Quiet Pro Amp for Sub Duty?

[Bing Fung]

I'm thinking of using a pro amp for sub duties, however I'm a bit concerned with fan noise. My equipment is in the same room as my viewing area in an open rack.

Can anybody recommend a pro amp that they have used, and are happy with the level of fan noise from it (being quiet).

I would like something that is about >600w per channel @ 4 ohms and bridgable to >1000W 4 ohm mono. Somthing like a Crown 402 or simular.

I'm actually intriuged by the Behringer EP2500,

http://www.behringer.com/EP2500/index.cfm?lang=ENG

However I hear the fan is rather loud.

[ThomasW]

Bing,

You'll find all the fan cooled amps annoying. Options are one of the newer high output plate amps, or of course the 'gold standard' which is the Crown K1/K2.

You might be surprised how well your Bryston does, so try it first......

You DO NOT need a kilowatt to power a BP1203.

When building and testing the AS-15 and the various subs using the BP1503, we used one channel of a Aragon 8008ST. That's roughly 400 watts into 4 ohms. We were shaking the whole house with that amount of power.

[taz13]

Behringer Fan noise

I have the EP1500 that I use for a sub and I do not find it that loud, how ever it is not in the same room as my watching and listening, but the room it is in is my computer/equipment room. I normally leave the power on and I find that the fan noise is far lower then either my computer fans or the background noise in the room it is located in.

[Andrew Pratt]

The Samson S1000 that I have was supposed to be quiet as well but I it too loud to be in the same room as the rest of the gear so it sits on the other side of the common wall to the theater on top of my gear rack with the BFD. Its not too bad but I can hear it from 10 feet away in a silent room which for some might be fine.

[Dennis H]

For home use, you can always put a resistor in series with the fan to slow it down. It will still get plenty of cooling because we don't beat up our amps like a rock band.

You can replace the fan with a quieter one but most of the "quiet" fans you can buy are just quieter because they turn slower so putting in a resistor is cheaper and easier than swapping.

[Bing Fung]

Thanks Guys :T

Thomas, I will be using the Bryston first, and you're right, I don't need a Kilowatt for the BP1203, I was just planning for the future :W Like maybe 2x BP1203's or maybe a Tulmult? Having the Amp to power those would be handy.

The K1/2 is a beauty, however I can't spend that much on a Sub amp.

Taz, I read the EP2500 is loud, so I would ahve to modify it with a slower fan.

Andrew, I read on some web site they stated the Sampson is quiet, however I suppose thats all relative.

Dennis, Some after market fans such as the SilenX actually have the fans blades designed for lower noise with reduced turbulence. I have 3 of these fans in my PC and they really work. Sure turning at slower RPMs is part of it, but the motors and blades are very silent as well.

Maybe a SilenX in the EP2500 would be the ticket, and as you say, the amp would lead a softer life than a Commercial job, so maybe the cooling doesn't need to be as great. I'm into PC modding, maybe a water coolerd set up is in order? jk :W

[BrianJD]

The new Adire ADA1200 looks interesting, $500 on pre order.
Something like a single channel K2, with Eq, x over, and LT all in one, and no fan!

https://www.adireaudio.com

Im guessing you know about this already but I figured Id mention it anyway.

[Bing Fung]

Brian, I have looked at the ADA and though it would be a nice unit. Provided I only have one sub. It only has two paramters that can be applied to Eq as well, so some flexability would be lost over the BFD, no?

[mfishmike]

I am using the QSC 1450 amp and have it inside of my equipment rack with a glass door. I only hear it after I have have really driven it hard ie a hard action movie, ormostly loud music in concerts. Other that that, it's been doing me a good job. In a couple of minutes it cools down, and the fan slows up where I can't hear it in the cabinet. I'm using it to drive two Titanic MKIII in a single cabinet. I'm selling the combo for $1500 (sub and amp) and will redesign a new and larger sub, but I'll too, stick with the higher end plate amp. I think the audio will be cleaner and the noise will be less. If you do use one of these pro amps, be sure NOT TO USE the 1/4" phono jacks for the input. Those are low impedance. Use the terminal strips which are high impedance inputs for that amp. The output from your receiver is high impedance.
Mike

[Bing Fung]

Yeah I suppose you guys are right, when you look at the specs of the Adire ADA 1200, it puts out 1000 W @ 4 ohms with 0.05% THD. Most of those Pro amps have THD's at 0.1% or 0.5%

Plus no fan :T

[Dennis H]

FWIW, I've seen a schematic for the RMX 1450 and all the input connections are identical - nothing but wire connecting them - so there is absolutely no difference from one to the other if the plugs are wired correctly. It's easy to use the wrong plug or mess up the plug wiring.

[Bing Fung]

I was going say I didn't know that about the 1/4" jacks. I use those on my Feedback Destroyer.

[mfishmike]

I got some good info from P.E. on that issue

Eric is the chief tech at Parts Express, and he enlightned me on that hi and low impedance issue.

His algorithim is that pushing the high impedance output from your receiver to the 1/4" jacks of the pro amps, instead of using the terminal strips provided, is like trying to pump enough water through a garden hose, that would normally require a 3" pipe. It will work, but you will lose a little.......

QSC and others have manuals online along with good support staff to further answer any of the questions. I don't claim to be a pro, just trying to help with information I've received.

Have fun.....

[Dennis H]

Just to clarify the 1/4" thing, the jacks are balanced TRS (tip, ring, sleeve), and look like a "stereo" jack. Tip is (+), ring is (-), sleeve is ground. If you plug in an unbalanced TS (tip, sleeve) "mono" plug, it shorts (-) to ground and the input impedance is cut in half. The same thing happens if you connect an unbalanced coax to the (+) and (-) terminal strips and jumper (-) to ground as recommended in the manual. If you leave the jumper off, it doubles the input sensitivity and impedance but you may have hum problems.