This is a review and detailed measurements of the Behringer EP2500 "pro" stereo amplifier. It was purchased used and kindly sent to me for testing. It is discontinued but seems to go for $300 or so used.
I like the front panel gain controls which I set to about 22 dB for the review. Clipping indicators are very nice to have and as you see later, are accurate. Same with signal detection. On the negative front, the amplifier is loud, very loud. Even at idle I can hear it from 10 meters/30 feet away. So don't even think about running it in the same room or finding a way to quiet it down. The amp is also very heavy at 36 pounds for a professional amp which these days are quite light by using switching technologies.
Back panel shows nice set of switches which enable the limiter or selection of two different high pass filters:
I disliked the cover over binding posts as it made it almost impossible to turn the speakon plugs to lock and unlock.
If you are not familiar with my amplifier measurements, please watch this tutorial:
Behringer EP2500 Amplifier Measurements
As usual we start with our 5 watt dashboard:
Typical of amplifiers in this class, distortion is high compared to consumer amplifiers. The causes SINAD to be dominated by it and underperform the average tested amplifier by whopping 20 dB. Noise performance is reasonable:
Back to distortion, it naturally rises with frequency:
Frequency response shows some drooping but not end of the world:
Crosstalk is one of the worst I have measured:
Power output is very healthy but distortion is ever present:
It also meets spec at 1 kHz:
Testing at 40 Hz shows same level of output:
I tried to run my 1% THD power sweep. It ran fine from 20,000 down to a few hundred hertz but then tripped the breaker in my industry power strip! We can see that it is very capable at lower frequencies:
For this reason, I did not attempt to test it with my reactive load. I am confident that in a fight with that load, the amp would win!
The amp is stable on power up:
There are not one, but two nasty power up pops:
Conclusions
The EP2500 delivers on what one expects from a professional amplifier: tons of power and mid 60s SINAD, comprised of distortion. It also does that in the form of noise. For the typical subwoofer duty, it would do well and very low cost but you would need to find a way to quiet it, and the pop it generates.
Personally I would pay a lot more and get a quiet amp but I know others want the price performance. To the extent you don't mind shopping used, the Behringer EP2500 does the job.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I like the front panel gain controls which I set to about 22 dB for the review. Clipping indicators are very nice to have and as you see later, are accurate. Same with signal detection. On the negative front, the amplifier is loud, very loud. Even at idle I can hear it from 10 meters/30 feet away. So don't even think about running it in the same room or finding a way to quiet it down. The amp is also very heavy at 36 pounds for a professional amp which these days are quite light by using switching technologies.
Back panel shows nice set of switches which enable the limiter or selection of two different high pass filters:
I disliked the cover over binding posts as it made it almost impossible to turn the speakon plugs to lock and unlock.
If you are not familiar with my amplifier measurements, please watch this tutorial:
Behringer EP2500 Amplifier Measurements
As usual we start with our 5 watt dashboard:
Typical of amplifiers in this class, distortion is high compared to consumer amplifiers. The causes SINAD to be dominated by it and underperform the average tested amplifier by whopping 20 dB. Noise performance is reasonable:
Back to distortion, it naturally rises with frequency:
Frequency response shows some drooping but not end of the world:
Crosstalk is one of the worst I have measured:
Power output is very healthy but distortion is ever present:
It also meets spec at 1 kHz:
Testing at 40 Hz shows same level of output:
I tried to run my 1% THD power sweep. It ran fine from 20,000 down to a few hundred hertz but then tripped the breaker in my industry power strip! We can see that it is very capable at lower frequencies:
For this reason, I did not attempt to test it with my reactive load. I am confident that in a fight with that load, the amp would win!
The amp is stable on power up:
There are not one, but two nasty power up pops:
Conclusions
The EP2500 delivers on what one expects from a professional amplifier: tons of power and mid 60s SINAD, comprised of distortion. It also does that in the form of noise. For the typical subwoofer duty, it would do well and very low cost but you would need to find a way to quiet it, and the pop it generates.
Personally I would pay a lot more and get a quiet amp but I know others want the price performance. To the extent you don't mind shopping used, the Behringer EP2500 does the job.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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