Best power amp today?

[feliperigby]

Wich ones are a good poweramp today? Solidstate....

I said Power Amp... not an amplifier live ampeg svt, gk.....

[BassmanPaul]

Crown, QSC, Crest, Carvin, Peavey - the list is almost endless. It depends on what is available locally at a reasonable price.

[seamonkey]

Sound wise they are all the same.
They only differ in features and power.

What features are you looking for?

[feliperigby]

Just power options of 4ohms or 8...

with something between 750rms to 1000

[seamonkey]

Behringer iNuke 1000 - $170 street price (shipped US 48) right now.

These ratings are published and have been confirmed on hifi forums by people who have the gear and knowledge to measure it.

RMS
Stereo
8 Ω per channel, stereo 110 W
4 Ω per channel, stereo 210 W
2 Ω per channel, stereo 380 W
Bridged mono
8 Ω 430 W
4 Ω 750 W

3 year warranty

From there on up in price - they sound all the same. Just look for Power ratings.
Look for qualifications "RMS", or "FTC", or EIA, EIAJ power ratings. Pass them by if they only publish "watts" and not how they rated it. For a good example, look at the QSC audio site. They list both "FTC" and "EIA" ratings. No digging, it's right there in their specs.

[troy mcclure]

I like the QSC PLX series amps, I have them and Crowns and while neither has failed me, QSC seems to over engineer.

[walterw]

+1 on QSC, probably the best "regular guy" power amps out there.

if you want best best, look at stuff like lab gruppen, but that's crazy money.

[feliperigby]

And those from Carvin?

[Mousekillaz]

I believe Carvin are outsourcing their amps,from China, like everyone does these days. But their gear is well known to be solidly built and a great value.

[walterw]

carvin is OK, but definitely a step down from crown or QSC.

[Munjibunga]

I've always used QSC amps for my PA systems, mostly PLX. Relatively light weight, reliable, built like a tank. Never any issues. I don't think I'd use anything else (except maybe QSC PowerLite).

[cableguy]

Originally Posted by Mousekillaz

I believe Carvin are outsourcing their amps,from China, like everyone does these days.

No.

[cableguy]

My Carvins have always performed flawless. (2-DCM 600's, 1-HD1500)

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by seamonkey

Behringer iNuke 1000

He said best power amp.

[JGR]

Crest CA9 is a benchmark.

[Johnny Crab]

I use QSC PLX 2402's.
They also have nice dip switch filters(speaker protection from super-low over excursions) and settings some amps don't. The PLX series(no longer made) is preferred here over the newer QSC's because of those and their ability to power any load in any configuration.

As Munjibunga said, built like tanks

[sweetwillyp]

CS-800 from peavey 400 continuous watts per channel great slew rates low noise and built like a tank.. And nearly impossible to blow one up... I found a half blown one for 50 bucks and have been using the 1 good channel for over 100 shows so far

[testing1two]

QSC and Crown have always been my go-to for professional grade PA amps. There are certainly other options that represent "bang for the buck" and still other options that can only be afforded by touring companies & eccentric audiophiles but QSC and Crown are good safe bets.

There are extensive feature sets in higher end power amps today thanks to the magic of DSP but you may or may not actually need them (or need to pay for them). Not everybody needs built in EQ, X-Over, Delay, Ethernet Control, or Security Lock-Out features for their modest bar or church gig.

Where technology really pays off these days is in weight savings. Now you can have an amp that performs as well as a CA-9 or MacroTech at less than half the weight. These are good times to be in the amp market and they keep getting better.

[gregbackstrom]

Originally Posted by JGR

Crest CA9 is a benchmark.

For weight. Every other amp will be lighter!

[Oobly]

Crown XTi and QSC PLX are really good. The amps DO differ in terms of input sensitivity, whether they are bridgable, have a HPF or crossover and what frequencies they can be set to, etc. They can also have a slight difference in sound / tone, but not a lot.

So it's best to know what specs you need, then look at the models available. QSC, Crown and Crest would be the first manufacturers I'd look at. The Peavey IPR range are decent, as is the Carvin HD series.