Review and Measurements of Behringer A500 Amplifier

[sergeauckland]

Let's face it, Behringer product is just modern PA gear. I've got a few of their top DJ mixers and they are bargain priced, but HiFi, they are not.

There always has been a massive performance abyss between the best HiFi gear and sound reinforcement gear. One designed for ultimate S/N, low distortion and flat FR, the other designed for difficult loads, immunity to abuse and tons of power. Nothing has changed in the last 40 years, except PA gear has got really cheap. HiFi has not. Economies of scale I guess.

Take it for what it is. Enjoy the massive bang for your buck, but don't pretend it is anything other than cheap power for the masses.

Really? If a PA amplifier has 0.05% distortion at all powers and frequency and permitted loads, if it has a frequency response flat to 1dB between 20Hz -20kHz, if it has noise below -90dB, then it's a hifi amplifier. You don't need 0.0001% distortion, it's completely inaudible even when compared with 0.05%, you can't hear a 1dB drop at 20kHz once you're over 25, you can't hear noise below -60dB on programme material, let alone -90dB, so having a SOTA HiFi amplifier that does that is pure specsmanship. It's not necessary for fidelity.

S.

 

[Sal1950]

I used to stop in at Saturday Audio Exchange back in the 80s when all they had was used and B stock new gear.
Only open on Saturday then, the customers would be lined out the door trying to get a look at all the stuff on the shelfs and get a chance to talk to a salesman. I bought a few things there, like a pair of NAD 2400 refurb amps to drive my subwoofers.
Those were the good-ole-days of audio.
If your in the Chicagoland area stop by and check them out. Maybe a good sidetrip from Axpona 2019, cheap public trans will get you there.
http://www.saturdayaudio.com/about

 

[amirm]

Review of one of my older AVRs is up: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...view-and-measurements-of-denon-avr-4306.5087/

 

[RayDunzl]

If your in the Chicagoland area

I was, in 2001, came across a store that seemed to sell nothing but harps.

Unfortunately, they were closed at that moment, and I didn't get back to it.

I don't think this is it, the exterior isn't familiar, but jeez, talk about specialization.

I mean, do you really want to buy a harp?

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x880e2d25e08e638f:0xd394f93897fa6621!2m22!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m16!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!2m2!1m1!1e6!3m1!7e115!4shttps://lh5.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipPXrUNgz_dIH3j6R8EjlktLg4UhdAK_G2QCs7vM=w260-h175-n-k-no!5schicago harp store - Google Search&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipMXCvVGYcb-3-kEB42sPHeCM0XcZx1lb2huoUMN

Ok, some folks do...

 

[Blumlein 88]

What is it about Audio, even on the HT Multch side things are crazy.
On the other hand the Video market is a whole different field.
Would anyone want to trade their new 65" sub $1000 flat panel for anything they could get back in the 80-90s?

Someone just needs to remake those high def CRT (read vacuum tube) TVs in 80 inch or larger sizes for about $20K.

 

[Sal1950]

Someone just needs to remake those high def CRT (read vacuum tube) TVs in 80 inch or larger sizes for about $20K.

They'd weight about 20k lbs too. You ever see how thick the glass was on the 35-40 inch? Due to the odd shapes they have to get incredibly thick to avoid implosion under vacuum.. I had a Mitsubishi 35" that weight about 225 lbs. But for SD, in it's day it had a beautiful SOTA picture.
And was in a gorgeous oak wood console to boot.

 

[Sal1950]

I was, in 2001, came across a store that seemed to sell nothing but harps.

Unfortunately, they were closed at that moment, and I didn't get back to it.

I don't think this is it, the exterior isn't familiar, but jeez, talk about specialization.

I mean, do you really want to buy a harp?
.

I believe that's the Lyon & Healy manufacturer display, company based and built in Chicago.

 

[Wombat]

By fixing it when it is delivered new but broken?

How long ago?

 

[RayDunzl]

How long ago?

Maybe six years.

I bought DEC2496. It has a big old fashioned ROM in it.

It worked but wouldn't save settings, if I remember correctly.

The ROM was mis-inserted - splayed legs..

My buddy liked mine and bought one. His would reset itself randomly.

The ROM was mis-inserted - legs folded under.

Both have been fine since.

At least it was an easy fix.

 

[Sal1950]

They'd weight about 20k lbs too. You ever see how thick the glass was on the 35-40 inch? Due to the odd shapes they have to get incredibly thick to avoid implosion under vacuum.. I had a Mitsubishi 35" that weight about 225 lbs. But for SD, in it's day it had a beautiful SOTA picture.
And was in a gorgeous oak wood console to boot.

That post got me nostalgic for my Mitsu 35". I think I paid right at $1600 for it back in 1988
A huge expenditure on a TV for a blue collar guy like me. But I HAD to have it. LOL
Beautiful oakcabinetry, a decent stereo sound system for a builtin, and room for the VCR, cable box, etc underneath behind a smoked glass panel.
I cried when it let the smoke out but I got 12+ years from it so not so bad.
Only thing that really ticked me off was the timing. When it died all the big CRTs were gone, largish flat screens were still mondo expensive, and a 55" rear projector was all I could afford. Picture quality sucked compared to my Mitsu CRT even in high def. Yea HD did give it improved detail but the color, blacks, everything else sucked, but it was that or nothing. Then within about 2 years flatscreen prices had fallen like a stone and I was stuck with a huge monster that nobody wanted. Ended up giving it away before my move to FL

 

[confucius_zero]

Very nice of you to start reviewing speaker amplifiers! Looking forward to read more about it!

 

[Wombat]

That post got me nostalgic for my Mitsu 35". I think I paid right at $1600 for it back in 1988
A huge expenditure on a TV for a blue collar guy like me. But I HAD to have it. LOL
Beautiful oakcabinetry, a decent stereo sound system for a builtin, and room for the VCR, cable box, etc underneath behind a smoked glass panel.
I cried when it let the smoke out but I got 12+ years from it so not so bad.
Only thing that really ticked me off was the timing. When it died all the big CRTs were gone, largish flat screens were still mondo expensive, and a 55" rear projector was all I could afford. Picture quality sucked compared to my Mitsu CRT even in high def. Yea HD did give it improved detail but the color, blacks, everything else sucked, but it was that or nothing. Then within about 2 years flatscreen prices had fallen like a stone and I was stuck with a huge monster that nobody wanted. Ended up giving it away before my move to FL

Hey, you wore white socks?

 

[anmpr1]

Generally speaking, specs are meaningless in DACs, these days. At least from a hearing perspective. I recently read the results of a blind comparison among an internal PC DAC versus a couple of external DACs, and no one could reliably tell them apart when the levels were matched and the brands were hidden. But that's been the story for years. Once you know the brand, how much everything costs, and what a magazine reviewer or audio salesman thinks, you'll start to hear all sorts of things you didn't hear before. Go figure. Of course that doesn't mean you don't want to support good engineering, and buy quality, even if differences in what is being measured are inaudible. What this site shows is that price is not exactly correlative to good engineering.

Most amplifiers are going to be the same situation. Generally, the rule is that if you have crazy impedance speakers, then you'll want more beef. But you are not going to get sonic nirvana from an amplifier. As far as amp measurements go, the Audiograph Power Cube device (with the Audio Precision interface) gives a great graphic representation of real world amplifier ability, but its price is out of the question for reviewers.

The list of amp manufacturers no longer in business is pretty long. The best advice anyone can give is to to buy from a respected company if you think you will need parts, down the road. Or get something easy and open that you can repair. I have a set of circa 1959 designed David Hafler-Ed Laurent mono amplifiers that I often use. They are easy to fix if something goes wrong. And I can't deny that it is fun to watch them glow. Not as fun as blue power meters from Binghamton NY, maybe. But cheaper. LOL.

The late Mr. Aczel summed it up pretty well. The three significant determinates of your sound will be: a) how good the recording is; b) your speakers; and c) the room in which you are listening. I think the reason why people change amps, DACs, etc, and then think they hear big differences, is because the three things that do make a difference are very hard to change.

 

[Sal1950]

Hey, you wore white socks?

Nope, that's a picture off the web, didn't have any of my own set.

 

[daftcombo]

I found these measurements of the Behringer, not sure if it was posted here before.
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/proaudio/behringer-a500.html

They suggest the sound quality is better at max gain.

 

[sergeauckland]

I found these measurements of the Behringer, not sure if it was posted here before.
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/proaudio/behringer-a500.html

They suggest the sound quality is better at max gain.

That article is badly flawed. The main problem is that testing was done with the power supply at 206v, whereas the spec is 230v, so no surprise that it wouldn't meet spec.

Furthermore, they suggest that the three pots must have been badly adjusted. Two of the pots set the short-circuit / overload protection point, the other one the output stage bias. They would have to be horribly out of alignment to have the effect they claim.

I have three A500s in my home HiFi and another for PA use, and whilst my measurements indicate that the amplifier is hardly state of the art, it's entirely adequate for the task.

S

 

[daftcombo]

That article is badly flawed. The main problem is that testing was done with the power supply at 206v, whereas the spec is 230v, so no surprise that it wouldn't meet spec.

Furthermore, they suggest that the three pots must have been badly adjusted. Two of the pots set the short-circuit / overload protection point, the other one the output stage bias. They would have to be horribly out of alignment to have the effect they claim.

I have three A500s in my home HiFi and another for PA use, and whilst my measurements indicate that the amplifier is hardly state of the art, it's entirely adequate for the task.

S

Thanks. How do you control the volume of the three?

 

[sergeauckland]

Thanks. How do you control the volume of the three?

I use a normal preamp with volume control in front of a Behringer DEQ2496 that also acts as the ADC. That drives a DCX2496 DSP crossover and DACs which drive the A500s. The A500s have their volume controls set to 100% as a fixed reference point, the different driver sensitivities controlled by the DCX.

It would be better theoretically to have a 6 way volume control after the DCX instead of before the DEQ, but noise isn't a problem, and the way I do it is simpler.

S

 

[Anubis]

http://matrixhifi.com/contenedor_ppec_eng.htm

 

[Willem]

Yes the A 500 is a fascinating but controversial product: how low can you go before it becomes audible? Personally I am not that interested in scraping the bottom of the barrel. I would be far more interested in what Restorer John promised but apparently did not publish: tests of reputable traditional no nonsense amplifiers such as were produced in the past. My personal candidate for such a test would be a Quad 606-2 or its later incarnations. I have a 606-2 that I bought for 350 euro (refurbished) and I cannot find fault with it other than that it makes me lust for a pair of the bridged QMPs.