Ra150? Ra300?

[andydeedpoll]

hullo!

i'm looking at getting a new amp for my monitors (mine's pretty naff, it's just a consumer hi-fi style thing) and i'd like to upgrade... i'm a big skint, and so was looking at the Alesis amps. i think they'll both do the trick to power my Alesis Monitor One speakers, but would i notice any real difference if i was using the 150 watts from the RA300, instead of the 75 watts from the RA150? i assume i would? the speakers "Handle 120 watts program, 200 watts peak" ... that doesn't mean all that much to me, to be honest but if it helps anyone help me, then there we go!

thanks for any help,

Andy.

 

[dementedchord]

IMO... there wont be much diff between the 2 alesis amps... if anything a bit of punch in the bottom... but what kinda "hi-fi"amp was it... if it wasn't roached ya might not get much more outta either alesis compared to a good hi-fi...

 

[andydeedpoll]

IMO... there wont be much diff between the 2 alesis amps... if anything a bit of punch in the bottom... but what kinda "hi-fi"amp was it... if it wasn't roached ya might not get much more outta either alesis compared to a good hi-fi...

i'm not sure exactly, but it is/was pretty old, and from germany (had an adaptor to allow me to use it in britain ) - i just happened to find it in my house, asked my brother whether it would work (he knows some of the ins and outs of this stuff, though he's never used the alesis amps) and used it since then, but always with the intention of replacing it.

by 'adding more punch' do you mean that the higher powered one would do that? or both would?

ta!

Andy.

 

[dementedchord]

yeah meant to say the bigger one might have more punch.... (in fact should have more) and save that old amp... it might turn out to be something special if you can research it some.... audiofool guy's get pretty anal about quality... and the germans more so... (i know i'm 1/2 german myself) trueth be told for near field monitoring you dont need all that much power.... my powered tannoys for instance have like 2X's 50/75 watts or along those lines and they are more than enough for my set-up.... where the power debate really belongs is in the PA stuff... for monitors it's about quality and transparency....

 

[tmix]

I have the Monitor ones and the RA100 (I believe).
I have to turn up the power amp 75 percent to get a reasonable volume and with it you get a small amount of hiss.

For the price , you might be able to pick up something like a Hafler 150 - 350 per channel for around 200 - 250 bucks used .
I think you would be a lot happier.
I just bought a Hafler P-7000 for $275 shipped (used) 350 watts per channel into 8 ohms. You got to watch the model though. Some (like mine) have cooling fans, so if you dont have it in an equipment room you'll be sorry.

 

[mikeh]

I have an RA100 and an RA300 (the 100 was the first amp I purchased as a "package" with a set of Monitor Ones, many years ago) - the 300 was something I was able to get at below cost when Mars went out of business a few years ago.

Naturally the 300 provides more power, so you don't have to turn it up as far, which reduces the potential for noise. The extra power may help a little to push the low end - but I don't find a distinct difference between the two amps - other than a little more power.

Alesis are not considered among the better power amps but for the price, Alesis is not bad.