Has anyone rigged up a PA power amp in a home set-up ?

[rigger67]

I used to DJ a lot and had my own PA that I didn't really need, but came as part of a package when I bought some CDJs and a mixer in a flight case. It was a good deal and I knew the kit would hold its value but I only used it probably half a dozen times before moving it on.
Two big speakers (about the size of a coffin together) and stands, plus a hefty power amp with both balanced XLR inputs/outputs and the larger, old-headphone-jack sized ones too.

It was a nice amp, good quality and obviously very powerful and I always wondered how it would sound if I rigged it up in a home hifi.
At the time I didn't have a pre/power set-up so I couldn't hear for myself so I thought I'd ask the question if any of you have ?

Those amps are relatively cheap, especially second-hand.

On the flipside, I once DJed a friend's wedding with a mate and we used my NAD amp - just a £150 jobbie - and his hefty Cerwin Vega speakers. I had decks and a mixer and we just went through the AUX input. I was stunned at how loud those CVs could go, easily filling a fairly large hall.

[bardley]

Not sure if you mean a PA only type amp or serious band/nightclub type kit, but:

I have a pair of HH V150L running as monobloc for L/R, and also an HH MX170 stereo amp.
I hook them up every now and again.
Quad 520F is my usual ( as well as a pair of Quad 405's (AM8/16), so the HH's are good for a bit of variation.
Just a different sound and work well for me.

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[Barry]

Not sure if you mean a PA only type amp or serious band/nightclub type kit, but:

I have a pair of HH V150L running as monobloc for L/R, and also an HH MX170 stereo amp.
I hook them up every now and again.
Quad 520F is my usual ( as well as a pair of Quad 405's (AM8/16), so the HH's are good for a bit of variation.
Just a different sound and work well for me.

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What speakers do you use with these amplifiers? The Rogers LS5/8?

[rigger67]

Not sure if you mean a PA only type amp or serious band/nightclub type kit

It was a DJ PA, so one power amp with a mixer feeding it and two large PA speakers playing the music.
Definitely NOT a band rig.

I'm pretty sure the brand name was ProSound and it was very close to this unit :

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ARsAAOSwSKNj3RCe/s-l1600.jpg
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/qCgAAOSwREZj3RCS/s-l1600.jpg


Having looked on eBay now, there's loads for around fifty quid and new ones for less than a ton at online suppliers.
I'm quite tempted just for the heck of it.
I wonder how they'd compare to my Meridian monoblocks :scratch:

[bardley]

I have the LS5/8 with the AM8/16, and have a another pair of Rogers for the other amps.
I did try a standalone crossover with the LS5/8's, running the other amps, but the correct amps are just so much better.


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[bardley]

It was a DJ PA, so one power amp with a mixer feeding it and two large PA speakers playing the music.
Definitely NOT a band rig.

I'm pretty sure the brand name was ProSound and it was very close to this unit :

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ARsAAOSwSKNj3RCe/s-l1600.jpg
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/qCgAAOSwREZj3RCS/s-l1600.jpg


Having looked on eBay now, there's loads for around fifty quid and new ones for less than a ton at online suppliers.
I'm quite tempted just for the heck of it.
I wonder how they'd compare to my Meridian monoblocks :scratch:Try and find a spec sheet for them? For that money it'd be worth it for the listening experience and see.

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[Beobloke]

I have a Yamaha PC-5002M that I really don't know what to do with, to be honest. It weights 61kg, has two mains leads and puts out 750W per channel into 4 Ohms. It's actually virtually identical to the vanishingly rare, highly sought after and hugely expensive Japan-only Yamaha 101M domestic model. http://www.thevintageknob.org/yamaha-101M.html

Sound wise it's superb with a surprising delicacy when required. However it also has the sort of bass depth and control that I've rarely ever heard elsewhere. Hell, it gets tight, punchy bass out of Goodmans Maxim 2s!

[hifinutt]

we use american audio pro audio amps in a set up . however the fans make quite a noise , i could not manage them in a domestic setting

[bardley]

we use american audio pro audio amps in a set up . however the fans make quite a noise , i could not manage them in a domestic settingAre they listenable apart from the fans? Interested if they actually produce a good sound when compared to the mainstream brands we know as HiFi.
I do wonder if there's a little 'emperor's new clothes' going on sometimes.
On that note, is there scope for a thread of useful vocabulary words and phrases to describe sound? [emoji6]
Eg.
Smoothed off rough highs
Smothering life out of music
Amazing sparkle
Natural and transparent
....you know the one's that keep appearing.


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[Enossification]

I used two Crown XLS amps bridged a few years back. The sound was effortlessly powerful but ragged and very unrefined. In the end, they had to go.

[bardley]

I used two Crown XLS amps bridged a few years back. The sound was effortlessly powerful but ragged and very unrefined. In the end, they had to go.Interesting, designed for sheer grunt, like a nightclub setup, but no clarity.

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[rigger67]

Hmmm ... been away for a couple of days and I'm just catching up on this thread again.
I wonder if given what's been said above they would be fine if the listener mostly played dance music ? I mean house or EDM as it's known by the kids.
Or metal or hiphop come to that ?
Stuff that's meant to be heard very loud ...

I think I will try it out as there are too many big and beefy amps of the type I'm on about for next to no money for me not to give it a go.
I'll just keep an eye on Marketplace till one pops up for £30 or less and I'll have a go :)

[Macca]

The Crown amps are interesting - the expensive ones (several grand) measure reasonably well, the cheaper ones seem to have a lot of high order harmonic distortion, although at a low level. But they have DSP and crossovers so you can cut the bass to satellites and feed it just to the subs.

I get the rough sounding thing as that's been my impression too but with a PA system you never know if it is the speakers to blame.

I did once get a listen to a fairly small PA system that still sticks in my mind as one of the best things I ever heard. But that was a long time ago.

[Enossification]

I can't be 100% certain but I think I remember the amps being Crown XLS2002 types. I had two of them from new and bridged them into KEF R5 speakers. The preamp at that time was a Prima Luna Prologue 3 which I also was glad to see the back of replacing it with my current Fidelity Audio Pre120 SE, a big step up in smoothness. The Crown amps were replaced by my current Usher R1.5 power.

I have also in the past used Samson Servo 600 power amps and they were so good. Heavy, solid and powerful with great bass control. I'd recommend these.

[Enossification]

I wonder if given what's been said above they would be fine if the listener mostly played dance music ? I mean house or EDM as it's known by the kids.
Or metal or hiphop come to that ?
Stuff that's meant to be heard very loud ...

I listen mainly to electronic music with large amounts of sub bass and very few vocals. OK so not really club music but even with this kind of noise I could not recommend the Crown amps I had.

[bardley]

I listen mainly to electronic music with large amounts of sub bass and very few vocals. OK so not really club music but even with this kind of noise I could not recommend the Crown amps I had.I get that the roughness can come from the flight case type speakers. What you listening to them through out of interest?

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[rigger67]

I did once get a listen to a fairly small PA system that still sticks in my mind as one of the best things I ever heard. But that was a long time ago.

Yeah, me too - at a club I DJed at for several years, The Soul Cellar in Southampton.
The entire sound system in the main room was replaced and the company who supplied it - which I can't remember now, of course - gave the owners a massive discount in order to be able to use it as a demo room for their customers.
I think they got a £12k rig for about half that and it sounded sublime.
We had loads of really great acts play there during that time - Brand New Heavies, Craig Charles, Marva Whitney (James Brown's #1 female vocalist), the James Taylor Quartet, etc - and they always sounded great. The room isn't massive - holding 200 tops - but it had a low ceiling and a really intimate vibe.

We just played some acid jazz on it one day when it was empty, not long after being fitted out, and even at stupidly loud volumes it was controlled and clear and tight but really guttural in the bass department too.

The only other time anything of the sort got close was at another small venue - the Student Union at Winchester School of Art - when they had a reggae soundsystem down from London. They put a giant bass-bin speaker (the size of a coffin on its end) in each corner of the tiny dancefloor and if you stood in the middle, the four units would force you to dance .. either that or your solar plexus would just fly from your midriff like a scene from Alien :lol:

[Macca]

Yeah, me too - at a club I DJed at for several years, The Soul Cellar in Southampton.
The entire sound system in the main room was replaced and the company who supplied it - which I can't remember now, of course - gave the owners a massive discount in order to be able to use it as a demo room for their customers.
I think they got a £12k rig for about half that and it sounded sublime.
We had loads of really great acts play there during that time - Brand New Heavies, Craig Charles, Marva Whitney (James Brown's #1 female vocalist), the James Taylor Quartet, etc - and they always sounded great. The room isn't massive - holding 200 tops - but it had a low ceiling and a really intimate vibe.

We just played some acid jazz on it one day when it was empty, not long after being fitted out, and even at stupidly loud volumes it was controlled and clear and tight but really guttural in the bass department too.

The only other time anything of the sort got close was at another small venue - the Student Union at Winchester School of Art - when they had a reggae soundsystem down from London. They put a giant bass-bin speaker (the size of a coffin on its end) in each corner of the tiny dancefloor and if you stood in the middle, the four units would force you to dance .. either that or your solar plexus would just fly from your midriff like a scene from Alien :lol:

The one I heard was not even an installation, just two large satellites and two subs at some corporate do. That was when I was at University. It was during holidays when they rented out the campus to the OU and various companies, and some business was having their Xmas party in one of the refectories.

I only went down there to use the cigarette machine in the lobby and heard this fantastic sound so had to stick my head round the door. I wish I knew what the kit was.

[Enossification]

I get that the roughness can come from the flight case type speakers. What you listening to them through out of interest?

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KEF R5's.

[bardley]

KEF R5's.Fantastic...I bet that sounds something special.

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[Enossification]

Fantastic...I bet that sounds something special.

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The KEF's are really nice speakers with a good low in room bass response. They also produce a huge stereo effect that is really obvious with electronic music. Yes, I've heard better treble definition from Spendor speakers but they were not as good all round as the KEF's in my system. These speakers are amazing with synth music. My power amp produces huge amounts of low bass with incredible grip and propulsion as well as a nice restrained high end but it comes at a price. With the old energy prices it was no issue but it is now. The amp on standby consumes 70 Watts which rises to 720 Watts the moment you switch it on. Anyhow, anything good has a price I guess.

[hifinutt]

Are they listenable apart from the fans? Interested if they actually produce a good sound when compared to the mainstream brands we know as HiFi.
I do wonder if there's a little 'emperor's new clothes' going on sometimes.
On that note, is there scope for a thread of useful vocabulary words and phrases to describe sound? [emoji6]
Eg.
Smoothed off rough highs
Smothering life out of music
Amazing sparkle
Natural and transparent
....you know the one's that keep appearing.


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never tried them , you can hear the fans pretty much when they are on. they would be hopeless with a domestic environment . they are currently in a PA desk set up quite a way from listening field so fan noise not a problem

[Enossification]

Unfortunately I can only really comment on the amps I have tried and of those the Samson Servo 600 was by a long way the best. I would happily use them again. Powerful, clear and always in control. Yes, they have cooling fans and yes, after an hour or so of use the fans come on but they are not intrusive. A very well made unit with nice, clear treble, excellent mids and powerful low end. The Crown amp on the other hand was just so ragged in the mids it actually sounded as though it was bordering on break up.