Behringer a500 as a subwoofer amp?

[Raptor550]

I have almost built a box for a dayton hf390 and I found out my amp is bust. I was thinking of something like a bash 500 plate amp, but I do not have alot of cash to work with. Right now I havent carved a hole in my box for an amp so I thought of useing an external amp for now.
The beringer a500 briged as a mono amplifyer seems to me like a good idea with nearly 500 watts into 8-Ohm on a 4-Ohm driver? That way someday i might be able to get a more powerful plate amp later and still use the beringer as a stereo amp later. any thoughts? sudgestions? reasons why I should not use the a500 in mono on a 15 inch subwoofer?

For the record I will be playing content through my computor which has an M-audio revolution 7.1 soundcard. It has sub-lowpass built into the software drivers so I shouldent need the fancy plate amp crossover stuff right?

[joecarrow]

If you're on a tight budget, have you considered looking at used gear?

As far as I can tell, there wouldn't be anything wrong with using the A500 as a sub driver- it's generally thought of more as an all-around amp, though. I've talked to people who have used it with fairly high-end speakers and been extremely satisfied with it.

If you can tweak the sub filters in software, you could be much better off than just a plate amp. It's not hard to get some parametric EQ in software- very useful for room modes.

[Johnloudb]

Does anyone know about this:

https://web.archive.org/web/20080512144343/http://www.thebuttkicker.com/home_theater/products/bka1000-4a.htm

It's a class D amp, no fan, designed for bass shakers. No distortion specs.

I'm also in need of a high powered sub amp.

[dawg1161]

Used it with a TC Sounds 15" TC2000 SVC 4ohm in a rather large Sonosub.
The amp (Buttkicker) worked great for this application. Never really turned the gain up past 12:00.

[Deward Hastings]

The A500 is probably going to be current limited into 4 ohms, so bridging it (which just gives you higher voltage) may not give you anything more than you get from one channel. It will still push an RSS390 to its excursion limits at 20 Hz. in a 4-5 ft cu. box. And you'll have a second channel for when you add a second RSS390 . . .

[---k---]

Our friend Chuck (Chas98 ) tested the buttkicker on his bench (along with a bunch of other amps). See:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11032546#post11032546

As for the A500, I'm not sure how well it would work as a sub amp, but if you're interested in a gently used one, drop me a pm with a price.

[EdL]

VT-3 Amp

You may want to consider the VT-3 Amp. $90 + shipping would be hard to beat. Also be advised of the x-over requirements included in the text.

https://web.archive.org/web/20101203164006/http://home.comcast.net/~jhidley/

[Johnloudb]

Our friend Chuck (Chas98 ) tested the buttkicker on his bench (along with a bunch of other amps). See:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11032546#post11032546

As for the A500, I'm not sure how well it would work as a sub amp, but if you're interested in a gently used one, drop me a pm with a price.

Thanks for the link. So, that's why they didn't publish distortion specs. :roll:
Although, when not pushed it might do better.

[looneybomber]

You may want to consider the VT-3 Amp. $90 + shipping would be hard to beat. Also be advised of the x-over requirements included in the text.

http://home.comcast.net/~jhidley/

I was thinking that same thing. And with his computer taking care of the XO and EQ, he'd have no problem using that amp.

[mpotoka]

I've seen ThomasW suggest this amp a number of times:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Nady-XA900-Pro-Stereo-Power-Amp?sku=482052

900 watts at 4 ohms--similar price to the A500

[impala454]

I currently have an A500 on sub duty driving 2x 4ohm 10" drivers, and it works great for that box. It is nearly pegged though. It might not work as well for a larger more demanding sub. When I build a bigger sub I will probably set the A500 aside for LR duty.

[JonP]

The A500 is probably going to be current limited into 4 ohms, so bridging it (which just gives you higher voltage) may not give you anything more than you get from one channel. It will still push an RSS390 to its excursion limits at 20 Hz. in a 4-5 ft cu. box. And you'll have a second channel for when you add a second RSS390 . . .

I don't have my spec sheet handy, but I think it's at least rated for 4 ohms, and somewhere around here, there's a thread with a link to an audio mag's test article. As I recall, the A500 didn't get saggy till 2 ohms.. they were pretty impressed with how it did on their fancy european amp tester that used reactive as well as resistive loads. Though do look it up, my memory was never what it used to be.... :roll:

[Raptor550]

Wow, allot of good ideas, this might be the most handy bargain sub amp advice thread on this site!

The test specs on the buttkicker seem to rule that out.

I looked at the NHT and while it looks appealing having two fans would be unwise for me I think, I don't have a separate room for my rack so this would probably add bothersome noise unless the fans run silent, but my computer is noisy enough at it is.

The sunfire amps sound like a great Idea and I will probably go with that. I double checked my sound card and was amazed at all the sub features it has, the only thing its limited on is phase which is a -180% switch on the other hand it does have a distance by feet slider which if I am not mistaking is just a phase adjuster? or is it only a delay?

All the A500 advice has been really helpful also, its not out of the running, but perhaps the sunfire VT-3 Amp offers more suitable power?

Ohh yeah, and for the record, I believe the article JonP was looking at was This .

[---k---]

Raptor,
I would respond to your PM, but your mail box is full.
I posted the A500 in the Pawn Shop for $160 + shipping. That is like $40 off the PE price. Empty your PM box and let me know either way.

[joecarrow]

it does have a distance by feet slider which if I am not mistaking is just a phase adjuster? or is it only a delay?

Phase at a single frequency is just delay. A real phase adjustment will change the delay with frequency. Example- if you phase shift a signal by 180 degrees, at 100 hz it's delayed by 1/200th of a second, and at 1,000 hz it's delayed by 1/2,000th of a second.

A phase adjustment might be more useful if you're trying to compensate for different acoustic slopes between the sub and mains- a delay should be just fine if you're only accounting for difference in position.

Edit- you were right, the "feet" referred to in most devices (my receiver, anyway) is talking about a straight time delay represented by the length of time it takes sound to travel a foot.

[JonP]

Ohh yeah, and for the record, I believe the article JonP was looking at was This .

Yep...

[Victor]

I recently had a chance to look at the schematics of M500. Well, I would not recommend this amp for sub duty. The amp uses a single rail power supply and its output is capacitor-coupled. This is weird, given that those circuit ideas are way older then me. Why build the amp this way?

If you consider the load of 8 Ohm the low frequencies will start getting cut at about 10-15 Hz. In itself this is not a huge problem, but personally I am not comfortable with this.

Also, the frequency response will not be flat, but load dependant. On tests with resistive loads this will not be evident, but with a real driver, I would guess that the response anomalies will be present. Not a problem for the sub though.

Another thing, - the amp uses, I think, 4 potentiometers internally to control bias, offset, etc. This does not speak well for potential reliability. Why so many pots? I hate pots. My next amp will have zero pots.

Otherwise the amp works well and I do have 2 of them, temporally doing High and Mid-range duty, while I am contemplating my new amps. Certainly this is the best amp for the money and so far it worked very well indeed.
Victor

[Raptor550]

Victor: M500? do you mean the A500 or are you referring to a different amp? What is your mid/high duty, 120hz and up?

[Victor]

Victor: M500? do you mean the A500 or are you referring to a different amp? What is your mid/high duty, 120hz and up?

... indeed I meant A500.

My 'midrange' is a dipole array of 4 Scan Speak 25W8565 per side. It works from 85 Hz up to 490 Hz. My "highs' is a RD-75 driver in a dipole configuration. It picks up from 490 Hz and is equilazed to be flat to 17 kHz. You can see my set-up below:



I used a heavily modified DCX2496 to control everything.