AMP FOR HOUSE PARTIES

[admin_exported]

Basically I had an arcam alpha 9 and its been troddon on at a student house party and is broken and i need a new amp.

However before the amp broke it was overheating and hence not powerful enough and i couldnt turn it up loud enough (it goes loud enough but cant sustain the level without overheating)

Can you recommend me something much more powerful for under £200 which will easily overdrive my speakers and never get hot rather than the other way round.

Speakers are wharfedale valdus 500.

also want the amp to sound good for normal listening

is nad c370 worth a shout?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Audiolab 8000a. Thats what me and the missus use with some Xarus 5000's - (same as yours effectively

)

 

[chebby]

"Okay, which one of you trod on my b####y amp?"

 

[Anonymous]

If it's just to blast loud music,any old ting should do.if its playing that loud at party's,there's no point going for high end gear,

Just make sure its got loads of space to breath.

 

[Anonymous]

do you mean xarus 5000 or vardus vr 400 (both very similar)

does it ever overheat? even when on max? (by max i mean just before the cones start bottoming out with eq flat)

thanks a lot for the quick reply

 

[chunky70]

Here you are http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/A500.aspx

 

[mickeyjoef]

When I was a student, many moons ago, whenever we had a party, we would get some cheopo knacked gear from a 2nd hand shop, and hide the proper hifi. That way it did not really matter if the speakers got blown, or the amp had beer spilt on it.

 

[Anonymous]

hifidave:
If it's just to blast loud music,any old ting should do.if its playing that loud at party's,there's no point going for high end gear,

Just make sure its got loads of space to breath.

i use it mainly for normal listening, so i dont want to use pa, but once every couple of weeks i need for some all night afterparties...will only pa stuff keep cool for 4-5 hours continual high level playback?

 

[Frank Harvey]

running123:
do you mean xarus 5000 or vardus vr 400 (both very similar)

does it ever overheat? even when on max? (by max i mean just before the cones start bottoming out with eq flat)

thanks a lot for the quick reply

Sorry, Xarus - edited. We just wanted a party speaker, and the best amp I could think of to drive them was the 8000a - works very well as the amp never really needs to go above 10/11 o'clock on the volume, so it still has a bit more to kick out of we need it. We run it for a good 4/5 hours usually.

 

[Anonymous]

Try a low output valve amplifier at about the 18W class. It won't go particularly loud at parties, but your neighbours will appreciate the lower levels of sound.

 

[Anonymous]

If I were to use the behringer 500a, is this a good choice? do i need a pre amp? ive seen a video on youtube where distortion increases dramatically using this amp if the volume contolls are moved to less than full. Will this amp sound as good as the arcam? thanks for any help

 

[Paul.]

Marantz PM7200 seem to have dropped below £200 at auction on ebay, It made a fantastic party amp whilst I was at uni, I found its power bottomless!

 

[Anonymous]

running123:If I were to use the behringer 500a, is this a good choice?

It's extraordinary value for money.

do i need a pre amp?

Yes. Or at least a line level volume control, if you don't need to change between sources.

Will this amp sound as good as the arcam?

With at least twice the power, it will definitely play louder with less distortion.

 

[Frank Harvey]

running123:If I were to use the behringer 500a, is this a good choice?A colleague of mine purchased one temporarily - he felt the power for the money was good, but quality-wise wasn't anything special at the price.