Power amp for passive monitors

S

Superhuman

Shagaholic
I currently run a set of passive Tannoy Reveals through a Samson Servo power amp. I've read a lot of reviews that say the Reveals are good monitors for the money but the sound is pretty flat, especially when I A/B a mix through a set of Sennheiser mixing headphones. Does the power amp affect the sound much? If so what would be a good match with these speakers? A 'sales guy' at the local pro audio shop told me passive studio monitors will never sound good and that active is the only way to go... then again he was trying to sell me a set of Genelecs for over a grand:rolleyes:
 
Superhuman said:
I currently run a set of passive Tannoy Reveals through a Samson Servo power amp. I've read a lot of reviews that say the Reveals are good monitors for the money but the sound is pretty flat, especially when I A/B a mix through a set of Sennheiser mixing headphones. Does the power amp affect the sound much? If so what would be a good match with these speakers? A 'sales guy' at the local pro audio shop told me passive studio monitors will never sound good and that active is the only way to go... then again he was trying to sell me a set of Genelecs for over a grand:rolleyes:
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I have the mackie HR824s and a set of alesis monitor ones (Passive)I use an alesis poweramp the 250 to run the alesis passives and It sounds pretty clean.I guess some power amps can colour the sound a little but not enough for it to be a problem.Look at the big comercial studios with the huge monitors built in the wall they all have seperate power amps.Why? because thats a better way to go.More power options and a cleaner sound.What happens if one of my mackies power amp in the speaker goes down?Not only have I lost the use of the amp but the speaker.Get a nice crown poweramp or alesis.Stay away from samson,beringer or the low priced ones(Noisy&un reliable)I was gonna get the reveals they are great monitors.Check out my studio at www.sterlingsoundstudios.com
 
there is an advantage to powered monitors... and it's in that the crossover is active (pre amp) and the amps can then be optimized for the drivers... the end result is less need for big power... that said... the amp should have little bearing on the sound (as opposed to the speaker itself)... if you really want an improvement in this reguard though i would look for used audiofool type stuff on craigslist.... BTW i have the powered reveals here and love them... though a bit light on the bottom... i feel a sub somewhere in my future....
 
I drive two sets of studio monitors: a set of Yorkville YSM1's plus a old set of JBL 4311b's with a Yamaha P1600, it's 160 watts into 8 ohms. I just love the sound of this amp, I have tried a Crown (I think it was a 150) and a couple Alesis but this Yamaha just sounded so much better. They can be picked now for about $200 to $275. Here is a review of the amp.
The Amp Make a Huge Differance in the way your monitors sound.

http://www.audioreview.com/mfr/yamaha/amplifiers/p1600-/PRD_127008_1583crx.aspx
 
I use a Behringer A500 for my Event 20/20s.
Awesome amp! It sounds amazing plenty loud and it's fan free so it's quiet. Plus it's only $200. It was a massive improvement over the sony home theater amp I was using before.:o

Seriously check this thing out don't let the brand name scare you away, it is an awesome amp for studio monitors.
 
I have a pair of powered NHTPro A10s (with sub) as my main monitors and a pair of passive Avantone Mixcubes powered by an Ashly SRA-120 as comparison monitors. These are great amps and they are dirt cheap on e-bay. If you want one, I'd suggest these folks which is where i bought mine (I picked it up - they are an AV equipment vendor with a big warehouse - nice guys). They have a ton of these so even if they don't have one up on e-bay, you should be able to contact them and just buy one from them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ashly-SRA-120-A...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14
 
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