Behringer A500 Amplifier Test PART 1
Behringer A500 Amplifier Test PART 1
” title=”Behringer A500 Amplifier Test PART 1″ alt=”Behringer A500 Amplifier Test PART 1″ />
Shows significant harmonic distortion seen while turning the gain control through 60-70%. The amplifer’s input gain stage is terribly designed, according to our tests. It’s ok at full power but do not trust any setting other than full. This means you must use the preceding system to control gain. Second part video shows other defective Behringer gear. We discoverd this “by ear” its so noticeable when we fed 1khz set up tone from the O2R96 when commissioning three groundbreaking new amplifiers. Tests not shown here at full power on 6 channels (three amps) yield ok distortion results into Tannmoy DMT15 Mk 2s
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sorry if my question sounds inexperienced . . but i was looking at these amps for a small home studio project I’ve been putting together for awhile now. I noticed these were the most reasonably priced amps for the value. . so my question is; if I were to use this amp to push a set of small monitors, i should set the amp to maximum, and adjust the volume from the preceding mixer to get the purest sound? And what’s an example of distortion you would hear by the defective amp to the ave listener?
Sorry…that should be 2 divided by PI = .636 (not 1 divided by PI – formula for half wave rectifier ….oops). Manufacturers found out years ago, first when solid state amps came out, that they were having problems with some amps blowing transistors and stuff at around 60-70% volume levels but operated at higher levels they would work OK. Its just basic Class AB circuit design taught at any college level analog electronics course.
The transistors in a class B (A/B) amp really work harder at 63.6% than they do flat out (1 divided Pi equals .636 times 100 equals 63.6%). At this level the transistors consume the most power thus run hotter, distort most at this level (if not compensated for with excellent circuit design)
.
freak
Seems more like it’s the potentiometers being of sub standard grade. Those are some of the cheapest amps in the pro audio market.
I find the major small coming with Behringer is if you open up the chassis of their gear, you find everything is nano circuitry. Instead of each passive and I.C. being the size of 3-4 grains of rice, each is HALF the size of a grain of rice.
You drive this gear to higher levels, the itty bitty components distort prematurely.
Some of their gear is fantastic, some crap
@ebaystars , i know you post this a long time ago but, i want to know something,… If the amp is on mono mode (bridge), did the problem will still there ??? cause i got an A500 but i want to buy another one and make two mono block…? Thanks
Just get a rackmounted sansamp and a line6.
Place it in a rack and use furman or some other power conditioner and that’s all you need EVER.
drag 2 channels to the mixer and have the best of both worlds.
AH! I know you posted this 3 months ago but hopefully its not too late. POWER LAST then into speakers! if you place power into all those signal components make sure you have a fire extinguisher nearby.
I am looking to build my self a bass rig all rack mount stuff so I can close it and roll it away.I want to use a furman power first then my line 6 floor pod,then into a rack mixer,then into a rack amp like this one,then into a bass EQ,then into the speakers RIGHT,am I going the right way with this?
you need to run evrthing into a mixer first then into the amps right?
i suggest you go back to class 1 in electronics. all amplifers are not used with their input gain controls flat out, not least of which is the probability of blowing one’s speakers. any single part of the signal chain input to output may be responsible for what we found you are a utter twat… how much do you get paid by behringer.??
So this amp doesnt meet specs when its volume controls are NOT turned all the way up. So what? If you have a separate amp, its volume is controlled by a preamplifier. The Behringer controls are not meant to be used like normal volume controls because they will wear out if used too much. The proper way to use this amp is to turn its volume controls all the way up and use an active or passive pre amp to control its volume. Used this way, it sounds fine and is an brilliant bargain.
we take all that rudeness back, it was drug induced. The distortion was noticeable by human ear! – when simply setting up, then we carted out the ancient DFM kit to see it for real. My main monitors at home are nostalgic tannoy 15s in lockwood cabs and quad valve amps, i notice 3rd H distortion of an unpleasant nature and design RF equipment at work
.. I may well do the yamahas (and on a steady tone) I thought you were a disgruntled Dr Behringer, trying to rubbish me, sorry
I was considering the Alesis RA300. I went with the A500 because it had half the THD. But your measurements for the A500′s THD appeared to be twice what they should have been even at full power. But all manufacturers make thier measurements look as excellent as possible. Hence my interest.
It would be fascinating to see the same test on whatever you replaced the A500s with or on something like the Alesis RA300 which is comparable in price/performance. I just bought an A500 from Musician’s Friend. It had problems but it didn’t cost me a cent to get it replaced and the new one is working fine.
Even with the problems it’s a fantastic bang for my measly bucks.
First off, I’m concerned that you called me a wanker. That’s suppose to be a closely guarded family secret and I’d like to know where you got your information. It wasn’t an academic point of view but a knee jerk reaction to what I thought was mad science. But, I re-watched the video and at about
4:50 the distortion does revert to .02 quickly upon reaching full power. Also at around 5:31 the distortion was about .56 while the power was steady at 42%. I stand corrected.
Not so clever Mr FFT, but thanks for the academic viewpoint – I won’t re-run the tests as it was the same on a steady state signal!!, how’s your job at Behringer, the modulation rate (AM) of the sine tone was too slow to affect the spectra of the test model within the useable bandwidth of the system (10hz to 20 Khz), use your ears instead of your head.
It appears that the distortion is only present while adjusting the volume – an amplitude modulation. Basic fourier analysis says that the amplitude modulated signal is a wave packet that would certainly not be a pure sine wave. I would reckon that you would see the same results on any amplifier.
really sorry yes i know its there but diffo to see i’ll try again but the amps are going back so may not have time, if u listen you can hear the distortion on the video, i ran a few watts just to test from my yamaha desk and as i turned the amp gain i heard the distortion so i took out the test gear, behringer offered a refund but no explanation, alesis amps need testing as they look identical to behringer!?
the distorted waveform on the CRO is not visible in this video. Can we have a clear closeup of the distorted part of the waveform?
i can hear the distortion as u turn it down, has anyone done the same test with tone only and no test gear??