Amp question for Vince M. (1 Viewer)

[Martin Schmencke]

Wayne,
I'm not disagreeing that it's a good idea, I just don't personally like the Speakon connectors. As you can see, I am advocating using something other than the standard, for a lot of the same reasons that you are.

 

[Danny Owens]

Since Vince mentioned that I may have a bit of experience with the Vs900, I figured I'd ring in.
Yes I have had a lot of experience with those amps. In fact, I still have a bunch collecting dust. When I was doing the bar band gig, we had a bunch of the Crown 1.5, and had to keep a spare rack of them due to the things not being worth a crap on the road. Gret amps if you are in a studio setting, but travelling with them- forget it. For a long time, there was always a couple on my bench in various states of repair. Unreliable at best.
In that road gig, I was actually playing and hired a guy to run my rig. Between the 1.5's blowing up and this guy blowing drivrs, I decided to try these things out.
I put it up against a QSC (I don't remember the model) but the QSC output clearly was more than the Crest. I think about 50% more. I only use the specs as a basis to get into the ballpark of the equipment I buy. Never buy an amp (or anything else in pro gear) by specs alone. Harlan Peavey makes his POS CS series amps look better than Crest on paper.
Anyway, the test I always use when comapring amplifiers is something with a lot of double bass. Tommy Aldridge was the usual. An amplifier can sound awesome until continuous output current is demanded from it. Double bass is good because it demands peak currents at a very fast interval. A bad amplifier will cause the individual "kicks" to start to blend together and sound like mud. At 123db @ 20 feet (yea I'm deaf) the QSC was mud and the Crest gave each individual kick definition and was just starting to light the clip lamp.
THe other features that I liked about the Crest was that it has square wave protection, and auto-ramping. The lame ass sound guy I hired could not blow a driver (I also had limiters in my crossover). I had a drummer sit once and went over to the sound board and saw that all the sub mix outputs were peaking at way over +6db. I wanted to kill him. "Unity Gain @ 0db idiot" arrrghhh.
The auto ramping function gets rid of the "pop" when turning on and off an amp. It slowly precharges the cap bank instead of just throwing the caps across the bridge. I believe Hafler has this function also.
I'm not trying to sell my VS900's in this post (although I would entertain offers ). I just wanted to ring in on the reliability and operation of them.
The rig I worked on for the national acts used the 8001 series amps. If you can find one and can afford it DO IT!!!
Danny
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[Vince Maskeeper]

The rig I worked on for the national acts used the 8001 series amps. If you can find one and can afford it DO IT!!!

AND HOW! I just wanted to take a second and agree with this stement. When you guys hear me rave about Crest amps: when you hear me say they make the BEST pro amp, it is specifically the 8001 that caused me to have such a high opinion of Crest. This series of amplifiers (the PRO series) was simply a rebirth for me the first time I had heard them. I became quite used to the behavior of the Crown Macro amps, and then one day a company I was working with was forced to rent a rack of Crest amps for a theater show. MY GOODNESS! They behaved in ways I didn't know an amp could: and made everyone look better in the process. Things were just so damn perfect using those amps, I thought I was dreaming!
I still swear by the Crest Pro series as the best professional amplifier I have ever used!
-Vince
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http://www.musicianassist.com
Anyone want a free CD? Click Here .

 

[Danny Owens]

Sorry Vince (and those that have the CS series)
In an effort to qualify my earlier elitist opinion on the CS series amps. I meant that the CS series, or any Peavey amp for that matter, is simply not an amp that would be seen on national pro circuits. It doesn't mean that they are not ok for home theater use. Subs would be a good use for them. The limited part of the spectum that subs operate in don't really reqire an extremely accurate amp. Peavey is durable, it just isn't quite as transparent as Mr. Harlan Peavey would like you to believe.
The one thing I liked about them is that in a jam, they can be fixed with a paper clip and a piece of gum . Very easy repair.
Danny
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[Martin Schmencke]

"That's a good point: but what a headache if you have to cross rent."
Not really. We always kept a few adapters around, and if we knew we were going to need them it would only take 10 minutes to make a patch cord.

 

[Rick P.]

Thanks for the info guys.
The Crest VS 900 had my vote but I didn't have time to call in the order yesterday. This is a good thing - I just got a great deal on a Yorkville AP 3000 amp!
The AudioPro series is the top of the Yorkville amp line. Since I haven't got my drivers yet (Dayton 12" DVC from Parts Express - couldn't wait any longer for Shiva), I hooked the amp up to my current main speakers (PSB 500's). I can't tell any difference between it and the NAD amp that was driving them before except that the Yorkville has WAY more headroom. This is saying a lot since the NAD is an awesome amp - I've had it for years and it blows away most amps out there - I'll never sell it! There are certain tracks I love where I always thought the NAD was going into clipping, causing the speakers to distort. I just found out where the PSB's meet their match, and the NAD can apparently get there too.
At 1200 average watts /channel and 3000 instantaneous watts in stereo mode, it's way more amp than I need. The neighbours should be afraid ...
so should the Dayton 12"ers.
Thanks again,
Rick
FYI, power ratings according to the manual are as follows:
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POWER:
All values are in WATTS at 1KHz, except FTC 20Hz-20KHz.
Measurements made with regulated 120 VAC sine wave at line cord.
All values are rounded down to the nearest 25 watts.
BURST AVG.
Measured as a 2 cycle burst at 1KHz, 8:1 duty.
(Continuous measurements may require line currents >15 Amps)
ONE CHANNEL DRIVEN (WATTS)
LOAD CONT, AVG,. BURST AVG PEAK INSTANT FTC 20-20KHz
8 ohms 550 650 1500 475
4 ohms 900 1250 3000 800
2 ohms 1500 2250 6000 1200
BOTH CHANNELS DRIVEN (WATTS)
LOAD CONT, AVG,. BURST AVG PEAK INSTANT FTC 20-20KHz
8 ohms 475 625 1500 425
4 ohms 750 1200 3000 650
2 ohms 1200 2175 6000 950
BRIDGED (WATTS)
LOAD CONT, AVG,. BURST AVG PEAK INSTANT FTC 20-20KHz
16 ohms 925 1225 3000 850
8 ohm 1500 2400 6000 1300
4 ohms 2400 4350 12000 1900

 

[TerryC]

Wow, that is a beast, I am sure you are going to dim the neighborhood when its going full tilt!
One ting thing to be very careful about, as you may remember I have the Mackie 1400M. I have used it with both a single Shiva and a Mass 2012. With the Shiva I was never able to overload it with my 100W Rotel, that should be an obvious. Now that I have 1400W at the tap I can't keep my sub calibrated 10db higher than the rest. With music I have no problems, but when I watch a DVD such as the helicopter crash scene in the Matrix DVD, I can overload the Mackie into clipping territory and the driver can't take that much power, even if the Amp doesn't clip the driver shows audible strain. It was really bad with the Shiva, not nearly as bad with the Mass. I think the PE 15 unloads at about 300W (at least that is what I remember reading). Be VERY careful your first few tests. I have since calibrated 3db over reference and not had any problems, I also engaged the clipping limited on the Mackie just in case. Some of those DVD masters really have tones of dynamic range recorded on them, another one I found out was the Independence Days mothership exploding scene.
Good luck, be prepared to go deaf! I keep having this picture in my mind of all us DIY'ers needing hearing aids!
Terry
PS- Here is a link on how I made my fan almost silent you might be able to find it useful. Does yours have two fans, and how loud is it?
http://www.hometheatertalk.com/ubb/F...ML/001298.html

 

[Danny Owens]

Huh? What did you say??
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[Vince Maskeeper]

Some of those DVD masters really have tones of dynamic range recorded on them, another one I found out was the Independence Days mothership exploding scene.

Terry, I've been playing with my ID4 disc and i think the LFE channel is mastered 10db too high.
There was a discussion of this topic, specifically the 10db too high issue, here a year or so ago.
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/Archives/Archive-000001/HTML/19990812-17-000010.html
Anyone want a free CD? Click Here .

 

[Rick P.]

>>Wow, that is a beast, I am sure you are going to dim the neighborhood when its going full tilt!If you don't mind me asking, what kinda price did you get? The reason I ask is that the new AP4020/AP4040 is the repackage version of the same amp (1200peak wpc @ 4, 2400w bridged) and the AP4020 or the AP4040 is available brand new from a Yorkville Dealer friend of mine for $850...

 

[TerryC]

Thanks for the FYI, Vince.
Terry