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Behringer A800 Stereo Amplifier Review

Nightyard

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What would be better for home cinema? 5 behringer a800 or a comparatively priced 9 channel power amp?
 

1roger

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What would be better for home cinema? 5 behringer a800 or a comparatively priced 9 channel power amp?

maybe a 9 channel amp with an processing option to expand to 11 channels? then get a poweramp like a800 or similar.. and you have 11 powered channels. 7 base layer + 4 atmos + 1 or 2 subs
 

MediumRare

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thanks! looks to be a fair bit worse for music reproduction compared to the behringer though
How do you figure? I see the Crown has 8 dB better SINAD at 20 watts, slightly better SNR, better crosstalk, a hair higher output and a hair better FR. What is "a fair bit worse"?
 

1roger

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one channel have more distortion then the other and both channels have `high` levels of distortion as one move up in frequency. I see the tester conclude with the amp is preferably used as a sub amp. edit.. after looking at the chart more carefully bass/midbass/midrange(?) ..tested hz data jumps from 1khz to 5

..ive heard neither in person
 
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galileon

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Here ya go! Crown tops A800 in every category. Can't say there will be an audible difference.

hi please read my conclusions few posts ago, i have tested a+b on big studio speakers and believe me the A800 is way better than xls ..
 

MediumRare

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hi please read my conclusions few posts ago, i have tested a+b on big studio speakers and believe me the A800 is way better than xls ..
Appreciate your observations but we are kinda into controlled testing on this site. Or at least room measurements. With respect, your casual observations without evidence carry no weight.
 

galileon

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Appreciate your observations but we are kinda into controlled testing on this site. Or at least room measurements. With respect, your casual observations without evidence carry no weight.

Hi, yea but U should know that measurements are only half of what we are looking for, all of US we look for the best solutions not only prooven by measurements but also by ears, its the same for every equipment cables, DAC etc. when U compare two DAC's they have ideal measurements, but one sounds great other not and this is not questionable, about room acoustics is the same about two oscilators is the same etc. etd.

Best Regards
 

sergeauckland

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Hi, yea but U should know that measurements are only half of what we are looking for, all of US we look for the best solutions not only prooven by measurements but also by ears, its the same for every equipment cables, DAC etc. when U compare two DAC's they have ideal measurements, but one sounds great other not and this is not questionable, about room acoustics is the same about two oscilators is the same etc. etd.

Best Regards
It us very much questionable if the tests were not blind, ideally double-blind, and accurately (0.1dB) level matched. Anything less is totally open to question.

That the A800 is a decent transparent amplifier is clear from the measurements, but so are almost all other amps. As to DACs, it's hard to find one that isn't transparent, and has been for a very long time.
S
 

1roger

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well.. its apparant the guy own the xls and a800 both so he shouldn`t have much bias..and are free to test the amps extensively. and for him and his particular system there is less point imo.. to blind test if the sound quality between the amps are in his own words - huge
 

A800

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I own 6 A800s.
I'm not surprised it sounds better than the Crown XLS.
It's quite an exceptional amp, especially for the money involved.
 

Archaea

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I was pretty impressed with this amp in recent testing. If I was buying a stack of amps for a new multichannel home theater system, I think this is the amp I would buy. This conclusion after some testing yesterday, blind, with fast switching and a small group of guys. We tested this a800, the Crown XLS 1502, an older model Halfer amp, and the top rated Benchmark AHB2. Four enthusiasts concluded we couldn't reliably tell the difference in blind audition between these four amps with fast A/B/C/D switching. Our real world use case conclusion, coupled to the Behringer's passive cooling design (no fan noise), simple smart design choice to turn off all the LED lights (so your amp/(s) can be placed in your darkened HT room and remain unobtrusive), and a reasonable price? I'd likely vote with my wallet and buy this a800.

Here's a link for anyone interested.
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/ka...e-night-events.1496367/page-450#post-60198218
post 8989.
 
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cistercian

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I was pretty impressed with this amp in recent testing. If I was buying a stack of amps for a multichannel home theater system, I think this is the amp I would buy. This conclusion after some testing yesterday, blind, with fast switching and a small group of guys. We tested this a800, the Crown XLS 1502, and old model Halfer amp. The Benchmark AHB2 took part too. The fact that we couldn't tell the difference in blind audition between these amps, means that I'd vote with my wallet and buy this A800.

Here's a link for anyone interested.
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/ka...e-night-events.1496367/page-450#post-60198218
post 8989.
You are going to trigger the high end amp guys! I like Crown so I am using the XLS2502.
 

DualTriode

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You are going to trigger the high end amp guys! I like Crown so I am using the XLS2502.

Yes you will trigger the high end snobs. They claim to have hearing more sensitive than the audio analyzer. The cognitive dissonance will cause cold sweats and shortness of breath.

The speakers are the weak link in terms of distortion measured in parts per hundred rather than parts per thousand or higher like the amplifiers measure.

I had been using Alesis RA500 and RA150 amplifiers in a tri-amplifier rack.

Now I am using much better measuring Crown ComTech 210 Amplifiers, not that I can hear a difference.

Thanks DT
 

Dan1210

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Im using two a800’s and they are excellent value! Currently im demoing a Nord with the nc500mp and i can say that the noise floor is certainly lower on the Nord and i have a little bit more headroom.
My room is fully treated and my speakers are quite sensitive, the noise floor while not a deal breaker on the a800 was something I wanted to reduce.
Apart from that I think they are fantastic!
 

ezra_s

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I tried to plug it to my AVR, my AVR only has RCA out, so for that matter I am forced to use RCA cables, and past the first quarter input gain volume I start hearing a darn hum, thing which does not happen with RME ADI-2 DAC -> XLR - Behringer A800.

Is there any way to minimize this or I am stuck with it when using RCA?
 
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