PA Power Amp Suggestions? (have speakers)

[smallz]

Hey guys. Thanks for your time.

I'm at a bit of a loss here. I'm just generally clueless when it comes to PA gear. The deal is our band has acquired a set of Community MVP37s at a pretty decent deal. Those are pretty bulky speakers and probably a bit much for our practice space application, but we got them cheap so I'm stick with them.

Community recommends a 800-1200W @ 4 ohms stereo power amp for these guys. Now it's been very easy for me to look up power amps that fall under those specs, but I'm coming across tons of them and have no real reference for which brands are the ones to trust. It looks like if I go with one of the companies i know (Crown, QSC) I'm looking at spending around 600-700 new.

Anyone have any specific model/brand suggestions for something that falls into that range? The ~600 price point is ok, but I suppose I'm looking for as cheap as I can go while still going for a product that is going to be reliable.

Thanks for your time.

 

[cableguy]

I've always had good luck with Carvin power amps. HD1500.....1500W @ 4 ohm bridged.$300.00. with warranty. Problem solved.

 

[smallz]

So bridged mode essentially turns the amp into mono mode at which point I can only plug it into one of the speakers? Is that correct?

Ideally I'd be looking for an amp that can handle 800-1000W @ 4 ohms in non bridged mode right?

 

[dhsierra1]

check the Peavey IPR and Crown XLS series amps. Class D, inexpensive, and get lots of love here on TB for lots of different applications. Did I mention they were inexpensive? And very light (like around 10 lbs/3 kg)?

 

[Mystic Michael]

So bridged mode essentially turns the amp into mono mode at which point I can only plug it into one of the speakers? Is that correct?

Ideally I'd be looking for an amp that can handle 800-1000W @ 4 ohms in non bridged mode right?

No. If you wish to take advantage of an amp's maximum power by using it in bridged mode - then the sensible approach is to "daisy chain" your cabs.

Are you not familiar with daisy chaining? It means running a cable from one cab to another - rather than having to use a separate speaker output jack from the amp for each individual cab.

In this case, if you wanted to operate two 8-ohm cabs (wired in parallel) with about 400 watts of power each, then an amp that will output 800 watts @ 4 ohms would be ideal.

If you want (or for some reason need) to obtain that 400 watts per cab on a per-channel basis (non-bridged), you'd typically need a more powerful amp - since you'd be without the synergistic effect that bridging provides. See how that works?

MM

 

[Coolhandjjl]

+1 on the Peavey IPR series. Nothing but good things reported on those. If I hadn't got such a screamin' deal on my Crest, I would have gone the IPR route.

 

[countrybass007]

Crown XLS series is a good choice, and Yamaha makes some great power amps in your price range. As far as Community's required power, that would make them rather power hungry/low efficency cabs. They should operate efficiently, though at lower volume, with a good stereo power amp rated at 400watts per channel.

 

[modulusman]

I've always had good luck with Carvin power amps. HD1500.....1500W @ 4 ohm bridged.$300.00. with warranty. Problem solved.

Problem created. The OPs cabinets are 4 ohms each, can't bridge the carvin unless you want to release the magic smoke.

 

[modulusman]

So bridged mode essentially turns the amp into mono mode at which point I can only plug it into one of the speakers? Is that correct?

Ideally I'd be looking for an amp that can handle 800-1000W @ 4 ohms in non bridged mode right?

Correct.

 

[cruzois]

I've always had good luck with Carvin power amps. HD1500.....1500W @ 4 ohm bridged.$300.00. with warranty. Problem solved.

+1

 

[smallz]

$340 on ebay for a Peavey IPR 3000. Thanks for the help guys.