice to hear from you, Ian!

I thought I was alone in my madness.

[twelvebears]

Hi Jerry.

As another 'cheap thrills' option for bi-amping or mono-block fun, you could also have a look around for second hand Rotel RB-980s.

'Back in the day' (when I had a part-time 'beer money' Saturday job in a hi-fi shop) I was a big fan of these amps. In fact I frequently used to sell the Rotel pre/power combo over the then ubiquitous Audiolab pairing, as being slightly warmer and more musical but also with serious welly.

Add a second RB-980 and your had stacks of power on tap for tiny money, so if you can find a pair now they'd probably be dirt cheap.

Reliable too. Mine survived life in a house shared with frends who loved and respected my system but not our neighbours and never batted and eye, no-matter what abuse they got.

[chrism]

Thanks again to everyone.

Regarding the gain point. I was hoping to use a "passive mod" Caiman as a preamp and thought about removing the A500 pots. Not sure if the impedance matches though.

Had a look at the Rotel RB-980's and the build quality does look very good compared to the A500. Not seen any around for sale though so could prove to be quite rare.

Regards

[jandl100]

Hi Jerry.

As another 'cheap thrills' option for bi-amping or mono-block fun, you could also have a look around for second hand Rotel RB-980s.

Who me? Nah - I'm settled with my Parasound Halo A21 power amp.

That Rotel does look interesting, though!
I had a NAD 2700THX power amp a while back - you can get them for £100 or a bit more - another excellent budget choice. 150wpc of surprisingly controlled power - a bit of a different sound to the Behringer A500. The A500 is on the dry side, the NAD a bit plumper and fuller in the mids and bass and not quite as detailed and transparent.

[twelvebears]

Who me? Nah - I'm settled with my Parasound Halo A21 power amp.

*staggers around feeling slightly light-headed, leans on wall for support*

Jerry, say it aint so?! What will the rest of us do without having you work your way through every amplifier on the planet??

Nice amp though!

[jandl100]

*staggers around feeling slightly light-headed, leans on wall for support*

Jerry, say it aint so?! What will the rest of us do without having you work your way through every amplifier on the planet??

Hmmm. Yes, I know. Awful, isn't it. What's a boxswapper to do? I bought the Parasound on a whim several months ago, and it works so well with the MBLs that I've not even looked at other power amps since getting the A21.

I've still got pre-amps and CDPs and DACs and cables and my vinyl rig to boxswap with though!