BehringerA500 Professional 600-Watt Reference-Class Studio Power Amplifier Black

This amp is brain dead simple to setup and use. You can use it as a standard two channel stereo amp or you can use it as a double power single channel mono amp. There is some confusion as to it's rated power due to it's single/stereo capability, whether it is powering four or eight ohm speakers and whether you want the maximum peek power rating or maximum RMS power rating. To help people decide I'm including the real power ratings of this amp in this review.The following power stats are at less than 1% distortion (THD):4 ohm stereo speakers = 185 watts RMS (300 watts peek)8 ohm stereo speakers = 125 watts RMS (175 watts peek)8 ohm mono speaker = 375 watts RMS (600 watts peek)Distortion < 0.01%Frequency Response 20Hz-20Khz, +0/-1 dBSignal to noise >100 dBThis amp is very nicely built and feels like a tank. It's heavy and the case is made of steel. There are minimal amounts of sturdy plastic used on the front. The volume potentiometers feel solid and turn smoothly with a slight clicking feeling at predetermined points to help you adjust each channel to the same level. Physically it should last a lifetime of usage. It accepts balanced (1/4"/XLR) and unbalanced (RCA) inputs.It uses 1/4" connectors for the speaker outputs which make for a clean and secure speaker connection. Using 1/4" connections for speakers allows you to easily switch speakers quickly. I bought a cheap 50' Pyle 12 gauge cable with 1/4" plugs and cut the cable into two to make two 25' cables for my speakers that needed bare/banana wires. It made a very nice looking industrial setup and the cables will take a lot of abuse compared to cheap speaker wires.The quality of the sound is perfect to my very picky ear. I cannot hear any hiss/noise/static/hum/distortion/etc... I use this amp mainly for listening to music. My setup is basically this: a computer (with good DAC) to play FLAC lossless music, Behringer A500 amp and Behringer 2031P speakers. I have zero complaints about the quality of the sound produced. My instincts tell me that I could spend $5000 and still not have a better system from a sound quality perspective. The sound produced by this setup is absolutely flawless. I bought the Behringer speakers on clearance at the local music store for about $120/pair. I have a system that costs about $300 and sounds better than anything I have ever heard before. This amp produces a very clean and accurate sound.Since the amp is separate from the speakers I have a lot of flexibility in how I setup my sound system. If a single component fails I will not have to throw away an entire speakers/sound system. I've been using this amp daily for over 6 months without a single problem. It produces very little heat and I fully expect it to last decades. My only complain with this amp is the overly bright blue LED power indicator. The person who invented blue LED's should be shot. Blue LED light is by far the most annoying form of light ever created by man. I would not be one bit surprised if one day we find out President Bush ordered blue LED's to be installed in the Guantanamo, Cuba torture center to induce further agony to the victims held there.

The Amp itself is good for the price, in fact probably one of the better amp's at this price point. The amp produced clean sound, however I defiantly recommend a power conditioner, or you might experience some humming especially if your cables are not well shielded. The overall construction was solid, extended ears for rack mounting and power meter LED's for both right & left channels located between the two power knobs on front of amp. There is no feedback when turning the knob's, just a smooth glide like motion with power LED's indicating the amp's power level.My reasoning for giving this product 3 stars was due to the misleading power ratings of Amp, I had thought the listed rating were RMS, I would of never thought Behringer would list peak power as the advertised power rating. Technically, peak power isn't even a spec that consumers consider when shopping for an amp, this is an obvious fact that Behringer clearly ignored in hopes to mislead consumers to buy an amp that has far less power than was lead to believe. This is a dishonest sales tactic and hope potential buyers will not make the same mistake I did.

Good clean power. I bought this amp and a Crown XLS1000 a week apart for my home surround system. The Crown is powering my infinity alpha 50's towers in stereo full range. I have it inside a cabinet so its getting no cool airflow when i touch it it's ice cooled. And I like my movies and music LOUD. I can push the crown to clip and it's not even breaking a sweat. The Behringer is in my wall unit exposed to the room temp. I am running it in bridged mono and the crossover is at 80mhz pushing my Infinity Alpha 37c center channel. If i push it to clip it can go into protection mode and it only did that once while i was learning where the sweet spot to my setup was. So i backed it off some and its hitting clip on some songs and movies and is working great. The reason for four stars is that it runs hot about 170 degrees to 180 when pushing it hard for extended periods of time. Like i said the crown is not even warm. Both have a very slight hum when turned on that i can hear in my speakers. The Behinger slightly louder. Some guys reported that the Behringer runs just warm. Not in my case i don't know if its due to the fact that I am using it in bridged mono. IMHO I don't think either amp is pushing What the rms spec's are. I think they are both over rated. But i can say this Both are Great amp's . and woke the pi$$ outta my speakers and made my home theater sound excellent. If i had to do it all over again i would have went with two Crown's but the crown whent up in price over the last week by $50. I paid $180 for the crown And $170 for the Behringer.

Qualità prezzo non discutibile.....Prodotto eccezionale e primo di rumori bianchi e interferenze per via del suo essere pro , sembra un amplificatore di fascia molto molto superiore.Eccezionale.

Excelent amplificador, con porencia de sobra y calidad como la de los grandes, a un precio excelente. Maneja mis cajas como la seda. Una advertencia, Si se conecta directamente a un ordenador aparece ruido digital en los altavoces. En se caso hay que usar las entradas balanceadas XLR o plug y el ruido desaparece totalmente.

I love it!In terms of amplification, this amplifier is respectable (despite the brand) and comparable with much higher priced amplifiers. The soundstage is exceptionally flat yet clean, and is great for reference listening. I use it to power 2 custom 8ohm speaker cabinets in my bedroom (STUDIO). I have never heard them so good!But honestly, if you are looking for a quality amplifier that outputs around >200w / channel, then certainly go for this! Being silent is great to have in a studio as you cannot hear it. I have not been able to drive into clipping as I have not tested it on my larger PA speakers, but for this application, I have plenty of headroom. It works well in the upper frequencies above 1k or so, therefore, better for driving tops if so required.Weighty construction, ample heatsinking and a large toroidal transformer just makes it feel like a quality product. It's just a shame Behringer have let the aesthetic down by making the faceplate plastic. This isn't the first time they have done it either *cough inuke...Anyway, this product is not for looks as it is the sound quality that matters. So for this I rate it highly. It probably is not suited for PA applications due to the less than ideal power output, but then again, it is most likely limited by the cooling capabilities of convection cooled amplifiers.It works but suited towards silent/quiet environments such as a home theatre or a studio.Silent operation, only gets warm, respectable sound quality, bargain price.

A very good amp for the money. This AMP is very simple and easy to set up. It has lots of dynamic power. There is a very low level hum through the system (but this might be attributed to grounding). The hum is only noticeable if you put your ears right against the speaker. I have two of these amps set up in mono-block mode hooked into a pair of Polk Audio RTI A7s. With just one A500 the sound of the speakers was decent, but with two in mono mode, the sound was appreciably more dynamic. I am using a Pioneer TX1015 as pre-amp. I mostly stream itunes digitally through an optical cable and have the amps DAC decode the signal to analog. I am very happy with the amp so far.

L'amplificateur est tombé en panne au bout de deux semaines, puis a été échangé à neuf, mais cela n'a pas été facile....Bref, un ampli à bon prix mais pas sans risque de défaillance, car visiblement la fiabilité n'est pas son point fort.Par ailleurs, le processus d'échange à neuf n'est pas satisfaisant car je n'ai pas eu de document spécifiant un remplacement de l'amplificateur avec le numéro de série du nouvel amplificateur. Par conséquent je ne peux pas bénéficier de la prise éventuelle en garantie pour le nouvel ampli...Donc nouvelle démarche pour obtenir cela auprès du fournisseur....Je ne conseille donc pas cet achat.