JRS
Major Contributor
Maybe I have been looking in all the wrong places but I can't seem to find a 100+ Watts/side stereo amp. Ultimately, I hope to get a 6 channel beast from Buckeye, but for now I just need 75-125W to drive some studio monitor 2 ways I'm building. Several class AB amps in that range from the big Japanese firms and a few from Emotiva,
So looking over the car stereo offerings there are nearly a dozen bridgeable 4 channel amps in the 50W/channel, that would allow me to biamp if I wanted to, or bridge each pair to get 150-200/side (at 13.2 V) for around $300 new. Add a 500W computer power supply for another 75 and I'm looking at a seriously capable amp for well under 250 if I go used.
So apart from aesthetics (if it works out I might look for a dressier computer case than the CPU) and potential fan noise (that can be remedied by buying a quiet fan)from the PS , where's the fly in the ointment. Most of these have THD stats in the
< 0.1 while S/N run from 85 to 105. Certainly not SOTA, but likely good enough. And yes I could look for a 5 channel discrete Denon or Yamaha of the right vintage off of e bay for a song, but doubt any will be nearly this capable.
Thoughts: spinning my wheels or am I on a path to some cost effective and excellent amplification. Some of the product would be so useful in the home arena--DSP amps with PEQ, LP and HP XO filters multich/bridgeable that aren't pro sound are on that list. streaming-->DAC-->amp and done!
So looking over the car stereo offerings there are nearly a dozen bridgeable 4 channel amps in the 50W/channel, that would allow me to biamp if I wanted to, or bridge each pair to get 150-200/side (at 13.2 V) for around $300 new. Add a 500W computer power supply for another 75 and I'm looking at a seriously capable amp for well under 250 if I go used.
So apart from aesthetics (if it works out I might look for a dressier computer case than the CPU) and potential fan noise (that can be remedied by buying a quiet fan)from the PS , where's the fly in the ointment. Most of these have THD stats in the
< 0.1 while S/N run from 85 to 105. Certainly not SOTA, but likely good enough. And yes I could look for a 5 channel discrete Denon or Yamaha of the right vintage off of e bay for a song, but doubt any will be nearly this capable.
Thoughts: spinning my wheels or am I on a path to some cost effective and excellent amplification. Some of the product would be so useful in the home arena--DSP amps with PEQ, LP and HP XO filters multich/bridgeable that aren't pro sound are on that list. streaming-->DAC-->amp and done!