Amps For Passive Monitors

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bobzi

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comrades,
needing some advice on amps.
just bought a pair of BEHRINGER TRUTH B2030P monitors and am without an amp and not much cash.
wanting to spend as little as possible, for a decent amp. can I use a stereo hi-fi amp for these monitors? suggestions??
any help greatly appreciated!
 
I would not touch a stereo hi fi amp for this use. Look for a small stereo amp by ART, Carvin, Mackie, Alesis and so forth. You should be able to find something for a couple hundred bucks and may do well on ebay. Look for an amp without a fan. All you need is 150 watts - that'll be plenty. Like this.
 
I built a stereo amp for the monitors that I use for mastering, it is extremely quiet (No hum) and very loud and was very easy to build and it was under $100 for all Parts and pumps out 65w per ch into 4 ohms, it can also be built to put out 130w for a bit more money.......

If yer interested in this sort of thing let me know and I send you some links....


Cheers
 
you'll never come close to using 150wts.... and there's absolutely NO reason to avoid hi-fi amps... most are better than the low end "pro" stuff..
 
:D I concur with DementedChord about hi/fi amps.

I have a Yamaha and it runs two tape decks [which don't get a lot of use anymore] a phono insert, has a "straight through" switch to remove any amp coloring if I want to use it, hooks up my monitors and speakers with switches for either or both, and has plenty of power. Since I have passive monitors, I run my DAW right into the Yamaha's RCA input to listen to recorded stuff, set balances, mix, etc.

I believe my unit ran just under 500 pezzutos--and, they are still available but not advertised by Yamaha very much.

Cheers,
Green Hornet;)
 
The problem is finding a low-priced stereo hi-fi amp with decent specs.

Almost everything out there is a home theater amp with too many channels and a bunch of unnecessary surround modes.

Recently I found an Onkyo 100W stereo receiver with decent specs, to replace a failed receiver. The model number is TX8522. Two channels only, a good set of inputs, etc. It sounds great through my above-average stereo speakers and cost around $250 at Circuit City. :)
 
There is no problem using a good hi-fi amp. I use a Hafler DH-200 power amp that I built from a kit over 25 years ago. It still works magnificently. Rated at 100W/ch into 8 ohms, 160W/ch into 4 ohms, 20-20K at some low distortion figure. This amp was considered to be a budget audiophile amp in its day.

Actually, I have two of them, and the second one is used occasionally as a bass or keyboard amp or whatever. The DH-200 a pure power amp, no other functions, not even a volume control, just a power switch. I have a stepped attenuator in front of it to calibrate monitor gain and that setup works perfectly.

You can go on eBay any day of the week and pick one of those DH-200s up. They typically go for $100 to $150 in good shape, sometimes a little less. Hafler also made a lot of good amps in the intervening quarter century, many of them for studio use and some are probably pretty reasonable. DH-220 is just a bit newer version of DH-200. DH-120 is a smaller amp at 60W/ch. DH-500 is the big brother and is 250W/ch but it has a fan.

Cheers,

Otto
 
:DDid you know that OTTO spelled backwards is, OTTO....

However, the Palindrome works another way.

OTTO spelled INSIDE OUT, is,,,,,,,

heh, heh, Are you ready for this?





TOOT

gREEN hORNET:p
 
The Green Hornet said:
:DDid you know that OTTO spelled backwards is, OTTO....

However, the Palindrome works another way.

OTTO spelled INSIDE OUT, is,,,,,,,

heh, heh, Are you ready for this?





TOOT

gREEN hORNET:p
Click to expand...

Wow! Almost forty-five years on the planet and neither of those things ever occurred to me nor has anyone ever mentioned either one! Amazing, huh?



OK, maybe not since high school. :)

Cheers,

Otto
 
did you guys say that any reasonable quality HI-FI amp will do the trick????


Well, I totally agree....and THEY ARE generally better than a lot of low power, cheap, so called 'semi-pro', simplistic studio use stereo amps.

That tape monitor function on my Sherwood is such a gem for recording as well!!!....and get's turned off for mixing or mastering.....(50watts RMS per side)...driving my not too dissimilar 2031P's, and 2 more monitors on the 'B' channel.

great thread!.....and I'm glad to see that most people have a 'not too dissimilar' view!
 
superspit said:
did you guys say that any reasonable quality HI-FI amp will do the trick????
Click to expand...

I think I would just like to add that it depends on what speakers you are driving, how loudly you play them and what your expectations are for monitoring without compression of the peaks due to the limits of either amp or speakers. If you want compression free playback up to 106 dB on a full range speaker even down to 30 Hz... well that's asking a lot of most speakers (near fields of course aren't even close) and a low power hi fi amp won't cut it, either. But if you just want to play your near field monitors at some reasonable volume, yeah, you should be fine. :)

Cheers,

Otto
 
Zaphod B said:
The problem is finding a low-priced stereo hi-fi amp with decent specs.

Almost everything out there is a home theater amp with too many channels and a bunch of unnecessary surround modes.

Recently I found an Onkyo 100W stereo receiver with decent specs, to replace a failed receiver. The model number is TX8522. Two channels only, a good set of inputs, etc. It sounds great through my above-average stereo speakers and cost around $250 at Circuit City. :)
Click to expand...

good point. the good hifi amps aren't usually cheap either.
 
COOLCAT said:
good point. the good hifi amps aren't usually cheap either.
Click to expand...
Yeah, when you start looking at "audiophile-quality" stereo power amps or integrated amps, those little 30-watt per channel all-tube boutique fuckers are pretty expensive.

Kinda like guitar amps. ;) :D

Personally, I don't think that much "quality" is necessary for a home recording environment (at least, not mine! :D).
 
hell, I was talking $250...that's boutique right?

it is in my HR place these days...damn..:p
 
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