Power Amp Connected Wrong?

J

Jmoog

New member
I just received a Behringer A 500 power amp, a Mackie CR-1604 mixer, and a pair of Design Acoustic 8 ohm monitor speakers from a friend of mine who passed away. I have never had a power amp or monitor speakers.

I have it all connected and it works but I think it may be connected wrong because when the sound is panned "center" and comes equally from both speakers it sounds thin, "out of phase", and devoid of any low end. As soon as I pan one of the channels to either the left or right the sound immediately becomes richer and sounds as it should. It's only mono sound coming equally from both speakers that sounds really thin and funky.

The way I have it connected right now is I have the left and right "main outs" of the Mackie running into the 2 "inputs" on the Behringer power amp (Left "out" from Mackie into channel "1" input of Behringer and Right "out" of the Mackie into channel "2" of the Behringer . Then I have the monitor speakers wired into the binding posts on the Behringer (Left speaker into channel "1"'s binding posts and Right speaker into Channel "2"'s binding posts)

I really don't know why the sound would sound so thin when panned center but I have no experience hooking these things up. The only thing I can think of is that the polarity might be screwed up at the binding posts but I have "+" from the monitor speakers going to "+" of the binding posts and "-" to "-".

Thanks to anyone who can help me.
 
If there is a "bridge" setting on the amp, turn it off. More specific information on the model of the amp will get you more specific help.
 
I'm with mjbphotos on this one. It sounds very much like the speakers are out of phase. Try swapping one set of leads around on the binding posts.
 
Jmoog said:
There is a mode switch which offers "Stereo" or "Bridge Mono". The switch is set to Stereo.
Click to expand...

Try disconnecting one speaker to see what it does. If the bad sound and weird panning effects continue then I'd suspect that the bridging switch is not functioning properly.
 
Thanks everyone. I'm going to try swapping the wires around on the speakers to see if thats makes a difference although I think they are hooked up right right now with positive going to positive and negative to negative on both speakers. Ill let you all know how I make out.
 
Jmoog said:
Thanks everyone. I'm going to try swapping the wires around on the speakers to see if thats makes a difference although I think they are hooked up right right now with positive going to positive and negative to negative on both speakers. Ill let you all know how I make out.
Click to expand...

Only swap the leads of one speaker
 
Just as a reference point for folks trying to help the OP, the A500 is rated at 230 watts X2 into 4 Ohms or 500 watts X1 into 8 ohms bridged.-Richie
 
Jim Lad said:
Hey Jmoog:
Let me know how it goes with that Behringer.
Been thinking about getting one.
Click to expand...

Well I switched one set of speaker leads around and it sounds better. It doesn't make much sense to me though as now one of the "positive" speaker connections is going to a "negative" connection on the Behringer and vice versa. It sounds better now so I'm not going to worry about it.

@Jim Lad - the Behringer sounds good. It seems to be pretty powerful and it really seems to drive the monitor speakers. Mind you this is my first power amp so I really can't compare it to anything else. It seems to work for me.

Thanks everyone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top