Behringer A800 Stereo Amplifier Review

[DSJR]

As regards some amps maybe sounding 'surgical,' I note that many people elsewhere really rate Prima Luna amps which do look good when powered I must admit (I'm a sucker for them valve/tube things and grew up with such ). Thing is, The Stereophile review paints a ghastly picture for frequency response and distortion into typical louspeaker loads, yet people love 'em with the equalisation they do into real world speakers. After these, no wonder a typical solid state amp could sound 'surgical.'

 

[LTig]

As regards some amps maybe sounding 'surgical,' I note that many people elsewhere really rate Prima Luna amps which do look good when powered I must admit (I'm a sucker for them valve/tube things and grew up with such ). Thing is, The Stereophile review paints a ghastly picture for frequency response and distortion into typical louspeaker loads, yet people love 'em with the equalisation they do into real world speakers. After these, no wonder a typical solid state amp could sound 'surgical.'

Just add a power resistor of 1 to 4 Ohm in series to the output of the solid state amp and "enjoy" the same loudness curve. Tone controls though make more sense.

 

[sergeauckland]

Do you mean Behringer a800 is good quality?

Yes, very much so. It does exactly what it needs to do, and no more. It's made down to a cost, so the stuff that's expensive, like casework, knobs, etc are cheap, the electronics are good enough, so yes, I see the A800 as being of good quality.

My A500s are now close to 10 years old, and look like the day they were bought, but then they have just been screwed into my rack with the volume knobs at 100%, so haven't had any abuse.

S.

 

[Filio45]

Hi. Assume that channel input 1 (RCA or XLR) at the rear is connected to right ch on my source? It is marked red, which would imply right ch, but that means physically crossing over cables to many sources like my ADI-2, which is somewhat unelegant. Edit: yeah channel test confirms red is right unsurprisingly

 

[Specialcause]

Not surprised, as those small pots don't have any great consistency, but then they don't have to. In an amplifier like the A800, as for the A500 before it, the pots are there for convenience in setting up levels, not as an operational volume control. It therefore doesn't matter what the actual physical position of the knob is, just as long as one can set the gains to what's required.

I accept it would be nice if they did track, and I'm sure you can find examples of the A800 where tracking is near perfect, it's just random, some you win and some you don't. It would cost a lot more to provide pots that match as they would either have to be of much higher specification or be factory-matched, neither solution is attractive when for the intended application it doesn't matter.

A wise person at Philips once remarked to me that quality is fitness for purpose. Once that's done, anything more is unnecessary.

S.

How are gain levels set so that the channels match? Can it be done ‘by eye’ using the LED meter? Or is it better play a test tone and measure the voltage output whilst the pots are adjusted to what will be different positions? With the pots set at full do the channel levels match or is there some discrepancy because they aren't factory-matched?

Phil

 

[sergeauckland]

How are gain levels set so that the channels match? Can it be done ‘by eye’ using the LED meter? Or is it better play a test tone and measure the voltage output whilst the pots are adjusted to what will be different positions? With the pots set at full do the channel levels match or is there some discrepancy because they aren't factory-matched?

Phil

At full position, the channels match very closely, any difference is not enough to worry about, as the pot wiper is in contact with the end-stop. The only difference then comes from the gain matching of the circuit, which is very close.
At anything other than full setting, you can match the two channels by ear by playing a mono signal and adjusting the pots for a central image. That will get you quite close enough. If you really want to be accurate, then you'll have to use a meter on the 'speaker terminals, but that then relies on the loudspeakers being accurately matched, so adjusting for a central image will probably get you nearer to a balance than using a meter on the terminals.

Using a SPL meter is likely to be less accurate than doing it by ear, as even small movements of the meter will give large differences in reading.

Bear in mind that these pots are not lockable or even very stiff, so whatever setting you get to, other than fully on, can easily be moved when just handling the amplifier or doing any dusting. Full-on is my suggestion, which gives you a +4dBu (1.4v) sensitivity, which will match most external pre-amps fairly well.

S.

 

[geoemm]

Does anyone here have an ICEPower 125ASX2 based amp, I am wondering whether to go with A800 or 125asx2

 

[MediumRare]

Does anyone here have an ICEPower 125ASX2 based amp, I am wondering whether to go with A800 or 125asx2

My advice is wait a week, interesting reviews are coming.

 

[geoemm]

My advice is wait a week, interesting reviews are coming.

ohhhh. i can delay my pleasure

 

[galileon]

hello everyone,

I want to share my experience about A800 that i just purchased yesterday. Before i was reading and reading about what amps upgrade i can do for my custom 3'way studio speakers.
So i was using 3 pieces XLS 1002 to drive those speakers in highly treated studio control room.
Yesterday just switched to 3 X A800 for lows, mids, and highs.

What i can tell, XLS 1002 vs A800.

A800 way better image, way better separation
A800 smoother but in good way
A800 more details
A800 more linear response ( hearing )
A800 i dont know how it is possible but when i am panning i have much better perception now i mean its like the spectrum of tracks is more consistent between two channels and when i pan, its going to be only quiter but the energy is the same .. hard to explain sorry my english is just so so
A800 almost deadly silent

The weaknes point i found at A800 is signinficant lower punch for lows.
At the end of day i will keep XLS for lows ( crossover around 370hz ) and A800 for mids and highs.
The another issue about A800 meybe is the temerature, i have stacked amps, DAC and pc at the rack and the A800 going to be really hot, must manage it.

As i readed here some posts about comparing this two amps i must say, A800 is huge upgrade over XLS, the difference is not small its HUGE.

Thank U i hope i could help someone to make better decision.

Cheers.

 

[Bruce Morgen]

hello everyone,

I want to share my experience about A800 that i just purchased yesterday. Before i was reading and reading about what amps upgrade i can do for my custom 3'way studio speakers.
So i was using 3 pieces XLS 1002 to drive those speakers in highly treated studio control room.
Yesterday just switched to 3 X A800 for lows, mids, and highs.

What i can tell, XLS 1002 vs A800.

A800 way better image, way better separation
A800 smoother but in good way
A800 more details
A800 more linear response ( hearing )
A800 i dont know how it is possible but when i am panning i have much better perception now i mean its like the spectrum of tracks is more consistent between two channels and when i pan, its going to be only quiter but the energy is the same .. hard to explain sorry my english is just so so
A800 almost deadly silent

The weaknes point i found at A800 is signinficant lower punch for lows.
At the end of day i will keep XLS for lows ( crossover around 370hz ) and A800 for mids and highs.
The another issue about A800 meybe is the temerature, i have stacked amps, DAC and pc at the rack and the A800 going to be really hot, must manage it.

As i readed here some posts about comparing this two amps i must say, A800 is huge upgrade over XLS, the difference is not small its HUGE.

Thank U i hope i could help someone to make better decision.

Cheers.

Thanks for the testimony -- very informative and much appreciated!

 

[galileon]

Hi, no problem i am really happy to share it as every improovement over my setup is a big positive energy injection for me and i know how hard it is to find out this small things and why i am so excited, thats because now i really like to listen and play with mixing, the sound of XLS was ... very artificial and i was not playing with tracks or so, just was thinking what the hell is wrong, i readed a lot of posts over forums and many people say that there is no difference between those amps or some says, that they are so modern and i will not make things better replacing amps to others so i was confused what is wrong about sound that i dont like to mix or listen to it. Of course i am not saying that they are ideal or so but the improovement is HUGE, for example now when i mix i have everything controlled, reverbs are where they should be, the clarity is amazing i hear every small pot touch or reverb tail, wideness and when playing whole mix tracks i still hear this reverb details very well on high volumes too. I am listening to my speakers from 2.4 meter and the details are the same than when i was listening to ATC in near field, just the sound stage is way huge.

About this bas issue, i will try to test with another DAC and thats why i will keep 3'rd A800 for later. Now using prism DAC and its stunning converter but when i was comparing it to others i heard that lows ( 20 - 30 hz ) were little weaker than in other ones, so meybe there is nothing wrong about A800 bass response just XLS is pumping little more. A800 lows sounds more analog thats for sure, but less punchy in my setup so .. i will check it for sure.

Have a nice day!

Thanks for the testimony -- very informative and much appreciated!

 

[1roger]

much appreciated views galileon. did you ever try out..or consider vertical bi-amping as well. im toying around at home with the same things
have quite a few amps.. but not the A800 just yet

 

[galileon]

much appreciated views galileon. did you ever try out..or consider vertical bi-amping as well. im toying around at home with the same things
have quite a few amps.. but not the A800 just yet

Hi,

I never thougth about, even this is something totally new for me U think its worth to try ? Do U have hear some nice result using this technique ?
In my case this is mostly cable switching so few minutes to go As i suppose, the class D amp have separate circuits for each channel but the power transformer is common for each side .. i will definatelly check for mids/high as i am in 3'way setup.

Cheers
Rafal

 

[1roger]

ive had luck with it.. but if you`re curious you just have to try and see or yourself..what sounds better ..to your own ears.
in short you get the usual benefits of one physical amp per speaker..monoblocks(minus the power). combined with an additional benefit of 1 amp per driver on a 2 way system.
now if the speaker you own is a traditional 3 way driver setup, with regular internal crossovers(one freq range for each driver) the usual method is one channel of the amplifier for tweeter/midrange and the other for the bass driver(s). my plan was to get a couple of a800 to test at home for myself. but life got in the way and the little project were left hanging. the amp was also out stock for quite a while. have to add.. ive never tried bi-amping on class d

 

[galileon]

ive had luck with it.. but if you`re curious you just have to try and see or yourself..what sounds better ..to your own ears.
in short you get the usual benefits of one physical amp per speaker..monoblocks. combined with the additional benefit of 1 amp per driver on a 2 way system.
now if the speaker you own is a traditional 3 way driver setup, with regular internal crossovers(one freq range for each driver) the usual method is one channel of the amplifier for tweeter/midrange and the other for the bass driver(s). my plan was to get a couple of a800 to test at home for myself. but life got in the way and the little project were left hanging. the amp was also out stock for quite a while. have to add.. ive never tried bi-amping on class d

hello,

I am currently using 3 amps 1 for each 'band' , for lows XLS1002 , mid a800 and highs a800, so in vertical setup i can drive mids/highs togeather at side ( one amp ) but actually they work on quite low load as i see on meters ( tweeter almost not using power ) so .. in my case its matter of this transformer to drive one side meybe it will make some difference or no

 

[1roger]

one option is just to leave the xls as it is then(as you said?) and try vertical bi amping on the rest. you`ll likely run into gain/volume problems though.. between the bass and tweeter/midrange. as you are combining different makes/models of amps into one system

 

[1roger]

if I were to bet on it ..for sound quality/coherence and practicality - perhaps one physical amp for each speaker might be better

..or your original setup obviously

 

[galileon]

hi, the gain and volume is not issue, the issue is time delay of amp, for example crown have some few ms delay due to internal crossover but i manage all of this details (Time delay, gains etc. ) via Dsp ( Acourate Convolver ) will check tommorow and will come back with results

 

[1roger]

allright looking forward to it