Because of their name, they have made it difficult to gind lut much about their stuff without seeing a million results that dont apply.
I know theyre not an amp thats made for traditional amp use in that they were originally made for top of the line phone conferencing. Since that field has grown vastly, i see these amps and signal processors popping up for sake for really cheap. I have owned a BiAmp Audia Flex for about 8 years and only tested it to see if it worked. Its like their DSP for their systems. Complicated and disappointing are 2 words that come to mind, but i have said that about every DSP made.
The one thing that keeps their price in check, is that they use block terminals for most every connection except for when they offer TOSLINK inputs. Since that's now considered an old type of sound connector (probably the best thing ever for cabling sound) and the confusion most people have for amplifiers using non RCA types or connectors and the fact that they have little documentation on how to connect them, adds to their low prices. I have looked at a CDA 1812 (which was supposed tp be a QSC CDA 1824) when a seller stopped by with 2 of them that were mistitled in his ad. I passed since i couldnt find anything about them till i realized that they were built by BiAmp.
They have made a pile of amps over the years the 1812 is rated @ 120wpch x8 @ 8 ohms. Theres nothing that rates them into a bridged output or any other load. Im certainly not going to try running my Martin Logan ESLs on an amp thats only rated at 8 ohms and just connecting it to my all XRL system would have taken hours just making new connectors and i still wasnt interested since i thought i was looking at QSC cinema amps that are bridgable into 4 ohms @ 700wpch and put out 175wpch @ 8 ohms stable to 2 ohms. But they also use block terminals and TOSLINK which again will keep the prices lower than other amps with the same power and have RCA, ¼" and\or XLR connectors.
They have an amp thats rated @ 2400w. 1200wpch @ 8 ohms but have no output ratings for other loads (I doubt the ratings are rms). They have dozens that are rated modestly around 100 to 350wpch in all types of configurations of 2 - 4 - 8 channels with bridging and low ohm ratings and i suspect that there will be a round of these posted for sale soon since the new tech has taken form and will soon be replacing the old systems.
Since they come from a telephone and conferencing communications manufacturer that isnt known commonly and are made by an obscure company who is tight lipped about their products (requiring classes to learn how to use their stuff) and can end up being complex to connect for most people, it would be nice to see some real world tests so we all know if these are worth snatching up when we see them?
Many specs show 100db or higher noise floor and 0.5% thd both channels 20-20KHz with 80db crosstalk and over 500 damping factors, most watt ratings are bogus from what ive seen. They rate with a 3ms pulse @ 1KHz - 1 channel driven. So divide by 4 on every watt rating (at minimum). Even so, a 300rms @ 8 ohms rating would still be good to go as long as theyre hitting the other ratings and can run a 2 ohm load.
Prices i saw for 2 of the 120w x 8 was $70 each. I figure theyre really 30wrms and bridging will only get 60wrms, but i could be wrong,
I know theyre not an amp thats made for traditional amp use in that they were originally made for top of the line phone conferencing. Since that field has grown vastly, i see these amps and signal processors popping up for sake for really cheap. I have owned a BiAmp Audia Flex for about 8 years and only tested it to see if it worked. Its like their DSP for their systems. Complicated and disappointing are 2 words that come to mind, but i have said that about every DSP made.
The one thing that keeps their price in check, is that they use block terminals for most every connection except for when they offer TOSLINK inputs. Since that's now considered an old type of sound connector (probably the best thing ever for cabling sound) and the confusion most people have for amplifiers using non RCA types or connectors and the fact that they have little documentation on how to connect them, adds to their low prices. I have looked at a CDA 1812 (which was supposed tp be a QSC CDA 1824) when a seller stopped by with 2 of them that were mistitled in his ad. I passed since i couldnt find anything about them till i realized that they were built by BiAmp.
They have made a pile of amps over the years the 1812 is rated @ 120wpch x8 @ 8 ohms. Theres nothing that rates them into a bridged output or any other load. Im certainly not going to try running my Martin Logan ESLs on an amp thats only rated at 8 ohms and just connecting it to my all XRL system would have taken hours just making new connectors and i still wasnt interested since i thought i was looking at QSC cinema amps that are bridgable into 4 ohms @ 700wpch and put out 175wpch @ 8 ohms stable to 2 ohms. But they also use block terminals and TOSLINK which again will keep the prices lower than other amps with the same power and have RCA, ¼" and\or XLR connectors.
They have an amp thats rated @ 2400w. 1200wpch @ 8 ohms but have no output ratings for other loads (I doubt the ratings are rms). They have dozens that are rated modestly around 100 to 350wpch in all types of configurations of 2 - 4 - 8 channels with bridging and low ohm ratings and i suspect that there will be a round of these posted for sale soon since the new tech has taken form and will soon be replacing the old systems.
Since they come from a telephone and conferencing communications manufacturer that isnt known commonly and are made by an obscure company who is tight lipped about their products (requiring classes to learn how to use their stuff) and can end up being complex to connect for most people, it would be nice to see some real world tests so we all know if these are worth snatching up when we see them?
Many specs show 100db or higher noise floor and 0.5% thd both channels 20-20KHz with 80db crosstalk and over 500 damping factors, most watt ratings are bogus from what ive seen. They rate with a 3ms pulse @ 1KHz - 1 channel driven. So divide by 4 on every watt rating (at minimum). Even so, a 300rms @ 8 ohms rating would still be good to go as long as theyre hitting the other ratings and can run a 2 ohm load.
Prices i saw for 2 of the 120w x 8 was $70 each. I figure theyre really 30wrms and bridging will only get 60wrms, but i could be wrong,
