New amp from PE

[txsmoke]

Saw this today on the Parts Express website. No info on what impedance the power is into, but they are advertising it as 1000 watts. Looks to have a built in 1 channel parametric EQ, soft clipping, and remote turn-on.

Here's the Link: www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=300-810

Mike

[ryans]

I saw it too. From the discussion on the PE Tech Talk forum, this appears to be a shelf- or rack-mount version of their 1000 watt plate amp. That would put it at 1024 watts into 4 ohms, 512 watts into 8 ohms.

At $400 it doesn't seem like much of a bargain at first. But then again there are a lot of guys wanting some of the plate amp features like silent operation and auto-on. For sub duty, you could think of it as a cheaper alternative to the Crown K1. Though its certainly not the K1's equal.

At this price level it seems sorta silly not to have included a crossover bypass switch. Then it could be used as a 1000 watt monoblock if your needs change. Maybe this amp design just wouldn't give decent high-freq performance?

[txsmoke]

I think it has provisions for crossover bypass. If you look at the pics, on the back, it has the normal L/R inputs, but there's also one marked LFE- which I would think would be a direct input. But I am just guessing- could just be a summed mono.

And it's a bit pricey, but you can be sure PE will put it on one of its daily sales in the near future.

Mike

[ryans]

Well if it really is the same amp as this
www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=300-808
then it won't go full range.

If you look at the "Frequency Response Information" PDF it shows that the variable crossover applies to the stereo inputs. It also shows the curve for the LFE input - apparently not affected by the variable crossover knob, but still only has useable output to 200Hz or so.

I also note that the normal prices for these amps are exactly the same ($398.80). The plate amp version is presently on sale for $325 and this is one of their regular sales, not Deal-of-the-Day. So if the rack amp does go on DOTD, it could be a pretty good deal.

Not that I'm looking to spend hundreds on a new amp, but out of curiousity I think I'll look for what kind of experiences people have had with the plate amp version.

[severianb]

It's on sale right now for $100 off. $298 instead of $398.

If you only have one big room node, the parametric equalizer could be a neat feature, and save you $100 and the pain and suffering of a Feedback Destroyer.

512watts @ 8ohms, 1024watts @ 4 homes. 1 channel.

The fact it can only be used for subwoofers is a bit limiting, but if it does what you need, it could be a nice solution. I'm thinking this thing and 4 or 8 PE-IB15's would be a easy and satisfying install.

[ThomasW]

For less money one can buy the BK-1000-A4

[frodaddy]

severianb said:

It's on sale right now for $100 off. $298 instead of $398.

If you only have one big room node, the parametric equalizer could be a neat feature, and save you $100 and the pain and suffering of a Feedback Destroyer.

512watts @ 8ohms, 1024watts @ 4 homes. 1 channel.

The fact it can only be used for subwoofers is a bit limiting, but if it does what you need, it could be a nice solution. I'm thinking this thing and 4 or 8 PE-IB15's would be a easy and satisfying install.

The Behringer amps are a tried and true solution for big watts for subwoofer duty. An EP1500 is in the same pricerange that this unit is, and $30 more dollars and you have an EP2500. Doing the silent fan mod on the Behringers makes this PE amp a hard sell, from my perspective at least.