Behringer EP2500 Stereo Amplifier Review

[steve f]

I have a completely new Behringer EP4000... The fan noise is a vacuum cleaner and can be heard from far away

I replaced the fan with a quiet one by Papst. The fan used by Behringer is a 24V unit, which eliminates 12V computer fans. Since any pro amp in a home isn’t working hard, a quiet low speed fan works fine.

 

[4Sentry]

Behringer EP2500 = Behringer EP4000 = Tapco J2500 = QSC RMX2450 = Phonic MAX2500 = (Peavey PV2600 not shure)
Fan: BP802524HL (ball bearing) 4000 min-1, 95 m³, 55 cfm, 41 dB - changing results often in bad cooling. Instead of this you can make the fan adjustable with a i. e. Zalman Fanmate 2 (manual adjustable). Works perfect and has all the cables, but no longer available.
The amp has a strange protection: A high power TRIAC BTA41 at speaker out triggers a short circuit that blows the 25A fuse in speaker out. Due to this there is no relais at speaker out and so no problems with this…

 

[Jonas_h]

Behringer EP2500 = QSC RMX2450

Also performance wise? On paper, the RMX2450 performs better than the Behringer measures here.

 

[Old_School_Brad]

Altså performance wise? On paper, the RMX2450 performs better than the Behringer measures here.

True. It looks QSC uses a considerably larger transformer than Behringer. The boards are also different.

 

[Waxx]

The QSC RMX series (and it's ancestors) are the originals that Berhinger tried to copy (but not litterally), but did not succeed. It's on it's own not that bad, but it's definitly not a QSC quality. But it's true they are very similar in topology. It's the quality that is different.

 

[4Sentry]

Take a look at the schematics. Besides different versions they are identical. I guess there is an chinese manufacturer behind.

 

[Jonas_h]

Could be interesting if someone has a RMX2450A to send in for testing (hint hint! )

 

[Waxx]

Could be interesting if someone has a RMX2450A to send in for testing (hint hint! )

They are not known to be extreme low noise, but they are workhorses with decent sound, that are not affraid of some deep and long bass notes on high volume (aka they have a psu that can handle that) or bad conditions. They are very popular for smaller reggae and dub and rave soundsystems for that down here.

 

[Waxx]

Take a look at the schematics. Besides different versions they are identical. I guess there is an chinese manufacturer behind.

schematics are not fully the same, but very similar. But QSC is build with more durable components and better transformer that saturates less fast and that makes the biggest difference. I've used both, and they are not the same in reality. A QSC don't quiet if you push them (reasonable) hard and is build like a tank. A Behringer start to distort early as the psu runs out of steam and breaks down all the time when used in rough conditions. It can be a good amp if you use them at less than half power in an controlled indoor condition, but it's not an ultrareliable workhorse like the QSC RMX series is.

 

[livinon2wheels]

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.
View attachment 429558
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:
View attachment 429559
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:
View attachment 429560
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:
View attachment 429563

Back to distortion, it naturally rises with frequency:
View attachment 429564
View attachment 429565

Frequency response shows some drooping but not end of the world:
View attachment 429566

Crosstalk is one of the worst I have measured:
View attachment 429567

Power output is very healthy but distortion is ever present:
View attachment 429568
View attachment 429569
It also meets spec at 1 kHz:
View attachment 429570

Testing at 40 Hz shows same level of output:
View attachment 429571

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:

View attachment 429573

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:
View attachment 429574

There are not one, but two nasty power up pops:
View attachment 429575

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.

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I would think one of the Crown pro-amps would compare favorably on price and outperform this thing in every category. Have you ever tested any of the Crowns?

 

[Old_School_Brad]

I would think one of the Crown pro-amps would compare favorably on price and outperform this thing in every category. Have you ever tested any of the Crowns?

Three of the Class D (DriveCore) models of the budget line have been tested here so far.
But also one XTi model that is classic Class A/B with tracking power supply.

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